The 164th Infantry was one of the three infantry regiments of the Americal (23rd) Infantry Division.
My hypothesis is this GI was a former member of the Americal Division who did not have enough service points to join the division when it left Japan and was deactivated at Fort Lewis on 21 November 1945. So he remained in Japan, assigned to another oufit until he raised enough points to be demobilized. He then had to wear his new assignment unit patch on the left shoulder, and the Americal patch on the right shoulder was a distinction as a veteran.
I think you are right because I have obtained info from a researcher based in Japan that the location is an airfield at Utsunomiya about 80 miles (129 km) north of Tokyo. It was the Army 158th Infantry Regiment RCT 'Bushmasters' that was based at Utsunomiya for Occupation duties. The
158th regiment patch is below:
It is more likely that, as you say, these servicemen from the Americal 164th Infantry regiment were attached to the 158th. Although, they may have been invited by buddies in the 158th to see the Japanese surrender aircraft at Utsunomiya.
Ki-54 Hickory Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-21 Sally Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-21 Sally Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-54 Hickory Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-36 Ida Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-84 Frank Utsunomiya 1945
Ki-84 Frank Utsunomiya 1945
The unit marking on the tails of the surrender aircraft is the
Utsunomiya Kyodo Hikoshidan - Utsunomiya Instructor Air Division, one of the Army Flying Schools.
Nearby this airfield was the Utsunomiya Nakajima aircraft plant where Ki-84 Frank fighters were produced. Due to the threat of bombing by B-29s in 1945 the entire factory was moved to the Otani underground factory not far from Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya was bombed a number of times very late war starting on July 12, 1945 but the underground factory survived. The photo below was taken after the surrender at the Utsunomiya Army Air Arsenal where the newly built Ki-84s were prepared for distribution to the airfields of various Ki-84 units.
Between February and August 1945 the airfield was attacked a number of times by carrier based fighters. On July 28 1945 the airfield was strafed by P-51 fighter bombers.
厚木飛行場への攻撃【前段】の自動貨車が映っているシーンで、人は確認できない(ｷﾘｯ って書いたが、よくよく見返してみると道路上になにか映っている…これトラックから飛び出して道路上に伏せた人、とも見えるが…よくわからない。今回は、陸軍の宇都宮飛行場（清原飛行場）への攻撃映像。飛行場は現在の清原工業団地。当時は宇都宮教導飛行師団や陸軍航空廠宇都宮支廠があったようだ。南から飛行場の格納庫へ。工場も機銃を受けて...
guncamera.blog98.fc2.com
Does anyone have that Guncam video from an English language website?
See: