July 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Former U.S. Marine Chas Henry joined the program to discuss the 1979 tragedy of how an intense tropical cyclone with destructive winds propelled over 5,000 gallons of gasoline into corrugated steel huts filled with U.S. Marines at Camp Fuji and ignited. The fire injured 73 people and killed 13. Chas discussed this “forgotten” tragedy in greater detail.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's night side with Dan Ray. I'm Wbzy Coustin's new
radio right.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A couple of weeks ago we had as a guest.
I'm chas Henry. He's an author of a book called Fujifire.
I had never heard of Fujifire, but it took place
on October nineteenth, nineteen seventy nine, when typhon tip at
the time. According to this book review that was written
by former Virginia senator and a cabinet secretary of former
(00:30):
Marine in Vietnam, James Webb, Secretary of the Navy, also
served as a Senator from Virginia, most intense tropical storm
ever recorded whipped through a US Marine Corps training camp
near Mount Fuji in Japan. This was the report that
legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite presented to the nation in
(00:53):
October of seventy nine.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Friday, a typhoon toppled a huge fuel storage tank at
the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The resulting fire
swept the US.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Marines barracks there.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
One marine died instantly, But today it turns out the
tragedy was greater than I first reported. Thirty seven badly
burned Marines nineteen have less than a fifty to fifty
chance of survival.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Wow with us now is Jaz Henry who has written
this book. Chaz, this was a labor that you spend
years on. How many years and how did you find
this story in the first place?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Well, I fell into it. I didn't know that it
was going to take four years and take me across
two continents to tell, but I fell into it during
the pandemic. I did a career in the Marine Corps
from nineteen seventy six through nineteen ninety six. After that,
I was a journalist for many years. In twenty nineteen,
I retired from daily journalism and my wife and I
(01:53):
were going to travel. That was the big plan. The
pandemic hit. Because of some health issues I had, I
had to be careful about being out and about during
the pandemic, so I was looking for something productive to
be doing. It wasn't productive, but I was posting photos
on Facebook and one photo I posted was me at
Camp Fuji in nineteen seventy eight. Then I mentioned just
in passing this was about a year before the big
(02:15):
fire there. And then I was shocked by the number
of people to include lots of fellow marines who asked
what fire. And at the time this happened in October
nineteen seventy nine, it was a kick in the gut
around the Marine Corps. I couldn't believe that it was
so little remembered, and so I thought, well, perhaps there's
a podcast in this for you know, I have time
on my hands. So I started doing some research and
(02:38):
in the end four plus years and travel across the
US and into Japan to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
How many marines lost their life initially as a consequence
of this, so this disaster, which maybe could have been avoided,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
So seventy three people were injured, in all of whom
fifty four suffered burns. Of that number, thirteen died. Only
one died on the day of the fire at the camp.
Four others would die in Japan, and then by the
end of fifty four days after the fire, a total
(03:23):
of thirteen marines had died.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And I assumed that some of those marines have had
life long complications from the burns of the injuries they incurred.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
There were thirty eight marines who were really, really horribly
burned and were evacuated from Japan to San Antonio, Texas,
to the Army Burn Center there. I don't know if
your listeners have ever heard of it. I wasn't all
that familiar with it until I started researching this book.
It may well be the best burn center in the world,
(03:57):
and certainly in nineteen seventy nine it was considered and
they were taken there, and it took months for them
to get to a point where they could really just
begin recovering. So these people were horribly injured, and burn
injuries effect not just you know, the skin, but also
every system in the body, respiratory, other chemical processes of
(04:22):
the organs. And so when many were released and somewhere
in the hospital. This happened in October nineteen seventy nine.
Two of the Marines were in the hospital until April first,
nineteen eighty when they were set home. They were only
at a point really where they were beginning to heal.
And the guys told me that it took you know, one, two,
(04:43):
maybe longer years to get to a point where where
you could start thinking about normal things and you know,
be beyond the worst part of the injuries. So, yes,
there were those people who were unable to work what
inspired me there. There are incredible stories of people who
were burned significantly. There was one marine who was burned
(05:06):
over half his body, got out, spent a long time
in recovery, went to college, went to flight school, and
became a commercial pilot, and just very recently retired from
American Airlines as an airliner captain. It's now a lot
of the help was provided by the VA, both medical
(05:27):
and educational, and you know, other benefits that were helpful
to guys. But beyond all that, then there were issues
of post traumatic stress that people dealt with, and people
who were badly burned, and people who were not so
badly burned, people who just were there amongst the rivers
of fire that were moving through this camp, seeing friends burned,
(05:50):
skin peeling off of them, and dealing with this, and
then and then years later, you know, seeking help from
people who said, you know, I've never heard of this.
Not that people, you know, weren't willing to help, but
in many instances people had to try to find newspaper
articles or because there would have been if they weren't hurt,
(06:10):
there wouldn't have been anything in their records noting that
they had been there when this happened.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, you have so much more instantaneous communication today. It
wasn't quite like that in nineteen seventy nine. It wasn't
the Dark Ages, but it wasn't anything like today. I mean,
there's a car crash in Berlin, and if they suspect
it's terrorism, we're looking at it less than a half
an hour later. The world is a much smaller place journalistically.
(06:37):
Before we go to break, I just want to read
this one paragraph that I think does really put this
in context, by former Senator James Webb, who wrote this
book review of your book, The Fuji Fire. The complexity
of this story makes it exceedingly difficult to tell till now.
It's been little remembered and infrequently taught in our military academies.
(06:58):
Mister Henry Skoley Rigor knowledge of the military and selling
storytelling skill may at last change that. I want to
go to phone calls. I hope that you've been able
to contact some of the folks who experience this, because
there is questions that you have and that anyone who
(07:20):
reads this book will have as to why this camp
was set up that way. Now, if the typhoon had
never hit, I don't think that would have been a problem,
but it just shows and I believe that there's a
general who we may hear from later on who's very
concerned about this and was very concerned. There are people
(07:46):
in the military who we want to make sure something
of this never happens again. And one of the other
reasons why people don't remember it is it was really
sadly it was eclipsed by what was to take place
in Tehran about three weeks later. My guest is Chaz Henry,
his book Fuji Fire. Will be right back, and we
(08:07):
have phone callers. Those of you are having trouble getting
through one the six one seven two five four ten
thirty line, feel free to join us at six one
seven nine three one ten thirty. We'll be back on
night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on wbzas Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
My guest is Chaz Henry. He's written a book called
Fuji Fire, and it talks about a horrific accident but
an excellent that could have been avoided. I'd like to
go to some phone callers, Chazz. I'm sure some of
our phone callers will have experiences to share, and I'm
looking forward to talking with them six two, five, four,
(08:48):
ten thirty six months, seven nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Let me go to Dennis in Arizona. Dennis, thank you
for your patience. You are first this hour at night
side with Chaz Henry. Go right ahead, Dennis.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Good evening, Dan, and thanks thanks for putting this word
out here and helping Chaz get the word out on
his book.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Not really sure where I want to go, but I
did want to speak on behalf of what I learned
from the book, and I shared this with Chaz after
I read it. But my focus and my reality was
was that twenty hours of during the fire and trying
(09:33):
to take care of the Marines as best as we could.
