You'd think being born and raised in California al Sur, (That's Southern California, just in case you are not aware of what's going on around here), recounting an old earthquake experience wouldn't really mean much to me.
Well, you see, I never was in an earthquake while I lived in California before I went overseas. My first real heart-thumping experience with shifting tectonic plates happened to me on an island far across the pond in a place called Misawa, Japan, where I was stationed for two years as an aircraft weapons mechanic in the US AirForce.
I had been on the island of Honshu (Japan's largest and most populated island) for only two months, when the earth began to shake. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9809/01/asia.floods.01/map.japan.honshu.jpg
While tidying up things while in an airplane hangar where we had our training and certifications on a real jet fighter with dummy weapons, I heard a strange rumbling sound. I had just dismounted from an MJ-1 bomb-lift truck (http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/images/MJ-1%200772.jpg) to move a stand. I looked acroos the hangar and noticed the office doors along the hangar wall were flinging open and airmen were heading towards the hangar doors in full tilt. It looked like a firedrill in high speed.
Just a few feet away from me was a JN (Japanese National: aka- citizen) installing hot water radiators for heating the hangar. He spun towards me on his short little legs and began to pump them furiously as he made for the nearest exit. I decided to join him.
Still young and lithe, I made good progress towards the opened hangar doors. http://www.midwaydoor.com/images/hangarx450.jpg I say opened, but they soon began to roll closed as the earth growled and whipped and bucked like a bull out of the chute in a western rodeo. http://www.bocadeiguana.com/la_manzanilla_to_do/03-05-15_toros_bucking_bull_allan_t_o.jpg
Hang on! This little doggie isn't going to toss me down onto Mother Earth so easily! I made a bolting leap through the doors just as the ceiling in the hangar let go, and passed unscathed into the morning sun-lit outdoors.
Not wanting to be any part of the demolition that was going on behind me in that hangar, I continued to run away from it until I had crossed the security rope corraling the jet fighters that were out side on the ramp. I didn't even show my line badge! Luckily, the armed Security Police had more brains than we chided them for having and he didn't level his M-16 on me, or any of the others who had poured out onto the ramp, Pilots and all.
Still the earth continued to buck. I looked over to the runway and noticed an F-4 C on final approach who wisely decided not to set down and burst back into the air. I was amazed to see thousands of feet of concrete runway undulating like ocean waves, rising and falling!
I saw a tree on the side of a small nearby hill suddly dart higher upwards then suddenly plunge into a dusty valley, only to rise again and repeat the process. It was like watching flotsam being cast up and down on the crest of the ocean's waves. It was all so surreal.
The F-4 fighters were being bucked up and down like pogo sticks jumping their wheel chocks. One airman was caught just as he was coming out of a cockpit while servicing the radar, and was tossed like a buckaroo* to the ground and broke his arm.
The earth continued to tremble! I looked back to the hangar and saw high over the doors was a a huge light fixture. The lamp inside of its enclosure had somehow worked its way free of the lamp socket and was rolling around inside the glasssed-in front. Amazing!
Finally, it happened. Mother Earth ceased convulsing! It was over! Yet, it still felt like she was pitching. I realized my legs were betraying me. They had turned to a mass of jelly. After a moment things settled down and I felt stable enough to take my first steps.
All around me men were cursing, some wanting to go back to a combat zone in Vietnam, and others were just too scared to say anything. Me? I was looking for a bathroom!
We learned later the epicenter was located across the water north of us near the island of Hokkaido deep under the ocean's floor. It registed 8.0 on the richter, a large quake to be sure.
Between the main quake which occured at 10:20 am, and the last measurable after-shock, we shook another 88 times that day. Most of us slept or at least lounged in our barracks in our fatigues, sitting as close to the barracks door as possible. Each little tremor sent us spillling out onto the sidewalk. Some men ran out in their skivvies, and others ran out clutching their cases of beer they bought to 'settle' their nerves. (As if they needed that for a reason).
We spent days digging holes around the base helping the base engineers look for broken water pipes so we could shower, shave and eat! Food was handed out in cartons called K-rations. (I swear some of those things were left-overs from WWII.)
