Special thanks to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing another great episode from Wavescan.
Jeff: Today, Ray Robinson has a rather strange oddity from radio history – the way a sea monster invasion was reported by AFRS Tokyo in 1947. Tell us more, Ray…
Ray: Hi, Jeff. Well, I came across this story on the Radio Heritage Foundation’s website, and I thought Wavescan listeners might be interested to hear it. The story was written up by Ernest L. Gunerious, who says that in 1947, he was serving in the United States Army posted to the Army of Occupation in Japan. He was stationed at Shonan Tomioka about 30 miles south of Yokohama in a former Japanese seaplane base, which had been made into the Headquarters and Battalion Barracks for the 753rd AAA Gun Battalion. He says the events which he relates took place on a Saturday night in late July or early August in 1947, to the best of his recollection. Here’s what he wrote:
In the early evening, after a hot muggy day, at about 7:00 PM, a group of my fellow soldiers and I were listening to a music program broadcast from the Armed Forces Radio Station, WVTR Tokyo.
For the next three hours, until lights-out, we listened with fascination as the program was repeatedly interrupted by news flashes which eventually included on-the-scene "live" reports with audio of the most amazing account of destruction, mayhem, gunfire, cannon shots, burning buildings, Army mobilization and an unknown "Beast from the Sea", roaring in the background.
The first interruption occurred as I said about 7:00PM with a report that some fishing boats were missing at sea, but near the coast, off a small fishing village south of Yokosuka on the western shore of Tokyo Bay.
A short time later a report of a village destroyed in that area was given. This was followed by phoned-in reports from eyewitnesses claiming to have seen a huge "sea monster" moving inland and north up the coast.
So, with brief moments of music interrupted by news breaks, we were informed of a relentless beast, bent on destruction, moving north, up the coast toward Tokyo. Eventually, the reports said that Army Units were called to the scene where they cornered the beast, and proceeded to attack with cannon fire, rifles being ineffective.
Reports continued at a frantic pace throughout the evening, including harrowing rescues and escapes, remote radio links, movement of heavy weapons and tanks, and all the stuff of which truly epic stories are made. And, this was accompanied by the terrifying screams, roars and shrieks of both the beast and the panic-stricken populace, as well as the gunfire and bullhorns of the protectors.
However, the authors of this masterpiece made a serious mistake in their meticulous planning. It was learned later that the family of the commanding General of the Eighth Army, General Eichleburger, was vacationing at a resort that was in the supposed northward path of the "Monster". It was rumored that General Eichleburger was not amused. General MacArthur was probably not amused either.
As lights-out time arrived, the "Beast" was still at large, unsubdued.
The next day we waited for a final report, but to no avail. All we ever heard was that a Sergeant and a Corporal had been arrested and relieved of duty at the radio station. We never saw a report in "Stars and Stripes", the official newspaper of the Occupation Force.
Thus the heroes of the hour were deprived of undying fame as the inventors of "Godzilla". And now the world is left with the false impression that the Japanese invented him.
As for the facts of the case:
• The details are generally true as I have related them.
• I know for sure that it happened and maybe there are others who remember as well.
• I know it happened in the summer of 1947.
• I think the radio station was called WVTR. It was the Armed Services Radio out of Tokyo, Japan in 1947.
• This report is true to the best of my knowledge.
I have never in the intervening years heard any mention of this event. I think it deserves to be brought to light as a curiosity if nothing else.
And that’s where Ernest Gunerious’ story finishes.
Well, WVTR was indeed the main AFRS station in Japan after the war. It was set up in September 1945, and operated with 50,000 watts on 590 kHz, serving the Tokyo/Yokohama area. U.S. troops also took over the number two network of the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation and relayed WVTR over a seven-station network. And then to fill in any gaps in coverage, there was a further relay of WVTR on shortwave with a 5kW transmitter in Yamata which used the call JKE on 9605 kHz during the daytime and 4860 kHz at night.
But, back to the story on the Radio Heritage Foundation’s website about the hoax broadcast, which did receive some responses. Ken Harriman, who served as the Program Director’s Assistant at WVTR wrote:
“I remember this event quite clearly. I was stationed at WVTR in 1946 and part of 1947. Shortly after I was discharged in April 1947, there was an article in the local newspaper with the story. One of the characters responsible was Art Bartick and his sidekick from the Records section of the station. The Officer in Charge when I left was Capt James B Teer.”
And indeed there were items carried on the wires of UP on 29th and 31st May 1947 which were picked up by many local newspapers in the U.S.
So it seems that Ernest Gunerious’ recollection about the event happening in late July or early August wasn’t quite correct – it actually occurred in May 1947. The second of the items on UP said that several people had lost their radio jobs in Japan the following day over the ‘Sea Monster’ scare. They were:
• Captain James B. Teer of Dawson, Texas – who was the commanding officer of WVTR,
• Corporal Arthur Bartick and Private First Class Arthur Thompson both of Los Angeles, who wrote the script, and
• Dr. Wilton Cook also of Los Angeles, a civilian who was the AFRS program director in Tokyo.
Other responses to the story were posted by:
• Wallace Covington, who remembered the incident while he was stationed in Yokahama assigned to the harbor patrol group, and by
• Jack Marquardt, who was in the Military Police in the Nakano area of Tokyo.
Jack recalled: “Our headquarters finally confirmed the program was merely another "invasion from Mars" type of spoof, and that fact was revealed to the listeners at the end of the broadcast. A supposed gas attack finally overcame the monster, and as it lay there breathing its last, the station said that a WVTR reporter was on the spot to let everyone hear its final gasp. There was much heavy breathing, followed by a raspy voice singing the theme song from Disney"s 1941 animated film, "The Reluctant Dragon." I thought it was all great fun, but General MacArthur and others did not... and heads rolled at WVTR.”
Indeed they did. But now you know the true origin of Godzilla – it was a creation of some bored AFRS personnel in post-war Japan, who were probably just trying to liven things up a little, but got far more than they bargained for!
Back to you, Jeff.
