Take a minute to study this photo. What you are seeing is a shipload of used military vehicles, including Harley WLAs, which have just arrived in Yokohama, Japan for salvage and refurbishment. This was part of an effort starting in 1948 by the U.S. Eighth Army Ordnance Section Industrial Group, Fifth Echelon. These vehicles and many more, were collected from all over the Pacific Theater and sent to Japan. The idea was to help build Japan's economy by teaching them modern industrial methods. Factories were built to rebuild engines, drive trains and to manufacture tires. The US also contracted with 25 additional Japanese companies to produce necessary spare parts. The operation claimed to save American taxpayers $27,000,000 a year, although it is unclear if this is because the Japanese were doing the work at such low rates or because the US Military did not need to purchase additional vehicles during the operation. It's interesting that in the US Army's report on this operation, they refer to the Japanese as having a"backwardness in technological development" and other similar deficiencies. Makes you wonder where they got all those ships, planes, tanks, etc that they were attacking us with just a few years earlier...
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