And it wasn't until Chaz put this book together that
I I came to find that, you know, this was
a eight nine month adventure. Adventure that's not a good word.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But a.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
That the hoops that people had to jump through it too.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It was I think the better word, Dennis, if I
could be uh so rude to interrupt you, is was
a nine month.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
Ordeal ordeal, Yes, and thank you for that, but I was,
you know, focused on us. But this is a good
showing of how all of our branches of the military
came together at a time of crisis and worked together.
(10:33):
We all worked as a team, and and and and
just a short amount of time. And as you mentioned earlier,
we didn't have the communication years ago that we do now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Dennis, let me ask you you obviously, the implications of
your remarks is you were a marine and you were
there when this happened.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
No, you know, and I'm sorry I didn't start off
with uh with my identity. I was a hospitalman apprentice
at the time. I had only been with two four
about two months, the second Italian fourth Marines, and I
was I was pretty young. I was nineteen years old,
and you know, we were I was used to seeing
(11:19):
the Marines taking care of I was with golf Company
and taking the care of the Marines and Golf Company,
and we had never I never, in my wildest dreams,
imagined what we would see and who we would be treating.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So let me ask you when this happened, where were you.
Were you at that camp or were you out of
in a medovac area.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
I was. I was at the camp, and I was
extremely fortunate. I was with Golf Company on the lower
right hand side of the base in Quansett Hut two
forty seven, and the typhoon was was quite heavy. We
couldn't hear anything going on outside. We were told to
go to our quantt huts and ride out the storm.
(12:08):
And an hour into it, maybe I do not recall
the exact times, but somebody came in calling for Doc
and saying somebody's burdened and needs help. And I was
not fully clothed, so I jumped into a rain suit,
a gumby suit is what we referred it to, and
(12:28):
I just ran up to where the patient was and
was not expecting to see what I saw. And through
this book also and through the research, I came to
find out. I thought the first patient that I'm talking
about right now had died shortly after the fire. His
(12:56):
last name was Miller, and that's really all I knew.
And I knew that a Miller died short after the fire,
and I always assumed it was the guy that you right.
And then through this book, Chaz let me know the
guy I first treated, although he was severely burned, is
(13:19):
still alive. And this book also let me know that
there was actually four people involved that last name was Miller,
and that.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Dennis. I want to ask you, how long did you
serve in the Marines. This had to be quite a welcome,
you know, literally a baptism of fire as a nineteen
year old kid.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Right, I was. I did just short of twenty six years.
I started off as a corman. I prepaired medical equipment
during that time, and then I got commissioned as a
hot little administrator and did my last ten years as
a hospital administrator in the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I was.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I was in the Navy the entire time. Marines get
their medical care from the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Okay, uh, Jazz, did you come across Dennis? Is? He? Is? He?
In the book?
Speaker 4 (14:22):
He is? And it's an interesting story because when we
last you and I last fought, I mentioned that early on,
I was trying to find people, and I would find
a name of someone, you know, in some paperwork, and
I would send letters out trying to find those people.
And Dennis's name was sufficiently unique that I was pretty
sure I had gotten the right address. I wrote a letter,
didn't hear back for a long time. Finally he was
(14:46):
he was resisting answering. Finally his wife found a letter
and she convinced him twisted his arm, and fortunately for me,
because the the insights he was able to offer were
incredible to telling the story. And I should, really, I
should tell you that. You know, so he's a young
Navy corman, just new to the Navy, supporting the Marine
Corps here and it encounters this. It made such an
(15:08):
impact on Dennis's life that he made sure that the
last tour he served in the Navy was as offering
officer in charge of the medical clinic that supported that
same Marine Corps unit that he had supported when the
Fuji fire happened.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Wow, so Dennis, you retired, you said, after twenty six
years in the Marines. Was that single day the worst
day in the Navy? Was that single day the worst
day of your military service?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yes? It was, And it's not something that I really
talked a lot about, Mike. When Chaz let you know
what he was doing, he was going to do a podcast.
I had never even really told my kids about what
had happened. So I had to. I'm out with my
(16:01):
I have we have three sons, and let the kids
know exactly what happened. This is something that I wanted
to put behind me and I did, and after I
read the book, I called Jazz and said, Jazz, I
spent the last three days crying. It's it's and the
(16:25):
story needs to be told. It's a it's a tough
one to relive.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, so I want to ask you a tough question.
Give me an honest answer. It's a typhoon, as I understand,
that is the equivalent of what we call a hurricane.
Is that fairly accurate.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yes, they're exactly the same, just different names for the
same phenomena.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
That's you, That's what I understood. Okay, all of us
have experienced hurricanes up here, We've never experienced a situation
where all of this fuel was stationed above the living
quarters and when the fuel ruptured and caught fire, it was,
(17:07):
you know, literally a baptism of fire. What were the
military officers, the military brass who in charge of setting
up this this training camp? Well, do they have some responsibility?
And this should not have someone foreseen this potentially happening.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
I would say, it's almost funny that you asked me
that question. When I was being interviewed by Chaz back
in twenty one, I told Chaz that I had I
remember seeing in the stars and stripes that there was
(17:53):
an article that said that the Fuji fire was an
act of God. Yes, And I had been trying to
find that in my research. Yeah, And I told Chaz,
I said, Chaz, I can't find that anywhere. But I'm
here to tell you that this to me did not
seem like an act of God. Something was wrong. And
(18:18):
Chaz said, I just so happened to have that article
and he sent it to me. And Chazz has has
done an outstanding job, in my opinion, of showing all
sides of the story.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
They might have been an act of God, but if
the fuel had been stored properly below where the encampment was.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
The event would not have occurred, the tragedy.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Right, And that is exactly how I feel.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Great, And I got to get to a newscast here
at the bottom of the eye. But you know, we
we honor your service. Many of my listeners have served,
I've served, but none of us, i'm sure, have experienced
what you experienced as a nineteen year old core men,
(19:17):
and I appreciate you taking the time to call in.
And you know this, this this hour will be posted
in podcast form later on this morning, and if you
want to listen to the interview and perhaps pull it
down for your family's historical records. You're more than welcome
to do that.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Okay, thank you so much, Jan greatly appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Well. Keep listening. Tonight's ad here a long time and
these many of the stories that we'd like to talk about.
Thank you again, Thank you sir. Thanks, These are powerful interviews,
Jaz and I'm sure you interviewed more than your share.
And we'll continue if if you don't have to be
a survivor of this disaster to comment, but I would
(20:06):
hope that everyone would understand that what was what happened
here was could have been avoided. At least that's my view,
and we'll ask Chess his view, and I have Joe
and Colorado coming up as well. Uh. If you've ever served,
or if you haven't served, your thoughts, you more than
welcome to this. As they say, Chess was an interesting story,
(20:28):
there was. It was a big story on CBS Evening
News with Walter Cronkite. We played that sound bite for
you earlier, but then a few weeks later take over
of the US embassy in Tehran and the story disappeared
for years until Chas Henry worked on it and wrote
a book called Fujifire that's available easy to get on Amazon.
(20:53):
Feel free to join the conversation if you'd like six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one ten.
My name is Dan Ray. Will be right back.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Thank you, Dan Watkins. My guest is Chaz Henry. He's
the author of a book that is well, it's a tragedy.