Casualties were few, thankfully. One small home downtown caught fire, the train tracks were lifted up for miles so high they resembled a roller coaster's tracks. They were up and down like waves of iron.
One Japanese man perished while fishing in Lake Towada 35 miles away. His rowboat capsized. He drowned.
For months following the quake we were as nervous as sheep in a minefield. Anytime a large dump truck or other like vehicle drove by our barracks on the street out front, the building would shudder, and we would head for the exits. It took a long time for us to sleep normally.
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*(Did you know?: Buckaroo, is an adaptation to English from the Spanish word vaquero [bah-care-oh], meaning cowboy.) Just thought I'd toss that in.
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23 comments:
I love that the picture of the K-rations has a small box of nourishing cigarettes. Yea, that will sustain life.
This is a good blog Dad. I've heard bits of these stories here and there but it's nice to hear your full account. The description of the F4 choosing not to land on the shifting runway is one of my favorites. Yikes!
Still I was shocked when you said it was a 8.0 earthquake. I didn't even think that was possible without huge chunks of land breaking off and spilling into the ocean!
I'm starting to think that blogging is deceptively just elegant and comedic journaling. I stopped journaling at age 13 or something around there. After a rare family FHE where we all committed to journals, I don't think you have journaled much, Pops. So I want you to continue writing these GREAT stories because I will be saving these for my posterity. : )
not sure if you still man this blog, but just pass by and wanted to say I was in the same earthquake with you! but I was only 3 years old at the the time. My dad was an Air Traffic Controller stationed at Misawa AB during that time. I still remember it well!
I too was in the same earthquake. I was 8 years old and in the 2nd grade. I remember the florescent lights falling and crashing on top of the desks we were hiding under. All the earthquake drills in school really paid off. I never did find the shoe I lost while running around the playground looking for my brothers. After moving to Texas my Daddy promised me no more earthquakes. I believed him until the first time the washing machine went into its spin cycle (we were living in a trailer close to Lackland AFB) and the whole trailer began to shake. As I had learned to do I ran out the front door screaming "You Promised". My whole family still will not let me live that one down.
I came across your blog while looking at websites about Misawa. I was in the 1968 earthquake too. I had just finished my freshman year in high school. We had a hard time locating all my siblings that day (7 of us). We were leaving in June so all our belongings were already gone. I live in California now but will never forget that quake!
I was in the earthquake of '68. I was finger painting in kindergarten at the time. When the rumbling started my teacher freaked out and just started screaming. A Japanese gardener came in and rushed all of us outside and told us to get on all fours and 'ride it out'. It was so surreal - the playground was rolling like an ocean. Kids were trying to run but the ground would fall out from under them and then come back up to meet them, knocking them down. My brother Jim came over and gathered me up. Our house was S-83, but we swung by the commissary and 'requistioned' some ice cream. The commissary was a mess. The orange and white checkered water tower by the radio station was in danger of falling over so they evacuated us to the Officers Club. Very scary, but quite an experience.
My family was also in Misawa for Great Shakes. We lived in a small house off base. Dad was off duty that day making lunch for my brother, sister, a neighbor kid and me. I was only 3, but I recall seeing a jar with my crayons fall and break before Dad rushed us outside to safety. Mom was shopping on base with friends and by the time she made it home to us she was in complete shock. It lasted for days. Every tremor sent her running to the door. When she finally calmed down (weeks later) she bought matching windbreakers for all of us with the "survivor" patch, the US and Japanese flags sewn on each. I think she still has them.
The day we left Japan, 2 years later, our jet just made it off of the ground when another big quake hit. Though not as major, we could still see the ground rolling beneath us as our plane climbed upward.
I was in the 5/16/68 7.9 earthquake of 1968 too but I was still gestating. I was born 10/8/68. My dad was SMSGT William "Frank" Chastain at Misawa. Sort of surreal now with the events of the last couple of days... Can email me at chasdava@yahoo.com
My wife and I were there during the earthquake. We were living off base and I was working in the Jet Engine shop at the time of the quake. I was talking to one of our supervisors when I had no more asked him if he felt something and all hell broke loose. We ran for the hanger doors and waited outside till it was all over. When I was finally released to go check on my wife off base I found her hiding behind the bed crying and everything out of the cabinets. It was truly a harrowing experience and the tremors kept us up many a nights. I think I felt tremors even when there weren't any. Thanks for your article. Former Ssgt. Jeff Hart. 356 tactical squadron.
