MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
By Connie Bischoff

I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Japan. The highlight of my journey was my mission to find the site of the house where we used to live when our Dad was stationed at Johnson Air Force Base aka JAB in Iruma, NW of Tokyo from 1955 to 1958. Thanks to Akio Osono of Johnson Town, his family, my brothers and the Johnson Air Base Facebook Group, my dream came true.

Our family arrived in Japan in December 1955. Our Dad was a USAF Captain who flew a B-57B. Instead of living in the Officers Housing in Hyde Park, our Dad and his B-57B buddies decided to have houses for their families built off base and closer to the town. The construction of the housing was supervised by my Dad. I guess that the USAF paid for the construction since the housing on base was tight. He had also shipped over his Cadillac convertible to enjoy during his assignment at JAB and sell later in Japan. After we moved into our new house, our Mom got pregnant (isn’t it funny how that happens!).

On September 13, 1956, our Dad and his Navigator, Lt. Jimmie D. Martin, took off on a routine flight. Shortly after takeoff, the airplane lost a portion of the hydraulic system… a serious problem. It appeared that they would not be able to return to Johnson Air Base and they were told to eject from the aircraft after making sure that, as the plane descended, it would land in the Pacific Ocean and not endanger anyone. Dad told Jimmie to eject first but Jimmie’s ejection seat mechanism did not work. Dad popped the canopy. Jimmie crawled out wearing his parachute. The odds were against Jimmie surviving as the wind would probably slam him back against the vertical stabilizer. Dad did not know what happened to Jimmie when he ejected himself expecting an easy parachute ride down. Instead, the winds blew him against a mountain causing several injuries. His chute got caught in a tree. Back at home, all we could do was worry as they both were missing. I can still picture our pregnant Mom sitting in a chair in our courtyard… just waiting.

Dad and Lt. Martin seemed to be missing forever. The news, when it came, was good. A Japanese wood hauling crew had heard our Dad yelling and helped him down the side of the mountain. They took him in a cart to a farmer’s house, the same one that Lt. Martin had just walked to a few minutes before! Both pilots were flown in the same helicopter back to Johnson Air Base. After a few days in the hospital, Dad came home although the injuries to his head and right elbow never completely healed. When he returned home, he insisted upon walking up the stairs by himself from his Caddy parked below. We were certainly glad to see him!!

Dad continued to fly although I doubt that the B-57B was his favorite aircraft. A Japanese farmer later returned his helmet.

We continued to live in the house until mid-1958 and thoroughly enjoyed Japan. When our baby brother John was born, Daddy posted a big sign listing all our names. It was placed right next to the entrance stairs. Sometimes we would hear the chatter of children in front of the house. We discovered that the combination of the American car and American house with the unusual chimney made us an attractive location for school drawing classes. On weekends, we would take our Caddy and go on field trips. The people in many of the small towns were curious to see people with blond hair and blue eyes and they loved the car. As our Mom had taught us some Japanese, everyone was friendly and welcoming.

Now, on this special trip in 2017, it was my chance to play detective. In order to travel to Iruma, the location of JAB, I took 3 trains from Tokyo. It was a great experience as train travel in Japan is so efficient, clean and quiet. I disembarked and walked to the Kenei Sayama Inariyama Park, a beautiful park located on the property formerly occupied by Hyde Park Officers Housing. There were kids playing soccer, toddlers in a playground and food trucks. I continued walking to the perimeter where my brother Ron and I thought our small group of houses were located.

I had five clues. Clue 1 – Our Dad, a Colorado native insisted that our house, the one on the northernmost edge of the property, have a fireplace and a chimney which made it stand out. Clue 2 – Our houses were built up from the street where our Dad parked his Caddy requiring stairs for access. Clue 3 – We looked across the street at a Shinto Park with stairs going up to the entrance under a red Tori gate. Clue 4 – Inside the park was an unusual “overlook” with a bench for sitting and a great view of the town. Clue 5 – I brought with me several photos of our house, one which showed our house and the sign listing our names. I kept walking around the area. I found several Shinto temples and a Shinto park with an overlook but the entrance was on the other side. There was no red Tori at the top of the steps and no houses which matched my photos. In fact, one area had no houses at all.

I walked back to the train station to meet Akio’s lovely sister Kikuko who was picking me up to join them for lunch. The other American guests were Tom McGrain and his family. In 1960, Tom was a middle school teacher at JAB who lived with his wife in one of the houses which makes up today’s Johnson Town. Also present were Akio and Kikuko’s charming father Tatsuo. We went to an Italian restaurant…what fun! During the luncheon, Akio told me that they had a surprise for me. I crossed my fingers. We knew that after the US departed from Johnson, they gave the airbase to the Japanese National Guard and Hyde Park to the city. I gathered that the other off base housing property was sold off to private developers. Apparently, Akio’s Dad bought the one bedroom houses which became Johnson Town. He then built more in the same style and there now are over 60. They are all rentals and some are used as coffee shops, art studios and galleries and others are homes. Johnson Town is also a tourist attraction as the houses are so American. There is a big Chevrolet sign in one yard, a Disney dwarf character from Snow White in another and many other American symbols.

I did not know what happened to the other off base houses but here is the amazing news: Tatsuo held up the photo I had sent of our house with the sign. He pointed out something on the sign I had not noticed…it was a house number 2084. He told me that he used to own that house along with the others next to it. He even pointed out that the house had a chimney. He then invited me to go for a ride after lunch along with Akio and a photographer to find where the former location of the house.

After lunch, we got in the car and drove off. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was. We passed Hyde Park and arrived at the same street I had found earlier with the stairs but without the red Tori gate. We got out of the car and hiked up to the empty lots across the street from the stairs. Tatsuo walked to the northernmost empty lot and announced, ”This is 2084.” I cried! Several of the foundation walls were still standing. One had a tiny grate in a hole in the wall which matched the photo showing the front foundation of the house. We even found remnants of a cement brick grill and bathroom tiles in the yard. There were several walls made of round stones along the side of the property which my brothers and I had noticed in some old photos. Akio dug down into the bushes and other greenery and located the stairs which used to be on the side of the house! I could now really picture my Dad walking up to the house after being released from the hospital. Once the bushes were removed we could see the area where the sign originally stood. The photographer said that the house 2 houses away had been there as recently as 2014 (he had photographed it) but all the others had been removed long before. All that was left was empty lots. Mr. Isono no longer owns the property.

We walked down the street. I wanted to find the exact street name to make it easier for my brothers to find it on Google Earth. I noticed a couple working in their yard. Somewhere in my brain, a phrase my Mom has taught me, “A No Ney”, burbled up. It means “Hey There”. I called it out to them and they smiled and came to the fence. We spoke to them and found that they had lived there for 30 years. They remembered our house as it was the only one with a chimney. They also mentioned that the Tori gate at the top of the stairs had been removed a few years ago when the entrance was relocated to the other side of the overlook. All of the clues were solved. We definitely knew where the house had been. Mission Accomplished thanks to Akio and his lovely family. Arigato to all!

I spent that night at a hotel in Iruma but unfortunately did not have time to visit the Military or Bonsai Museums. I returned to Tokyo the next morning where I spent a fabulous day before joining my Tour Group. That night, at my Tokyo hotel restaurant, there was a singer who performed “Sentimental Journey”, our parents’ favorite song. This was just another sign that our folks were looking down on me and smiling that our house numbered 2084 in Iruma had never been lost…just hiding.