It is a tragedy. It's about a typhoon on Mount
Fuji in Japan in October of nineteen seventy nine. The
book is titled Fujifire Took the lives of thirteen US
(21:30):
Marines injured others. Chaz, how is this book being received?
I hope at this point that this book is getting
some circulation.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
It was released June first, Dan, and it's what's most
gratifying to me immediately is I dealt with a lot
of guys who were hurt in the fire and others
who were not physically injured but suffered the trauma of
being caught in the midst of this mails from a storm,
a super typhoon, a fire, and so far, what I've
(22:03):
heard from uh, from the people that have gotten back
to me is that well, as we heard Dennis say earlier,
you know, there's an emotional weight that comes with sort
of the story being put back into your face. Most
people have told me that they're glad that it was documented.
It wasn't for many years. And as you mentioned, you know,
(22:25):
just a couple of weeks after the fire of the
events in Iran happened, the embassy was taken over, Attention shifted.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
There was also.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The Marine Corps was not so inclined to talk about
the incident, even though there were heroic aspects of survivment.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
It was an embarrassment. It was an embarrassment that that
something like this happened. I want to I want to
keep rolling with callers as well. Chazz, feel free to
join into the conversation. Let me go. I got people
who have been waiting. Joe is in Colorado. Joe, you
were next on night Side. Say ahead to my guest, Chazz,
who is the Jazz Henry, the author of this book
(23:03):
Fuji Fire.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Your thoughts, Joe, Well, first of all, Chaz, we've talked
several times. I was interviewed, and I'm honored that he
put me in the book in several locations. It's just
an honor to speak to you and thank you so
much for what you've done for us, all documenting this.
Like I couldn't believe, Dan, I spent sixty three years
(23:26):
living on the South Shore, so you're a familiar voice,
and it's I escaped Massachusetts three years ago, but I
grew up in Quincy and I went to VC High,
so I'm very familiar with you.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh my goodness, I played hockey baseball against BC High. Sure, absolutely,
So what took you, Joe? What took you to Colorado
or as I think you guys say it out there, Colorado.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
A granddaughter took me out here, my first and old franchild,
and so it was retirment time, and it sounded good
to me to be a part of her life.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Great to make your acquaintance right ahead, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
I was. I'm just gonna say, I was right smack
in the middle of this thing. And what what chairs
has done is really well above and beyond what anyone
could expect. He filled in so many holes for the
guys like me that went through this thing. There was
so much that we didn't ever know after the fire,
what happened to this guy, what happened to that guy?
(24:30):
You know who who did what what happened because it
was like a blur. I was in a quancert hut
that probably was, you know, twenty seconds thirty seconds away
from going up, and we had our doors nail shut,
and the only thing that saved my life was some
captain came by and hurled himself through the door of
(24:50):
our quancert hut and yelled, run for your life, men,
do it now, and out we went. And I say
when we went out, we were in our underwear, we
were in our pet sho. We just ran. And when
we were running, there were guys coming by us that
were burnt to all hell, and we didn't know what
was going on. It was the sky was on fire,
(25:12):
the ground was on fire. There was rivers of fire,
and we just ran in the direction we heard people yelling,
run this way. I saw a first sergeant. He was
in a drainage ditch and he was just moving his hand,
saying run run, And we got down to a landing
pad and that's when they started dragging in the guys
that were really burnt bad and you know chairs knows
(25:35):
this story. You know, they made us get into little
circles and then they would put some big, really badly
burnt guy in the middle of us so that we
could ward off the rain because as the raindrops were hitting,
they were taking skin with it. And so you know,
we're just standing there looking at these guys. You know,
there was a guy in front of me, six inches
(25:56):
away who was just totally burnt. I didn't even know
if it was a black guy, white guy. Had no ears,
no nose, no nothing. And while he's there, other guys
are screaming and yelling, and they're bringing other guys in.
It was just like, you can imagine this complete blur
because they didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
But it sounds to me like you somehow got to
Dante's inferno here on Earth.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
You know, it was so fast and it was such
an explosive situation that no one knew what happened. I
read in the book one guy thought that we were
being rocket attacked by somebody because things were blowing up
and there were balls of flames. And you know, I
never knew all the details of how and what happened
until this book came out, and I was fortunate enough
(26:44):
to go back in twenty seventeen to Camp Fuji. I
was a guest speaker at the annual ceremony that they
have and that did a lot to heal me.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
It was a chance to go back and a chance
to see where it happened again. Although that camp is
nothing like it was in seventy nine. It's been completely modernized.
It's a totally different deal. But I stood on the
very spot on that landing pad where I was looking
at a guy who died later on, and you know,
it did a lot for me as far as healing.
(27:16):
But Jazz has filled in so many holes in the story,
you know, the investigations, the storm. Everything came together in
that book in a way that I now fully understand
what I went through.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Joe, let me ask you this, how long did you
serve in the Marines.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
I had split service. I served four years of active
duty from seventy seven to eighty one, and then I
got to tell you, you know, this thing did a
number on my head and I didn't know I had PTSD.
I just was a mess from eighty one to ninety
and then when nineteen ninety, I had the idea that
I'd go back into the reserves. I just needed something,
(27:53):
and the Marine Corps was calling me back. So I
went back into the reserves in nineteen ninety and thirty
days after I enlisted back in Desert storm came.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Is everything I was thinking that Actually, as you were
telling the story, so you got to see some of
the Middle East, I guess.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
No. We we spent six months down at Cherry Point,
North Carolina preparing to go over, but as you may
recall or not, the ground war over there and the
first Desert storm was four days long, so we didn't
have to go over. But yeah, so I had a
total of five years active duty, three years reserve. But yeah,
(28:33):
this story I never thought would ever see the light
of day again. It just seemed like it was forgotten.
And there's a lot of us survivors out there that
we still stay in touch here and there through a
Facebook group called Camp Fujifire Memorial Group. I've been able
to visit a buddy that I, you know, was in
the same Quantset hut as me in Oklahoma last year.
(28:55):
And so you know, to some of us, this is
still a thing, you know, and like I said, Uh,
I'm shocked at Chaz did such a job on it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Well, well, Joe, you did a great job explaining is
to us always. It's great to even though that you
went to VC High talked to a Bostonian only kidding.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Great, yeah, don't hold that against me.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Great respect for for for BC High. I'm a Latin
school guy, so you understand. You can understand that.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Oh yeah, we played you guys in basketball. And uh,
I just want to say before I run a shout
out to my sisters who are listening there back there
and on the East Coast. So Dan, keep up the
good work, Jazz. What can I say, just a stella
stellar thing that you've done. And I salute you, sir.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
We service, We salute your service, Joe and uh and
and please feel free you can for your own purposes.
I don't know if you ever listened to Nightside regularly
in Colorado. We do have listeners all over the country,
but you can go to our website which is Nightside
Underman dot com and that. But we've just had the
(30:01):
interview that we've just had will be available in a
few hours and.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
It's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You could pull it down for your own family history,
you know, audio library history, because I think you told
the story extraordinarily well. And congratulations to get through all
of this. Did the government my last question, did the
government help those of you who were impacted by this
(30:30):
or did you get lost in transition?
