Far East Network

The Far East Network or FEN, was a network of American military radio and television stations, primarily serving U.S Forces in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and U.S. Territory of Guam.

Related Topics:
American - Military - Japan - Okinawa - Philippines - Guam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With FEN's disestablishment in 1997, the former Far East Network, now known as American Forces Network-Japan (AFN-Japan), provides military members, Department of Defense civilian employees and State Department diplomatic personnel and their families with news, information and entertainment by over-the-air radio and base cable television.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFN-Japan is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, a U.S. Air Force installation on the outskirts of Tokyo, and is also known as "AFN-Tokyo". The network's operations has affiliates at Misawa Air Base (AFN-Misawa), Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (AFN-Iwakuni), and Fleet Activities Sasebo (AFN-Sasebo). Also part of AFN-Japan is AFN-Okinawa, located in the Rycom Plaza Housing Area adjacent to Marine Corps Base Camp S.D. Butler.

Related Topics:
Yokota Air Base - U.S. Air Force - Misawa Air Base - Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni - Fleet Activities Sasebo - Okinawa - Marine Corps Base Camp S.D. Butler

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFN-Tokyo is also a Regional News Center, collecting news stories from all Pacifc military public affairs offices and AFN affiliates, and packages them into the regional newscast, "Pacific Report".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pacific Report can be seen every weekday throughout the Pacific and around the world on the AFN-Pacific and the Pentagon Channel.

Related Topics:
AFN-Pacific - Pentagon Channel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

THE BIRTH OF A PACIFIC NETWORK

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In May 1942, the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS), was "born" on the Alaskan island of Kodiak. Radio broadcasts were used specifically to coordinated informational activities to members of the American armed forces serving outside of the continental United States.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Evolving from the Morale Services Division of the War Department, the new AFRS also included a combination of such activities as command troop information programs, local command news and information broadcasts and other morale-building events. By late 1942, the new AFRS had begun receiving direct support from both the Army and the Navy with the assignment of personnel tasked with producing special radio programs. In 1943, a complex of high-powered radio transmitters was organized to beam programs to military men and women serving in Europe, Alaska and the South Pacific.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFRS broadcast operations in the Pacific were under two different commands then. Those located in the Southwest Pacific were under Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Outlets in the Central Pacific came directly under Commander-in-Chief Pacific, Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Related Topics:
Southwest Pacific - Douglas MacArthur - Chester Nimitz

