An Okinawan Affair

by Herb Blanchard

  "Okay, I shouldn't have any trouble finding the cave once I start setting up the hill to haul fill from it. Why don't you stay out of it and I'll handle it with the Navy EOD after I stumble across a cave with World War II explosives in it. I already have an idea where on the hill it is so it's just a matter of moving a bunch of fill out of the way which I'll be doing anyway."

  "Thanks Brad. If you're ready to go I'll send the driver out. Do you need anything else? By the way, the fuel truck will be out every other day and will fill everything for you."

  * * * *

  Brad worked most of the day without getting enough fill moved from where he thought the cave was to find it. At 1545 the Army driver pulled up in front of the little farm house and waited patiently for Brad to shutdown the bulldozer.

  I'm going to make a couple more passes near that row of trees and get some more of that loose fill out of there. There isn't any reason for it to be there except to fill in a cave entrance. Maybe.

  On his third pass He watched as a pile of dirt slid away and down into a small opening against the hill. Brad reversed the dozer and moved it back up the hill and deliberately pushed a blade full of fill back over the opening he had just discovered.

  "Let's go home Papa-san he told the driver as he slid into the front seat of the Army sedan.

  TWENTY-SIX

  It was right on 0815 Thursday morning when Brad walked out of the motor pool dispatch and found the Army sedan and the same driver waiting on him. "I need to stop at an office up there." He told the driver as he pointed to the road running across the back of the motor pool.

  "Koko, right here, dozo." Brad pointed to a Quonset hut with a small red sign proclaiming it was the Navy EOD facility. "I'll be right out, okay?"

  "Hey Brad, what have you found so early in the morning?"

  "Nothing yet Eric, but there is a good chance that sometime this morning I just might."

  "Where have you been working lately?" Lt. Anderson asked as he came into the outer office from his back office.

  I think a place that you guys have heard of, and maybe interesting in visiting if you don't have any plans for the day. Good morning Lieutenant. How about Ozato?"

  "You know, we heard a rumor, mind you now just a rumor, that there was a Seabee working for the Army out there. Building a ball-field for the school and digging big holes in the side of a hill. Is that a rumor, or fact?"

  "I don't know where you would hear such a thing except maybe from a certain Lieutenant Commander who shall remain nameless since we don't want to upset the Army. They seem to be a bit touchy about that area for some reason. But they couldn't turn down volunteer labor by the Navy.

  "We were thinking about going for a ride about lunchtime and checkout the area around Ozato. After all we did find a grenade and a rocket out there not too long ago. Do you think that would be a good time to be in that area?"

  "Most definitely, Sir. I believe that the Army is going to stay in Naha and leave that job to the Navy today. The specific area is where the dozer tracks lead off of the main road just before you get to the turn-off to the school. I'm sure anybody traveling that road would hear a dozer running just around the corner of the dirt road."

  The day was showing every indication of being warm so Brad stripped down to a pair of cut-off Levies and jump boots while the bulldozer's diesel engine was warming up.

  While straightening out some more of the piles of dirt left when the Army's enlisted men had quit, he started to cut into hard untouched gray clay baked solid by the hot sun. The dozer engine lugged down straining to rip out the hard clay. Swinging the dozer to the left a bit to take off some of the pressure, Brad saw a bit of brown buried in the gray. At the same time that he heard the screech and clang of metal on metal. He swung the dozer sharply to the left and lifted the blade simultaneously.

  What the hell was that? I'll run down the hill and park the dozer out of the way then checkout what I hit. It has to be ordnance of some sort buried here and that deep. I don't see any smoke. Just that quick shot of smoke when the blade hit whatever it was. I'm sure that was from the metal to metal contact. I'll give it a few minutes then go check it out.

  Looking back up the hill from the high dozer seat he decided that 15 minutes was long enough to wait. He climbed off the dozer, got a drink of water and then started to walk slowly up the knoll.

  There it is sticking out of the hillside. Fairly big. That thing isn't a small mortar round. Must be 10" or more in diameter. I hit it pretty solid there's a big gouge along it's back end. Oh-oh.

