No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
A former US soldier has identified a busy neighborhood in the Okinawa town of Chatan as the burial site of dozens of barrels of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange. The alleged burial took place in 1969 when the area was part of the US military's Hamby Air Field. Since its return to civilian use in 1981, it has been redeveloped into a sightseeing district with restaurants, hotels, apartment blocks and a popular beach.
Japanese translation available: https://www.projectdisagree.org/2011/12/japan-focus-id-3659.html
1 For an account of these burials, see: Jon Mitchell, “Military defoliants on Okinawa: Agent Orange”, The Asia-Pacific Journal, September 12, 2011.
2 John Olin, a Florida-based researcher, believes that the ship was the USNS LST-600 which ran aground on Kanno Se Reef near Naha in January, 1969. At the moment, attempts are underway to secure official documents under the Freedom of Information Act about the LST-600 and other vessels involved in the salvage operation.
3 For a full account of the burial see this link.
4 The story made the front pages of both the Ryukyu Shimpo - and the Okinawa Times.
5 The meeting was reported by the Ryukyu Shimpo here.
6 The Okinawa Times reported the meeting here.
7 An account of the meeting is available in Japanese here.
8 In the same way as Okinawa, Guam was an important US military staging post for the war in Vietnam and many former service members claim they came into contact with Agent Orange on the island. Since 2005, the VA has awarded compensation to seven veterans for defoliant exposure that occurred on Guam, but in spite of these payouts, the Pentagon still refuses to acknowledge that the chemicals were present on the island. For more information, visit Ralph Stanton's comprehensive website about Agent Orange on Guam here.
9 For an account of the unearthing of these barrels, see for example this link.
10 A news report on Citizens' Network for Biological Diversity in Okinawa's request for an investigation into defoliant usage on the island can be viewed here.
11 Adding to residents' worries that the authorities are reluctant to investigate the burial of toxic chemicals in the thriving business district was the experience of documentary filmmaker, Robert Avery.
“Following the Press Conference of November 4th, I was approached by three men from the Okinawa Self Defense Ministry. They wanted to know how I was so sure about the location of Hamby Air Field. I responded that I was in the Army, and was at Hamby many times, shot 8mm film of the field and knew it fairly well. They asked how I could be sure as the area had changed so much. I said that a map from 1971 which is included on our DVD clearly shows the area, as framed on the South and North by water inlets that still exist today, with Araha Beach to the West and Highway 58 to the East.”
“I felt their questions were an interrogation rather than information seeking. They were curt in their approach and their demeanor was to the point. I gave them a copy of the DVD on the issue of Agent Orange on Okinawa. I did not feel they were interested in finding Hamby for ethical reasons but for an unknown agenda. I base this on my career as a policeman.”
Information about Avery's documentary, Agent Orange on Okinawa, is available here.
12 The original article can be read here.
You have
Access
Open access