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When Adm. Mike Mullen — chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the most senior officer in the U.S. Armed Forces — visited Japan to meet with military and government leaders, local troops and some of the Japanese in July, he was escorted by a former Greensboro resident.

Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Stubbs, a graduate of Western Guilford High, toured with Mullen to view the destruction from the March 11 tsunami.

“Even from a helicopter, the eye cannot comprehend the devastation that still remains four months later,” said Stubbs, chief of protocol at Yokota Air Base , about 125 miles from the area hardest hit by the tsunami.

Stubbs mother, Carol Harris, and stepfather, Larry Harris, still live in Greensboro, and Stubbs’ family plans to visit this month.
Stubbs been stationed at Yokota for about a year.

“When we first heard about the tsunami, the situation actually seemed very distant from us, even though it was only about 100 miles away,” Stubbs said.

“Once we learned that entire population centers had been wiped out, I felt helpless and insignificant. All we could do at that point was to do our best to help the Japanese people try to recover and start rebuilding.”

The U.S. forces in Japan assumed the role of supporting the Ministry of Defense and the Japanese Self Defense Forces throughout the disaster recovery effort.

Stubbs said he was struck by how calm and orderly the Japanese people were throughout this entire disaster.

Camp Sendai, a Japanese Ground Self Defense Force camp, was one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami.

The stress that Japanese troops at Camp Sendai experienced over the last four months is unimaginable, Stubbs said.

“After the disaster, most of the troops worked for days and weeks without returning home, living in their offices, and grabbing what little food and sleep they could,” he said.

The Japanese military were called upon to perform the heartbreaking work of searching for and recovering bodies.

For their visit with Mullen and other senior officials, Stubbs said, the Japanese military were kind and gave them a briefing, tour of their camp, lunch and an aerial tour of some of the hardest hit areas.

Stubbs calculated that at least a year or more of cleanup remains in many areas.

There were areas that could not be reached and where massive debris still remains, such as on beaches, marshes and coastal waterways. There are still smashed houses, crumpled trailers, overturned large boats and toppled railway cars.

During his July 16 tour with Mullen, he saw the washed out remnants of a water park.

Stubbs knew this park should have been full of patrons escaping the summer heat. Instead, the land was abandoned for miles with no sign of life. No attempt had been made to reclaim the park.
Stubbs said it’s likely the owner and many of his patrons were killed on that disastrous day.

Stubbs and his wife, Lt. Col. Monica “Trish” Guerra, met when both were cadets at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. They were the first in their class to marry after graduation.

Because of their separate military careers, they have spent many of their 17 years of marriage apart, including the last year while Guerra was deployed to Qatar.

Because of her deployment, she has not yet been to their home in Japan, but plans to finally join her husband and children in Japan in November.

The Harrises look forward to having their grandchildren, Anari, 7; and Zorin, 9; with them for a visit this month.

They also look forward to having Stubbs home for a long-awaited visit before he returns to Japan with the kids.

After the tsunami, Stubbs appreciated that the children’s Texas grandparents took them to live with them until it was felt safe for them to return to live in Japan.

Stubbs said the Japanese are remarkably resilient, orderly, generous, proud and determined people who are striving to rebuild their lives.

“My hope for the Japanese people is that we continue to be very close friends — that we not forget those lost on March 11, 2011 — or those who reached out to help the Japanese people after the destruction of the tsunami,” he said.

To suggest a person or organization for this column, contact Peggy Longmire at pwlongmire@triad.rr.com or 288-9040.