ASA Chitose Association Inc.
Chitose History and events leading up to it

 
   It is with great sadness that I report that Dave Bontly Chitose NM 57/59 passed away this morning (07/10/2008). Dave was very active and a valued member of our Association. He was a former member of the board and has acted as our Historian and keeper of all our memorabilia. In this position he spent many hours on this effort for the benefit of all of us. I didn’t know Dave in the military but we became fast friends through his involvement with the FASAF and our own Chitose Group while he was still working with ASA/INSCOM. After his retirement to Melbourne we became even closer and is a great personal loss to me and I know to our Group. Dave was single and his closest relative was his sister in law Arlene Bontly who had attended many of our reunions with Dave.
Roy Gettz

   I first met Dave in 1999 on the Chitose trip in which he was my sponsor at the New Sanno Hotel. This was my first meeting with Dave and the ASA Chitose group and one of the reasons I have continued to attend the reunions since. I always looked froward to seeing Dave at the reunions and will surely miss him.
Phil Peters

Group Historian
Dave Bontly

Date(s)

Event

 Source
1929-1942 Signal Intelligence Service 1
prior to WW II   Seven fixed intercept stations:
No. 1 -- Fort Hancock, NJ, USA
No. 2 -- Presidio District San Francisco, CA, USA
No. 3 -- Fort Sam Houston, Texas
No. 4 -- Corozal, Panama Canal Zone
No. 5 -- Fort Shafter, (USA) Territory of Hawaii
No. 6 -- Fort McKinley, Philippine Islands
No. 7 -- Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA		 2
June-July 1942 Signal Intelligence Division and Signal Security Branch 1
Aug. 1942 Central Bureau (Brisbane Australia) established.  MacArthur's "forward command center" for singals intelligence  in Pacific theater under command Col. A. Sinkov.  Controlled many disperesed units including Army units assigned to (ship board) 5th Fleet and Army Air Corps (1st Radio Squadron, Mobile) 4
July 1942-July 1943 Signal Security Service era 1
July 1943- Sept.1945 Signal Security Agency era 1
By end of WW II  Eleven fixed intercept stations:

No.   1 -- Vint Hill Farms, Warrenton, VA, USA
No.   2 -- Two Rock Ranch, Petaluma, CA USA
No.   3 -- Indian Creek Station, Miami Beach, FL, USA
No.   4 -- ......
No.   5 -- Fort Shafter, (USA) Territory of Hawaii
No.   6 -- Amchitka, (USA) Territory of Alaska, Aleutian Islands
No.   7 -- Fairbanks, (USA) Territory of Alaska
No.   8 -- ......
No.   9 -- Bellmore, Long Island, NY, USA
No. 10 -- Tarzana, CA, USA
No. 11 -- Territory of Guam

 2
Aug. 14, 1945 WW II ends
Sept. 15, 1945 Army Security Agency established 1
WW II:    Chitose is an auxillary airfield for Japanese Imperial Navy
Sept., 1945:    First US troops, 77th Inf. Div. (fought on Okinawa)  arrive on Hokkaido
1945-1949: ASA operational units arrive in this time period. "At Wakkanai on the island of Hokkaido, the northermost city in the empire, ... the Army Security Agency took over 184 acres ... Like tall gray weeds, more antennas began sprouting from a 1229-acre stretch of southern Hokkaido, four miles southwest of Chitose." 3
Dec., 1945:   77th replaced by 11th Airborne Div..  Chitose airfield manned by field
artillery unit of each div. in turn
Jan. 1946-
June 1946  		 49th Fighter Group (from Atsugi) stationed at Chitose.  P-51s, lead by Col Herbert Grills.

6

Late 1948: 11th disbanded.  7th Infantry rotated out of Korea to Hokkaido
By 1949:   7th is stationed primarilly at Camp Crawford - 10 miles due west of
downtown Sapporo
Jan., 1950: ASA's 51st Signal Service Det transferred to Chitose
Aug., 1950: 7th back to Korea - replaced by 45th Inf. Div. (from OK).
45th  first unit to station substantial number of troops in Chitose
1951   51st SSD redesignated as the 356th Communications Recon. Company

5

Circa 1951: US Army builds Bullet Road (Dangan Doori - paved - 2 lanes) from
Otaru to Sapporo via Chitose, Tomamomai, and Muroran
Circa 1951: Tachikawa-Chitose air service running.  Mix of USAF and Air America (contract Nationalist Chinese crews) flights - on mostly unheated C-47s on VFR
Spring, 1951: ASA operations moved into what became Kuma Station on Chitose I
April 1951: Field Station, 8612th Admin Area Unit organized at Kuma Station
Dec. 1951: 45th to Korea.  1st Cav. moves in
Nov. 4, 1952  National Security Agency established 3
1954:   1st Cav. disbanded.  USAF takes over support function for all US forces on Hokkaido
*Dec1954   Fire in OPS.  Building burned to ground The date of the fire is given as December 29, 1954 in Ron Dakin's account in our Bear Tales section.
June 1953-1956 4th USAF Fighter Wing at Chitose I
Summer 1956:    New construction on site
Nov. 15, 1956: Redesignated 12th USASA Field Station
circa 1957: Brick OPS building, gym, and bowling alley open.  First computer installed
Fall 1957: All US forces out of Camp Crawford
1958:      Draw down of USAF at Chitose AB. 12th USASAFS assumes support functions for US forces on Hokkaido
circa 1962: AFRS-TV comes to Chitose 
Dec., 1967: 12th USASAFS redesignated USASAFS Chitose
June 30, 1972: Station closed
1976: ASA disbanded - INSCOM becomes successor
Sept., 1989 First reunion held, Niles Ohio - 16 people in attendance

//Sources:

//1.  The Origin and Development of the Army Security Agency 1917-1947 (Aegean Park Press)
//2. Achievements of the Signal Security Agency in World War II(Aegean Park Press)
//3. The Puzzle Palace (Penguin Books, James Bamford)
//4. The Codebreakers (Signet Book, David Kahn)
//5. Miles Miller (51st SSD/356th CRC)
//6. Guy Watson Flight Leader & Post Engineer

Thanks also to: Mark Scott, the INSCOM historian, Clark Halstead, Leonard, and Duane Christenson, Jim Brock

Personal observations  and contributiuons of an historical nature are very much welcomed           asachitose@aol.com         Thanks   Phil Peters


updated 11/07/05
HISTORICAL UPDATE

Dear Chitose Friends: An outstanding get together in Kissimmee, Florida is now history and it's on to Branson, MO for another on in the ongoing Chitose reunions! Every year, the 'parties' just keep getting better and better.
In recent years, we've been able to add to our library of Chitose publications (CONFIDENTIAL/COURIER) and an update is in order along with a plea for H E L P in finding missing pubs!!!
From what I can determine, prior to 1960 the CONFIDENTIALS were in tabloid format except as noted below. From 1960, the CONFIDENTIALS and COURIERS were printed in a magazine format. Our CURRENT holdings follow:

1954: 17 Mar, 23 Apr, 14 May, 11 Jun, 9 Jul, 23 Jul, 23 Jul, 20 Aug, 3 Sep, 17 Sep, 1 Oct, 15 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Nov, 19 Nov, 26 Nov, 3 Dec, 17 Dec, and 24 Dec.

1955: 28 Jan, 11 Mar, 25 Mar, 11 Apr, 6 May, 23 May, 10 Jun, 28 Jun, 22 Jul, 16 Aug, 3 Sep, 28 Sep, 21 Oct, 24 Nov and 16 Dec.

1956: 26 Jan 20 Feb, 24 Mar, May (magazine format), and Jul (magazine format).

1957: 7 Jan, 5 Jul, 30 Sep, and 25 Dec.

1958: 28 Feb, 31 Mar, 30 Apr and 19 Nov.

1960: Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Nov, and Dec.

1961: Jan thru Dec (Complete as far as we can tell).

1962: Jan thru Dec (Complete as far as we can tell).

1963: Jan, Feb, Mar, May, Jun, Jul, Oct, and Nov.

1964: Mar, Apr, May/Jun, Aug, Sep, Dec.

1965: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul/Aug, Sep, Oct, and Dec.

1966: Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Sep, Oct/Nov, and Dec.

1967: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

1968: Jan, Feb, Mar, May, Jun. Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct/Nov and Dec.

1969: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov and Dec.

1970: Mar, Apr, Dec (final edition).

Now for the HELP WANTED: Please look through the momentos from your Chitose days and see if you might have any of the missing publications. If so, please let us know! I'll make copies and return them to you.

Thanks again for your help and interest.
Dave Bontly, 321 752-9498, bontlyd@aol.com.
My address is: 1914 Blue Ridge Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935.

If you have either of the two periodicals  (Confidential or Courier) that are NOT on the above list, please contact BONTLYD@aol.com.

The following article was copied verbatim from the July 5, 1957 Chitose Confidential:

(Ed. note: The following article is an excerpt from the records of the unit historian files, containing in brief the history of the unit since it was begun in 1946.  The article is offered for the benefit of the many new personnel arriving for duty at the 12th in hope it will enlighten them and make them more aware of the function of the 12th in the present day here on the island of Hokkaido.)

The 12th US ASA Field Station has been located on the island of Hokkaido, under various military designations, since 1946.  From 1946 to September of 1951 the predecessors of the 12th were located at Chitose I, which was occupied successively by elements of the 11th Airborne Division, 7th Infantry Division, 45th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division.

In November 1951, the unit was billeted at Chitose II, and an area five miles from the present Chitose Air Base.  This new area was a quonset-type development constructed for the 45th Infantry Division.  During 1952, the 45th Infantry Division replaced the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea, and the latter became the 12th's new neighbor. In the spring of 1954 the 1st Cavalry Division was transferred to Honshu, the main island of Japan, and the Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces occupied this area.

During the Korean Conflict, the 12th functioned as a supporting unit responsible to the Chief, ASA Far East.

In June and July of 1956 construction projects were were begun to improve this station's effectiveness and improve the welfare of it's personnel.  At the present time, projects are underway to provide a hot water heating system in all the billets, a new gymnasium, a theater, bowling alley and a craft shop.

[Return To Homepage]