Mick Maurer.com > Mick Maurer in Asia in 1972-1974

June 1972-May 1974

Mick Maurer in Asia

Okinawa, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Phillipines

John A. Maurer JR, Mick Maurer, John A.
Maurer SR at St. Louis Lambert Field 1972

US Army Hospital - Ruyuku Islands where Mick Maurer was stationed from 1972-1974. First to
the combined 3-South Psychiatric and Detox Unit; which became only a locked Detox Unit.
Mick Maurer was the NeuroPsychiatric Tech who worked with Capt. Ken Olds, MD.

Okinawa Island aerial view, the US Army Hospital can be seen lower left

Okinawa Prefecture (Okinawan: Uchinā) is Japan's southernmost prefecture, and consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over 1,000 km long,
which extends southwest from Kyūshū (the southwesternmost of Japan's main four islands) to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern
part of the largest and most populous island, Okinawa Island, which is approximately half-way between Kyūshū and Taiwan. The disputed Senkaku Islands
(Chinese: Diaoyu Islands) are also administered as part of Okinawa Prefecture.

Following the end of World War II and the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, for 27 years Okinawa was under United States administration. During this time the US
military established numerous bases on Okinawa Honto (main island) and elsewhere.

On May 15, 1972, Okinawa once again became part of Japan, although to this day the United States maintains a large military presence there. Over 15,000
Marines, in addition to contingents from the Navy, Army and Air Force, are stationed there. Representing only 0.6% of the total landmass of Japan, Okinawa
supports roughly 75% of all U.S. troops in the country.

After World War II, military hospital facilities on Okinawa, originally isolated field hospitals,
were organized into a strip of Quonset huts. The huts were situated in present day Ginowan
City and known as Camp Mercy Hospital. The medical center actively supported world
forces during the various conflicts and continued to sustain readiness for troops stationed
on the island. In 1954, construction began on the U.S. Army Hospital at Camp Kuwae. The
hospital was commissioned in 1958 and it eventually expanded to a 700-bed facility to
provide medical treatment for military members carrying out campaigns throughout the
Pacific. Negotiations began in March of 1976 for the transfer of the hospital from the U.S.
Army to the U.S. Navy and from October 1976 until its commissioning as the U.S. Naval
Regional Medical Center on February 28, 1977, Army and Navy personnel jointly staffed the
facility.

Today most Okinawan residents continue to refer to the base as “Camp Kuwae”, as was its
name for almost thirty years. However, on January 28, 1982 (with an official dedication
taking place on June 8, 1982), the base was renamed Camp Lester in memory of Medal of
Honor recipient Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Fred Faulkner Lester.

US Army Drug and Alcohol Suppression Activity (USA ADSA)
Outpatient Alcohol Counseling
Camp Kuwae, Okinawa
Mick Maurer was assigned to the Outpatient Alcohol Counseling Program after attending
the Johns Hopkins Alcoholism Counselor Training Program in 1973-1974. He was also
assigned as a drug/alcohol counselor to Camp Hardy Motivational Facility for those US
Military personnel who had been convicted of drug offenses

David Piper who worked at USA ADSA with Mick Maurer. This
was taken in Mexico before Davids marriage in Denver in 1975,
where Mick Maurer was his best man.

Cindy Deere and Jeff Koob,
two good friends on Okinawa.

Pictures taken in Kadena, Okinawa 1972

Manila in 1973

In November 1973 Mick Maurer traveled with American School teachers assigned to the
US Military Education System to the Phillipines and Taiwan.

Nayon Valcano in the Phillipines

Shelia, Theresa, Marcey and Mick at Mackothie
Village, the Phillipines 23 November 1973

After Combat Medic Training and Neuro-Psychiatric Training at Fort Sam
Houston Mick Maurer was assigned to the US Army Hospital - Ruyuku
Islands in July 1972. He was selected to attend a special Alcoholism
Counseling training program at the Johns Hopkins University from April-
July 1973. Upon his return he was assigned to another year on Okinawa
and was awarded Soldier of the Month for his academic performance in
Baltimore. Both prior to and after Johns Hopkins, Mick Maurer, attended
Japanese Language classes at the US Army Language Center on Okinawa,
and took evening classes through the University of Maryland- University
College Asia on base and extension courses from the University of
Missouri. While in Baltimore Mick Maurer attended workshops at Beth
Israel Medical Center in New York City and at SUNY-Stoney Brooke, LI.

UMUC is one of the eleven degree-granting institutions that make up the
University System of Maryland. It is the component of the University System
dedicated to providing lifelong learning opportunities for adult students–
throughout the state of Maryland, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area,
in military communities around the world, and increasingly via distance
education. In recent years, UMUC has provided courses to students in more
than twenty countries on all seven continents. When the University of Maryland
began its programs in Asia in 1956, General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Pacific
Commander, remarked that “the sun never sets on the University of
Maryland.” His comment is still true today. In 1956, courses began in Japan,
Okinawa, Korea, Guam, and Taiwan, with just over 1,700 students.

