On the 19th, the on-site "Joint Operations Coordination Center" was launched in the airport's management office. In addition to the aforementioned people, 20 to 30 people, including Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism officials, the airport director, airport staff, and Miyagi prefecture officials, gathered there every morning.
Here, Mr. Kasamatsu sat at the center of a diverse group of people.
"The US military rushed to the scene, but they didn't know what to do. And while the airport office had decided to use Maeda Road to restore the runway, they didn't know what to do about the US military. Coordination between the two parties was necessary," says Kasamatsu.
Kasamatsu intuitively felt that the Self-Defense Forces were the only ones capable of coordinating between the military and civilians.
"Colonel Kasamatsu was truly amazing."
U.S. Marine Corps Colonel <strong>Craig S. Kozeniski</strong>
Enlarge photo
U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Craig S. Kozeniski
When he mentioned Kasamatsu's name, Kozenisky's face lit up.
"I believe that the success of this operation was largely due to him. As people with different backgrounds, we may have been dominated by the desire to 'do something,' but he was fluent in both Japanese remove background image and English, thought through what we were going to do that day and how to proceed with the plan, and made sure that both the Japanese and American sides were fully informed. He also discussed with me what should be prioritized and what resources could be used, and made plans accordingly."
However, it was the US military that was truly "amazing." The removal of rubble began to progress rapidly. Transport planes taking off and landing at night were guided by special forces commanders wearing headsets with different frequencies on the left and right, visually guiding them to the runway lined with lanterns. This was because the control tower, radar, and aviation lights could not be used. Transport planes landed one after another, and heavy machinery that had been dumped onto the runway moved around day after day.
Relief supplies were brought in one after another. They were unloaded from transport planes onto the runway, loaded onto large Marine Corps trucks, and dispersed to various locations under the escorts of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces.
"It was a huge amount of work and we had to be careful about prioritizing it and working with the airport authorities to decide what to do," Kozeniski said.