Station HYPO

By John F. Pappone

I arrived in Japan mid July of 1964 at the ripe old age of eighteen, ready to begin my tour at Kamiseya in the “Land of the Rising Sun.” For the next two years and seven months, this would be my home away from home.

By Phil Hogan

There was a disastrous fire in the Operations Complex on the night of 23-24 September 1965. The Fifth Division (Fleet Support) spaces were located on the second floor directly above the source of the fire. They occupied a large section of the second deck of the building and maintained a 24-hour watch posture. I believe this deck was shared with the Fourth Division (Processing and Reporting), a section of “T” branchers, and others.

Joe Glockner who hosts the website with an extensive collection of CT related material provided the below memories of that night.

Let me first caveat this by saying the following remarks come from a memory that is just about 35 years old (of the happening).

CTR1 George Morton remembers the shock of returning to the base and learning about the fire:

On 24 September 1965 the Operations Building in front of the tunnel caught fire early in the morning. It resulted in the deaths of 12 CT’s including the Officer of the Day, LTJG Moody, who bravely went into the flames to help save some who were inside. Ironically, item number three on the Plan of the Day for 23 September 1965 was a Disaster Control Drill.

By Michael Frank

I arrived at Kamiseya, my first duty station after completing ‘R’ Branch schooling, in January 1964. Twenty months later, while our section was on watch, fire destroyed the tunnel. The following is my recollection of the events that took place inside the tunnel that night.