Memoirs
money or loans, we could put money into the Japanese economy through construction
on Okinawa. Government and Relief in Occupied Areas [GARIOA] was the fund
appropriation involved.
Major General James G. Christiansen, the Far East Command engineer, decided to
establish a liaison office in Tokyo, in his office, to work with the Okinawa Engineer
District. I was selected to be in charge of that liaison office. Having arrived in August,
I took on this mission sometime in November. A very detailed study had been made by
a group from Washington, headed by Brigadier General George
who, at that
time, I believe was the Deputy Chief of Engineers or the chief of military construction.
They made a lot of recommendations concerning construction requirements on
Okinawa
how it could be supported from Japan. I worked with this group while
they were making the study, and then worked out the implementation of the
recommendations. I served as the command representative in budget hearings before
the Department of the Army, the Budget Bureau, and committees of Congress. As a
result, I made six round trips to Washington in one year. At that time it took 40 hours
just to cross the Pacific to San Francisco, so I spent a great deal of time traveling. In
addition, I made at least one trip a month to Okinawa. For most of two and a half years
of my service in Japan, I was totally tied up in working on Okinawa construction
activities.
For the last six months, I was in charge of engineering and operations for the entire Far
East Command, which then included the Korean War operations as well as other
activities. However, my major activity during my three years in Japan really revolved
around getting a base built on Okinawa. I think we were fairly successful. Most of the
major Japanese contractors you hear of today had been contractors before World War
II. After the war they had absolutely nothing. As we started this Okinawa program,
they participated and became viable concerns.
.
Q
That's interesting.
It was a unique solution which, as I said, was considered to have been very successful
A
It was in this assignment that I first knew General [Frederick J.] Clarke. He was then
the executive
of the Okinawa Engineer District, and he and I used to shout at
each other over radio telephone between Tokyo and Okinawa about once a day for two
years -that is, when the phone was working! That began our very close relationship.
Q.
Now would you like to say anything specifically about the Korean War aspect of your
assignment?
A ..
No, because it didn't really affect my own assignment. Actually, I did get set up to go
to Korea as the engineer representative in establishing a forward general headquarters
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