Don't miss Jon Mitchell's brilliant investigative article about the (open) secret US nuclear warheads kept on Okinawa, published on July 23 at The Asia Pacific Journal:
(Ominous holes: An aerial photo shows the Mace missile base in Onna, Okinawa, in the early 1960s. Photo: APJ, Courtesy of Larry Johnston)Okinawa and Atom Bombs: A Timeline1945 U.S. military seizes control of Okinawa after three months fighting.1952 Treaty of San Francisco ends U.S.-led postwar Allied Occupation of mainland Japan, but grants the U.S. military jurisdiction over Okinawa.1954 The crew of the Japanese fishing boat Lucky Dragon #5 are irradiated in the U.S. H-bomb test at Bikini Island in the Pacific. More than 30 million Japanese people sign a petition in protest. For the first time, the U.S. military secretly stations nuclear weapons on Okinawa.1956 The Ryukyu Assembly of Elected Officials demands the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from Okinawa and any other islands.1962 The first of four Mace nuclear-missile sites becomes operational at Bolo Point, Okinawa.1965 The U.S. loses a hydrogen bomb from the U.S.S. Ticonderoga 130 km off Okinawa's coast.1966 Iejima Island residents successfully block the deployment of U.S. Nike nuclear missiles.1967 Prime Minister Sato Eisaku first proclaims Japan's three non-nuclear principles: Not to possess, manufacturer or allow the introduction of atomic weapons.1968 A U.S. B-52 strategic bomber crashes near nuclear-warhead bunkers on Kadena Air Base.1969 Japan and the U.S. conclude a secret agreement allegedly still in operation which allows the U.S. to reintroduce nuclear weapons to Japan during times of crisis.1971 Washington demands Tokyo help to pay for the removal of nuclear arms from Okinawa the first official U.S. admission of the presence of nuclear weapons on the island.1972 Okinawa reverts to Japanese control.
2 comments:
This was my missile site in '68, '69.
The four "holes" on the right side were mine and I monitored the nukes in 12 hour shifts. The terrain in the picture was beautiful green and just in front of us from the hardstand before the launch doors was the Pacific, only three or four miles away.
The B-52 mentioned crashing in '68 never left the ground, it was a failure on takeoff and the nuke bunkers were some distance away and it was never close to hitting them.
The blast when the B-52 blew up knocked me out of my bunk about a mile away on base. But by the nature of nukes, if it had hit the bunkers square on, the worst that would have happened would have been high explosive detonations, and I doubt it would have penetrated the bunkers and caused even that.
Many thanks for sharing. This secret history, no longer a national security concern, needs to be revealed and discussed, from many perspectives, especially those who lived close to the nuclear warheads.
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