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By July 1943, AFRS was operating a small station on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. A similar mobile station began broadcasting from nearby Bella Lavella the following month. Both were Southwest Pacific (SWP) stations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first AFRS stations established under the Central Pacific Command, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, were set up on Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943. Three more stations, on Kwajalein and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands and one on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, went on the air in February 1944.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Teams of military personnel, trained at AFRS headquarters in Los Angeles, passed through Hawaii to be briefed and pick up equipment, and then proceeded to their assigned areas by whatever means they were able to travel. Some of the teams carried complete radio transmitting equipment: 50-watt transmitters, turntables, a tiny console and several boxes of records. A few were provided with short-wave receivers so they could monitor AFRS newscasts from San Francisco.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Each team usually consisted of an officer and five or six enlisted men. Upon reaching their destinations, they pretty much had to fend for themselves. Power generators were often hard to find. It wasn't uncommon that the station had to provide its own independent power source.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the Central Pacific, once a station had been set up and was broadcasting, servicemen, based locally, were trained to operate the outlet, and the initial AFRS team returned to Honolulu for reassignment to another location. Stations within this region soon became known Pacific Ocean Network (PON).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By late spring of 1944, the island-hopping campaigns of the war had made household words out of the names of previously little-known islands in the Central and South Pacific. The hard fought battles in each area as the Allies moved northward introduced many famous battlegrounds. AFRS stations were set up on most of them, including Bougainville and New Britain (Solomon Islands -- March 1944), New Guinea, New Ireland, Kavieng and the Admiralty Islands (April 1944) and Rabaul (May 1944). These were all under Gen. MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Command, and at various times were referred to as the "Jungle Network" or the "Mosquito Network."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFRS team personnel received mixed receptions from the various island commanders. Drawn from whatever dominant branch of service on any particular island, some island commanders were very high on the broadcast idea, and gave support wherever they could. Others were less receptive, and there were times when the problems AFRS teams were confronting had to be "bumped up" to the next higher echelon of command.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though there were untold numbers and types of problems facing the generals and admirals in the war theater, the largest single problem was how to boost and keep up the morale of the hundreds of thousands of servicemen under their command. The delivery of mail from home was sporadic, at best, and often took several weeks or months to reach its destination.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though it wasn't long after the establishment of AFRS, commanders began to realize that AFRS was probably the greatest morale booster ever devised, especially if the radio stations provided entertainment as well as news from home. So, even the threat of reporting AFRS problems to a higher headquarters often resulted in quick action by local commanders to do whatever they could to solve them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Still, some AFRS teams experienced problems that could not be easily solved by local island commanders, and the teams resorted to other methods of getting the job done. Several Pacific Ocean Network stations acquired high-powered transmitters, up to 200 watts in strength, through requisitioning procedures. A few obtained theirs through what came to be known as "midnight requisitions," or simply absconding with them from various sources. There were times when pieces of captured equipment were modified and used.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the summer and early autumn of 1944, the Pacific Ocean Network added several other stations to its chain, including those on Saipan and Guam (Mariana Islands in July and August 1944), and on Peleliu and Ulithi (Caroline Islands in September 1944). The station on Ulithi sometimes operated up to 19 hours per day to serve the gigantic fleets anchored nearby.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the island hopping toward Japan continued, AFRS became more and more popular among the troops. The term "island hopping" is often used to describe the way in which Allied forces advanced toward Japan, mainly due to the fact that many Japanese-held islands were literally bypassed, or hopped over. Some were neither captured nor occupied by Allied forces until after the official Japanese surrender.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the Allies eventually took control of the islands, there was little resistance at many of them, thanks to AFRS broadcasts. Several AFRS outlets, such as the station on Peleliu, beamed special broadcasts in Japanese to the Imperial troops remaining. Japanese-Americans made these broadcasts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leaflets, dropped by patrol planes flying over the islands, alerted the Japanese forces there as to when the special broadcasts would be made. Japanese music was sometimes included in the broadcasts to get their attention. It was only after the surrender of the islands months later that captured documents revealed the tremendous successes of the broadcasts in convincing the Japanese commanders that their war efforts were futile.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The broadcasters and maintenance men who set up and operated the mobile stations experienced extreme hardships. In some cases, personnel, equipment, food and weapons were dropped by parachutes or delivered by PT boats. Some were brought to new sites by light planes, which landed on dirt strips, laboriously hacked out of rain forests.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But those weren't the major obstacles that confronted them. Other hazards in the tropics were jungle swamps, unabridged rivers and streams, slime-covered pools of unknown depths across which they sometimes had to transit, and patches of mud into which men sank to their waists. The climate was hot and humid and frequent rainstorms made the atmosphere oppressive. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes abounded everywhere.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On the larger, foliage-blanketed islands, from which outcrops of rocky mountains extended above the jungles, there was an ever-present, inescapable and all-pervading scent of decaying vegetation that made breathing miserable. Except for the sounds of exploding bombs and artillery shells, the stillness was so profound that an occasional harsh cry from a startled bird seemed to be sinister and awe-inspiring.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Keeping equipment in operating order was difficult at best. Drifting clouds that wreathed the treetops in swirling mists fostered the luxuriant tropical vegetation that provided a dense canopy of dripping foliage far above the ever-saturated and almost sunless floor of the primeval forests.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though the transmitters were set up under tents, they often experienced problems with short-circuited sets caused by the precipitation that constantly surrounded them. Back-up units weren't always available, which meant that oftentimes the transmitters had to be "jury-rigged," in order to get anything out of them. The hot and humid air also warped the discs (records) containing the recorded programming.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On May 8, 1945, at 10 a.m., word was received, via radio from Delhi, announcing the end of hostilities in Europe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFRS stations were broadcasting from the islands of New Guinea, Java and Borneo in the Dutch East Indies as the Allies moved into the Gilbert Islands and Bismarck Archipelago to the east. Coast watchers and scouts also listened to the AFRS stations for information about what was happening. Coded messages were sometimes included in daily broadcasts to give them special information as well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the allies drew closer to Japan, the fighting turned into a desperate island-by-island, hill-by-hill, and even inch-by-inch struggle. Command of the air over areas changed hands as much as twice weekly, and in a few instances, twice daily. That made it even more difficult for those manning the AFRS radio stations, because, if they got too close to the battlefronts, aerial bombing could destroy the stations. On more than one occasion the operators didn't have time to transport their equipment away from contested areas, and had to abandon the stations where they were.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) building in Tokyo, home of the Japanese radio station JOAK, and of the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Service station WVTR from 1945 to 1952.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As the war front drew closer to Japan's four main islands, another AFRS outlet was established, on the island of Okinawa, in July 1945. With the addition of consolidation of all the AFRS outlets under the newly established Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP), the so-called Far East Network had 18 stations broadcasting daily.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ten days after the formal surrender ceremonies aboard the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the first AFRS station in Japan went on the air, using the identification "This is Armed Forces Radio Service Station W-V-T-R in Tokyo." The date was September 12, 1945.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~