  He bent over the pile of fresh clay that he had left behind after lifting the dozer blade out of the ground. With a careful touch he brushed the dirt from the flat metal surface enough to see that it was the fins off of a bomb.

  Just what we need. I hope these two things go together.

  Okay. I can still work down lower on the hill where I think the cave is. I really want to get that dug out if it's there. EOD will have the bomb to play with even if there is no cave, or if it's empty.

  As Brad bulldozed the fill down the hill, the entrance to a cave started to take shape against the hillside. Though still full of dirt, the entrance was soft surrounded by hard densely packed gray clay which the rest of the hill was made up of. When he saw several pieces of half rotted wood roll away from the dozer blade he decided that he had removed as much fill as he wanted to. Digging out more fill by hand and making entrance to the cave would have to be made by the EOD.

  "We decided to have an early lunch. Is there anything going on out here?"

  "Matter of fact, Sir, there is. How about a cave that we have to dig out the entrance to? I got everything moved with the dozer that I could, but if you guys want to watch out for anything weird I might be able to move some more fill out of the way. But I have to show you, I started digging out some kind of wood. It maybe from wooden boxes. You can be the judge of that."

  "And? Come on Brad, I can tell by your face that you are just dying to spill your big find." Petty Officer Erickson spoke up.

  Brad laughed and started up the knoll. "I think that you're going to earn your hazardous duty pay this afternoon. I have to admit that it scared the crap out of me when I found it. I hate to roll big rusty things out of a clay bank especially after they have been in there for 20 years or so. It's up here."

  Brad lead the EOD up the knoll first to the fins in the pile of dirt. "I don't think these are attached to anything, now, but I wasn't going to pick them up to find out. Any ideas?"

  "We'll probe around them, but I think your right, they aren't attached to anything." The Lieutenant said as he bent over for a closer look. "What? A 250 pound, US made?" He asked no one in particular.

  "The interesting part is up here. This is what I believe the fins came from." Brad said and walked a few more steps and showed them the half buried bomb.

  "Interesting. Boy, you really gave it a whack, Brad. You think the fins came off of this?" Erickson asked him.

  "Yeah, no doubt. I popped the blade up as soon as I spotted the body of the bomb and dropped the fins where they still are in that pile of dirt. If they aren't, well you guys have a challenge I would say."

  Brad told the EOD everything he had seen and felt about the fins and bomb before getting ready to smooth a road up to the bomb so they could load it on their truck if that was what they decided to do with it.

  "I'll take the dozer around to the school yard while you work on this. If I can help let me know. Also I'll help you get into the cave if you have time this afternoon."

  About 1500 hours Brad watched the EOD newby walking across the unfinished ball-field towards him. He spun the dozer around and met him halfway across the field.

  "The Lieutenant wonders if you could bring the dozer around and move some more dirt from in front of the cave."

  "Sure, Sammy. Jump up here and ride in style. Did you get the bomb dug out and loaded alright?"


  "Yeah, we did. It actually wasn't a problem after we got it dug out. The whole fuse assembly was missing. Looks like it broke off when the bomb hit the ground. You may find it laying around somewhere on the hill, but it's basically harmless without a bomb to detonate."

  It only took a couple of passes with the dozer to open the very top of the cave entrance. Then the EOD manned their shovels a couple minutes before Erickson grabbed a couple of flashlights out of the truck and slid down into the cave.

  In less than a minute his head popped out like a woodchuck with a big smile. "Pay dirt my friends."

  "What did you find in there, Eric?" Lt. Anderson asked leaning on his shovel.

  "Keep digging, Sir. We are going to need a big hole to take this stuff out. Actually it looks like several cases of Japanese hand grenades, a few cases of 60MM mortar rounds with the still boxed fuses to go with them. A couple of mortar tubes also."

  "Okay, you want to check for booby traps while we finish enlarging this hole? Be careful. We aren't in any hurry."

  "Gotcha, Sir."

