Throughout the year the battalion had an extremely high percentage of turnover in personnel. This not only created shortages of personnel, but also required an extensive training program to train the replacements.

      CPL Geryl "Jerry" Perkins was on his second enlistment after having seen combat in Europe in the artillery branch, and being discharged at the end of hostilities. His reenlistment brought him to Japan and a change in duty to military police work.

     “I was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, Headquarters Battery, artillery, at Nara. That was in January 1947. Soon after, the 8th Army was short of men and I was sent to the Replacement Depot where they lined us up for an inspection. LTC Chester H. Meek inspected each line of men and picked the ones who were six feet tall, or better.

     He took me, and I went that same day to Headquarters Company, 720th MP Battalion. I was the radio operator at the PMO and worked with some good old soldiers like SGT Sergeant “Double Barrel,” we called him."  CPL Geryl “Jerry” Perkins, HQ & HQ Detachment, 1947-1949.

     I also recall having an unpleasant experience riding a bicycle on the rough cobblestone streets of the city, while following our company laundry man to his place of business. He was having problems due to the rationing of utilities at that time, and I tried my best to convince the local power company to give him enough electricity to iron our uniforms.

     When we were on pass we would meet at the nearby train station, and when the train arrived we often had to push our way on when the car doors opened. At one time the train was going so slow that a couple of our troops took over and ran the train their own way. It was good that no other traffic was around at the time.

     It wasn’t long before the office personnel found out that I could type, and I was transferred from MP to clerical duty. I didn’t particularly like MP line duty guarding the Ernie Pyle building, riding trains, and raiding hotels. I never got to the office, I again became ill and was sent to Tokyo General Hospital where I was diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever. On 30 March I was put aboard the U.S. Hospital Ship “Hope,” and sent to Letterman Hospital in San Francisco.”    PVT Robert Foss Hansen, Able Company, 30 January-30 March 1947.

     “Company B was assigned to highway patrol duty, and when I first reported, my assignment included working the patrol’s radio signal, “Guam 20” and “Guam 21.”

     Guam 20 was the route from Tokyo to Haneda Air Force Base (later, Tokyo International). Guam 21 was the route from Tokyo to Tamagawy River, where the 720th and 519th MP sectors met. I used to try to wind up at Haneda when the mess hall opened, to enjoy the Air Force chow.

     “There was an effort made in 1947 to have members of the 720 buy collar brass with the company letter below the crossed pistols. I have one for A Company, and also several with U.S. and 720 below that. To instill pride in organization I suppose. I never saw the IMTFE collar brass but I assume it came from the same source.

     I went to IMTFE once to trade jeep parts as we had resorted to acquiring unattended jeeps to strip down for parts. Air Corps vehicles in particular were a favorite. We did the same thing with the 8th Army Stockade, trade that is, but that was a creepy place to get in and out of.

     There was also a relationship between Company A and the IMTFE. I can remember going to the Sugamo Prison with Jeep parts for their use. You had to be escorted at all times. It was as creepy place as was the 8th Army stockade not too far from our location in Nagano.

     Anytime I was off duty in the afternoon, I could be found either at the war crimes trials or in the Ginza beer hall.

     As for the war crimes trials, each country had its own section in the courtroom. Everyone put on headphones and every word spoken was instantly translated into whatever language the country spoke. The trials went on for about twenty-eight months, and Tojo himself was on the stand for many months.

     When the court wanted him to stop talking, a red light came on. If he did not stop, one of our boys on duty would tap him to make him stop.

     Man, our boys were sharp! It made you proud to be an American.”   CPL Geryl “Jerry” Perkins, HQ & HQ Detachment, 1947-1949.

12 March President Truman delivered a speech before a joint session of Congress that became known as the Truman Doctrine. The immediate cause for the speech was a recent announcement by the British Government that, as of March 31, it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party. Truman asked Congress to support the Greek Government against the Communists. He also asked Congress to provide assistance for Turkey, since that nation, too, had previously been dependent on British aid.

