A Breach Of Treaty

The year was 1968 I was part of a special guard unit only answerable to our lieutenant and the base commander we all had top secret clearences The location was Atsugi Naval base in Japan ..signs were posted DEADLY FORSE IS AUTHERIZED DO NOT ENTER..we took our dutys very seriously inside three hangers were three bombers ..onboard these planes were atomic weapons.the navy would rather we kill someone than the Japonese find out about these aircraft..also out on the airfield were 6 of the old EC121 super constilations rigged up as hurricane hunters..they wernt anything of the kind..what they were ? spy planes .on the outside one thing on the inside ..row upon row of instruments and radar screans..we were makeing tree top level flights into North Korea and Red China.their electronics were designed to map radar instalations and jam them..do we spy on other countrys? Definately..Is your government lyeing to you HELL YEAH..more later

reply to post by granpabobby


Interesting story, you say you were a soldier back in 68.
Please more story.
Did you ever get a chance to read any of these manuals on these craft?
Were they in english?

I sure hope you weren't in charge of the instruction manual, or responsible for pushing any buttons or levers!

reply to post by SpaceJockey1


no l didnt push buttons or read instruction manuals..what we did was security even had to escort the aircrew to and from the ec121 acrrying black boxes about 12 in square..film canisters?? we also guarded the radio room and an area they called the war room..no one entered or left without aurtherizationduring a meeting i asked our liutenant what to do if some unaurtherized person were to enter the restricted areas..he said your standing orders are to shoot.

there were only 6 people in our unit..it took a mounth to get our clearence meantine we were schooled and trained this continued for the 2 years i was there we were seperate from everyone else on base.to say the least we were well indocternated lol..dureing that time i drew my weapon 3 times and used it twice..i fired warning shots the scarry thing was that if the persons i was trying to stop had not done exactly as i said i would have shot them..had the Japonese found out about what was going on it would have been a disaster..dont hnow what they are doing there today but this was back then

Originally posted by granpabobbyalso out on the airfield were 6 of the old EC121 super constilations rigged up as hurricane hunters..they wernt anything of the kind..what they were ? spy planes .on the outside one thing on the inside ..row upon row of instruments and radar screans..we were makeing tree top level flights into North Korea and Red China.their electronics were designed to map radar instalations and jam them..do we spy on other countrys? Definately..Is your government lyeing to you HELL YEAH..more later

This is not really a secret anymore; since 1997 in fact that the US used this platform to conduct SIGINT collection missions on North Korea and China.

Recent Declassification Decisions

19. (U) Effective 24 DECEMBER 1997, the fact that the following historical and active airborne platforms have performed SIGINT missions is declassified.

(U)Historical

EA-3B (SKY WARRIOR)
EC-121 (LOCKHEED CONSTELLATION)
(snipped out the rest of the list for brevity)

Of course the platforms would have had to been based in Japan and South Korea as well because of flight range limitations.

The presence of the Ec121 in Japan at the time would not have been a secret while their exact mission and it’s contents (the boxes of films and data tapes) would have been. The existence of a cover story (hurricane hunters) would help to disguise their true missions from third parties. I am in doubt that any Japanese would have stormed the base for the data as they were our allies.

I have no doubt a Lieutenant, who as the most junior of officers told you to shoot a Japanese national if he entered the base and the restricted area unauthorized. His sense of self importance lead him to do so...

Like all junior officers, he was likely more full of zeal and enthusiasm rather than any real knowledge or experiance and the authority to carry out such an order.

He was likely a filled with a sense of self importance and wanted to portray the mission to his troops as one most grave and serious in nature so that they would treat it thus.

I would guess the likely hood was about zero that any breech of this type would occur.

I do not know what intelligence sharing relationship we had with the Japanese government at the time as far as sharing SIGINT data so I can’t comment on the fact that they may or may not have known about the true missions of the aircraft based there.

However, in any real event in which the host nation (Japan in this case) would have felt the need to enter a US base and infiltrate the restricted areas without authorization would have been precipitated by weeks of escalation and therefore the preemptive removal of any classified platforms and equipment.

No offense OP but- it kind of scares the hell out of me that people are being given "Top Secret clearance" who can't spell "force", "Japanese", "lying", "duties", etc, etc correctly....

reply to post by Skippy1138


it has nothing to do with my ability to spell it has everything to do with your history and whether or not you can be trusted to peform your dutys..we did have protesters cut through the wire fence earley one mourning..i stopped them question my spelling all you want i did my duty and im not ashaimed of it

reply to post by Golf66

thank you for your post i was not aware that this had been declasified..however it brings to mind a Jessie Ventura show on arwea 51 where he asked ..you mean if i cross this line that says deadly force is autherized will they shoot me? Yes they will...