Ihave a url with a pdf of a newspaper of that day with the 35th fighter wing history.
I was in junior high at the gym when the earth started shaking and debris from the ceiling began raining. The next day my friend and I volunteered for KP duty at the mess hall just down the street from the gym as they served meals for everyone. We worked a few days bussing tables and taking out trash until power was restored. All this just after the USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea. And before that, downtown Misawa burned downed. My dad was a Security Policeman and I remember how busy he was for those events. Crazy memories.
The Misawa quake was in May of 1968. The USS Pueblo was captured 5 months earlier in January 1968 while I was home on leave. When I got to Japan we were immediately trained on loading nukes and sent off to Korea. Perhaps you are thinking about the shooting down of the EC-121 on April 15, 1969? At said shoot-down I was in Korea and we were all standing by our jets awaiting orders from Pres. Nixon to launch a nuclear attack. Talk about tight nerves!
I was there for the 1968 quake too. My Dad was stationed there and I joined my family with my two small children to work at the Base Library. I was filling in for our JN at the branch library on Security Hill when it hit. I had just opened up when it came. At first everything groaned then the shaking started. The library was in an old Quonset Hut. As I ran out the door, I saw the bookshelves fall over like a line of dominoes. The light fixture fell to the floor behind me. Two airmen came out of a building across the street and the three of us held each other up during the quake. I remember seeing the ground rolling like waves on the ocean, just as you described. That night we slept on couches at the officers club, while running outside during every after-shock. A pair of pilots helped me with my small children so I could get some rest. Volunteers fed us all. I was active in the base theater group and finally a few weeks later we were able to put on the production of "Oklahoma" that we were preparing. During one performance a tremor hit in the middle of a song. The floor trembled and the lights swayed but we kept going.
We left Japan in July, going through Tokyo. While waiting for our flight the largest tremor in years hit Tokyo. You could tell all the Misawa people because we were the ones headed for the doors. On top of all that, the flight we were supposed to take to CONUS was supposed to come in, be refitted and return. That was the flight the Russians forced down north of Japan, so we had to spend the night in Tokyo and fly out commercial the next day. Weird year. Those are things you never forget.
I was also at Misawa AFB during the earthquake. I was having breakfast at the diner across from the gift shop near the tall cement stack. Sitting at the table when everyone started to run out and glasses, cups, dishes began falling off the counter etc. Ran out into the street. Had good view of the flight line from the street and as you say, saw the F4's bouncing off the ground. One lady near us gave birth right after the shaking stopped and was helped by the medics.
My barracks were at the end of the street and sustained moderate damage, cracks etc. Other barracks were more severely damaged. I remember the cracks in the early/streets and the tree that was swalled up near the nco club.
Spent many of the next few weeks on details finding and digging for water leaks. I also left in July but remember that every day was stressful waiting for the next tremor. The only positive from this experience was, did not have the pay for breakfast that morning (hope they don't catch up to me, LOL)
Dennis I actually have a slide photo of that very tree you mentioned!
I was there as well, in 1st grade. I just posted on my FB page about he 50th Anniversary of this date coming up in a couple of weeks. We lived in W Area off base. After the quake our family of 5 lived in our little Japanese sedan for 3 or more nights, before we started sleeping on the floor of one of our family friends who lived on base (A SMSgt). I remember standing in line for water with my Dad, being under my desk as lights fell and books/lunchboxes fell and the teacher screamed (we didn't have a lunch room at the elementary school and used to take a bus to one of the chow halls, but not THAT day). I posted the photo of that 1st Grade class with my FB post...along with a link to some of the photos put together by the bubbas up on the Hill. My Dad was a member of the Hospital Squadron at Misawa.
I was remembering Great Shakes Day when I found this site. I was in the same grade as
K.Popeck, and Leo Argersinger's sister, Colleen. It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since the quake.
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