Station HYPO

By Thomas W. Butler

Dick Schrey was about 20 years old when he re­ported in at Fleet Radio Unit FRUPAC-Iwo Jima in June of 1945. He was a short, husky guy with an easy smile and a good sense of humor. 44 of us served to­gether for several months at FRUPAC on that tiny (nine square miles) backwater island which none of us would ever have heard of it it were not for WWII and the bitter battle which was fought there that year.

By Thomas W. Butler

By August 1945 our operations shack at FRUPAC, Iowa Jima had grown big enough to hold several inter­cept positions, a D/F Net reporting position, a plotting table, a heater, a couple of tables, a hotplate and a coffee pot. The “head” was an outside privy about 50 yards down the black sand beach.

`M’ Branchers’ spirit and pride seen in BEQ

The “M” branchers have spirit and pride. If you don’t believe it take a few minutes and have a look at the third deck, east wing of BEQ 1082.

By Thomas W. Butler

Crew members at Fleet Radio Unit Pacific FRU­PAC-Iwo Jima looked for medical attention only as a last resort during the spring of 1945. For serious mat­ters like removing an arm or a leg, there were Navy and Marine Corps surgeons who would do the job at the drop of a hat. Lord knows, they had a lot of practice. Amputations were a frequent result of the combat wounds received by USMC/USN personnel during the battle for Iwo.

By Thomas W. Butler

Among the more colorful characters who made FRUPAC-Iwo Jima a memorable duty post was a whitehat Seaman first class named “T.T”. I omit his last name for reasons which will become evident as this story unfolds.

By Thomas W. Butler

Iwo Jima is a volcanic island and, as such, is subject to all sorts of naturally induced seismic events. However, on one occasion during the summer of 1945 our part of the island experienced a ground shaking event which turned out to be purely man-made.