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Well, since you asked, I'll tell you real quick what
happened with me. I spent decades in the wilderness with
this thing, like a black cloud hanging over me. I
had trouble with alcohol. I got on all kinds of
problems in my life, and I never really understood why
I got sober seventeen years ago. But there were certain
things that just weren't getting better. And one day I
(30:56):
was somewhere and a guy from a VA represent was
talking to somebody and I overheard him and I said
something about, you know, going through a fire and when
I was in the service, and he said, well, you
really ought to you really ought to look into that.
And so one day I just walked into the VA
hospital in Brockton, and as soon as I stepped in
Dan the tears stopped flowing. I don't know what was
(31:19):
going on, and the guy said, you need to see
somebody immediately. They got me into a program for PTSD
and this whole thing came out and I went through
a two year regimen with group therapy and uh, you know,
they have an immersive therapy where you have to repeat
the story over and over again. It was painful, but
(31:39):
it did me a lot of good. And I can't
say enough about what the VA did for me. It
really really helped. So you know, you hear a lot
of negative about the VA sometimes, but they did a
great job.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
It's great to her a positive story. Joe. Thank you
for your service and thank you for you for taking
the time tonight.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
You join us pleasure, goodnight talk.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So all right, we're going to take a quick break
here for news. Next up is Mike coming coming in
from Maine. If you'd like to comment, feel free. You
don't have to be someone who survived this, this horrendous experience.
You're more than welcome and joined six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine, three one
ten thirty. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
My guest is chas Henry Chazz, reading from a Senator
Webb's review book review. He writes, as the torrent of
rain continued, the loose lava soil underneath began to erode
one bladder. These are the containers that held gasoline. Five
nine thirty three gallons of gasoline floated up and over
(32:53):
what remained of its encircling earthen embankment, a sharp metal
corner of its frame. The five foot long tier in
the bladder soon an estimated fifty five hundred gallons of
fuel flow downhill, a top already flooding rainwater. That's an
(33:15):
incredible description. I want to have you respond to that,
but I also want to get Mike from Maine in
because he's been holding for a little while. Mike and Maine,
You're next on Nightside with my guest, Chaz Henry, the
author of a book Fuji Fire.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Good evening, Dan, I hope you're doing well. Thank you
so much for having Chaz on. I think I can
attest a lot of the members of Second, the Time,
Fourth Marine, Magnificent Bastards. We're listening intently tonight. We've been
waiting for somebody like Chazz to come along for a
long time, so thanks again, Dan for having him on.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Very welcome. I wish more of you would would have
joined us, because I think that in great numbers they strength.
Then it's good to know that so many of you
survived this horrific experience. Go right ahead, what's your question
on comment for Jazz?
Speaker 5 (34:09):
Yeah, So, first off, my name is Mike Tuttle, and
I was with segmentye fourth Marines from November seventy to
November seventy nine, and I was there for the fire.
And I really calling to let Chazz know how thankful,
how grateful I am, and I think I speak for
(34:30):
a lot of members of two four. I know they're
out there listening tonight, and I know I contacted as
many friends as I could to have them tune in
tonight to hear about this. And again, just so grateful
that somebody like Jazz came along, had the skill, of
the ability, the motivation, the drive to pick this project
(34:53):
up and do this tragic story justice and very thankful
that he has done justice for those members that died
that day of two four, all those that were that
were injured and affected by the fire, and so many
(35:13):
people that were touched by this fire, and some of
the other colors touched on it, both the US and
Japanese forces that were involved, the American and the Japanese
civilians that got involved in this. This tragic incident just
reached out and touched so many people in so many ways.
It was it was something and I didn't know what
(35:34):
I know now after reading Chaz's book, because of course
I was just a young marine and I left shortly
after the fire, and Chaz's book has just filled in
so much and I'm just amazed at the work that
Chaz did on this. It was just absolutely amazing, the
research and the interviews and the traveling that he did.
And I read the book, I just kept on telling
(35:56):
my wife how amazed I was at how hard Chaz worked.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Why do you think, why do you think it took
so long for someone like Chaz Henry to come along.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
That's a good question, Dan. You know, I ended up
staying in the Marine Corps for thirty years on active
duty after that fire. That was that was my first
duty station, and in my travels over the next twenty
nine years, you know, I would bring this story up,
and I was. I was also surprised, as Chaz was,
how few Marines knew about it or had forgotten about it.
(36:32):
And I just I think you kind of hit the
nail on the head in the beginning there, Dan, I
think it was overshadowed by the embassy being taken over
and I ran it just it kind of fell to
the to the shadows there and just was forgotten about
it was it was overcast by that incident.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Well, Mike, you stayed in a long time. I hope
that did you realize how valuable your service was and
and the sacrifice that all of you made that that
faithful day, which obviously I think there were decisions that
were made that you, as young Marines, had nothing to
(37:09):
do with, so you had no responsibility for this. You
suffered the consequences of maybe some decisions that could have
been smarter. So I just want to thank you for
taking the time to call in tonight, and I want
to give Chaz a moment or two at the end
here just to kind of wrap it up. You're up
in Maine. I hope that you continue to listen to
Night Side. We're here Monday through Friday night from me
(37:29):
to midnight.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Okay, I will thanks Stana, Hey, Chaz, thank you so
much and uh samprified brother and for for all the
magnificent bastards out there that are listening. Chaz did this
right man? Thank you, Chaz.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
It was a privilege, Mike, Mike, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Uh so so, Chaz. I want to wrap this and
give you an opportunity, folks. Obviously the easiest place is Amazon,
but uh, do you have a way site that people
can can purchase a book from directly?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Well, no, there's but there's more information about the fire
at chas Henry dot com and it's c H A
s H E n R Y Chaz Henry dot com.
Just to follow up on a couple of points the
guys made. I had an email the other day from
a guy who was not involved in the production of
the book, but said that he was so many years
had gone by and this story had not appeared in
(38:25):
Marine Corps histories, and he said it almost made us
feel ashamed, almost begging the question did we do something wrong?
Speaker 5 (38:32):
Was there?
Speaker 4 (38:32):
You know? The fact that this is not being mentioned
as part of the Marine Corps history. That was gratifying
that I could I could help in this way. Another thing,
when I wrote the book, I thought I was writing
the book for people who had never heard of the event,
and you know, they would it would all be new
to them, and certainly it's that. But I I came
to realize is that everybody who was involved in this event,
(38:54):
be they people who were at the camp during the fire,
people who flew into the storm, medical people who took
care of the very badly burned marines, everybody's experience was
very intense but also very narrow. And as you mentioned,
these were days before information could be shared easily, no
social media, no email, and so people had a very
intense but narrow understanding of what had happened. And so
(39:16):
it's turned out that it's been of value that I
hadn't seen initially to help fill in these gaps, even
for people who were there.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
All right, Well, Chaz, I'm flat out of time. I
thank everyone who called in to share their perspective. I
thank you for the story. Again. The book is Fuji Fire,
available certainly at Amazon. I hope people would read it,
particularly those of you with the military background, because I'm
sure you can perceive the mistakes that were made and
(39:43):
the people who suffered consequences of those mistakes. Chess, thank
you again. We will keep in touch, my friend. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
Can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Dan, my pleasure, my pleasure. We get back. It's the
twelfth hour of the week, my last hour of the week.
