Nearly two dozen off-duty service members were involved in a bloody bar fight in Okinawa’s American Village Oct. 3, according to Stars and Stripes.
The altercation began in the ordering line of Café and Pizza Bar Oh Yeah!, located in the Mihama American Village, a seaside entertainment complex built to attract the business of military personnel. A manager pushed the fight onto the bar’s terrace, where tensions escalated further, Stars and Stripes reported. When things got physical, the men were asked to leave the establishment.
Once outside, the fight became an all-out brawl. The manager told Stars and Stripes that the men shoved, punched and beat up one another. Facebook videos reportedly showed fists flying, an unconscious man being assaulted, and flip flops and fedoras scattered on the ground.
The manager told the outlet he called the police about 10 minutes after the fight broke out and that the men ran when law enforcement arrived on the scene.
RELATED
Two service members who returned to the scene were taken in by Marine security forces, an anonymous police spokesman told Stars and Stripes.
“We are conducting an investigation into the public disturbance in American Village on October 3rd,” Marine Corps Installations Pacific said in a statement to Stars and Stripes. “Until that investigation is complete we cannot provide any additional information or details of those involved. We expect all Marines to obey Japanese law and uphold our core values of honor, courage, commitment at all times.”
Marine Corps Installations Pacific did not immediately respond to Marine Corps Times requests for comment.
The bar does not plan to file a complaint, the manager said.
Harm Venhuizen is an editorial intern at Military Times. He is studying political science and philosophy at Calvin University, where he's also in the Army ROTC program.
