Olivia Update -- October 21, 2026

Link. Link here: https://share.google/aimode/LF2jf6e5ThnyAQdak. 

Grandma Mayumi's Birthplace

Link here. 

May was born in Japan to US military / US Army Sergeant Flavio Garcia and wife Kay Garcia.

One wonders if Camp Zama, in / near Yamato, Japan, was for Flavio, Sr, just like Bitburg Air Base, Germany, was for Bruce?

Birthplace:  Shizuoka-ken, Japan

Certified copy of Birth Certificate -- certified in US consulate, Yokahama, Japan

May Garcia
        Certified copy, birth certificate, American Consulate
            Yokohama, Japan
            Dated May 12, 1951
            Notarized May 14, 1951
            Date of Birth:  xxxxxx xx xxxx, 1949 hours
            Place of birth:  No. 4 – 5 Section Tsurumadai
                    Yamato-machi,                Rural town
                    Koza-gun.                       District
                    Kanagawaken, Japan.     Prefecture
            Present Residence:  No. 4 – 5 Section, Tsurumadai
                    Yamato-machi,
                    Koza-gun
                    Kanagawaken
            Birthplace:  Shizuoka-ken, Japan.     Prefecture

        Laminated card:  US Dept of Justice, 
            Immigration and Naturalization Service
            Identification Card
            No. 17757
            In original yellow envelope

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May's Birthplace

 

The above information was taken from May's birth certificate and led to a lot of confusion with all the geographical names in Japan. 

 

May very clearly remembers / knows that she was born in the same house in a small town where her mother was born, and that she (May) was delivered by a midwife, who herself was born in Yokohama but very likely dispersed to a rural area from a large city like Yokohama that would have been safer.

 

Query: No 4 - 5, Section Tsurumadai, Yamato-machi, Koza-Gun, Japan. Location for US military during WWII.

 

Reply: 

Query: During WW II did the US Army have barracks in / near Yamatomachi, Japan?

 

Reply:

 

Query: 

Our mom was born during WW II in Japan. The birth certificate shows Kanagawa Ken, Japan (the prefecture) as place of birth. But it also shows the town of birth as Yamato-machi, and the prefecture of Shizuoka-ken, Japan. Why are two prefectures listed? Shizuoka may have also been a city. Thoughts?

Reply:  

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What We Know

 

Mayumi is adamant that she was born in the same home as her mother was born, and we know for sure this was Shizuoka-ken (Honseki-chi: ancestral home for Kay's family). Mayumi is adamant that she was born in the same home as her mother, which means that her mom and Mayumi were both born in the same home that is also the ancestral home. Honseki-chi means "ancestral home"). 

 

It is also a fact that Mayumi was delivered by a midwife.

 

Mayumi's dad was living in Camp Zama, south side of Yokohama.  He and she were not married at the time Mayumi was born, so Mayumi's mom could not be living with Flavio in Camp Zama. May's mom could not access medical care in a US military facility because she was not married to Flavio.

 

When Mayumi was born, her mother was disowned by her family, and Mayumi went to live with her aunt. We need to determine how fast this happened. Mayumi's aunt lived in Yokohama.

 

The birth certificate almost suggests the geographical sites included the mother's ancestral home and her actual birthplace (the same) but her dad lived in Camp Zama but not married to Mayumi's mom Kaye.  

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The Maps

 

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Camp Zama

 

Query: was Camp Zama active during WWII?

 

Reply:  

Query: Was Camp Zama, Japan, active during the Korean War?

Reply: 

 Camp Zama:

K'gari National Preserve -- Australia -- October 15, 2026

This is where Olivia is headed next. She just phoned a few minutes ago while waiting for transportation.

Link here. Link: https://share.google/aimode/QToUyQ2gIbvodJa4b.  

 K'gari National Park:

While on Heron Island, lots of snorkeling, but also, Olivia (re)-certified to scuba dive and did some scuba diving which she thought was amazing. Can't wait to see the photos.

Olivia returns to DFW area December 15, 2026. Within a day or two she will drive back to Stanford. She needs to be back at Stanford on/about January 2, 2026. 

