Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:46 | As the ship approached Yokohama, a terrible odor hung over the water. Harold Topping reveals what that turned out to be and then tells of the utter devastation wrought by the unrelenting Allied bombing campaign. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
Keywords : Harold Topping Yokohama Japan fertilizer poverty starve carpet bomb Tokyo Ernie Pyle Building
They still needed men in April of 1945 so Harold Topping went off to basic training in Texas, preparing for the dreaded invasion of Japan. Then two atomic bombs changed everything. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
The war was over but the 99th Field Artillery was headed to Yokohama for occupation duty. They were slowed by a typhoon which tossed the ship around for four days, vividly recalled here by Harold Topping. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
At first the Japanese civilians were very scared of the occupying American troops, but Harold Topping says that as they realized the Americans weren't going to hurt them, they became helpful. Eventually Topping's unit set up shop at a bombed out air base up north in Hokkaido. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
Harold Topping describes the radios used by his unit in postwar Japan and the Jeeps which were their main transport. There were farmers, oxen and rice paddies all around, which proved helpful when he ran one of those jeeps right off the road into the paddy water. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
One of the duties for the Occupation Force in Honshu was the repatriation of Chinese POW's who were still being held by Japan. Harold Topping recalls taking a group of these prisoners on a ferry and locking them up in the hold, but not because he thought they might escape. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
Harold Topping's last duty in postwar Japan was guarding the shrine at Nikko, which had become a popular R & R spot for American troops. Apparently the beautifully carved walls of the shrine were undergoing some new carving. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
He didn't mind the MP's helmet, which he had to wear on duty, but Harold Topping never did like the Garrison Cap, and he got in trouble more than once for not wearing it. (Provided by LifeCairn, Inc.)
