The first American occupation advance party reached Atsugi Airfield on 28 August 1945.
The advance party belonged to the 139th Army Airways Communication System, also identified as the 769th Army Air Forces Base Unit. Its mission was to establish airfield operations and communications before the main occupation forces arrived. The landing was an important practical step in turning Japan’s surrender into an organized occupation.
General Douglas MacArthur arrived at Atsugi on 30 August, two days after the advance party. The airfield was in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, and became associated with the opening phase of the Allied occupation. Some Japanese pilots at Atsugi initially resisted the surrender order and distributed leaflets urging continued resistance, but that opposition soon ended.
Atsugi is sometimes confused with Haneda because both were important airfields near Tokyo. Haneda later became a major base for occupation-era aviation, but Atsugi was the site reached by the first American advance party on 28 August.