  "Brad can you help us out here with the dozer?"

  "Sure. I can drag some of that fill away now that we know right where the cave and explosives are."

  "I'll ride back in with you if you don't mind. I should send the Army driver back to Naha."

  "No problem, and Brad."

  "Sir?"

  "Thanks, and thanks for sticking around."

  "Glad to. I am your best customer."

  "Actually I believe that your are."

  It was after 2100 when Erickson dropped Brad off at the Navy motor pool. "Been a long day, Buddy. Thanks for your help."

  Have a good one, Eric. See ya later."

  Brad barely got up to the outside dispatch window when Mike Branch, dressed in dress whites as was fitting of his new job of the Commanding Officer's driver, was waving a small slip of paper at him.

  "Jesus, Brad. Will you please answer these phone calls. Lawton called three times, Johnny Stump once and said he'd meet you at the pawn shop wherever in hell that is. And I am impressed, Lieutenant Commander Tole called just once about a half hour ago and asked that you call him at his quarters ASAP when you got on base.

  What in hell have you been doing? Hijacking Navy airplanes? I'm just waiting for the Old Man to call and ask for you."

  "Mike, what are you doing hanging out in the dispatch office dress whites?"

  "I asked you first. But I’ll answer in my official capacity of the CO’s driver. The Captain is at the Air Force Officer's Club at some phony function and wanted to put on the my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours show. So I had to drive him from his quarters to the Club, wait around for him to call for a pickup after he has duly impressed the Air Force. Then hopefully he will change into civilian clothes and go to Noumanoui for a couple of drinks.

  Your turn."

  "Sorry, need to know only. I've got to go use the chief's phone."

  "You shithead, Brad. Never will I tell you about the Captain's roaming again. Until next time." Laughing, Mike Branch pulled his head back into the dispatch office.

  Brad made the calls and set everybody's minds at ease that the public relation problems in Ozato were squared away thanks to the EOD and at the Army's expense. Also the Army was never going to be the wiser since Stump was on the Navy's side. Chances are that Crocker would never hear about it.

  "I need to run down the hill to Johnny's pawn shop to fill him in, Ok if I check out a pickup, Chief?"

  "Yeah, go ahead. See you at quarters in the morning. On second thought, don't worry about muster, just meet me for coffee before you go out to Ozato."

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Brad had spent most of the last week working on the Ozato Minami School ball field hopefully trying to get it finished before the chief pulled him back to NAF Naha to work on the road to the Chief's Club. With all the rough grade work finished in Ozato and only the final grade work to do, he was told that he was needed on the Chief's Club road. Ronnie Jessup and the Okinawan equipment operators had hauled coral fill to the new road as often as they could and now it was as Chief Lawton said, "out of control."

  Friday morning, August 7, found Brad at the weekly Public Works personnel inspection and then afterwards taking a ride to the road with the chief. "See what I mean? There hasn't been an operator shaping the road for a two weeks. Jessup has kept it smooth enough to haul more fill and so we can get up and down the hill, but if it rains I believe we'll be in deep shit."

  "No doubt about it, Chief. I already talked to Crocker and Stump about bringing a D-8 dozer in from Ozato so we can use it. I'm finished with all the rough grade work out there so they can finish it with a grader."

  "Any chance of getting it the first of the week?"

  "Yeah. I think that if I go to Ozato today with the Army's driver I maybe able to bring it back today. Then we'll have it here for an early start Monday. If you treat me nice, I might want to run the dozer for a while on Sunday instead of being duty dispatcher."

  "That's blackmail, Brad."

  "Really?"

  "Okay, you work on the road for 8 hours on Sunday and I'll find somebody to stand duty dispatcher. Besides, you'll be close by and if they get in a bind you can bail them out."

  When Brad got to Naha Port, Johnny Stump was in the yard near an Army tractor and lowboy talking to the driver.

  "You're just in time. Want to take a ride to Ozato?

  Next question. Do you want the D-8 brought to your job?"

