K FORCE MEN IN JAPAN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27415, 30 July 1954, Page 14

K FORCE MEN IN JAPAN

Electrical Storm Near Camp (N.Z. Army Information Service) KURE, July 28. Only a few hours before the first phase of a “tidal wave” exercise in which K force men in Japan were to take part, a violent electrical storm struck the Kure area. Lasting more than half an hour in the early morning, with continuous sheet lightning, it provided a realistic opening for the exercise which covered action to be taken in the event of a natural disaster. Many people feared that the storm actually signified the approach of a typhoon. This is the typhoon season in Japan, and exercise ’Tidal Wave” was to test the efficiency of the ‘master plan laid down by headquarters of the British Commonwealth Forces to cope with any disaster in the area. All preparations and precautions from the initial warning signal to the final “all-clear” were taken as if there had been an actual typhoon. Both the headquarters of K Force and of the New Zealand Base Camp and Reinforcement Training Unit are in the Kure and Hiro area. Japan has a tragic record of devas-

tation and loss of life from earthquakes, typhoons, tidal waves, fires and floods. Lying in the monsoon zone, it averages three typhoons a year, each of which takes some toll of life and property.