80 Years of Stars and Stripes Pacific

Black-and-white, 1940s-era photographs lie on a table depicting an aviator in a leather jacket and helmet and a man in a military dress uniform posing with his arm around a smiling woman in white.

Great-grandson of fallen B-29 pilot makes pilgrimage to WWII crash site in Japan

Tyler Smith, a recreation planner from San Francisco, recently climbed a forested mountainside in western Tokyo to honor the memory of his great-grandfather, one of five American airmen killed when their B-29 Superfortress crashed during a World War II bombing raid over Japan.

Rep. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) greets one of the 400-some relatives in his ancestral village of Yokoyama, Japan. The Hawaiian congressman met many of the 2,200 villagers of Yokoyama — some 400 of whom are named Inouye.

1960: Young athletes compete in Junior Olympics at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan

Rep. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) Sunday visited the mountain village of Yokoyama — the birthplace of his father and where some of his uncles and cousins still live.

Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Oct. 22, 1960: Standard of Athens leads Junior Olympic paraders at Tachi West Track at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 22, 1960. Behind these athletes are competitors from teams named for Argos, Corinth, Thebes, Sparta and other ancient Greek cities.

1960: Young athletes compete in Junior Olympics at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan

Seven sixth grade classes from the Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Dependent Elementary School got together at the Tachikawa West Track Saturday, Oct. 22, 1960, for the Junior Olympics, their own version of the athletic classic.

View of Kyoto and Lake Biwa from Mount Hiei in March 1955.

City of Peace — Historic Kyoto, Tourists’, Photographers’ Paradise

Kyoto — the city of peace — is a haven for tourists and a paradise for photographers. The capital of Japan from 794 A.D. to 1868, Kyoto is dotted with 1,400 temples and shrines — almost a third of those in the entire nation.

Crew members examine the crushed remains of the Banshee jet

Jet pilot ‘vanishes’ in crash on carrier

Aboard the USS Oriskany off Okinawa — The Navy Banshee slid into the groove blinking its wing lights as it dipped for a landing.

An unidentified burn victim is carried on a stretcher

1 Marine killed, 41 hurt in fire

Typhoon Tip trigged a freak fire here Friday [Oct. 19, 1979] that killed a Marine and injured at least 41 other persons, according to Marine officials.

Miss USA, Chelsea Cooley, meets with the Marine guards from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo during a visit to Japan.

Marines in Japan get grits, gravy ... and a visit from Miss USA

One of the first things the Marines noticed, after the bright eyes and radiant smile, is that Miss USA Chelsea Cooley is down to earth.