Japan Speaking Tour #7 - Camp Gonsalves Marine Corps Jungle Training Camp, Okinawa
By Pat Elder
September 30, 2024
August 17, 2024 - The sign at the main entrance of the Marine Corps Jungle Training Camp in Okinawa says illegal dumping is strictly prohibited. It says the front of the gate is not a garbage collection and disposal site. The sign continues, “Dumping trash may be a violation of the Waste Disposal Act. If you find anyone violating the law, please report them immediately to the police.”
Akino Miyagi is a passionate Okinawan activist who says the U.S. Marines are desecrating the fragile jungle environment located entirely within the protected Yanbaru National Park.
The Camp Gonsalves Marine Corps Jungle Training Camp is the largest U.S. training facility in Okinawa. It occupies 30.2 sq miles of jungle in Northern Okinawa. The Marines have been training for anti-guerrilla operations here since 1958. (Think Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc.)
The area is home to many endangered species. The Jungle Warfare Training Center contains 22 helicopter landing zones, each an environmental catastrophe. “To the victor go the spoils,” they said about Andrew Jackson. This is Okinawa’s trail of tears.
To demonstrate our solidarity with Akino Miyagi we participated in a brilliant action she organized. Over the years Akino has scoured the perimeter of the sprawling complex and has detected various hazardous materials in the ground. It’s a big deal to the Okinawans because the Marines “returned” much of the sprawling base to the Okinawan prefectural government back in the 1990’s. The U.S. - Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) exonerates the U.S. Marines from clean-up responsibilities, so trash is littered throughout the jungle. A lot of the trash she has collected is comprised of 1980’s era beer bottles. Apparently, the Marines were doing more than training for jungle warfare. Perhaps they were mixing the two.
Akino has also documented radioactive waste, unexploded ordinance, (UXO), and various hazardous materials littered throughout the area.
It is well documented that the US military sprayed Agent Orange here, and throughout much of Okinawa. They are lying about it rather than taking care of those sickened. Agent Orange is not a thing of the past! We learned that from those sickened at Fort Ord, California. The half-life of the dioxin in the soil ranges from 80 to 100 years while the winds lift the carcinogens into our lungs. Depleted uranium and arsenic have been slathered over the island. Military operations here have involved the use of trichloroethylene, tetrachlorethylene, vinyl chloride, benzene, and toluene. PFAS, the forever chemical, has forever contaminated the fish these islanders have lived on for twenty thousand years. It’s a shit show; an environmental trainwreck, and the Americans couldn’t give a damn.
In 2011, the great Welsh journalist Jon Mitchell interviewed US Air Force technicians on Okinawa in charge of the storage of nuclear weapons, which included over 1,200 warheads at Kadena and Naha Air Force Bases as well as at US Army ammunition dumps in Chibana and Henoko.
The F-35’s that thunder out their warning are deafening, while the helicopters at the Jungle Warfare Center are an assault on our ears when they fly just above the treetops. Like their parents, children are traumatized and will never be the same. Try to sleep tight little angels. The helicopters often crash, leaving women and children at home in the states to suffer their loss forever. A Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion crashed near an elementary school close to the Jungle Warfare Center. Thankfully, the crew of seven survived. Imagine the terror of the locals.
Akino’s Plan
Akino’s plan called for the three of us (Ken’Ichi, Rachel, and me) and several Okinawans, to accompany her deep into the jungle. We put on protective gloves, kicked some soil around and collected things like parts of batteries and engines, broken bottles, discarded gauze, wires, etc. We found many scattered American beer bottles and glass shards. We bagged the potentially hazardous materials while we were accompanied by two newspaper reporters. Then, we lined the bags up along the entrance of the base, effectively blocking traffic. Regardez ce qu'ils ont fait à ma chanson! Look what they’ve done to my song!
The armed Marines came out to film us. I pointed to my Baltimore Orioles hat, explaining they led the Yanks by a game. “Clean up the mess and go home,” I told them.
“Dude, “What do you think of them O’s?
Finally, an unarmed, jovial Okinawan Police officer stopped to chat but never asked us to leave. After 3 hours, we left the trash and departed the area. Hopefully, the Marines won’t walk across the street and dump the trash we collected.
Akino found an unexploded 55 mm round, apparently discarded
by the Marines who often claim to be good stewards of the environment.
The Okinawa Times reported on our simple action
at Camp Gonsalves on Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The resolve of the Okinawans lifts the soul, like the resistance prevalent in Hawaii. It’s good to see so many of those suffering from drinking jet fuel in Hawaii forging close connections to their distant relatives here. Our backs are to the wall, whether we’re from Maryland, Hawaii, or Okinawa. It’s the same deep state - or whatever you want to call it. Hawaiians and Okinawans complain that they are deprived of access to bases to perform environmental testing to document the source of so many streams of deadly contamination, but it’s the same in Maryland. We’re all subjects of the same military authority. They’re poisoning the planet and they’re poisoning us.
The Downs Law Group helps to make this work possible. Their support allows us to research and write about military contamination around the world. They’ve helped us buy hundreds of PFAS kits and they’ve helped pay for flights and hotels. The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals in the U.S. and abroad with a high likelihood of exposure to a host of contaminants.
The Downs Law Group employs attorneys accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist those who have served in obtaining VA Compensation and Pension Benefits they are rightly owed.