thedrifter
10-26-07, 08:04 AM
From time to time, Sgt. Maj. Michael E. Tuttle flips through his 4th Marine Regiment unit year book. Scanning the pages and portraits of Marines he knew in his early days in the Corps, he remembers the fire that claimed the lives of 13 of his fellow Marines on Camp Fuji in 1979.
October 19 marked the 28-year anniversary of the tragedy, and Tuttle, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing sergeant major, gathered with more than 120 Marines, sailors, Japanese officials, firefighters and community members at the camp for a memorial service. Tuttle, who was a private stationed on Camp Fuji when the fire occurred, shared his haunting memories of that day.
“People have what you call survivor’s guilt,” he said. “Everyday, I think, ‘Why wasn’t I the one who died? Why was I spared that day?’ God only knows.”
On Oct. 19, 1979, Typhoon Tip hit Japan and for more than 1,250 Marines and sailors from Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, it was a day they would never forget.
Bracing for the typhoon, the Marines stayed inside their Quonset huts playing cards or listening to music. They used kerosene heaters to keep the huts warm and tied the doors shut with parachute cord to keep the high winds from whipping them open.
The huts were located at the base of a hill that housed a fuel farm. The typhoon’s strong winds dislodged hoses from two 5,000-gallon rubber bladders, releasing the fuel and setting in motion the deadly freak accident.
Flowing down the hill and into the huts, the fuel was quickly ignited by a heater. The rope-secured doors that had kept the merciless winds out suddenly became merciless captors for the Marines.
Tuttle, who was in one of the huts that night, recalled the chaos.
“If it wasn’t for this big Marine who broke through the door, we could have had the same fate as Marines (who were caught in the fire),” Tuttle said. “The first thing I saw (outside) was a Marine aiding another Marine in my platoon who had all of his facial hair singed, his clothing charred and a piece of skin hanging down off the end of his hand and dragging on the deck.”
Within two hours, fire departments from neighboring towns had come to assist the base fire department. By the time the fire was under control, 70 Marines and three Japanese rescue workers had been injured, according to an Okinawa Marine newspaper report one week after the incident.
The Marines were evacuated to hospitals at Yokosuka Naval Base, Naval Airfield Atsugi, Yokota Airbase, Gotemba and the burn center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. One Marine died that night and 12 others died in the days and months following.
Retired Gunnery Sgt. David Luttenberger, a lance corporal at the time, recalls visiting the injured Marines at the burn center when he left Camp Fuji a month later.
“It was a shock to see figures of men I was told were my friends,” Luttenberger said in an e-mail. “I couldn’t recognize them. I remember my buddies screaming because the nurses were scrubbing the wounds to keep them clean. It makes my skin crawl every time I think about it, which is often.”
With nowhere to live, the Marines left on Camp Fuji after the fire temporarily moved in to nearby residents’ homes and the nearby Japanese Ground Self Defense Force camp.
“I remember the Japanese residents who lived near the camp brought us blankets and pillows,” Luttenberger said. “The Marines and local rescue workers were not the only heroes that night or the days that followed. The residents were our heroes too. I will never forget them.”
Col. Kenneth Lissner, the camp’s commanding officer, said that life cannot be taken for granted and that Tuttle’s speech is a great example of that. He also said the Japanese contribution should never be forgotten.
“Life is unpredictable and precious, and it can be snuffed out or suffer horrible changes in the blink of an eye,” Lissner said. “We, as Marines, value the service and mourn the loss of life of all our brothers and sisters, whether they die in combat, a training accident or on liberty.”
Lance Cpl. Robin S. Speidel, a field radio operator on Camp Fuji, said Tuttle’s speech put the day’s events into perspective.
“(It was) good to hear what actually happened (from) a guy who was there,” Speidel said. “He made the event seem real and brought more emotion to the ceremony.”
Tuttle said most of the Marines involved in the incident were between 17 and 19 years old. The week prior to the memorial ceremony, he contemplated the idea of what might have been for those Marines who died in the fire.