     In light of the deteriorating relationship with the Soviet’s, and the appearance of Soviet meddling in Greek and Turkish affairs, the withdrawal of British assistance provided the necessary catalyst for the Truman Administration to reorient American foreign policy from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. Accordingly, in his speech, President Truman requested that Congress provide monetary aid to both the Greek and Turkish Governments, and support the dispatch of American civilian and military personnel and equipment to the region.

     In his justification the president argued that a Communist victory in the Greek Civil War would endanger the political stability of Turkey, which would undermine the political stability of the Middle East. This could not be allowed in light of the region's immense strategic importance to U.S. national security. Truman also argued that the United States was compelled to assist "free peoples" in their struggles against "totalitarian regimes," because the spread of authoritarianism would "undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States." In the words of the Truman Doctrine, it became "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

3 May The new Constitution of Japan came into force. To commemorate the event, the date was celebrated as a national holiday.

     Unlike the Meiji Constitution that it replaced, the new Constitution declared that sovereignty lies with the people; the Emperor is "the symbol of the state and the unity of the people" who has no "powers related to government."

      He took us all around Yokohama, Tokyo, and to the Mount Fuji area to see what had been done by the bombs and how the Japanese lived. We saw many MP’s and it took us a while to understand whet they were all doing. Dad told us that they were there not only to protect the military, but also to ensure that all sectors of the city were secure.

     After a short reunion, we went to live in the housing area called Washington Heights. The housing was for officers and enlisted personnel, one area for each. There were many MP families as neighbors, and in two years were there we all became close friends. We children attended the Tokyo American School, and that was an experience in itself. There were children at the school from all parts of the world. From whet I understood my father to say, only crack troops from the various Allied countries were sent to Japan for Occupation duty, and many of their families came with them, along with business men and their families.

     "I was a private just assigned from Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia to Camp Drake 1st Cavalry Division near Tokyo, Japan. They asked for MP’s, I volunteered, and was transferred to Charlie Company, 720th MP Battalion.

      At Charlie Company I worked patrol in Tokyo out of the Ueno sub-station. My most memorable moment was when I was selected by my commanding officer, CPT Ra Zor, to pose for a statue that was made for the monument to recognize the battalion’s soldiers killed in WW II. When my service commitment ended I returned to civilian life.

      I reenlisted, and in January 1949 I was sent back to the 720th and Charlie Company. In March I transferred to the MP Investigation Section of the 23rd CID, also stationed in Tokyo.

Exact Date Unknown Battalion patrol were notified to be on the lookout for PVT Lewis Tryon age 19 of Dog Company who failed to return to the cantonment from his motorized patrol duties at the end of shift. He was last seen in uniform riding his patrol jeep and armed with his .45 caliber sidearm. As time went by the investigation into his disappearance changed his status from Absent Without Leave, to being wanted by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) for desertion. Investigators suspected that PVT Tryon was on the run with his 28-year-old girlfriend, Mariko Kataoka of Tokyo.

26 July President Truman signed the National Security Act, which became one of the most important pieces of Cold War legislation. The act established much of the bureaucratic framework for foreign policymaking for the next 40-plus years of the Cold War.

     The act mandated a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the U.S. Government, creating many of the institutions that future Presidents found useful when formulating and implementing foreign policy, including the National Security Council (NSC), formation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the merging of the War Department and Navy Department into a single Department of Defense, under a Secretary of Defense, and created the Department of the Air Force.

1 August CID investigators identified PVT Tryon as the American soldier that robbed a branch of the Usada Bank in downtown Tokyo at gunpoint, this time taking a total of 20,000 Yen ($400).

     During his getaway he stole a truck at the Shinjuku Rail Station (Shinjuku City a ward of Tokyo) and killed a Japanese mail carrier when he accidentally backed over him during his escape.

15 August The CID finally tracked down PVT Tryon and his girlfriend at a beach in Sasebo near Hiroshima, where a detachment of local MP’s apprehended him as he came out of the surf ending his crime spree.

