Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — August 13, 1997 Naval Air Facility Atsugi competed with a typhoon while presenting its 42nd annual air show the last weekend in June. Wings ‘97 was NAF Atsugi’s “Friendship Day,” one of the events held by American military bases in Japan during the summer to socialize with […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — July 16, 1997 From USS Boxer (LHD 4), a new ship on its first deployment, I went to USS Independence (CV 62), the oldest ship in the Navy. Too large to tie up at the pier the Boxer had used a week earlier, it anchored several miles […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — June 4, 1997 I never in my life thought I’d get to Singapore and Thailand, but the opportunity presented itself when we scheduled a trip to meet USS Boxer. Three of us flew seven hours from Yokota Air Force Base to Singapore on a DC-8 contracted by […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — 10 December 1997 With the arrival of October, it was time for an annual conference in Spain. Unlike last year when I flew over the United States twice, this time I went entirely around the world. On the way, I stopped in Washington D.C. for four days. […]
Originally published in the Clear Lake Courier — August 30, 1995 The groundbreaking ceremony for the Women in Military Service for America Memorial was held June 22 at the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington D.C. I was one of 5500 there to listen to President Clinton and 15 other speakers. This was […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — 15 October 1997 During a recent trip to Okinawa, I toured several sites from the World War II battle for Okinawa. Known by the Japanese as “Typhoon of Steel,” the battle lasted almost ninety days, killing more than 12,500 Americans and 244,000 Japanese. The only land battle […]
This trail up Mount Fuji is steeper than it looks! Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — 7 October 1998 One year ago was my first attempt to climb Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain. A dormant volcano that reaches almost 13,000 feet above sea level, Fuji is the most frequently climbed mountain in the […]
Originally printed in the Clear Lake Courier — 3 September 1997 Mount Fuji, at 12,388 feet above sea level, is the highest and most famous mountain in Japan. Climbing it is a popular sport for residents and visitors alike. Many Japanese climb annually as a religious pilgrimage, spending the night on the mountain to watch […]
Originally printed in Clear Lake Courier — 16 December 1998 Mount Pinatubo is a volcano fifty miles north of Manila on the Philippine island of Luzon. Dormant for 600 years, it was classified inactive until it erupted in 1991.Monitoring and observation in early June showed significant enough changes that public warnings were issued of an […]
Originally printed in Clear Lake Courier — 29 July 1998 Lieutenant Yoshio Shiga of the Japanese Imperial Navy commanded one of the Zero fighter squadrons that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He is now 84 years old and the owner of a Tokyo company that makes security systems for military and law enforcement […]