[MURORAN - PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM OF US FORCES IN HOKKAIDO DURING THE KOREAN WAR].

米州兵輸送. [Beishūhei yusō].
[Muroran Welcomes the Thunderbirds. 25 April, 1951].

[Japan]. 1951. Stock ID #218840

Eight black and white photographs (20.5 x 25.5cm each), captioned in Japanese, the handmade album is titled and dated in ink, 23.5 x 32.8cm, [9]pp, cord ties. One photograph has been removed, card leaves and covers are browned, surface of upper cover abraded in places, some other minor wear but the photographs are in very good condition.

A private album containing eight high-quality large-format photographs, showing US forces being welcomed to the northern Japanese city of Muroran, Hokkaido, on 25 April 1951 - at the height of the Korean War. The first two photos show the US forces being welcomed by a local brass band. There is then a shot of US officers and Japanese officials standing under a large sign saying "Welcome Thunderbirds - Muroran City", indicating that the troops being welcomed are from the 45th Infantry Division (nicknamed the Thunderbirds), one of two US Army National Guard units engaged in the Korean War, and recruited largely from the state of Oklahoma.

The 45th Infantry Division received their initial training for combat in Korea in the US itself in 1950, and then sailed from New Orleans to Japan in early 1951, arriving at the ports of Otaru and Muroran in Hokkaido April of that year. From there they were sent for further training at Camp Crawford, a US military base on the outskirts of the city of Sapporo and at a newly created camp south of Chitose, before being transfered to Korea in December 1951. The album also contains two photos of the ships "General C.G. Morton" and "General William Weigel", which were built during World War II and used as a troop transport ship during the Korean War, and were presumably among the ships which brought the 45th Infantry Division to Japan. Other images show local officials explaining the geography of the region to US officers, as they peruse a large map, and a Japanese woman beign presented with a badge by an American officer.

Muroran was one of many Japanese ports whose life was transformed by the mass arrival of UN (mostly American) forces during the Korean War, although the town's role in the war is less well documented than the roles of ports like Yokohama, Kobe and Sasebo. These pictures give a vivid impression of the Korean war journeys of US troops and of Hokkaido during the Korean War.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 218840.

Price: $1,250.00 AU

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