Australia -- October 6, 2026

For the extended family: Heron Island Research Station. Link here. Our middle granddaughter Olivia is currently studying abroad -- down under -- Australia. Her AFROTC commitment allows her only one quarter to study abroad. She invited herself to join a research group on Heron Island, part of the Great Barrier Reef.  For perspective, my college research was in the Arctic. LOL. Map and one photo: 

The research team: Olivia has the star on her top, and, I believe, that's a snorkeling tube over her left shoulder. Oh, yes, she and others are wearing fins, so they were snorkeling. She qualified for dive-certification when she was twelve years old but didn't get the certificate because she was not old enough to qualify. She is comfortable in and around water.

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Stanford Engineering

 Link here: https://ughb.stanford.edu/jobs-resources-opportunities/overseas-opportunities.  

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Miscellaneous

 

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Book Review

Link here: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/tune-in-drop-out-start-up/. 

The Claremont Institute is located in Upland, California: link here. Upland, CA, is in southern California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The institute sits midway between SH-210 and I-10, west of San Bernardino on Foothill Blvd.

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The Great Barrier Reef
 

 

 

Next Step After AF ROTC Field Training -- August 21, 2026

Query: 

It appears that some cadets are called back to be a trainer / instructor at Maxwell the following year but she would like to continue with engineering opportunities. I suggest she work with the USAF to find another summer opportunity such as a engineering "sabbatical" at some engineering slot in the USAF. Thoughts?

Reply: 

What AF ROTC Field Training Means For Olivia -- August 21, 2026

Query: Aren't all AF ROTC student required to complete Field Training at Maxwell AFB, AL?

Reply:  

Follow-up question: 

I'm asking because we got a strange letter from the Air Force saying that our granddaughter had been selected to recieve a coveted and well-deserved Enrollment Allocation to attend Field Training this summer. This is not just a next step -- it is one of the most significant milestones in a cadet's journey .... and it goes on. How can it be such a coveted and well-deserved allocation when every ROTC must attend Field Training? 

Reply:

Comes Home Today -- Three Weeks -- AFROTC Field Training -- August 20, 2026

 

ROTC -- Maxwell Air Force Base -- Alabama -- July 31, 2026

 Three-week field training begins.

Olivia's bag.

ROTC -- Edwards Air Force Base -- California -- June 17, 2026

June 12, 2026:

Grandchild #2 -- jet fighter flight today. Some weeks ago, Olivia, shaved her head to the scalp. Think Demi Moore. LOL. 

I see she is letting her hair grow out. T-38 jet / F-5. She's at the USAF test flight base, Edwards Air Force Base. She arrived at Edwards AFB the day the B-52 crashed, killing eight members on board. She was scheduled to take this flight on June 15, 2026. Because the runway was closed after the B-52 crash, her training took her back into the simulator. 

Her jet fighter instructor start out in life as a helicopter pilot. What an incredible model.

I flew many, many flights / sorties in the F-15D practicing air combat maneuvers, the F-5 fighters from  RAF Alconbury, England. So, "it has" come full circle.

Later:

Four USAF ROTC cadets on the ramp of a C-17.

 

 

June 15, 2026:

Olivia is attending Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, studying electrical engineering, on an AF-ROTC scholarship.

This summer she was selected for a highly-sought-after three-week tour of Edwards Air Force Base, California, a test site for the Air Force.

She drove down from Palo Alto, California, on Sunday, June 14, 2026.

On Monday, while being fitted for a helmet and g-suit to fly in a jet fighter -- probably an F-16 or F15, the ROTC students were hustled out of the building, change in plans.

Because the runway was closed and due to other requirements following the mishap, the planned jet fighter flight was postponed. However the students got to "fly" in a jet fighter simulator.

Olivia's grandfather was a crewmember of a B-52 back in 1982 or thereabouts when he was stationed at Grand Forks AFB, ND, as a flight surgeon / pediatrician. 

He had only flight in the B-52. It was a night mission, eight hours long, flying low-level (500 feet off the ground) through the Rocky Mountains. Terrain-folllowing, night flight.  

YouTube report: link here. 

Olivia On Her Way To Edwards AFB -- Three-Week Summer Program -- Posted June 15, 2026