U.S Army History
In the Okinawa Prefectural Archives
By Shannon Granville
Article published on: June 1, 2024 in the Army History Summer 2024 issue
Read Time: < 5 mins
The U.S. Army has a relatively small physical presence
in Japan today, but it has an extensive historical record
spanning more than half a century of transition from wartime
enmity to peacetime alliance and cooperation. The relevant
documentary evidence for the Army’s activities in the Pacific
are available through various U.S. repositories such as the
National Archives and the Army Heritage and Education
Center. However, researchers interested in the history of the
Army in the Pacific have another resource for a number of
unique historical materials: the Okinawa Prefectural Archives.
The U.S. Army in Okinawa
Located in the town of Haebaru, the Okinawa Prefectural Archives incorporates traditional Ryukyuan architectural features in a
concrete-based structure designed to withstand the island’s frequent typhoons, as well as other natural disasters.
The closing months of World War II in the Pacific Theater saw
brutal fighting in the islands nearest to Japan, primarily in the
Ryukyu Islands southwest of the Japanese mainland. Operation
Iceberg, the invasion of the main Ryukyu island of Okinawa,
involved nearly three months of fierce, bloody combat against
deeply entrenched Japanese defenses. Contemporary estimates
state that almost 250,000 people, including close to 100,000
Okinawan civilians, lost their lives during the invasion.1
Following the Japanese surrender in September 1945, the Army remained
on Okinawa in several different capacities. During the postwar
occupation period, the U.S. Military Government of the Ryukyu
Islands administered Okinawa from 1945 until 1950. Yet even after
the Treaty of San Francisco restored sovereignty to Japan in April
1952, the Ryukyu Islands remained under de facto U.S. military
control and administration for two decades through the U.S. Civil
Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR).
In the ensuing years, Okinawa was a key strategic location for
the U.S. Army. It provided a vital logistical and staging platform
for U.S. engagement in the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, as
well as an overall base of operations for Army forces in the Pacific,
first through Ryukyus Command and then U.S. Army, Ryukyu
Islands.
A succession of Army general officers served as the most
senior governing officials in the Ryukyus for
both military and civilian authorities.The Okinawan people had a parallel governing
body known as the Government of the
Ryukyu Islands (GRI), but USCAR effectively had veto over all government decisions
in Okinawa.Even after Okinawa reverted
to Japan in 1972, the legacy of the Army’s
presence in the islands has continued to
shape the U.S.-Japan relationship, as well as
the political and cultural dynamics between
Okinawa and the rest of Japan.
U.S. Army Records in the Okinawa
Prefectural Archives
The Okinawa Prefectural Archives is a
critical source for materials on the history
of Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands as a
whole. In the final months of World War
II, intensive shelling and the wholesale
devastation of the war destroyed many
of Okinawa’s prewar records. For this
reason, the archives staff has a strong
sense of the importance of conservation
and preservation in safeguarding local
history and Ryukyuan cultural identity.
Okinawans often visit the prefectural
archives to research local and family history, particularly as the perspectives
of those with firsthand knowledge of the
war years have faded from living memory.
The main researcher entrance. The exhibit
hall is located on the first floor, and the
main reading room is on the second floor.
Open shelves in the main reading room allow researchers to access information on the archives’ microfilm holdings and
personal document collections.
Several relevant volumes of CMH’s United States Army in World War II series, as
seen on the archives’ open shelves.
A glance through the Okinawa archives’
searchable online database reveals the depth
of the Army-related collections. Wartime
and postwar documents can be viewed
on microfilm copies of U.S. records also
available through the National Archives
at College Park, Maryland, including
Record Groups 331 (Records of Allied
Operational and Occupation Headquarters,
World War II) and 260.12 (Records of the
U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyu
Islands (USCAR), 1945–1972). Digitized
photographic and film records from the
military government and USCAR periods
provide a wealth of insight into day-to-day
life in Okinawa, particularly regarding civil-military relations. Okinawan government
records, from the GRI to the postreversion
prefectural assembly and local government
bodies, also offer glimpses into the islands’
relationships with both Washington and
Tokyo.
Document volumes available for reference in the archives’ open stacks include
the records of the U.S. occupation government and related diplomatic materials.
The collected papers of James T. Watkins IV, seen in blue at the far right, are a
notable archival source for information on the U.S. Navy’s civil affairs program in
occupied Okinawa in 1945–1946.
Beyond official government materials,
the archives hold several personal papers
collections from individuals with strong
ties to Okinawa’s history. One of the major
personal holdings is the papers of George
H. Kerr (1911–1992), a U.S. diplomat and
academic who received a commission from
USCAR to write a scholarly history of the
Ryukyu Islands. Other notable collections
related to U.S. Army history include those
of Edward O. Freimuth (1919–2001), a key
USCAR staff member whose papers contain
useful materials on postwar Okinawan
history and culture; and Raymond Yoshihiro Aka (1915–2006), a Japanese American
soldier from Hawai'i who was a member
of the Military Intelligence Service during
World War II and a Department of the Army
civilian in the postwar period.
Available Army-related materials seen here include U.S. Army and USCAR
photograph reference files.
Even though the U.S. Army is no longer
a driving force in Okinawa’s political and
cultural life, the people of Okinawa have
dedicated significant public resources
to preserving its historical records. The
Okinawa Prefectural Archives has much to
offer to those who are looking for a broader
understanding of the Army’s experiences
in the Pacific.
Among the documents on display in the archives’ main exhibit hall is
a bilingual safety procedures manual used in Operation Red Hat, the
removal of U.S. chemical weapons from Okinawa in 1971.
Access Information
The Okinawa Prefectural Archives is in
the town of Haebaru on the main island
of Okinawa, southeast of the prefectural
capital of Naha. From central Naha, it can
be reached by car in about 25 minutes, or
by local bus and a short walk in about 45
minutes. The main reading room and exhibit
hall are open Tuesday through Sunday from
0900 to 1700 and closed on Mondays and on
Japanese public holidays. Researchers interested in requesting materials should contact
the archives in advance of their visit through
the main website at https://www.archives.
pref.okinawa.jp. English-speaking staff are
available for assistance, but researchers will
benefit from having some knowledge of
Japanese to aid in their review of materials.
The text of the information placard, introducing the exhibit as “A
procedure manual prepared by the U.S. Army on the transportation of
poison gas.”
Author
Shannon Granville is the senior
editor in the Multimedia and Publications Division at the U.S. Army Center
of Military History. As a member of the
twenty-sixth class of Mansfield Fellows
(2022–2023), she spent a year working
with Japanese government counterparts to study the use and teaching
of military history in Japan. She thanks
the Okinawa Prefectural Archives for
their work to preserve the history of
the U.S. Army in Okinawa.
Notes
Tall glass windows in the main reading
room offer a view over the hills of Haebaru.