~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association History Project ~
1949 ~ Battalion Time Line
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This Page Last Updated  25 February 2012
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Group
720th MP
Battalion
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Security Duty ~ Tokyo Japan
C Company standing retreat.
January

   The Battalion still quartered at Camp Burness, Z and 20th Streets, Tokyo, performed normal military police functions, and the maintenance of a mobile alert force for use in the event of emergencies.

   During the year... The personnel turnover problems remained the same. The Battalion gained twenty-six officers and three-hundred forty-six enlisted men, and lost eighteen officers and two hundred ninety-five enlisted men.

1949 Battalion Year Book (PDF)>

LTC Kenworthy

  The Battalion was very active in athletics, tied for second place in the Tokyo Basketball League, and winner of the championship in the Baseball League. In the first half of the 1949-1950 basketball season, the Battalion was eight and zero.

17 January MAJ William C. Smith passed command of the Battalion to LTC Aubrey S. Kenworthy. LTC Kenworthy was the former commander of the International Military (War Crimes) Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE).
July
2nd Platoon B Company.
5 July The infamous "Tokyo Rose," Iva Ikuko Toguri d’Aquino, an American citizen, was put on trial for treasonin the United States from 5 July through 29 September. It was alleged she was one of several American speaking women who made propaganda broadcasts under different aliases to the Allied Forces in the Pacific Theatre of War. Original 23 July 1944 Tokyo Rose broadcast audio file.
August

31 August through 1 September Typhoon "Kitty" struck the Tokyo area and left considerable damage of of Battalion equipment and facilities at Camp Burness in her wake. From reconnaissance reports the maximum sustained winds were near 110 knots 12 hours prior to landfall, but had fallen to minimum typhoon strength by the time it reached Honshu.The death toll reached 123 due to rainfall induced flooding and landslides (NY Times, 9/3/1949), and caused about 15 billion yen in damages.

   At Camp Burness the contents of the Post Exchange building, later converted to the gymnasium, had to be moved because the tidal wave from the Sumida River and Tokyo Bay tore off a part of the building and undermined the foundation.
Miscellaneous Photographs
A0097
 Members of C Company partying at the RAA Beer Hall.
A0239
  Members of B Company and Australian MPs at the Shinjuku Beer Hall, Tokyo.