On a bright, sunny day in Okinawa in southern Japan, 2,200 Marines and sailors aboard the Essex Amphibious Readiness Group arrived on the sandy coast of Naval Facility White Beach. Days earlier, the ARG was stationed more than 1,000 miles to the north, just off the tsunami-ravaged coast of Japan.
After a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, the Marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, the landing ship docks USS Germantown and USS Harpers Ferry traveled from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to the disaster area. There they assisted the Japanese government with a large-scale cleanup and aid operation.
The 31st MEU is based in Okinawa, Japan, and conducts exercises and operations in the Asia-Pacific region. The MEU consists of three elements: an infantry regiment usually drawn from the 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton, an air combat element from Okinawa, and a logistics battalion, also from Okinawa.
The massive scope of the disaster surprised many, including Cpl. Adam Shatarsky, 29, a Camp Pendleton-based Marine in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Shatarsky said while aboard the Essex. “It was far greater than what I expected.”
Shatarsky, who joined the Marines three years ago and lives in Huntington Beach, CA with his wife, has a personal connection with Japan because his father-in-law is from Kyoto.
The Marine was one of 300 from the MEU who spent six days during the first week of April on Oshima Island, a remote island cut off from the mainland after the tsunami washed all of its ferries ashore.
The Marines cleared debris, moved cars, dismantled destroyed houses and worked to make the island’s port functional again.
“As the guys on the ground, we have a lot of manpower to assist our Japanese friends and neighbors,” said Lt. Col. Pete Farnum, commanding officer of the battalion. “This gives us the opportunity to join in the ongoing humanitarian operations, and to help those in need.”
When the Marines approached land on landing craft, they saw the devastation for the first time.
“There was almost no talking,” Shatarsky said. “The very first thing I saw was a car flipped upside down into a tree. I just couldn’t wrap my head around a wave doing what it did to this island.”
During the first few days of the mission, the Marines saw very few people on the island. But soon, more and more residents returned to the island to search for personal items near their destroyed homes. Survivors asked Shatarsky and the other Marines to help retrieve their possesions, everything from photos to boats.
“We were helping families piece their lives back together,” Shatarsky said, as he recalled pulling out from the debris photo albums and family shrines – a sacred part of many homes in Japan.
Shatarsky said helping families find small things in the rubble helped make a difference in their recovery. “When we got to one area, there was a mom, dad, grandmother and little daughter, and all she wanted was her stuffed animal.”
Cpl. Seth McConville, 22, said he’s never experienced anything like the devastation he saw.
“I was really awestruck by the damage that had happened,” he said. “We do a lot of training, but to go out there and help people get their lives back together is special.”
McConville said he’s looking forward to his return to Camp Pendleton. The 2nd Battalion is still in Okinawa, and while a few of the Marines have started heading back to Camp Pendleton, the majority are expected to return by early June.
The 31st MEU also flew in 65,000 pounds of disaster relief supplies and provided humanitarian aid to survivors, who have been coping with freezing weather and snow in the weeks after the earthquake. “We had assembly lines of people delivering blankets,” Shatarsky said. “My personal group handed out MRE’s (meals ready to eat).”
Some Marines from the battalion helped deliver much-needed supplies and water to schools, which are functioning as evacuation centers.
“One day, we took some water to the school,” said Lance Cpl. Lucas Cantu after disembarking from the Essex. He said the Japanese helped the Marines unload the water from Humvees and they worked as a team.
“It was really tiring, but you see the people there are really motivated to help,” he said. “It was good to feel you actually made an impact.”
“Japan is an ally to the U.S., and more than that, they’re our friends,” said Capt. Caleb Eames, public affairs officer for the MEU.
With more than 150 amphibious vehicles and 20 aircraft, the 31st MEU was able to distribute supplies by air and by sea. The battalion provided bilingual personnel to assist in communication between Marines and sailors and Japanese citizens. A landing craft unit was used to transport vehicles, cargo, supplies and personnel to affected areas.
In all, the Essex ARG launched 218 aircraft and landing craft in support of reconnaissance and relief distribution missions, and more than 166,000 pounds of supplies were delivered ashore.
Sailors with the Essex ARG and Marines with the 31st MEU also transported commercial electric utility vehicles, a fuel truck, a water re-supply vehicle and a civilian work crew from the Tohoku Power Company from mainland Japan via landing craft to the island. As a result, power was partially restored to the island March 27.
Shatarsky said the people of Oshima Island gave the Marines a big farewell when it was time to depart. The people held signs, banners, and streamers as the landing crafts left shore for the Essex.
He said the operation is one he will never forget.
“This will last with me through my career in the military,” he said. “I know for a fact that we’ve made an impact on these lives.”
Patch correspondent Sonia Narang reported from Okinawa, Japan, as the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, disembarked from the amphibious assault ship USS Essex on April 12 after completing the Operation Field Day relief mission, part of the larger Operation Tomodachi in northeast Japan.
Read the story on Patch.com