I've got a topic I'm going to throw out there.
I hope you'll put Sabe coming back on Nightside.
He's night side with Dan Ray. I'm Wbzy Coustin's new
radio right.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A couple of weeks ago we had as a guest.
I'm chas Henry. He's an author of a book called Fujifire.
I had never heard of Fujifire, but it took place
on October nineteenth, nineteen seventy nine, when typhon tip at
the time. According to this book review that was written
by former Virginia senator and a cabinet secretary of former
(00:30):
Marine in Vietnam, James Webb, Secretary of the Navy, also
served as a Senator from Virginia, most intense tropical storm
ever recorded whipped through a US Marine Corps training camp
near Mount Fuji in Japan. This was the report that
legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite presented to the nation in
(00:53):
October of seventy nine.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Friday, a typhoon toppled a huge fuel storage tank at
the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The resulting fire
swept the US.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Marines barracks there.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
One marine died instantly, But today it turns out the
tragedy was greater than I first reported. Thirty seven badly
burned Marines nineteen have less than a fifty to fifty
chance of survival.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Wow with us now is Jaz Henry who has written
this book. Chaz, this was a labor that you spend
years on. How many years and how did you find
this story in the first place?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Well, I fell into it. I didn't know that it
was going to take four years and take me across
two continents to tell, but I fell into it during
the pandemic. I did a career in the Marine Corps
from nineteen seventy six through nineteen ninety six. After that,
I was a journalist for many years. In twenty nineteen,
I retired from daily journalism and my wife and I
(01:53):
were going to travel. That was the big plan. The
pandemic hit. Because of some health issues I had, I
had to be careful about being out and about during
the pandemic, so I was looking for something productive to
be doing. It wasn't productive, but I was posting photos
on Facebook and one photo I posted was me at
Camp Fuji in nineteen seventy eight. Then I mentioned just
in passing this was about a year before the big
(02:15):
fire there. And then I was shocked by the number
of people to include lots of fellow marines who asked
what fire. And at the time this happened in October
nineteen seventy nine, it was a kick in the gut
around the Marine Corps. I couldn't believe that it was
so little remembered, and so I thought, well, perhaps there's
a podcast in this for you know, I have time
on my hands. So I started doing some research and
(02:38):
in the end four plus years and travel across the
US and into Japan to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
How many marines lost their life initially as a consequence
of this, so this disaster, which maybe could have been avoided,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
So seventy three people were injured, in all of whom
fifty four suffered burns. Of that number, thirteen died. Only
one died on the day of the fire at the camp.
Four others would die in Japan, and then by the
end of fifty four days after the fire, a total
(03:23):
of thirteen marines had died.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And I assumed that some of those marines have had
life long complications from the burns of the injuries they incurred.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
There were thirty eight marines who were really, really horribly
burned and were evacuated from Japan to San Antonio, Texas,
to the Army Burn Center there. I don't know if
your listeners have ever heard of it. I wasn't all
that familiar with it until I started researching this book.
It may well be the best burn center in the world,
(03:57):
and certainly in nineteen seventy nine it was considered and
they were taken there, and it took months for them
to get to a point where they could really just
begin recovering. So these people were horribly injured, and burn
injuries effect not just you know, the skin, but also
every system in the body, respiratory, other chemical processes of
(04:22):
the organs. And so when many were released and somewhere
in the hospital. This happened in October nineteen seventy nine.
Two of the Marines were in the hospital until April first,
nineteen eighty when they were set home. They were only
at a point really where they were beginning to heal.
And the guys told me that it took you know, one, two,
(04:43):
maybe longer years to get to a point where where
you could start thinking about normal things and you know,
be beyond the worst part of the injuries. So, yes,
there were those people who were unable to work what
inspired me there. There are incredible stories of people who
were burned significantly. There was one marine who was burned
(05:06):
over half his body, got out, spent a long time
in recovery, went to college, went to flight school, and
became a commercial pilot, and just very recently retired from
American Airlines as an airliner captain. It's now a lot
of the help was provided by the VA, both medical
(05:27):
and educational, and you know, other benefits that were helpful
to guys. But beyond all that, then there were issues
of post traumatic stress that people dealt with, and people
who were badly burned, and people who were not so
badly burned, people who just were there amongst the rivers
of fire that were moving through this camp, seeing friends burned,
(05:50):
skin peeling off of them, and dealing with this, and
then and then years later, you know, seeking help from
people who said, you know, I've never heard of this.
Not that people, you know, weren't willing to help, but
in many instances people had to try to find newspaper
articles or because there would have been if they weren't hurt,
(06:10):
there wouldn't have been anything in their records noting that
they had been there when this happened.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, you have so much more instantaneous communication today. It
wasn't quite like that in nineteen seventy nine. It wasn't
the Dark Ages, but it wasn't anything like today. I mean,
there's a car crash in Berlin, and if they suspect
it's terrorism, we're looking at it less than a half
an hour later. The world is a much smaller place journalistically.
(06:37):
Before we go to break, I just want to read
this one paragraph that I think does really put this
in context, by former Senator James Webb, who wrote this
book review of your book, The Fuji Fire. The complexity
of this story makes it exceedingly difficult to tell till now.
It's been little remembered and infrequently taught in our military academies.
(06:58):
Mister Henry Skoley Rigor knowledge of the military and selling
storytelling skill may at last change that. I want to
go to phone calls. I hope that you've been able
to contact some of the folks who experience this, because
there is questions that you have and that anyone who
(07:20):
reads this book will have as to why this camp
was set up that way. Now, if the typhoon had
never hit, I don't think that would have been a problem,
but it just shows and I believe that there's a
general who we may hear from later on who's very
concerned about this and was very concerned. There are people
(07:46):
in the military who we want to make sure something
of this never happens again. And one of the other
reasons why people don't remember it is it was really
sadly it was eclipsed by what was to take place
in Tehran about three weeks later. My guest is Chaz Henry,
his book Fuji Fire. Will be right back, and we
(08:07):
have phone callers. Those of you are having trouble getting
through one the six one seven two five four ten
thirty line, feel free to join us at six one
seven nine three one ten thirty. We'll be back on
night Side right after this.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on wbzas Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
My guest is Chaz Henry. He's written a book called
Fuji Fire, and it talks about a horrific accident but
an excellent that could have been avoided. I'd like to
go to some phone callers, Chazz. I'm sure some of
our phone callers will have experiences to share, and I'm
looking forward to talking with them six two, five, four,
(08:48):
ten thirty six months, seven nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Let me go to Dennis in Arizona. Dennis, thank you
for your patience. You are first this hour at night
side with Chaz Henry. Go right ahead, Dennis.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Good evening, Dan, and thanks thanks for putting this word
out here and helping Chaz get the word out on
his book.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Not really sure where I want to go, but I
did want to speak on behalf of what I learned
from the book, and I shared this with Chaz after
I read it. But my focus and my reality was
was that twenty hours of during the fire and trying
(09:33):
to take care of the Marines as best as we could.
And it wasn't until Chaz put this book together that
I I came to find that, you know, this was
a eight nine month adventure. Adventure that's not a good word.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But a.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
That the hoops that people had to jump through it too.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It was I think the better word, Dennis, if I
could be uh so rude to interrupt you, is was
a nine month.
