Fuji Fire: Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps Tragedy by Chas Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This documentary-style account of a tragedy I had never heard of was riveting at times and educational at others. In 1979, 10 years after I spent several days in an inn on Mount Fuji, a typhoon hit the same area and led to the rupture of a huge gas bladder used to fuel vehicles at a U.S. Marine Corps training camp there. The fuel mixed with the pouring rain and flowed downhill into the barracks where a spark or flame caused the fumes to erupt. The fires spread throughout the camp severely burning dozens, several fatally. The book is most compelling when describing the storm conditions and outbreak of the fire, and equally as it followed the rescue and treatment of the victims. It started a bit slow in order to give necessary background and personalize some of the key figures, but even that was interesting to me as I’d never been in the military. It was heartwarming to read sections where community members, other military branches, doctors, and others made personal sacrifices to treat, comfort, or help the burn victims. I lost interest a bit at the end as it chronicled the finger-pointing, lawsuits, possible cover-ups, and so forth. Personally, I found little if any fault with the Marine Corps. Typhoon Tip was the biggest, fiercest on record at the time, and I don’t believe anyone could have anticipated the accident. There were preventative measures in place, but they failed due to the extreme conditions. I give this one 4 and a half stars.