Marine digs children from debris after deadly landslide strikes Japanese neighborhood

A Marine helped dig two children from debris and spent hours clearing wreckage from his Japanese neighbors’ homes after a landslide triggered by Typhoon Dujuan tore through his neighborhood on Sept. 21, killing one woman.

First Sgt. Allen Bostron, of Sioux Falls, S.D., is the senior enlisted leader for the Navy’s Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team-Pacific. He left Yokosuka Naval Base that afternoon for his home in nearby Miura as the weather worsened, he told Stars and Stripes by phone Friday.

Typhoon Dujuan brought record 24-hour rainfall to several cities, including Miura, where about 12 inches fell on Sept. 21, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Bostron said he was preparing to leave for an emergency evacuation site when the hillside above his neighborhood gave way around 5:30 p.m.

“I heard a loud crashing noise, like something you would hear next to a large waterfall,” he said. “I went out the front door and my neighbor’s house was pushed out to the middle of the cul-de-sac, as well as power lines, and several of the other houses had been pushed off of their foundation from the mud.”

Bostron’s home escaped the landslide, and he was the first person outside. He said he ran to a neighbor’s home, where two Japanese children were partially buried in the debris, and helped dig them out before turning to other homes on the street.

“I was just the closest one there,” he said.

A utility pole leans against a home shoved off its foundation by Typhoon Dujuan in Miura, Japan, Sept. 28, 2026. (Jonathan Baez/Stars and Stripes)

Bostron said he and other neighbors continued clearing debris until rescue crews arrived hours later. Authorities did not have the scene fully under control until about 10 p.m.

A woman in her 30s died in the landslide in Bostron’s neighborhood, a Miura city spokesman said by phone Tuesday.

The storm prompted evacuation advisories for nearly 2 million people as it crossed the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.

As of Tuesday, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency had confirmed 14 deaths associated with the storm, according to a report on the agency’s website.

Bostron said the experience reinforced the importance of paying attention to severe-weather warnings and evacuation notices and knowing where to find evacuation sites.

“I give condolences to my neighbors and the family for their loss,” he said. “It was unfortunate that an event occurred, and I just tried to help out when a bad situation happened.

Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.