  "Yes and yes. Lawton wants me to start straightening out those huge piles of coral that are passing for a road like on Sunday"

  "I know. I took a ride up to the chief's club last night to buy a bottle of scotch. I'm surprised that they hadn't hollered for you to work on it sooner.

  Come on, let's get a cup of coffee then go out and load the dozer."

  At about 1500 hours Brad was climbing up on the dozer to unload it from the Army's trailer. He waved a thank you at Johnny who was heading back towards Naha Port. Glancing back he saw two vehicles passing by on the paved road where the new road would tie in. Chief Lawton waved as he pulled on the the shoulder to watch him. The second vehicle drove slowly by and the Lieutenant Commander driving waved and threw Brad a loose salute then smiled as he drove off.

  By 1900 he had the worst of the humps knocked down but there was still a lot of hours of grade work to do yet. Then Brad would bring in the surveyors to give him some grade stakes so he could really shape it like a real road with a couple of smooth curves and a gentle climb up the hill.

  While he backed the dozer down the hill, Brad was startled by the blaring of a car horn. Throwing out the master clutch and slamming on the brakes he was surprised not to feel the dozer hit something. He turned around and saw Ron, 'Akabu', Jessup's big smile behind the windshield of his Olds.

  "Isn't it time to knockoff and get some chow?" Ron hollered as he stepped up onto the dozer. "Come on Brad, let's go down to the Ten-Gay-Ten and get some yakamesa."

  "You talked me into it. Have you got...?"

  Brad never finished when Akabu swung his arm around from behind his back and handed him a icy bottle of Asahi beer.

  "Domo." Brad managed to speak before taking a long draft of the icy beer. "Arigato..., domo arigato, Akabu-san" He repeated between gulps. "Let me park this beast and we can go. Got any more of this?" Handing Ron the empty bottle.

  "I just happened to think you might be thirsty, so there maybe some more in the car."

  It was a short drive down the flight-line road to the civilian gate where the commercial flights came into Okinawa. Just outside the gate was the civilian air terminal and the Ten-Gay-Ten Japanese restaurant. The Seabees used the Ten-Gay-Ten as their private retreat to catch a late dinner or early breakfast when they had the duty. Seldom did they ever see any airmen from the Air Force side of the base in there.

  The two Seabees finished the generous servings
of yakamesa and started on their third beer. The dining room was almost empty, only two Asian couples were sitting towards the front of the dining room at separate tables but both couples were drinking mixed drinks slowly as if killing time. "They must be waiting for a plane."

  "Huh? Who" Ron had been quietly drinking his beer and watching the waitress as she moved around the dining room filling containers and straightening up generally. "Kawaii, isn't she."

  "Christ Ron, she's the only person in this dining room isn't she?"

  "Sure enough."

  Laughing at his friend, Brad signaled the nesan for two more beers. "Fill your eyes when she brings us more beer and cleans off the table. You do realize that if the wrong Naval officer or petty officer comes in here we are dead ducks since we are both in work uniforms and mine are kind of dirty from running dozer most of the day."

  "Yeah. Guess we should leave and get back on base. But not before I drink at least one more beer."

  "One more. After that you can take me to the barracks, Ron. I'm about to fall to sleep right here."

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Brad caught the Navy shuttle bus from the barracks to the main gate. It was 1000 hours Saturday morning when he walked through the gate and headed towards the two pink cabs parked across the street pointed towards Naha. Maybe Tomi's oji-san is here. I would like to see him again. If he is and takes me to Kokusai Dori he'll think that I'm going to see Tomako.

  Brad opened the back door of the front pink taxi and told the driver, "Black Market Alley, dozo." When he slid in.

  He looked at the driver and for a second thought he might be Tomanaga until Brad realized the the driver was younger and smaller than Tomi's uncle.

  He prowled the nooks and crannies of Black Market Alley browsing the diverse goods. He stopped for some minutes at a small booth where a tiny, old Mama-san, toothless and stooped over with osteoporosis, cheerfully showed him her stock of colorful Hawaiian style shirts, the kind that many Okinawan men wore.