Heritage of Ashiya Air Base continues
By TOM BARRY
As with most U.S. air bases, Ashiya was a former Japanese air base during World War II. Located on the far northern tip of the island of Kyushu, it was an American installation for 15 years, from 1945-1960.
It's most important role was during the Korean War, from 1951-53. Because of its close proximity to the Korean peninsula across the Korean Straits in the Sea of Japan, the Air Force assigned several fighter and transport squadrons at Ashiya.
"In 1948 when I was first ordered to the 80th Fighter squadron at Ashiya Air Base, I thought at the time that we were neither liked or disliked (by the Japanese)," recalled Louis Miksits. "What I mean by that is the Japanese were just coming off the war and were more interested in making the best of it. They were short of everything; food, clothing, jobs, etc. The black market was booming."
"The Japanese people frowned on their women going with GIs, but he in turn fed her and her family. I am sure many of them got married and brought them back to the states. As the years went by, the relations between our two countries did improve," he added.
As Ashiya High alumni Bill Burton recalls, Ashiya in the 1950s was "just a sleepy little fishing village with some interesting shops and not much else."
The town itself hasn't grown much. It remains a rural, community with a population of about 16,125. But in 1995, it was devastated by a massive earthquake, The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. It killed 400 Ashiya residents and destroyed or damaged 95 percent of its homes. But townfolk quickly rebuilt Ashiya, now a modern, middle-class bedroom community to Kita-Kyushu, a large city to the north.
After the U.S. Air Force left in 1960, much of Ashiya AB was privatized and developed. Some remnants still exist, including the base chapel (the steeple was removed), officers club, hangars and warehouses, and some of the old base housing quarters. What remains of the air base is now occupied by the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, which uses it as one of its primary fighter training bases.
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