I appreciate your post GrandpaBobby and also your service to our country.

That year, 1968, was a very tense time with Vietnam on our minds.

Our military had to and I hope still does mean what they say and carry out their orders.

I am just an old country gal but if I say stop or I'll shoot you better stop or you'll get shot.

Seems like common sense to me but not much of that these days.

Peace and Love.

reply to post by dizziedame

we were also guarding bombers with atomic weapons onboard this was in direct violation of the treaty with Japan this was the main thing we guarded..this secret was not only guarded by us but dogs and their handlers also .we followed orders and did our jobs..i know there are others out there who had simular experences.STEP UP

reply to post by granpabobby


Sorry to the OP but it is fairly well known knowledge that we stored nukes at Chichi Jima, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa during the 50's and 60's with the full knowledge of the goverment of Japanbut they were not stored at Atsugi NAS. Kind of strange that you did not seem to mention the U2's that were the main spy planes housed there that were making daily over flights of North Korea and China back then.

reply to post by Birddog26


we did not store atomics .they were in bombers ready to go.there were no u2 aircraft..but we did get visits in the middleof the nite from black birds

Originally posted by granpabobby
reply to post by dizziedame

 

we were also guarding bombers with atomic weapons onboard this was in direct violation of the treaty with Japan this was the main thing we guarded..this secret was not only guarded by us but dogs and their handlers also .we followed orders and did our jobs..i know there are others out there who had simular experences.STEP UP

Surveillance planes sure, Japanese were no friends of Red China or North Korea and would have agreed with their mission.

But I don't understand the motivation to keep nuclear weapons. This seems unnecessarily risky and would piss off the Japanese too much, and for what gain? The military had bases in Philippines & Guam and Alaska already.

I wonder if this thing about the nukes was just a tale to "motivate" you to really do your job?

Or did you have personal experience and training loading/unloading nuclear weapons or escorted those same people (the weapons have to be cycled through because the tritium decays and must be replenished in maintenance)?

And I thought typical practice did not have nuclear weapons mated to delivery systems except for ICBM's and SAC airborne alert.

I have no doubt a Lieutenant, who as the most junior of officers told you to shoot a Japanese national if he entered the base and the restricted area unauthorized. His sense of self importance lead him to do so...

Not entirely implausible, because North Korea had/has an active espionage project recruiting Japanese nationals (often of Korean descent, possibly with families in NK) or spies simulating them.

reply to post by granpabobby


granpabobby,

It is pretty clear you were never at Atsugi NAS and I have doubts whether you served at all, but that is another discusion. Atsugi NAS was the home base for the U2's in Japan. It was home to Det C, 3rd WRSP. It also had been home to the U2 that Gary Powers flew that was shot down over Russia before it was moved to Pakistan. Anyone serving there during the time you claim knew that. The SR71 never flew into or out of any other base but Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. They were the only base in Japan with the special equipment and crews to handle them. It was home to the 9th SRW. And I will repeat, we never had nukes stored or even on bombers on the mainland of Japan during the time frame you say. They were kept at 13 seperate bases on the islands I already told you about.

reply to post by Birddog26


yes i was at atsugi..you dont believe bombers were there because it was secret..the two times sr71 blackbirds landed there they were preceded by a cargo plane with their own secutity they worked on them and then left.always in the middle of the nite..i was there

reply to post by granpabobby
some of us would like too but the NSA, National security act prevents us, but only if... was not your s for 40 years mine is, one for 30 years and 3 for 50 years and one never. good thing i get my eyes checked to day tired of the edit

reply to post by granpabobby


You just keep up with the same story. It is no longer a secret that we had nukes in Japan. Both goverments have acknowledged that and have made full disclosure where they were kept. They were not Atsugi. The SR71 had no reason at all to land at Atsugi, they had full facilities at Kadena Air Base and case of an emergency they would have gone to Misawa or Yokoto. You have even stated that one of your tenent units the U2 was not even there. I lived at Atsugi from 1967 to 1970 when my father was stationed there with Naval Security Group. Same time you say you were there and this was going on.

I think this thread should be moved to the Hoax threads.