At 0830 on 25 September 1915 the 130th and 136th Infantry Regiments landed abreast on Beaches Red and White near Wakayama on Honshu, Japan. In a matter of minutes the assault waves cleared the beach and consolidated the dune line. With a solid umbrella of carrier-based fighter planes overhead to cover their advances the infantrymen promptly drove forward toward high ground four miles inland. Because of the numerous rehearsals staged on Philippine beaches, Division troops were able to execute every phase of the amphibious operation with faultless precision. Supporting units and elements of corps and army streamed ashore behind the regiments.

Another Pacific beachhead had been established. However, this one vastly differed from others. Not a shot had been fired by either Americans or Japanese.

Golden Cross personnel waded ashore prepared for any contingency. No one expected armed resistance but all were prepared to find sullenness and antagonism on the faces of the Japanese population. Instead, the columns of troops were greeted by hand-waving children and docile adults, too awe-struck by this spectacle of might to display any other emotion. Unarmed Japanese police were stationed at all assembly areas with polite interpreters to guide American forces to their lines of departure for occupation stations.

A few miles from the beaches was the city of Wakayama. A single 200-plane raid two months before had completely razed the huge industrial center, burning out all major plants and thirty-five per cent of the residential district. Evidences of the B-29 strike could be seen on all sides as only rubble remained in the place of thousands of dwellings. The stench of death emanated from the ruins. Even with the picture of Baguio fresh in their minds, Division men were not prepared to view such wholesale devastation.

This was Dai Nippon: Greater Japan.

Fortunately, the railroad system had been spared by American bombers. It turned out to be the prime means of moving troops and impedimenta to the 33d's occupational zone. Vehicular roads were in a sorry state of maintenance. So narrow were they in places that it was found necessary in many instances to tear down buildings at road bends to permit movement of large trucks. Tanks and some pieces of engineer equipment could not be moved at all. Division MPs, working in conjunction with local Japanese authorities, instituted a one-way system of traffic control. Elements of the 108th Engineers were immediately placed on road construction and maintenance jobs so that bulky tracked equipment could clear the beaches.

It became imperative for the infantry units to reach their posts without delay since no bivouac areas were available in the vicinity of Wakayama. The already overcrowded city held no suitable billets and the damp rice paddies in the suburbs were fertilized with human excrement, making them unsuitable as prospective camp-sites. Troops were marched to the Wakayama railroad terminal and loaded aboard modern coaches for the ride to the Kyoto-Kobe-Himeji sector assigned the 33d Division. All command levels within the Golden Cross were amazed at the facility with which the Japanese moved the Division. More than 22,000 men and thousands of tons of cargo were transported from Wakayama without a single accident or untoward incident. Moreover, every train ran exactly on schedule.

Troops reflected upon the Division's mission as they were sped through scenic valleys toward the six prefectures-states or districts assigned the Golden Cross. An area of 11,467 square miles, occupied by 7,879,000 Japanese, was to come under the 33d's jurisdiction. Every yard of this area had to be disarmed and de-militarized; the authority of militarists was to be eliminated at the earliest possible moment. Arsenals were to be stripped of all war-making machines and every type of munition was to be destroyed. Enemy armed forces had to be rapidly demobilized.

These were immediate objectives. Equally important, however, was the mission of swaying the Japanese from Shintoism and Emperor worship toward government founded upon democratic principles. To accomplish this, each member of the occupation armies was required to conduct himself as a model soldier so that the American way of life could be constantly displayed to the Nipponese. Re-education, not retribution, was to be the keynote of the occupation.

Division Headquarters, the 130th Infantry, the 108th Engineer and Medical Battalions, and Special Troops had Kobe as their initial occupation post. Kobe is Japan's sixth largest city with a pre-war population of one million. Its port was among the busiest in the world, ranking second to Yokohama in Nippon. Now, however, Kobe bore scant resemblance to a thriving metroplis. Much of the residential district had been levelled; mines dropped in the harbor by American planes had made its port inoperative. Kobe's one note of beauty was lent by the high mountain range north of the city which majestically commanded the fire-swept area.

Quarters proved no problem although they were devoid of conveniences. Troops were assigned living space in hotels, department stores, warehouses and office buildings. Golden Cross headquarters was established in the Kobe Customs Building, a few blocks from the waterfront.

Division Artillery, under General Sweany-newly appointed to onestar rank-was sent to Himeji, approximately fifty miles west of Kobe. Himeji was industrial on a small scale, leather and textile plants providing employment for many of its 145,000 people. It is best known for the centuries-old White Heron Castle which once attracted hundreds of Occidental tourists. But Himeji was also a vital military district housing a training camp, an arsenal, two military hospitals, an aircraft plant and large stores of munitions. Like Kobe, it had been badly battered by incendiary attacks.