     “As yes, Lewis Tryon . . . that case I remember very well indeed. Pvt. Tryon was in "D" Company the same time I was there in 1946 and early 1947, he bunked in the room next to ours and I knew him slightly . . . never a buddy though. He was a rather quiet fellow, and we mainly chatted about upstate New York. I was already in "B" Company by July 1947 when Tryon took a battalion jeep while on patrol and went over the hill with his .45 sidearm.

     We all followed the case closely, particularly his shacking up with an older Japanese girl, the bank robberies, and his killing of a Japanese civilian at Shinjuku Station while making his escape in a stolen Japanese truck. The report was that Tryon smashed the Japanese into a pillar while backing up at the station.

     We later heard reports that his girl friend had obtained passage for she and Tryon on a boat leaving Tokyo for Kyushu in early August, and that a 720/CID team had raced to the reported dock . . . but the boat had already sailed.”   PFC John E. Marquardt, Dog, Baker and HQ & HQ Detachment, 1946-1948.

Exact Date Unknown The battalion changed its operational plan from that of a static company zone, to a company specific duty rotation plan. Each of the battalion’s organic companies was now assigned specific responsibilities throughout the entire city, and would rotate responsibilities on a regular schedule.

     The new assignments were: Able Company, patrol all beer halls and cabarets; Baker Company, all traffic control and motor patrol functions; Charlie Company all foot patrols and train guard functions; Dog Company, patrol of the Ernie Pyle Theater & snack bar, and the Tokyo Post Exchange & snack bar.

     The rotation improved overall operational efficiency and communications, while providing each company and line duty MP with a broader knowledge of area needs throughout the city in the event of a major emergency.

     "The patrol routine at that time was to rotate sectors in Tokyo from one company to another. I started in the area from the Ginza (Avenue "A") to the Haneda River along the harbor. It was an area bombed out with only chimneys sticking up and rubble around the base, very eerie at night. We would drive to the Haneda River and wait to meet a patrol from the 519 MP Battalion, exchange greetings and go back to drive around. Some times we were a walking patrol. Very dull duty.

     One night we were checking hotels/whore houses and saw some American style shoes someone had left outside the room, as was the custom in Japan. It turned out to be an American civilian sailor. We notified the Duty Sergeant and left it up to him. Then we rotated to the Ueno Police Station (10th and 22nd Streets) area."

     “It was sometime in the spring. The railroad station at Nakano was busy all the time; it was the hub of all rail traffic to Northern Japan. One night it went from calm to chaos as hundreds of young men in Japanese Army uniforms (without insignia) arrived on a train. They spit at us and gave us an elbow as they walked by. We were surprised to say the least. The station attendants sorted it out and it ended.

17 September Communist North Korea, led by Kim Il Sung, proclaimed itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, denying the legitimacy of South Korea, and claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula.

     PFC Stephen F. Lydon, Sr. of Charlie Company was presented a Certificate Of Achievement by his commanding officer, CPT Jay F. Ra Zor for excellent performance of duty in the apprehension of an AWOL soldier who had been hiding from military authorities for 30 days.

25 September In the southern American Occupation Zone of Korea, under orders of President Truman the U.S. occupation forces begin to prepare to withdraw, hoping to leave the South as an independent state under the leadership of the pro-American conservative Dr. Syngman Rhee.

     “I also remember Dad [Battalion Adjutant CPT Ferguson] taking me to the Provost Marshal’s Office one day, in Tokyo. He said he had to go there on business and that I was to sit outside in the hall and wait for him. I was sixteen years old at that time.

     The wait was a long one, during which I saw the MP’s bringing in service men, prostitutes, people who had been in fights, and all sorts of other things like that. It turned out that he had taken me there deliberately, wanting me to see what could happen to a young woman in Japan-and in the United States. He said, that being in the service and not being around his family very much, he didn’t know any other way to explain to me the facts of life. Needless to add, I was impressed.