Courtesy Photo | United States Naval Ship Sea Lift (T-LSV-9) is loaded at White Beach Tengen Pier in...... read more read more
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. – A retired U.S. Army Chemical Corps colonel vividly remembers the day when an alarm went off on a Navy cargo ship and his team ran toward the ship while everyone else ran in the opposite direction.
Col. Daniel “Dan” Uyesugi, a retired U.S. Army Chemical Corps and Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer, served in the 1970s with the Technical Escort Center during Operation Red Hat in Okinawa and Johnston Island.
Operation Red Hat brought together U.S. troops and civilians from around the world to safely transport more than 13,000 tons of chemical munitions from Okinawa to Johnston Island.
Headed by U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John J. Hayes, the commander of the 2nd Logistics Command, the joint service operation was completed in two phases well before the reversion of Okinawa to Japan on May 15, 1972.
The only reported mishap occurred in September 1970 on the White Beach Tengen Pier when U.S. civilian stevedores dropped two pallets of chemical rockets onto the temporary decks in the hold of the United States Naval Ship Sea Lift (T-LSV-9).
The nerve gas filled M55 rockets fell into the ship when the pallet footer disintegrated. When the loading straps slipped, the rockets were dumped from the well above the top deck to the bottom temporary deck.
As other civilian and military personnel ran away from the ship when the alarm went off, members of the Technical Escort Center (TEC) dock team ran toward the ship. Three members of the TEC shipboard team – then 1st Lt. Dan Uyesugi, Capt. Ken Chepy and 2nd Lt. Mark Loza donned Butyl Rubber Level A protection with M9 masks and climbed down seven stories on narrow ladders into the hold.
Per policy, the ventilation and power were turned off and the team members were locked into the ship by themselves.
“The temperature in the hold was initially over 100 degrees and increased to well over 120 degrees over the four plus hours that we were in the hold,” said Uyesugi. “There was no overhead lighting, and the team worked with only flashlights. We rested at intervals and doused ourselves with water to cool as best we could.”
The M55 rockets were scattered many feet apart over most of the floor on the bottom temporary deck.
Since several of the rockets were damaged, the team had to improvise to overpack and decontaminate them.
The team worked to seal the damaged rockets in two metal cylinders with lead gaskets.
“We could not do that with several of the rockets with their shipping and firing tube shattered and bent at the threaded connection of the warhead and rocket motor. At least one was bent at a right angle and others were distorted significantly. We decided once we saw them that we had to improvise to seal the rockets,” said Uyesugi.
“We needed to limit possible agent release as quickly as possible,” said Uyesugi. “We used the rail ties and jumped on the ends of the rocket tubes to straighten them until each of them almost fit into the cylinders and we could insert the bolts and attach nuts in the cylinder flanges with lead gaskets. We then tightened to close and seal the cylinders and decontaminated each of the overpacked rockets with High Test Hypochlorite.”
The damaged rounds were later taken to Johnston Island where they were destroyed at sea.
The TEC teams then escorted the chemical rounds on the more than 6,500-mile sea voyage from Okinawa to Johnston Island. No one was injured during the mishap and response.
The M55 incident on USNS Sea Lift was the only reported mishap during Operation Red Hat and the TEC Soldiers involved were never officially recognized for it.
From that fateful day, Uyesugi said the most memorable instance is the vision of TEC personnel dressed in their distinct white coveralls and red hats rushing to the ship through the mass of dock workers and ship crew.
Uyesugi supported Operation Red Hat again when Hurricane Celeste battered Johnston Island with 130 mph winds and a 25-foot wave surge in 1972.
“TEC was tasked to deploy a 15-man team of Red Hat EOD and heavy equipment qualified personnel,” said Uyesugi. “Each of the personnel we picked for this mission was a prior veteran of Johnston Island Red Hat operations. They were all single and volunteered – knowing this was anticipated to be a possible one-way mission.”
After successful hurricane recovery operations on Johnston Island, the TEC team returned to their home base of Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland.
A native of Paoli, Indiana, and a graduate of Earlham College, Uyesugi was drafted into the U.S. Army in early 1968. Since he was a chemistry major, he wanted to serve as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Chemical Corps officer.
He was initially sent to Infantry Officer Candidate School before branch transferring to the Chemical Corps while serving at the Technical Escort Center.
During his more than three decades in uniform, Uyesugi served in South Korea and Germany and commanded the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory and U.S. Army Environmental Center.
The U.S. Army’s Technical Escort Center is one of the foundational formations that was incorporated in the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command, the U.S. military’s premier multifunctional and deployable CBRNE command.
The 20th CBRNE Command was activated as the 20th Support Command (CBRNE) in October 2004 after the Army recognized the need for a consolidated operational CBRNE headquarters following the hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
In 2013, the command officially changed its name to the 20th CBRNE Command to better reflect its multifunctional mission. From 19 bases in 16 states, Soldiers and Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command support joint, interagency and allied operations around the world.
Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the 20th CBRNE Command is home to 75 percent of the active-duty U.S. Army’s EOD technicians and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) specialists, as well as the 1st Area Medical Laboratory, CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity, five Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordination Teams and three Nuclear Disablement Teams.
The Technical Escort Center, which was also later called the U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit, became the 22nd Chemical Battalion and CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity (CARA) in the 20th CBRNE Command.
Uyesugi is retired and lives in Fayetteville, Georgia. He said the American Soldiers and Army civilians in the 20th CBRNE Command maintain the high standards of their predecessors in the TEC who took on hazards around the world.
“I am proud of my 32 plus years in the Army and the opportunities to command and serve while in the Army and Chemical Corps. I am equally proud of the EOD, Chemical and TEC legacy represented by the 20th CBRNE and CARA,” said Uyesugi.
“Their unique support to our deployed operational forces and support to our homeland defense is a legacy that I know my fellow TEC veterans will be ever proud of,” said Uyesugi. “For those serving in the 20th CBRNE, you have my everlasting thanks for your service and sacrifices to this nation. Keep up the great work.”
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2023 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 453901 |
| Location: | FAYETTEVILLE, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | PAOLI, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 287 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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