Artillery's first act was to demobilize the Japanese 4th Infantry Depot Regiment, in garrison at Himeji, and send its soldiers to their homes. An excellent assignment fell to the 136th Infantry. The Bearcats were hand-picked by General Krueger to serve in immediate support of Sixth Army Headquarters in Kyoto. During the planning phase of the occupation a regiment from another division was initially selected for this key assignment. When informed of this choice, the army commander directed his staff to junk the plan and substitute a 33d Division regiment. Colonel Cavenee's command was gratified that its efforts on Kennon Road and Skyline Ridge were appreciated at such a high level.

Kyoto held no war industries and consequently escaped the ruin that came to Kobe and Himeji. It was literally the garden spot of Japan. For hundreds of years since its establishment in 793 A.D., it had served as the capital of the Japanese Empire. Even now its magnificent gardens, beautiful shrines and grand monuments reflected the science and culture that had brought world fame to the city. Though the downheartedness of its population was evident, there was no physical taint of war on Kyoto. Commerce proceeded without interruption. Curio shops in the downtown section still displayed the rich brocades and exquisite porcelain wares turned out by the city's master artisans.

Most of the 123d Infantry garrisoned Takarazuka, another center of Nipponese culture. Scarcely a half-hour ride from industrial Kobe, this picturesque town received national recognition for its schools of drama and music. A main landmark was the Takarazuka Opera House which was to Japan what the Metropolitan Opera House in New York is to the United States. Colonel Serff set up his CP in the 4,000-seat opera house while the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 123d were quartered in outlying parts of the city.

Lieutenant Colonel Wolff's 3d Battalion was posted near Nishinomiya, midway in the 25-mile strip of industrial plants between Kobe and Osaka. The outskirts of Nishinomiya was the site of several large Japanese breweries. Once these were cleaned up, members of the 3d Battalion operated as 33d Division braumeisters in addition to their other duties. Throughout the Division's stay in Japan they supplied all Golden Cross units with an excellent grade of beer.

On 27 September the 130th Infantry, unhappy in its filthy department store home, was ordered to Himeji where better training facilities were available. At the same time letter companies of the medics and engineers were dispatched from Kobe to join their respective combat teams. Now the 33d was ready to attack the first phase of its occupation mission.

Demobilization of Japanese forces progressed rapidly in all sections of the Division zone of responsibility. Nipponese cooperation was all that could be desired. In a relatively short period of time thousands of troops had been cut loose from Japanese Army control and directed back to their homes to aid in the reconstruction program now confronting their country.

By mid-October the Division was firmly established in the KobeHimeji-Takarazuka areas. Affairs relating to the military had been kept in hand from the inception of the occupation, now civil matters were being resolved by military government personnel working in conjunction with Japanese authorities. Demands of the mission were great but nevertheless troops were given a considerable amount of leisure time. Off-duty periods were usually spent browsing around the congested city areas in search of souvenirs or in Special Services centers supervised by Red Cross workers.

Men delighted in using the difficult Japanese language even when conversing with each other. Words such as ohayo, sayonara, ikaga desuka, konban wa and konnichi wa became standard in the occupation soldier's vocabulary. The time-honored expression "TS" was abolished in favor of a sucking in of the breath and a mournful "So dess." When talking with non-English-speaking Japanese, Golden Cross troops simply invented a language of their own. The letters "o" and "u" were added to English words, making chocolate chocoletto, toilet toiletto, time timu, store storu and so on. Armed with this convenient AmericanJapanese compromise in language, men were able to carry on simple conversations.

Close contact with the Japanese population made many soldiers wonder that these Orientals had once visualized themselves as conquerors of the United States. Though industrious, they were largely an unimaginative people, possessing little of the flexibility and industrial genius that sparked the American war effort.

They actually lived in two worlds, one modern and the other medieval. Throughout the day the average Jap businessman dressed in western business garb and took advantage of the up-to-date rail, hotel and manufacturing facilities of Japan. After business hours he underwent a transformation. He shed his suit for a flowing kimono, his chair for a pallet on the floor, his office for a reed or frame house with straw flooring and paper windows. This inadaptability, this unwillingness to break away from centuries-old tradition was responsible in a small measure for his current plight.

On the other hand, the Japanese naïveté and respect for authority made execution of the occupation mission a far easier matter. There was never a question, never a discordant note or a temperamental outburst by Japanese officials administering American occupation policies.

