Visitors come to Natchez many times throughout the year. Buses of people or even just one couple will drive into town for a weekend. But how many can boost the IQ of the city with just a fraction of their group in town?

Wednesday, the soldiers from the ASA Okinawa, the Army Security Agency stationed on Okinawa, began their descent on Natchez.

The ASA Okinawa was a special arm of the Army’s intelligence to support combat operations and the national intelligence effort from the 1950s to 1976. It was born through the Army intelligence and security service.

These men collected, analyzed and reported on communications. The field station at Okinawa was the second largest in the world.

They enjoyed much of the Natchez culture, touring the city, staying at the Eola Hotel, seeing the antebellum houses and eating fried chicken at the Carriage House at Stanton Hall.

&uot;We just can’t say enough about the people that have been so friendly,&uot; Tom Cooper said as he marveled at how a town with such rich history could in fact be so small. Cooper, who now lives in Huntington Beach, Calif., along with his wife Tonia, are at their second ASA Okinawa reunion.

This is the largest group to attend one of the reunions since Myrtle Beach, S.C. in 1999.

And although Natchez was a part of the reunion, it really was a mere destination, a backdrop for old friends to get together and strangers to realize the similarities that brought them to this place.

For some soldiers, Okinawa may have just been a place to work, a time spent in the military, doing their duty. But others carried out of Okinawa memories, lifelong friendships and even some, spouses.

And throughout the last four days, many people saw comrades they had not seen since leaving Okinawa.

Friday, Cooper saw William Sullivan, just one of the guys he lived in the barracks with when stationed on Okinawa.

Sullivan recognized him from across the room. And so the reminiscing began.

Did you know this person? What about this person? Who was that that we used to play cards with all the time?

And this, of course, is the main reason people like to come to reunions like these.

&uot;It preserves the camaraderie of the ASA professionals that have served,&uot; said Larry Eckerd, a member of the ASA Okinawa, president of the ASA Okinawa Association and the coordinator of the reunions. &uot;It is a renewal of friendship and camaraderie.&uot;

It did not take long for stories to begin to surface among the old comrades.

Stories of the guy that fell off of the barracks and hit the concrete head first, but he lived through it.

Stories of the &uot;hard life&uot; where the men would play golf on a subtropical island in the middle of the South Pacific. They would leave in the mornings to shower and return to beds that were made and laundry nicely starched.

Don’t forget the parties at the officer’s club or going to the Tsushin Tai club for drinks.

At the front gate, the sign read, &uot;What you see here, what you do here, what you hear here, when you leave here, leave it here.&uot; So, these are the things these men have left to talk about because, in their jobs, they dealt with top-secret information when they were there. The only things they can talk about are the football games, the nights out and getting to the market.

And once the natives of the island become the talk of a group, they all try to remember some bit of Japanese.

&uot;I was getting pretty good at that language,&uot; Sullivan told Cooper.

And why wouldn’t they have learned the language after serving there for at least two years, for most of the men.

Some men learned Japanese first hand, like Donald Anderson, who met his wife on the island.

&uot;When I left, I took my souvenir with me,&uot; Anderson said of his wife, Nobuko.

Col. David Wisyanski made a lifelong friend in Natchez resident Jack Benson.

While Col. Wisyanski was the commanding officer of ASA Okinawa from 1975-1977, Natchezian Jack Benson was his deputy.

Wisyanski said he knew Benson since 1965 and when given the opportunity, he chose Benson as his deputy.

&uot;He’s an incredible athlete and remarkable leader,&uot; Wisyanski said. &uot;The troops loved him.&uot;

Then Wisyanski begins telling stories of the football teams Benson coached on Okinawa.

Wisyanski claimed the command could not have won the Travis Trophy, the highest cryptologic award for special intelligence command, without Benson.

To win, you must excel in cryptologic mission and maintain a professional appearance of the buildings and such, be able to sustain morale and the welfare of the staff, Wisyanski said.

After winning the trophy, the chief of staff of the U.S. Army visited, telling Col. Wisyanski, &uot;you’re showing me the future battlefield.&uot;

These are some of the stories that keep this organization going. Without these stories and the tens of picture books that covered the table of their hospitality room at the Eola, the soldiers would have no reason to gather together, nothing to bind them to one another.

&uot;We are the folks that keep the tradition going,&uot; Eckerd said.

For one more year, the story has been told by those who lived it.