Marines, local volunteers clean Tengan River area

Photo By Gunnery Sgt. Cindy Fisher | Lance Cpl. Andrew Rubio Jr., left, 20, with Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, from Chicago, passes debris to Lance Cpl. George Lemmer III, also with Headquarters Company, along the overgrown banks of the Tengan River in Uruma City near Camp Courtney April 24. The two Marines were part of a chain of volunteers handing garbage up the slope of the bank to be stockpiled for disposal. Fifteen Marines based on Camp Courtney volunteered along with more than 150 Japanese from the community to cut down vegetation and clean up debris from a section of the river as part of the 23rd annual Tengan River Clean Up.  

URUMA CITY, OKINAWA, JAPAN

04.24.2011

Story by Gunnery Sgt. Cindy Fisher 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

URUMA CITY, Japan - Camp Courtney-based Marines joined more than 150 Japanese volunteers for the 23rd annual Tengan River Cleanup in Uruma City near the camp April 24.

The Marine volunteers, from 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Camp Courtney’s Camp Operations, along with a handful of their family members, helped Japanese volunteers pull tires, rusted metal trash cans, plates, plastic and other trash from the mud and mire of the Tengan River’s overgrown banks. The volunteers also cut down the bamboo, grass, weeds and trees that choked the banks of the river.

Before the cleanup began, Toshio Shimbukuro, Uruma City mayor, thanked volunteers for their efforts.

“We cannot achieve 23 years of Tengan River Cleanups without your support,” Shimbukuro said.

After so many years of cleaning the river, the water quality has improved and fish have returned to the river, Shimbukuro said, adding that planting flowers as part of the cleanup every year has also brought butterflies back to the area.

He also told those gathered that Marines recently returned from helping clean up Sendai Airport in mainland Japan.

Marine participation in projects, such as the Tengan River Cleanup, is vital for maintaining a healthy relationship with the communities surrounding military bases here, said Col. Robert C. Clements, commanding officer of Headquarters Battalion, 3rd MarDiv., and camp commander for Camp Courtney.

Many of the Marine volunteers said they thought the cleanup would be a simple walk along the riverbed picking up trash. They soon learned differently, as they were faced with clearing brush taller than themselves.

Removing the dense brush from sections of the Tengan River’s banks helps reduce the potential for flooding because it allows more room for the river to expand during rainfalls.

Clements said he participated in last year’s cleanup and knew this would be a lot of hard work. Volunteers would have to slog through dense vegetation that must be cut down into brush and dragged away for disposal.

The amount of work to be done was surprising, but he was just here “to do good things,” said Lance Cpl. Andrew Rubio Jr., with Headquarters Company, Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division.

Pfc. Benjamin Cook, with Military Police Company, Headquarters Battalion, agreed.

“I think it is a good thing we’re doing, and I think the community would like it,” Cook said.

Volunteering in the surrounding community is not just good for the community and the relationship between the military and local government leadership, it is also beneficial for the Marines who participate, Clements said.

“Most Marines who take part in these activities enjoy it immensely, and get more out of it than the local communities,” he said.

• Date Taken: 04.24.2011
• Date Posted: 04.29.2011 01:47
• Story ID: 69537
• Location: URUMA CITY, OKINAWA, JP