“I wondered if they would have married, stayed in the Marine Corps or got out after four years to do something else,” Tuttle said. “They had their whole lives ahead of them. If the Camp Fuji Marines ever come across someone who doesn’t know what the memorial is, I encourage them to tell the story."
October 19 marked the 28-year anniversary of the tragedy, and Tuttle, the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing sergeant major, gathered with more than 120 Marines, sailors, Japanese officials, firefighters and community members at the camp for a memorial service. Tuttle, who was a private stationed on Camp Fuji when the fire occurred, shared his haunting memories of that day.
“People have what you call survivor’s guilt,” he said. “Everyday, I think, ‘Why wasn’t I the one who died? Why was I spared that day?’ God only knows.”
On Oct. 19, 1979, Typhoon Tip hit Japan and for more than 1,250 Marines and sailors from Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, it was a day they would never forget.
Bracing for the typhoon, the Marines stayed inside their Quonset huts playing cards or listening to music. They used kerosene heaters to keep the huts warm and tied the doors shut with parachute cord to keep the high winds from whipping them open.
The huts were located at the base of a hill that housed a fuel farm. The typhoon’s strong winds dislodged hoses from two 5,000-gallon rubber bladders, releasing the fuel and setting in motion the deadly freak accident.
Flowing down the hill and into the huts, the fuel was quickly ignited by a heater. The rope-secured doors that had kept the merciless winds out suddenly became merciless captors for the Marines.
Tuttle, who was in one of the huts that night, recalled the chaos.
“If it wasn’t for this big Marine who broke through the door, we could have had the same fate as Marines (who were caught in the fire),” Tuttle said. “The first thing I saw (outside) was a Marine aiding another Marine in my platoon who had all of his facial hair singed, his clothing charred and a piece of skin hanging down off the end of his hand and dragging on the deck.”
Within two hours, fire departments from neighboring towns had come to assist the base fire department. By the time the fire was under control, 70 Marines and three Japanese rescue workers had been injured, according to an Okinawa Marine newspaper report one week after the incident.
The Marines were evacuated to hospitals at Yokosuka Naval Base, Naval Airfield Atsugi, Yokota Airbase, Gotemba and the burn center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. One Marine died that night and 12 others died in the days and months following.
Retired Gunnery Sgt. David Luttenberger, a lance corporal at the time, recalls visiting the injured Marines at the burn center when he left Camp Fuji a month later.
“It was a shock to see figures of men I was told were my friends,” Luttenberger said in an e-mail. “I couldn’t recognize them. I remember my buddies screaming because the nurses were scrubbing the wounds to keep them clean. It makes my skin crawl every time I think about it, which is often.”
With nowhere to live, the Marines left on Camp Fuji after the fire temporarily moved in to nearby residents’ homes and the nearby Japanese Ground Self Defense Force camp.
“I remember the Japanese residents who lived near the camp brought us blankets and pillows,” Luttenberger said. “The Marines and local rescue workers were not the only heroes that night or the days that followed. The residents were our heroes too. I will never forget them.”
Col. Kenneth Lissner, the camp’s commanding officer, said that life cannot be taken for granted and that Tuttle’s speech is a great example of that. He also said the Japanese contribution should never be forgotten.
“Life is unpredictable and precious, and it can be snuffed out or suffer horrible changes in the blink of an eye,” Lissner said. “We, as Marines, value the service and mourn the loss of life of all our brothers and sisters, whether they die in combat, a training accident or on liberty.”
Lance Cpl. Robin S. Speidel, a field radio operator on Camp Fuji, said Tuttle’s speech put the day’s events into perspective.
“(It was) good to hear what actually happened (from) a guy who was there,” Speidel said. “He made the event seem real and brought more emotion to the ceremony.”
Tuttle said most of the Marines involved in the incident were between 17 and 19 years old. The week prior to the memorial ceremony, he contemplated the idea of what might have been for those Marines who died in the fire.
“I wondered if they would have married, stayed in the Marine Corps or got out after four years to do something else,” Tuttle said. “They had their whole lives ahead of them. If the Camp Fuji Marines ever come across someone who doesn’t know what the memorial is, I encourage them to tell the story."