Now that the principal manufacturing centers had been emasculated and thousands of Kobe-Himeji-Takarazuka troops demobilized and sent to their homes, Sixth Army directed the 33d to increase its scope of activity to include the hinterlands of the Division zone. This order was complied with on 26 and 27 October when most of the 130th and 136th Infantry Regiments were given new stations close to the northern shore of Honshu.

Headquarters of the 136th Infantry remained on the outskirts of Kyoto at Otsu on the banks of Lake Biwa. However, the 1st and 2d Battalions made long jumps. The former took over the town of Tsuruga on the Sea of Japan. Upon arriving in Tsuruga, the battalion found a Japanese infantry regiment garrisoned there. This organization was promptly demobilized and the Bearcat companies just as promptly moved into its barracks. Tsuruga was mostly a light industrial town, the majority of its 32,000 people working either in cement works or textile mills.

Kanazawa, a main port on the Sea of Japan, became the 2d Battalion's new station. This city of 200,000 souls was the home of railway repair shops, alloyed steel works, and hydroelectric plants. Several large military installations were located there. The old Kanazawa castle still remains in the heart of the city and it was from there that Lt. Colonel Haycock directed his battalion's operations. Among the Japanese Army units demobilized at Kanazawa were two medical battalions, an infantry regiment, a mortar battalion and a number of artillery, engineer, signal and transportation groups.

Colonel Collins of the 130th sent his 3d Battalion to the port of Maizuru, a city of 80,000 dependent upon the sea for its livelihood. A sizable task faced members of this unit since 54,000 members of the Imperial Japanese Navy were still occupying the Maizuru Naval District in anticipation of demobilization orders. The battalion also found one cruiser, six destroyers and seven submarines tied up at the Maizuru Naval Station fronting the harbor.

With a healthy portion of the Golden Cross deployed in the hinterlands, the Division embarked on the most dangerous of its occupation duties: actual destruction and disposal of ammunition and weapons of war.

At this time the 33d began to suffer severe losses in personnel due to the redeployment program. Leaving at the end of October, the first groups to start for the United States included almost all of the noncommissioned officers who had started with the Golden Cross at Camp Forrest in 1941-42. Rapid promotions were made to fill these vacancies and an influx of young and inexperienced replacements partially offset the cut in manpower. However, the bulk of occupation duties continued to fall on the older hands since the new recruits had to be grounded in military subjects before participating in the arms-destruction program. General Clarkson personally bade farewell to outgoing elements of his command. The rail yards at Kobe-assembly area for all returning personnel-resembled New Orleans at Mardi Gras time when filled with home-bound soldiers. Band music filled the air. Horse-play, backslapping, loud goodbyes and cries of "See you in Chicago!" echoed through the yards. The Division Commander tossed aside formality to mingle with the crowd of returnees, exchanging wise-cracks and wishing a speedy return to all. Then the long trains noisily puffed away for Kobe, bound for the port of Nagoya, as the band played the traditional "Auld Lang Syne." This scene became a bi-monthly occurrence during the rest of the 33d's stay in Japan.

II

Enemy weapons were destroyed with facility. Small arms, mortars, aerial machine guns and artillery pieces were thrown into large furnaces and then removed to presses where they were smashed into scrap. Upon completion of this process the metal was turned over to the Japanese Home Ministry for limited industrial use. Tools and machinery were spared from the presses in the event they could be gainfully employed by the civilian population in some peaceful pursuit. Japanese officials were responsible for the distribution of this material.

Airplanes received special attention. Occupation policy called for the absolute destruction of the Japanese air potential. Jap civilians, working under Division supervision, first cut the planes into several small pieces with acetylene torches. Fuselages were then stacked into tall pyres and set afire. Charred frameworks and pieces of scrap ended up on the presses. Engines were destroyed separately. Orders from General MacArthur's headquarters directed that air training stations and other airfields be placed under cultivation to alleviate the critical food shortage.

Disposal of ammunition was a proposition fraught with difficulty and danger. Projectiles of all calibers had been dispersed all over Japan in dugouts, caves, warehouses, arsenals and even in open fields. Decentralization and excellent employment of concealment had permitted these vast stocks to escape American air strikes. Whatever shortages the Japanese had suffered in the course of the war, ammunition was certainly not one of them. The method of ammunition disposal became a matter of prime concern to General Clarkson, once these overwhelming quantities were inventoried.