Speaker 5 (10:09):
Ordeal ordeal, Yes, and thank you for that, but I was,
you know, focused on us. But this is a good
showing of how all of our branches of the military
came together at a time of crisis and worked together.
(10:33):
We all worked as a team, and and and and
just a short amount of time. And as you mentioned earlier,
we didn't have the communication years ago that we do now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Dennis, let me ask you you obviously, the implications of
your remarks is you were a marine and you were
there when this happened.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
No, you know, and I'm sorry I didn't start off
with uh with my identity. I was a hospitalman apprentice
at the time. I had only been with two four
about two months, the second Italian fourth Marines, and I
was I was pretty young. I was nineteen years old,
and you know, we were I was used to seeing
(11:19):
the Marines taking care of I was with golf Company
and taking the care of the Marines and Golf Company,
and we had never I never, in my wildest dreams,
imagined what we would see and who we would be treating.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
So let me ask you when this happened, where were you.
Were you at that camp or were you out of
in a medovac area.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
I was. I was at the camp, and I was
extremely fortunate. I was with Golf Company on the lower
right hand side of the base in Quansett Hut two
forty seven, and the typhoon was was quite heavy. We
couldn't hear anything going on outside. We were told to
go to our quantt huts and ride out the storm.
(12:08):
And an hour into it, maybe I do not recall
the exact times, but somebody came in calling for Doc
and saying somebody's burdened and needs help. And I was
not fully clothed, so I jumped into a rain suit,
a gumby suit is what we referred it to, and
(12:28):
I just ran up to where the patient was and
was not expecting to see what I saw. And through
this book also and through the research, I came to
find out. I thought the first patient that I'm talking
about right now had died shortly after the fire. His
(12:56):
last name was Miller, and that's really all I knew.
And I knew that a Miller died short after the fire,
and I always assumed it was the guy that you right.
And then through this book, Chaz let me know the
guy I first treated, although he was severely burned, is
(13:19):
still alive. And this book also let me know that
there was actually four people involved that last name was Miller,
and that.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Dennis. I want to ask you, how long did you
serve in the Marines. This had to be quite a welcome,
you know, literally a baptism of fire as a nineteen
year old kid.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Right, I was. I did just short of twenty six years.
I started off as a corman. I prepaired medical equipment
during that time, and then I got commissioned as a
hot little administrator and did my last ten years as
a hospital administrator in the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I was.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I was in the Navy the entire time. Marines get
their medical care from the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Okay, uh, Jazz, did you come across Dennis? Is? He? Is? He?
In the book?
Speaker 4 (14:22):
He is? And it's an interesting story because when we
last you and I last fought, I mentioned that early on,
I was trying to find people, and I would find
a name of someone, you know, in some paperwork, and
I would send letters out trying to find those people.
And Dennis's name was sufficiently unique that I was pretty
sure I had gotten the right address. I wrote a letter,
didn't hear back for a long time. Finally he was
(14:46):
he was resisting answering. Finally his wife found a letter
and she convinced him twisted his arm, and fortunately for me,
because the the insights he was able to offer were
incredible to telling the story. And I should, really, I
should tell you that. You know, so he's a young
Navy corman, just new to the Navy, supporting the Marine
Corps here and it encounters this. It made such an
(15:08):
impact on Dennis's life that he made sure that the
last tour he served in the Navy was as offering
officer in charge of the medical clinic that supported that
same Marine Corps unit that he had supported when the
Fuji fire happened.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Wow, so Dennis, you retired, you said, after twenty six
years in the Marines. Was that single day the worst
day in the Navy? Was that single day the worst
day of your military service?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yes? It was, And it's not something that I really
talked a lot about, Mike. When Chaz let you know
what he was doing, he was going to do a podcast.
I had never even really told my kids about what
had happened. So I had to. I'm out with my
(16:01):
I have we have three sons, and let the kids
know exactly what happened. This is something that I wanted
to put behind me and I did, and after I
read the book, I called Jazz and said, Jazz, I
spent the last three days crying. It's it's and the
(16:25):
story needs to be told. It's a it's a tough
one to relive.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, so I want to ask you a tough question.
Give me an honest answer. It's a typhoon, as I understand,
that is the equivalent of what we call a hurricane.
Is that fairly accurate.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yes, they're exactly the same, just different names for the
same phenomena.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
That's you, That's what I understood. Okay, all of us
have experienced hurricanes up here, We've never experienced a situation
where all of this fuel was stationed above the living
quarters and when the fuel ruptured and caught fire, it was,
(17:07):
you know, literally a baptism of fire. What were the
military officers, the military brass who in charge of setting
up this this training camp? Well, do they have some responsibility?
And this should not have someone foreseen this potentially happening.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
I would say, it's almost funny that you asked me
that question. When I was being interviewed by Chaz back
in twenty one, I told Chaz that I had I
remember seeing in the stars and stripes that there was
(17:53):
an article that said that the Fuji fire was an
act of God. Yes, And I had been trying to
find that in my research. Yeah, And I told Chaz,
I said, Chaz, I can't find that anywhere. But I'm
here to tell you that this to me did not
seem like an act of God. Something was wrong. And
(18:18):
Chaz said, I just so happened to have that article
and he sent it to me. And Chazz has has
done an outstanding job, in my opinion, of showing all
sides of the story.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
They might have been an act of God, but if
the fuel had been stored properly below where the encampment was.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
The event would not have occurred, the tragedy.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
Right, And that is exactly how I feel.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Great, And I got to get to a newscast here
at the bottom of the eye. But you know, we
we honor your service. Many of my listeners have served,
I've served, but none of us, i'm sure, have experienced
what you experienced as a nineteen year old core men,
(19:17):
and I appreciate you taking the time to call in.
And you know this, this this hour will be posted
in podcast form later on this morning, and if you
want to listen to the interview and perhaps pull it
down for your family's historical records. You're more than welcome
to do that.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Okay, thank you so much, Jan greatly appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Well. Keep listening. Tonight's ad here a long time and
these many of the stories that we'd like to talk about.
Thank you again, Thank you sir. Thanks, These are powerful interviews,
Jaz and I'm sure you interviewed more than your share.
And we'll continue if if you don't have to be
a survivor of this disaster to comment, but I would
(20:06):
hope that everyone would understand that what was what happened
here was could have been avoided. At least that's my view,
and we'll ask Chess his view, and I have Joe
and Colorado coming up as well. Uh. If you've ever served,
or if you haven't served, your thoughts, you more than
welcome to this. As they say, Chess was an interesting story,
(20:28):
there was. It was a big story on CBS Evening
News with Walter Cronkite. We played that sound bite for
you earlier, but then a few weeks later take over
of the US embassy in Tehran and the story disappeared
for years until Chas Henry worked on it and wrote
a book called Fujifire that's available easy to get on Amazon.
(20:53):
Feel free to join the conversation if you'd like six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one ten.
My name is Dan Ray. Will be right back.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Thank you, Dan Watkins. My guest is Chaz Henry. He's
the author of a book that is well, it's a tragedy.
It is a tragedy. It's about a typhoon on Mount
Fuji in Japan in October of nineteen seventy nine. The
book is titled Fujifire Took the lives of thirteen US
(21:30):
Marines injured others. Chaz, how is this book being received?