Asia during the final Vietnam War Years 1972-1974

Philippines:
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw economic development that was second in Asia, next to Japan.
Ferdinand Marcos was, then, the elected president. Barred from seeking a third term, Marcos declared
martial law on September 21, 1972 and ruled the country by decree. Marcos extended both his power and
tenure by force. His authoritarian rule became marred with unmitigated, pervasive corruption, cronyism and
despotism.

Thailand:
The history of Thailand since 1973 has seen a difficult and sometimes bloody transition from military to
civilian rule, with several reversals along the way, including the most recent military coup of September
2006. The revolution of 1973 inaugurated a brief, unstable period of democracy, with military rule being
reimposed after a bloody coup in 1976.

The events of October 1973 amounted to a revolution in Thai politics. For the first time the urban middle
class, led by the students, had defeated the combined forces of the old ruling class and the army, and had
gained the apparent blessing of the king for a transition to full democracy, symbolised by a new
constitution which provided for a fully elected unicameral legislature.

However, Thailand had not yet produced a political class able to make this bold new democracy function
smoothly. The January 1975 elections failed to produce a stable party majority, and fresh elections in April
1976 produced the same result. The veteran politician Seni Pramoj and his brother Kukrit Pramoj
alternated in power, but were unable to carry out a coherent reform programme. The sharp increase in oil
prices in 1974 led to recession and inflation, weakening the government's position. The democratic
government's most popular move was to secure the withdrawal of American forces from Thailand.

The wisdom of this move was soon questioned, however, when Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia fell to
communist forces in 1975. The arrival of communist regimes on Thailand’s borders, the abolition of the
600-year-old Lao monarchy, and the arrival of a flood of refugees from Laos and Cambodia, swung public
opinion in Thailand back to the right, and conservatives did much better in the 1976 elections than they had
done in 1975.

Taiwan:
In 1949, on losing the Chinese Civil War to the CPC (Communist Party of China), the Kuomintang (KMT) ,
led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated from Mainland China and moved the ROC government to Taipei,
Taiwan's largest city, while continuing to claim sovereignty over all of China and Greater Mongolia.

Taiwan remained under martial law and one-party rule, under the name of the "Temporary Provisions
Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion", from 1948 to 1987, when Presidents Chiang Ching-
kuo and Lee Teng-hui gradually liberalized and democratized the system. With the advent of
democratization, the issue of the political status of Taiwan has resurfaced as a controversial issue
(previously, discussion of anything other than unification under the ROC was taboo).

During the 1960s and 1970s, the ROC began to develop into a prosperous, industrialized developed
country with a strong and dynamic economy, becoming one of the Four Asian Tigers while maintaining the
authoritarian, single-party government. Because of the Cold War, most Western nations and the United
Nations regarded the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China (while being merely the de-facto
government of Taiwan) until the 1970s, when most nations began switching recognition to the PRC. In
1975, 26 years after Chiang fled to Taiwan, he died in Taipei at the age of 87.

Hong Kong:
1970s in Hong Kong underwent many changes that shaped its future. Economically, it reinvented itself
from a manufacturing base into a financial centre. The market also began leaning toward corporations and
franchises.

In August 1971, Typhoon Rose passed over Hong Kong causing extensive damage, forcing the hoisting of
Hurricane Signal No. 10 on August 16. A total of 5,664 people from 1,032 families became homeless. The
typhoon also destroyed 653 wooden huts and damaged 24 buildings, six beyond repair.

In August 1979 Typhoon Hope reached Hong Kong but has weakened considerably from the 150mph wind
earlier.

In June 1972, torrential rains caused two serious landslides in Sau Mau Ping and the Mid-levels
respectively. The Mid-levels case happened at Kotewall Road. A large area of a slope collapsed,
demolishing a 12-story apartment block and taking the top floors off a block next to it. In the Sau Mau Ping
case, shanty town dwellers refused to evacuate despite warning; a road embankment partially collapsed
and the debris buried those in their dwelling. Together there were over 150 deaths, 110 injured and more
than 5000 people were left homeless.

In 1970, the American government returned the sovereignty of Ryukyu Islands and Diaoyutai Islands to
Japan. The act stirred up campaigns for defending the Diaoyutai Islands among Chinese societies all
around the world. The "Hong Kong Federation of Students" requested a protest at Victoria Park in
Causeway Bay on July 7, 1971. Having been frightened by the 1967 riot, the police tried to prevent the
protest. Unnecessary violence erupted, leading to the arrests of students. The media criticized the violation
of democracy. The British police officers involved were sent back to the UK and went unpunished. Protests
concerning the defence of Diaoyutai Islands continued to be held the following months.

Mick Maurer Christmas Day Okinawa, Japan 1972

Shuri Castle Okinawa

Mick Maurer traveled to the Philippines,
Tokyo, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and
Guam. The flight from Hong Kong to Thailand
was a harrowing one as one of the planes
engines was on fire while half way out over
the South China Sea. After a return to Hong
Kong and much delay the trip resumed to
Bangkok.