On March 11, 2011, a magnitude (Mw) 9.1 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Honshu on the Japan Trench. A tsunami that was generated by the earthquake arrived at the coast within 30 minutes, overtopping seawalls and disabling three nuclear reactors within days.

At that time, Kaylib Welgraven of Chandler was serving as a marine in Iwakuni, Japan. Iwakuni is located in the southern part of mainland Japan, about 30 minutes from Hiroshima. He was not near the tsunami, but was stationed on a base where Japanese people would have been evacuated to if the nuclear reactors at Fukushima melted down. 

Iwakuni is not far from South Korea, so he was stationed there as part of the forward deployed troops. He was supposed to fly out to South Korea on the day that the tsunami hit, so their trip was cancelled. 

Kaylib made his decision to join the marines at a very young age. He was only 17 years old and a junior at Southwest MN Christian when he told his parents, Dennis Welgraven and Mary (Alons) Damhoff, what he wanted to do. 

“I wanted to get out and have an adventure outside of Minnesota,” he said. Kaylib has two brothers, Kyle and Kory. Kory is also a serviceman.

His parents wanted him to be sure, so they made him wait for a few weeks before he went to Sioux Falls to visit with the recruiter. They also met with the recruiter and had to sign off on his enlistment because he was a minor.

On May 25, 2009 he arrived at Camp Pendleton in California.  Camp Pendleton is a huge facility – really its own city. It is 30 miles square with a population of about 42,000 active-duty marines and sailors. 

Kaylib spent 13 weeks there in basic training. That involved waking up very early, learning basic rifle skills, and getting in good physical shape with hikes, runs, calisthenics, and so on. 

Thinking back on that time, Kaylib said, “You definitely learn how to be quiet and listen and do what you are told to at a fast pace.” His farm background was helpful. “Growing up on a farm I was already used to waking up on time and having a lot of responsibility.” 

His family flew out to California for his graduation that August. He came home for 10 days before being brought back to Camp Pendleton for his marine combat training. This training was less mental training and more physical. They also learned land navigation skills and how to use other weapons – machine guns and grenade launchers, for example.

At that time, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were scaling back, so there were fewer troops being sent there. That was somewhat disappointing for Kaylib – as a marine, he was preparing for deployment and whatever that might entail. “That’s what you are there for and what you train for,” he said.

After finishing his marine combat training, Kaylib was chosen for welding school. He spent the next four months in Aberdeen, Maryland where he learned basic welding skills. He was stationed close to Baltimore, and spent weekends there. “I definitely got to see that I was not in Chandler, Minnesota anymore,” he said. “It was a different culture.”

After his training in Maryland, he received his orders to go to Iwakuni Japan. He was there for two years. In addition to experiencing the after effects of the tsunami, he was able to spend time site seeing when he was not on duty. 

He went to Peace Park (the site of the atom bomb) and to Tokyo. He learned to love to eat sushi. He also made a lot of new friends – men who would later stand by his side at his wedding.

One interesting thing about the Iwakuni Air Base is that it is two air bases side-by-side, with one half being American and the other half Japanese. There was a building there on the base with historic significance for American soldiers – it was where the attack on Pearl Harbor was planned.