They could not be exploded in place because of the risk of injury to civilians. To detonate these stores in smaller batches would take more than a year due to the great labor requirements. Finally it was decided to haul the ammunition to the closest ports and dump it into the sea. But even this solution was not without entanglements.

It became necessary to truck ammunition from its points of dispersal to railheads for subsequent transfer to port cities. Upon arrival at harbors the stores of explosives were transferred to tugs and barges, hauled several miles offshore and then dumped overboard. Mobilization of rolling stock for the rail haul was promptly accomplished by Japanese railroads but the supply of barges was limited. Army bombers and carrier-based Navy planes included these small craft in their toll during waterfront strikes prior to the end of hostilities. To top off the situation, it became necessary to repair dock facilities in the port cities before large-scale jettisoning of explosives could begin.

This combination of unfavorable conditions caused bottlenecks at the ports. In turn, additional hazards were encountered since hundreds of carloads of ammunition were kept idle in rail yards pending disposition. The Division had several accidents during the transfer from rail to barge and at sea in handling the explosives incident to dumping. A remarkably few 33d men were injured in the course of such mishaps, but a number of Japanese laborers were killed or injured while engaged in loading and unloading ammunition.

Gradually, major difficulties incident to dumping operations were resolved. In November, Kobe Harbor was swept of mines and opened to limited traffic. A large share of ammunition disposal work was transferred to this location as a result. Use of this additional outlet point materially hastened this phase of the mission.

Repatriation of Japanese troops still overseas was another function undertaken by the 33d Division. Under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration it was mandatory that all enemy forces still manning farflung Pacific outposts be permitted to lay down their arms and return to Japan. Practically all Japanese shipping remaining in home waters was mobilized for this assignment. Initial orders from higher headquarters specified that Golden Cross detachments would accompany each vessel leaving from a port within the Division zone. These groups were to serve as escort guards during the runs to and from foreign stations.

A vigorous protest came from the Division Commander at this proposal. He realized that such action would disperse elements of his command to all parts of the Pacific Ocean. Also, General Clarkson ascertained that conditions aboard Japanese ships were indescribable. Sanitation was at a sickening level. Employing these findings as his points of discussion, the General caused reconsideration of the directive and its eventual withdrawal. Subsequent events vindicated his judgment. Repatriation progressed successfully without the necessity of subjecting American forces to the hazards of life on Japanese merchant vessels.

Still, the 33d maintained an active role in execution of the repatriation program. Most of this duty fell to the 3d Battalion, 130th Infantry, posted at Maizuru, a designated port of entry for repatriates. Each Jap had to be screened to determine his background and destination; he had to be deloused, given a physical examination, housed, fed and finally transported to his home. It was certainly a novel experience for 3d Battalion personnel to process Nipponese soldiers in light of their still-vivid recollections of Bench Mark and Question Mark Hills.

Besides ammunition disposal and repatriation work, the Golden Cross was ordered to maintain a constant surveillance over the civilian population residing within Division boundaries. Japanese police handled this task, but large reserves of military police were held in readiness should armed support be required. In localities such as Kobe and Himeji, which experienced a continual turnover of populace, responsible commanders developed elaborate plans to combat riots and disturbances. Railroad terminals received an especially watchful eye. The modern, sprawling stations served as convention halls, trading centers and loitering points for multitudes of Japanese. Black marketeers, political outlaws, peddlers and hawkers used them as assembly areas.

In addition to these elements was the horde of homeless repatriates who aimlessly wandered around the battered cities during the day and returned to the stations at dusk. Sparks for trouble were ever present and on occasion political or black-market arguments caused sudden conflagrations. Generally Japanese police were equal to the situation but it became necessary a few times to call out the 33d Division MPs. Their mere presence infallibly quelled the melees. Railroad stations were backdrops for pathos as well as turbulence. One could always find several families camped on drafty platforms, scanning passengers and passersby in search of their missing sons. American troops on duty at Kobe's Sanomiya station found two youngsters, aged eight and ten, squatting on the platform in an emaciated, half-starved condition. Brothers, the boys had spent six weeks in the terminal seeking a soldier-brother whose fate was unknown to them. Throughout their vigil the lads had subsisted on scraps of garbage. Division clothed them and fed them and then turned the children over to the proper Japanese authority.

III

On 20 November the 33d Division lost its commander when General Clarkson was elevated to command of X Corps with headquarters at Kure in Southern Honshu. Proud of this recognition given his service, the General nevertheless departed reluctantly. At a farewell dinner tendered by members of his staff he frankly remarked that if the choice were his, he would prefer to stay on with the Division that he had trained and fought with since October 1943. Just the night before his transfer General Clarkson had been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by General Krueger for his leadership during the Philippine campaign.

