80 Years of Stars and Stripes Pacific

Three people bow in front of a hillside stone memorial displaying U.S. and Japanese flags, with offerings and flowers placed at its base.

Japanese neighborhood preserves memory of WWII crash and its cost

About 75 people, including approximately 30 Marines and sailors from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, attended the annual Marukoyama Memorial Ceremony.

The USS Fife, seen from a helicopter, is silhouetted against a Gulf of Oman sunset in 1990.

'Skunk hunt' is routine for USS Fife's crew

Under a bright half moon, the Gulf of Oman shines like liquid silver as this destroyer cruises across the waterway on its nightly search for skunks, bogies and goblins.

Mother Teresa accepts a gift from a child during her visit to Tokyo in April, 1981.

Mother Teresa critical of Japan on abortions

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mother Teresa Friday criticized the "terrible number of abortions" in Japan, and said that an affluent nation permitting so many abortions "must be a poor country."

Boats surround a Japan Air Lines DC-8 that crashed in a shallow part of Tokyo Bay while landing at Haneda International Airport in February, 1982, killing 24 of the 166 passengers and crew on board as the fuselage split in two.

In minutes ... rescue ... death

From the distance, about 300 yards away, the DC-8 looked like an exploded cigar.

Evangelist Billy Graham conducts a Sunday service at Yokota Air Base in January, 1994.

Yokota prays with Billy Graham

Yokota Air Base worshiped with Billy Graham Sunday.

A bit wobbly but easy method of crossing ravines and rivers is this three rope bridge. An instructor shows the proper way of crossing.

Army alpinists

DURING A FOUR-WEEK course at what is probably the toughest school in Japan, men scale cliffs using only finger and toe holds, leap off into space from dizzying heights in practice falls and climb over mountains with full packs in pitch darkness.

Search-and-rescue swimmers from Atsugi-based HS-14 are hoisted into their helicopter during annual SAR jump training outside Yokosuka Naval Base.

AWs are ‘pretty versatile’ sailors

Seawater sprays from the helicopter rotor wash as figures drop from the aircraft into the murky water.