KOKUGI-KAN, the tremendous dome-shaped structure in downtown Tokyo originally designed as a National amphitheatre to please the Japanese sumo fans has received a name and purpose in life under American Occupation. Now known as Memorial Hall and serving as an ice skating palace, to the profound gratification of thousands of occupationnaires, the Headquarters and Service Group operated installation has become the Far East Command's fitting tribute to World War II American Army athletes who laid down their lives so that the ideals
of fair play and sportsmanship they fought for might survive.
    A modest monument to these men featuring life-sized replicas of three American soldiers, one clad in full battle dress and the other two in sports regalia, stands in the courtyard of Memorial Hall. Directly underneath the battle-clad GI is a plaque listing some of the names of America's sport greats and near-greats who made the supreme sacrifice.
    Among them, fans will readily recognize the name of Alfred .C. Blozis, Georgetown University's renowned track and field kingpin and football star who later played professionally for the New York Giants. Pigskin followers will also recall the brilliant performances of Jack Routt, Texas A&M's great All-American lineman; the miraculous, unbelievable pass-catching feats of Frank Wysocki, Villanova's talented end; the widespread gridiron ramblings of Clint D. Castleberry, Jr., Georgia Tech's immortal quarterback who as a freshman made many All-America teams during the war years preceding his death; and finally, Donald L. Wemple, a product of one of Andy Kerr's finest razzle-dazzle teams at Colgate University.
    Norway's Torger Tokle, in a class by himself as the world's all-time ski-jumping champ, is another whose name is inscribed on the plaque. Tokle escaped to America just before the Nazis invaded his homeland, and fought in the American Army until his untimely death. Billy Southworth Jr., courageous son of the famous big league baseball manager and a skillful athlete in his own right, is another mentioned on the Memorial Hall plaque.
 

    Memorial Hall was originally built in 1909 by the Japan Wrestling Association. Kingo Tatsuno, eminent Japanese architect who designed the old Tokyo Central Station, completed the structure at a cost of 200,000 yen - two yen equalling one dollar at that time. Considering today's inflationary, rate of exchange (270 yen to a dollar, official) together with high costs of materials and labor, the same project now would  approximate the staggering sum of 90,000,000 yen.
    On September 1st, 1923, Memorial Hall, or Kokugi-Kan as it was then called, became a casualty of the great Kanto earthquake which razed most of the buildings in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. Construction was immediately started on a bigger and better wrestling arena, but funds soon gave out and the contractors were forced to call a halt to the building after only the barest framework had
been completed. In its unfinished state, the Kokugi-Kan opened its doors to the Japanese sports  public in May 1924 and thus shabbily attired continued to operate until 1936, when an additional 100,000 yen public conscription was raised enabling the contractors to finish the building in its present earthquake-proof final form.
    The rebuilding of Kokugi-Kan was not completed without mishap, however. Just about the time the finishing touches were being applied, several strategically placed girders gave way, causing most of the great domed roof to cave in. Fortunately, the accident occurred after working hours and no one was hurt.
    The 91,500 square foot arena, resembling in effect a gigantic circular greenhouse with its hundreds of oversized windows ringing each tier of seats, was again seriously menaced in 1945, this time as the result of three U.S. air raids. Incendiary bombs dropped by B-29 pilots burned a gaping hole in the roof which Eighth Army authorities repaired during the course of a subsequent renovation of the building's facilities.
    The "dome," as Memorial Hall is often referred to, is frequently compared to New York's famed Madison Square Garden by occupationnaires because of its ready adaptability to various indoor athletic activities, including basketball, boxing, wrestling, ice-skating and hockey. To continue the parallel still further, just as an appearance at Madison Square Garden signified for an American prizefighter the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition, so did a performance at Kokugi-Kan in the old days mean to a sumo wrestler the realization of his fondest, dreams. Emperor Hirohito and his retinue of followers were great devotees of this refined Oriental art of mayhem and spent many an evening in the royal box watching the overfed mastodons tear each other apart.
    It was not until early in 1947, after unsuccessfully trying to introduce soldier boxing in Memorial Hall, that the Eighth Army athletic officials decided to convert the former wrestling auditorium into an all-year round in door skating rink. In short order they had a 120 x 60 foot rink completed, just two-thirds the size of a standard Stateside rink, but very satisfactory nevertheless.
    The overwhelming response of skaters on opening day proved the wisdom of discarding the leather-pushers in favor of the blade fanciers. Regular capacity crowds continue to make maximum use of the two-a-day supervised skating sessions during the week, and three times a day on weekends. Located on Avenue "T" not far from the 361st Medical Station Hospital and just a short ten minute bus ride from General MacArthur's downtown headquarters in the Dai Ichi Building, its ready accessibility to skating fans undoubtedly has had a lot to do with making Memorial Hall the popular sports mecca that it is.
    From time to time since its conversion into an ice palace, the Hall has been loaned to Japanese university teams for hockey games. One look at the rugged exhibitions of puck-chasing put on by the willing, but oftentimes inexpert, stickhandlers is enough to chill the blood of the hardiest American or Canadian hockey fan. Lacking proper practice facilities and experienced coaches, the college sextets make up in spirit what they lack in skill. The way these young college kids recklessly bang into the boards under a full head of steam brings back nostalgic memories of Brooklyn's Pete Reiser "heading" into the concrete center field wall of Ebbets Field in pursuit of a fly ball. The courage and diehard attitude displayed by these possible future Olympic stars is well appreciated by the crowds of 10,000 or more Japanese and American fans who flock to Memorial Hall to cheer the skaters on to bigger and better body checks everytime one of these fratricidal contests is scheduled.
    As operated by Headquarters and Service Group, the organization responsible for the servicing and maintenance of all General Headquarters facilities in the Tokyo area, Memorial Hall has a maximum seating capacity of approximately 20,000. The largest crowd of occupationnaires to witness an event at Memorial Hall was the 7,500 people who saw the December 1947 ice show sponsored by the Parent Teachers Association to raise badly needed funds for local American schools. The original show in June 1947, which combined the talents of American and Japanese skaters, was likewise an artistic and financial success for the PTA.
    In charge of the Memorial Hall rink since its opening in January 1947 has been genial Cpl. John J. Kasmarsik of the 6th Special Service Company, Headquarters and Service Group, GHQ. Lean and limber Kasmarsik, a veteran of 15 years experience on the ice, has skated for the Philadelphia International Figure Skating Club and the Lansdowne Figure Skating Club, also in Philadelphia. The corporal was featured in both ice extravaganzas held at Memorial Hall and coached most of the members of the cast in their roles.
    Cpl. Kasmarsik recalls that Memorial Hall has had its share of fine skaters during its brief but spectacular existence as an ice palace. Chief among these were Harvey P. Wolfers a two-year veteran of the Sonja Henie ice shows at Rockefeller Center, N.Y. and Joe Bloom, who twinkled for the Shipstad-Johnson Ice Follies in San Francisco before the war.
    As manager and instructor at the Memorial Hall rink, it can certainly be said of Cpl. Kasmarsik that he combines business with pleasure. But of even more satisfaction to him and his assistants is the fact that they are actively connected with a venture dedicated to the perpetuation of the memories of America's athletic war great. And to this end, they continue to bend every effort to insure that the former Japanese wrestling shrine serves, in actuality as well as in name as a true Memorial Hall.