Members of the Golden Cross were saddened by the General's departure. His courage, concern for the welfare of his command and warm personality had made him a "doughboy's general" in the eyes of the Division. On the day he left Kobe a battalion of combat veterans, serving as an honor guard, rendered General Clarkson his merited salute on behalf of every man in the 33d. General Skelton, Assistant Division Commander, assumed command and remained at the helm of the Golden Cross until its inactivation.

Not all was work for the 33d Division despite the demanding and unprecedented operations in progress. Augmenting movies and USO shows as chief items of entertainment was an athletic program more ambitious than any heretofore launched. A Pacific Olympics was outlined in which the best teams of AFPAC, AFWESPAC, Philippine Ryukyus Command and Pacific Ocean Areas would participate. Competition was to be held in football, basketball, tennis, golf, baseball, swimming and track. Golden Cross Special Services supervised the job of producing the 33d's representatives at this athletic jamboree.

Football, currently in season, received primary attention. Lt. Robert Fulton, 108th Engineers, formerly an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee, was made head coach of the 33d gridders. His first call for candidates brought scores of players in from the hinterlands. These men were trained, housed and fed together in the best campus style. Koshein Stadium, located between Kobe and Osaka, was the Golden Cross home park.

Opening game took place on 9 December against a smartly drilled 98th Division club. More than half of the 40,000-seat stadium was filled with soldiers. Al Schacht, popular baseball comedian, was on hand to do his inimitable pantomime and lead the band through pregame didos. Maj. Gen. Roscoe B. Woodruff, successor to General Swift as CG of I Corps, added a holiday touch by coming down out of the stands to make the first kickoff. The new corps commander made many friends that afternoon. His placement traveled fifty-five yards on the fly.

The 33d's team dropped its opening game 19-7, but whipped the 98th by three touchdowns in a return game. Two contests were also played with the 1st Cavalry Division, the Troopers taking the first 6-0, then losing to the Golden Cross by a 14-0 score. The cavalrymen were captained by Lt. Tom Lombardo, quarterback of the 1944 Army team which went through its season without defeat. Lt. Dale Hall, left end for the Troopers, also was a regular on that Davis-Blanchard grid machine. Halfback Kenneth Stofer, an engineer lieutenant, was the 33d's only established star. He captained Cornell's team in 1942 and played with Buffalo of the All-American Conference in 1946.

Basketball equaled football in popularity. Every big town within the Division zone held at least one large gymnasium and battalion teams were able to work into shape. The gym at Kobe was so spacious that in addition to a regulation court, the floor held three badminton courts and several pool and ping-pong tables. Games played in Kobe usually drew several hundred spectators. An elimination tournament within the Division produced a Golden Cross champion. However, this team met defeat at Tokyo in the quarter-finals of the Olympic playoffs.

By New Year's Day 1946, the 33d had undergone a complete facelifting. Combat veterans had long since departed; old-timers numbered no more than a handful. Now the gold-and-black patch was worn by callow replacements and officers who had spent the war training troops in the United States.

On 9 January Headquarters, Eighth Army-designated the American occupation army-instructed Division Headquarters to prepare for early inactivation. Before January was gone 595 officers and 8,514 men had been transferred to other units in Japan. One by one the battalions were closed out as they were stripped of personnel. Regiments of the 24th and 25th Divisions assumed responsibility for the 33d's zone of occupation.

The 33d Infantry Division was officially inactivated on 5 February 1946.

Although no parades or fanfare accompanied its inactivation, the Golden Cross needed none of this to embellish its proud record. Division spirit and efficiency had contributed much to victory in the Pacific. No unit was assigned a greater assortment of tasks and no unit performed with more gallantry and honor. It had supported the defense of the Hawaiian Islands in 1943 when American war fortunes were at a low ebb. A year later the 33d patrolled the dank swamps and rain forests of New Guinea, even working as stevedores when it became vital to move supplies to Sixth Army spearheads.

In December 1944 the 33d first carried the fight to the enemy. Through amphibious assault and protracted jungle operations it smashed an enemy force which threatened to recapture the island of Morotai. Then followed the brutal campaign in the Philippines where the 33d fought over "impassable" mountains, liberating the city of Baguio and destroying 15,000 Japanese in the process. Its World War II career was capped by four and a half months of occupation duty, a final show of its versatility.

No finer tribute can be rendered the 33d Division than the words of General MacArthur, who wrote: "My confidence in it during the vicissitudes of campaign was complete and it never failed me."