Airmen from the 730th Air Mobility Squadron push a pallet filled with perishable and frozen food items onto a C-130J Super Hercules at Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 3, 2023. The pallets were delivered to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to aid recovery efforts following Typhoon Mawar. (Spencer Tobler/U.S. Air Force)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — This airlift hub in western Tokyo flew tons of frozen and cold-storage food to Guam recently as part of ongoing relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Mawar.

C-130J Super Hercules airlifters from Yokota flew approximately 18 tons of frozen and perishable food to Andersen Air Force Base on June 3, according to a base news release.

Guam, about the size of Chicago, endured a bashing May 24 by Mawar, the strongest storm to strike the U.S. territory since 2002. The island is still recovering, with power out and clean water inaccessible in many places.

Among the island’s population of about 170,000 are more than 21,700 U.S. service members and their families at Andersen, Naval Base Guam, the Marine Corps’ Camp Blaz and Coast Guard Forces Micronesia.

Airmen at Yokota Air Base, Japan, palletized and delivered 18 tons of Army and Air Force Exchange Service inventory to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, June 3, 2023, to aid recovery efforts following Typhoon Mawar. (Spencer Tobler/U.S. Air Force)

The 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Yokota and the 730th Air Mobility Squadron, a base tenant unit, readied the items from the Army and Air Force Exchange Service distribution center for shipment, according to Thursday’s release.

“Part of our job includes planning and preparing for the future,” Tech. Sgt. Alexandra De Los Santos said in the release. “We are responsible for making sure people and equipment are where they need to be, as quickly as possible.”

AAFES packed and staged more than 35 pallets of merchandise in under three hours, according to AAFES Japan manager Russel Bundy.

“As soon as we got the call, my team immediately got to work,” he said in the release.