31st MEU, Essex ARG assist with Japan relief

SAN DIEGO — Marine Corps helicopters flew blankets, water and humanitarian supplies Monday to a city in Japan’s devastated northeastern coast as the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit began its first disaster relief missions following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Pilots with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 262 (Reinforced), flying off amphibious assault ship Essex, flew reconnaissance flights along a 200-mile stretch of coast to survey the disaster areas and find isolated pockets of residents in need of disaster aid and relief, said 31st MEU spokesman Capt. Caleb Eames, in a statement.

“Our hope is to be able to help our Japanese friends by delivering assistance to people in remote areas along where the tsunami hit hardest,” said MEU commander Col. Andrew MacMannis, in the statement.

Eames said the 31st MEU is “far away from any source of radiation,” but noted that pilots and air crews are still taking precautions to protect from any contamination. Crews are checked when they return to the ship.

The MEU has a six-person liaison team ashore in Sendai, a city in the hardest-hit area, helping to coordinate relief efforts, along with additional personnel in Yokota and Sappora.

Photographs taken by the MEU and posted on the unit’s Facebook page show wide swaths of devastated coastal villages and valleys.

Essex, along with dock landing ships Germantown and Harpers Ferry, arrived off Japan late last week carrying 2,200 Marines, but concerns about the spread of radiation spewing from the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant delayed support missions.

More than a dozen aircrew members with the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group flying aid missions last week were exposed to low levels of radiation, according to the Navy.

Along with HMM-262 (Reinforced), the Okinawa, Japan-based 31st MEU includes Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines and Combat Logistics Battalion 31. It is part of the Essex ARG, led by Japan-based Amphibious Squadron 11.