I hope at this point that this book is getting
some circulation.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
It was released June first, Dan, and it's what's most
gratifying to me immediately is I dealt with a lot
of guys who were hurt in the fire and others
who were not physically injured but suffered the trauma of
being caught in the midst of this mails from a storm,
a super typhoon, a fire, and so far, what I've
(22:03):
heard from uh, from the people that have gotten back
to me is that well, as we heard Dennis say earlier,
you know, there's an emotional weight that comes with sort
of the story being put back into your face. Most
people have told me that they're glad that it was documented.
It wasn't for many years. And as you mentioned, you know,
(22:25):
just a couple of weeks after the fire of the
events in Iran happened, the embassy was taken over, Attention shifted.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
There was also.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
The Marine Corps was not so inclined to talk about
the incident, even though there were heroic aspects of survivment.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
It was an embarrassment. It was an embarrassment that that
something like this happened. I want to I want to
keep rolling with callers as well. Chazz, feel free to
join into the conversation. Let me go. I got people
who have been waiting. Joe is in Colorado. Joe, you
were next on night Side. Say ahead to my guest, Chazz,
who is the Jazz Henry, the author of this book
(23:03):
Fuji Fire.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Your thoughts, Joe, Well, first of all, Chaz, we've talked
several times. I was interviewed, and I'm honored that he
put me in the book in several locations. It's just
an honor to speak to you and thank you so
much for what you've done for us, all documenting this.
Like I couldn't believe, Dan, I spent sixty three years
(23:26):
living on the South Shore, so you're a familiar voice,
and it's I escaped Massachusetts three years ago, but I
grew up in Quincy and I went to VC High,
so I'm very familiar with you.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh my goodness, I played hockey baseball against BC High. Sure, absolutely,
So what took you, Joe? What took you to Colorado
or as I think you guys say it out there, Colorado.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
A granddaughter took me out here, my first and old franchild,
and so it was retirment time, and it sounded good
to me to be a part of her life.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Great to make your acquaintance right ahead, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
I was. I'm just gonna say, I was right smack
in the middle of this thing. And what what chairs
has done is really well above and beyond what anyone
could expect. He filled in so many holes for the
guys like me that went through this thing. There was
so much that we didn't ever know after the fire,
what happened to this guy, what happened to that guy?
(24:30):
You know who who did what what happened because it
was like a blur. I was in a quancert hut
that probably was, you know, twenty seconds thirty seconds away
from going up, and we had our doors nail shut,
and the only thing that saved my life was some
captain came by and hurled himself through the door of
(24:50):
our quancert hut and yelled, run for your life, men,
do it now, and out we went. And I say
when we went out, we were in our underwear, we
were in our pet sho. We just ran. And when
we were running, there were guys coming by us that
were burnt to all hell, and we didn't know what
was going on. It was the sky was on fire,
(25:12):
the ground was on fire. There was rivers of fire,
and we just ran in the direction we heard people yelling,
run this way. I saw a first sergeant. He was
in a drainage ditch and he was just moving his hand,
saying run run, And we got down to a landing
pad and that's when they started dragging in the guys
that were really burnt bad and you know chairs knows
(25:35):
this story. You know, they made us get into little
circles and then they would put some big, really badly
burnt guy in the middle of us so that we
could ward off the rain because as the raindrops were hitting,
they were taking skin with it. And so you know,
we're just standing there looking at these guys. You know,
there was a guy in front of me, six inches
(25:56):
away who was just totally burnt. I didn't even know
if it was a black guy, white guy. Had no ears,
no nose, no nothing. And while he's there, other guys
are screaming and yelling, and they're bringing other guys in.
It was just like, you can imagine this complete blur
because they didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
But it sounds to me like you somehow got to
Dante's inferno here on Earth.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
You know, it was so fast and it was such
an explosive situation that no one knew what happened. I
read in the book one guy thought that we were
being rocket attacked by somebody because things were blowing up
and there were balls of flames. And you know, I
never knew all the details of how and what happened
until this book came out, and I was fortunate enough
(26:44):
to go back in twenty seventeen to Camp Fuji. I
was a guest speaker at the annual ceremony that they
have and that did a lot to heal me.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
It was a chance to go back and a chance
to see where it happened again. Although that camp is
nothing like it was in seventy nine. It's been completely modernized.
It's a totally different deal. But I stood on the
very spot on that landing pad where I was looking
at a guy who died later on, and you know,
it did a lot for me as far as healing.
(27:16):
But Jazz has filled in so many holes in the story,
you know, the investigations, the storm. Everything came together in
that book in a way that I now fully understand
what I went through.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Joe, let me ask you this, how long did you
serve in the Marines.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
I had split service. I served four years of active
duty from seventy seven to eighty one, and then I
got to tell you, you know, this thing did a
number on my head and I didn't know I had PTSD.
I just was a mess from eighty one to ninety
and then when nineteen ninety, I had the idea that
I'd go back into the reserves. I just needed something,
(27:53):
and the Marine Corps was calling me back. So I
went back into the reserves in nineteen ninety and thirty
days after I enlisted back in Desert storm came.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Is everything I was thinking that Actually, as you were
telling the story, so you got to see some of
the Middle East, I guess.
Speaker 5 (28:11):
No. We we spent six months down at Cherry Point,
North Carolina preparing to go over, but as you may
recall or not, the ground war over there and the
first Desert storm was four days long, so we didn't
have to go over. But yeah, so I had a
total of five years active duty, three years reserve. But yeah,
(28:33):
this story I never thought would ever see the light
of day again. It just seemed like it was forgotten.
And there's a lot of us survivors out there that
we still stay in touch here and there through a
Facebook group called Camp Fujifire Memorial Group. I've been able
to visit a buddy that I, you know, was in
the same Quantset hut as me in Oklahoma last year.
(28:55):
And so you know, to some of us, this is
still a thing, you know, and like I said, Uh,
I'm shocked at Chaz did such a job on it.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Well, well, Joe, you did a great job explaining is
to us always. It's great to even though that you
went to VC High talked to a Bostonian only kidding.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Great, yeah, don't hold that against me.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Great respect for for for BC High. I'm a Latin
school guy, so you understand. You can understand that.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Oh yeah, we played you guys in basketball. And uh,
I just want to say before I run a shout
out to my sisters who are listening there back there
and on the East Coast. So Dan, keep up the
good work, Jazz. What can I say, just a stella
stellar thing that you've done. And I salute you, sir.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
We service, We salute your service, Joe and uh and
and please feel free you can for your own purposes.
I don't know if you ever listened to Nightside regularly
in Colorado. We do have listeners all over the country,
but you can go to our website which is Nightside
Underman dot com and that. But we've just had the
(30:01):
interview that we've just had will be available in a
few hours and.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
It's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You could pull it down for your own family history,
you know, audio library history, because I think you told
the story extraordinarily well. And congratulations to get through all
of this. Did the government my last question, did the
government help those of you who were impacted by this
(30:30):
or did you get lost in transition?
