Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Oct. 22, 1960: The standard of Athens leads Junior Olympic paraders at Tachi West Track. Behind these athletes are competitors from teams named for Argos, Corinth, Thebes, Sparta and other ancient Greek cities.

Seven sixth grade classes from the Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Dependent Elementary School got together at the Tachikawa West Track for their own version of the athletic classic. Boys and girls on the teams ran the gamut of competitive skills in the big global event, including shot-putting, broad jumping and relay races.

Pictured here is a scan of the original 1960 print created by Stars and Stripes Pacific’s photo department to run in the print newspaper. The red marks indicate the crop lines. Only the middle part of the image would appear in the newspaper. As the vast majority of pre-1964 Stars and Stripes Pacific negatives and slides were unwittingly destroyed by poor temporary storage in 1963, the prints developed from the late 1940s through 1963 are often the only images left of Stripes’ news photography from those decades. Stars and Stripes’ archives team is scanning these prints to ensure their preservation.

Check out additional images of the 1960 Junior Olympics here.

related stories

• From the archives, 1960: Young athletes compete in Junior Olympics at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan