Army Cutbacks
In Far East Are
Announced

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (M-The Army announced a further reduction in strength in the Far East as part of retrenchments that will leave it with 19 divisions next summer, one less than it has now.
   The 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team will be withdrawn from Japan to Ft. Campbell, Ky.. in June, and the 75th Regimental Combat Team, now on Okinawa, will be disbanded during the summer.
   The new cutbacks-announced by the Army also include deactivation of the 23rd Infantry Division, whose headquarters are at Ft. Amador in the Panama Canal Zone.
   The 65th Regiment of this division, stationed in Puerto Rico, will be disbanded, but the remaining two regiments will be retained as regimental combat teams.
   Disbandment of the 75th Regimental Combat Team on Okinawa will leave no Army infantry there, but the gap will be filled by transfer from Japan of additional units of the 3rd Marine Division. Part of that Marine division is already on Okinawa. The Army recently announced de-activation of the 71st: Infantry Division next summer. Two of the 71st’s regiments are now in Alaska and the remaining regiment is at Ft. Lewis, Wash.
   After the 508th Airborne Regiment leaves, U.S. ground strength in Japan will be reduced essentially to two-thirds of the 1st Cavalry Division.
   The Army’s strength in Korea is not affected by today’s announcement. The 7th and 24th Infantry Divisions are in Korea, and Army Secretary Wilber M. Brucker said today in Korea where he is on an inspection trip, that he thought the Korea strength is about right.
   The 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team is to become part of a new but still unnamed airborne division to be activated at Ft. Campbell next year.
   The Army’s divisional strength in Europe is unchanged by the latest announced redeployment of units.

[Charleston News and Courier, 18 Dec 1955, Page32]

CAMP CHICKAMAUGA, Japan - Paratroopers of the 508th Abn. RCT this week said farewells to their best Japanese friends - the children of orphanages in Kumamoto and Beppu.
   The airborne soldiers, who leave for the U.S. this month have given over $53,000 for the support of eight homes in the year they have been in Japan.
   During the goodbyes, Beppu Mayor Chikara Bakaguchi presented Chaplain (1st Lt.) Clifford E. Keys with a scroll of appreciation for the work he and the men of Camp Wood have done for four homes in Beppu.
   Monday, children from four other orphanages in Beppu put on a combined stage show to thank the Camp Chickamauga troopers for a long list of charitable deeds.
   In February, Camp Chickamauga troopers helped fight a fire which damaged girls' dormitories, sisters' quarters, storerooms and the chapel at the Salesian Sisters' Orphanage in Beppu. They then furnished labor to remove the ruined sections and later gave the home three four-room houses.
   A boys dormitory donated by the 508th is being completed at the Garden of Light Orphanage in Beppu. The home earlier received a house, a cow and a goat.
   Another Beppu orphanage, The American Airborne Children's Home (originally built by the 187th Abn. RCT), has received a house, refrigerator, washing machine, sewing machine and clothes, as has the Heiwaen Orphanage.
   Most famous of the Kumamoto homes is Boys Town, located on the Kum drop zone. The "Red Devils" have built a trade school and installed a new house, washing machine and refrigerators there.

[Page 8, Pacific Stars and Stripes, July 8, 1956, courtesy of Fitz Blum]

Trains To Bring GIs to Campbell
Ceremonies Slated To Welcome 508th From Japan Duty

 FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. The military population of Fort Campbell will begin to grow again Sunday with the arrival of five train-loads of troops from overseas.
   They are members of the 508th Airborne regimental combat team, who reached San Francisco yesterday aboard the USS Mitchell to entrain for their new base here. The Mitchell sailed from Moji Port, Japan, on July 7. Trainside ceremonies, in which the new arrivals will be welcomed by Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Sherburne, commander of the 101st Airborne division and Fort Campbell, will be held here with arrivals of each of the five trains.
   The Timetable:
   The first train is slated to arrive at 7 a.m. CST. the second at 8:30 am.; the third at 10:10 a.m.; the fourth at 11:35 a.m.; and the fifth at 12:30 p.m.
  Two of the trains will come here by way of Nashville, and three by way of Hopkinsville, Ky.
   None of the dependents of the soldiers aboard will be with them.
   Greeting the new arrivals at the trainside ceremonies, in addition to General Sherburne, will be the 101st Airborne division and 74th Army bands; the 101st Airborne division honor guard: and the massed colors of the 187th Airborne combat group (provisional), the 284th Field artillery battalion, the 937th Engineer group, and the 3400th Service unit.

[The Tennessean, Nashville, TN, 19 Jul 1956, Thu, Page 31]

[Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, IL, 13 Aug 1956, Mon, Page 10]

    FLOYDADA March 30 (Special) --- Sgt. James Wright Ross, who was injured Feb. 26 while on maneuvers with paratroopers of the 508th Division at Beppu, Japan, will be confined to the Army Hospital in Fukuoka, Japan. for six more weeks, according to a letter received this week by Ross's parents, Mr. and Mrs. W, J. Ross of Rt. 5, Floydada.
   First word received by relatives here that Ross suffered no broken bones, but only torn ligaments in the side, back and hip. Further examination revealed three cracked vertebrae. Injuries also necessitated the removal of his appendix.
   According to Ross’s letter, written March 20, the injured airman was recovering satisfactorily, but would be unable to make his scheduled return to the States on April 10, He will be flown home upon release from the hospital.
   Ross was injured when his reserve chute failed to open while making his 26th jump, resulted in a 70 ft. fall for the paratrooper. Ross, a former student of Texas Tech, was employed with the Electrical Department of the City of Lubbock at the time of his entrance into the armed forces. His wife resides with her parents in Nashville, Tenn.

[Lubbock Evening Journal, Lubbock, TX, 31 Jul 1956, Tue, Page 10]