Speaker 5 (30:33):
Well, since you asked, I'll tell you real quick what
happened with me. I spent decades in the wilderness with
this thing, like a black cloud hanging over me. I
had trouble with alcohol. I got on all kinds of
problems in my life, and I never really understood why
I got sober seventeen years ago. But there were certain
things that just weren't getting better. And one day I
(30:56):
was somewhere and a guy from a VA represent was
talking to somebody and I overheard him and I said
something about, you know, going through a fire and when
I was in the service, and he said, well, you
really ought to you really ought to look into that.
And so one day I just walked into the VA
hospital in Brockton, and as soon as I stepped in
Dan the tears stopped flowing. I don't know what was
(31:19):
going on, and the guy said, you need to see
somebody immediately. They got me into a program for PTSD
and this whole thing came out and I went through
a two year regimen with group therapy and uh, you know,
they have an immersive therapy where you have to repeat
the story over and over again. It was painful, but
(31:39):
it did me a lot of good. And I can't
say enough about what the VA did for me. It
really really helped. So you know, you hear a lot
of negative about the VA sometimes, but they did a
great job.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
It's great to her a positive story. Joe. Thank you
for your service and thank you for you for taking
the time tonight.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
You join us pleasure, goodnight talk.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So all right, we're going to take a quick break
here for news. Next up is Mike coming coming in
from Maine. If you'd like to comment, feel free. You
don't have to be someone who survived this, this horrendous experience.
You're more than welcome and joined six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine, three one
ten thirty. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
My guest is chas Henry Chazz, reading from a Senator
Webb's review book review. He writes, as the torrent of
rain continued, the loose lava soil underneath began to erode
one bladder. These are the containers that held gasoline. Five
nine thirty three gallons of gasoline floated up and over
(32:53):
what remained of its encircling earthen embankment, a sharp metal
corner of its frame. The five foot long tier in
the bladder soon an estimated fifty five hundred gallons of
fuel flow downhill, a top already flooding rainwater. That's an
(33:15):
incredible description. I want to have you respond to that,
but I also want to get Mike from Maine in
because he's been holding for a little while. Mike and Maine,
You're next on Nightside with my guest, Chaz Henry, the
author of a book Fuji Fire.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
Good evening, Dan, I hope you're doing well. Thank you
so much for having Chaz on. I think I can
attest a lot of the members of Second, the Time,
Fourth Marine, Magnificent Bastards. We're listening intently tonight. We've been
waiting for somebody like Chazz to come along for a
long time, so thanks again, Dan for having him on.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Very welcome. I wish more of you would would have
joined us, because I think that in great numbers they strength.
Then it's good to know that so many of you
survived this horrific experience. Go right ahead, what's your question
on comment for Jazz?
Speaker 5 (34:09):
Yeah, So, first off, my name is Mike Tuttle, and
I was with segmentye fourth Marines from November seventy to
November seventy nine, and I was there for the fire.
And I really calling to let Chazz know how thankful,
how grateful I am, and I think I speak for
(34:30):
a lot of members of two four. I know they're
out there listening tonight, and I know I contacted as
many friends as I could to have them tune in
tonight to hear about this. And again, just so grateful
that somebody like Jazz came along, had the skill, of
the ability, the motivation, the drive to pick this project
(34:53):
up and do this tragic story justice and very thankful
that he has done justice for those members that died
that day of two four, all those that were that
were injured and affected by the fire, and so many
(35:13):
people that were touched by this fire, and some of
the other colors touched on it, both the US and
Japanese forces that were involved, the American and the Japanese
civilians that got involved in this. This tragic incident just
reached out and touched so many people in so many ways.
It was it was something and I didn't know what
(35:34):
I know now after reading Chaz's book, because of course
I was just a young marine and I left shortly
after the fire, and Chaz's book has just filled in
so much and I'm just amazed at the work that
Chaz did on this. It was just absolutely amazing, the
research and the interviews and the traveling that he did.
And I read the book, I just kept on telling
(35:56):
my wife how amazed I was at how hard Chaz worked.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Why do you think, why do you think it took
so long for someone like Chaz Henry to come along.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
That's a good question, Dan. You know, I ended up
staying in the Marine Corps for thirty years on active
duty after that fire. That was that was my first
duty station, and in my travels over the next twenty
nine years, you know, I would bring this story up,
and I was. I was also surprised, as Chaz was,
how few Marines knew about it or had forgotten about it.
(36:32):
And I just I think you kind of hit the
nail on the head in the beginning there, Dan, I
think it was overshadowed by the embassy being taken over
and I ran it just it kind of fell to
the to the shadows there and just was forgotten about
it was it was overcast by that incident.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Well, Mike, you stayed in a long time. I hope
that did you realize how valuable your service was and
and the sacrifice that all of you made that that
faithful day, which obviously I think there were decisions that
were made that you, as young Marines, had nothing to
(37:09):
do with, so you had no responsibility for this. You
suffered the consequences of maybe some decisions that could have
been smarter. So I just want to thank you for
taking the time to call in tonight, and I want
to give Chaz a moment or two at the end
here just to kind of wrap it up. You're up
in Maine. I hope that you continue to listen to
Night Side. We're here Monday through Friday night from me
(37:29):
to midnight.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
Okay, I will thanks Stana, Hey, Chaz, thank you so
much and uh samprified brother and for for all the
magnificent bastards out there that are listening. Chaz did this
right man? Thank you, Chaz.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
It was a privilege, Mike, Mike, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Uh so so, Chaz. I want to wrap this and
give you an opportunity, folks. Obviously the easiest place is Amazon,
but uh, do you have a way site that people
can can purchase a book from directly?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Well, no, there's but there's more information about the fire
at chas Henry dot com and it's c H A
s H E n R Y Chaz Henry dot com.
Just to follow up on a couple of points the
guys made. I had an email the other day from
a guy who was not involved in the production of
the book, but said that he was so many years
had gone by and this story had not appeared in
(38:25):
Marine Corps histories, and he said it almost made us
feel ashamed, almost begging the question did we do something wrong?
Speaker 5 (38:32):
Was there?
Speaker 4 (38:32):
You know? The fact that this is not being mentioned
as part of the Marine Corps history. That was gratifying
that I could I could help in this way. Another thing,
when I wrote the book, I thought I was writing
the book for people who had never heard of the event,
and you know, they would it would all be new
to them, and certainly it's that. But I I came
to realize is that everybody who was involved in this event,
(38:54):
be they people who were at the camp during the fire,
people who flew into the storm, medical people who took
care of the very badly burned marines, everybody's experience was
very intense but also very narrow. And as you mentioned,
these were days before information could be shared easily, no
social media, no email, and so people had a very
intense but narrow understanding of what had happened. And so
(39:16):
it's turned out that it's been of value that I
hadn't seen initially to help fill in these gaps, even
for people who were there.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
All right, Well, Chaz, I'm flat out of time. I
thank everyone who called in to share their perspective. I
thank you for the story. Again. The book is Fuji Fire,
available certainly at Amazon. I hope people would read it,
particularly those of you with the military background, because I'm
sure you can perceive the mistakes that were made and
(39:43):
the people who suffered consequences of those mistakes. Chess, thank
you again. We will keep in touch, my friend. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (39:50):
Can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Dan, my pleasure, my pleasure. We get back. It's the
twelfth hour of the week, my last hour of the week.
I've got a topic I'm going to throw out there.
I hope you'll put Sabe coming back on Nightside.
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