Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-14
By Relmon MORN
AP Foreign CORRESPONDENT.

AK TUEclBu NOEEeopOuucut.
OKINAWA, Mar. l3.-Master-
Sergt. Kenneth Coon. his wife.
and two little girls. live within
q bomber's hour of the Com
muniSts.
Their home is on okinawa
Island.
From the back yard, it is less
than 400 miles to the coast of
Red China. roughly the airline
distance between New York and
Richmond, or San Francisco and
Los Angeles. In the other direc-
ton. they are q good 5000 miles
from Charlotte. N. c.. which
they still call home.
In short. they are out on the
end OF a long limb in the Pacific.
You can't go any farther west
and still be in what may be
called. for the time being at
least. American territory"
Does this worry them?
Il never give it a thought, +"
the sergeant said.
Il do" said his wife, Some
times I think about air raids. +"
They both know. of course,
that in case of war. Okinawa
will have high priority on the
list OF Communist targets. It
must have. Certainly by air, and
possibly by invasion, the Reds
would try to neutralize the
threats this island represents.
Nevertheless. the sergeant is
thinking of extending" when he
finishes his 30-month tour of
duty on Okinawa, around the
end Of 1855.
Il figure the United States has
to be out here as long as this sit
uation lasts with the Commies, -
he said.
And besides. I like the set-up."
A Vital Outpost.
His first point is a matter of
simple geography.
BY being "out here" Ameri-
can bombers are within range of
any point in the Soviet Union.
Vice versa. If Russian planes
were poised on the runways of
Okinawa. the American defense
perimeter in the Pacific would
shrink by thousands Of miles.
So either way. the island is a
loaded gun.
For this same reason, the jap
anese fought savagely to hold it
during the Pacific war. When
the battle was lost. their COM
manders paid the supreme for
felt Of disembowelling themselves
in hara-kiri. Hundreds of or
binary japanese soldiers leaped
to death over suicide cliff"
They knew that the hour of
doom had sounded for their
homeland.
That was nine years ago this
summer.
Yet. the story Of building Oki-
nawa into a king-pin point in
the vast pattern of global air
strategy has only just begun.
American policy makers took a
long time to reach a decision.
The Ryukyu Islands had been
Japanese territory. At some fu-
ture but unspecified date, pre-
sumably. they would be returned
to japan. Meanwhile. politically
they were neither fish nor fowl.
The uncertainty affected every
thing on Okinawa.
For example, no permanent
type" construction was author
lied. Quonset huts, like clusters
Of mushrooms. dotted the island
The larger buildings were flimsy
and jerry-built to conform with
the definition Temporary"
Then. two noisy events thun-
dered across the Pacific and into
Washington.
In 1919. the great typhoon,
Gloria" fiattened virtually
everything above ground on Oki-
nawa. 1t demonstrated-with
some preliminary fifth-column-
ing by the termites-that TEN
porary construction" is just so
much money down the well.
Not long after Gloria" came
the war in Korea. The Air Force
began stacking B-29s on Oki-
nawa. Two-thirds of the heavy
bombing in Korea came from
these bases. The lessons of the
Pacific war were quickly under
lined for the second time.
U. S. Keeps Control.
Still more years passed, how
ever, before a definite decision
was taken. 1t is on the books now.
A few months ago, the North
ern Ryukyu Islands were re-
turned to japanese adminiStra-
ton. However. in various Of
fetal announcements the United
States has made it clear that