A Flawed Legacy - 9

Finally - although I would not have used that word in May, 1951, my tours had ended and I was ready to leave Japan with hundreds of memories stored up and tears in my eyes as I prepared to go.  My Japanese Colonel friend had asked me to spend a couple of days with him and surprised me by taking me to his wife's home where they had prepared a feast for me.  Oh my!  They came from miles away to thank me - once again, for the food and other items we had brought to them,  The highlight of the meal was a huge bowl on Sukiyachi and it was delicious.  But there was a problem.  When I looked around to say my goodbyes, I looked for their cat.  Suddenly, the room became very quite,  I was about to learn the important role the cat had played in my farewell.  Had I known what they planned to have a celebration, I would have made certain my buddies would have been there.  However, on base, you leave alone.  No good byes, no parties, no nothing.  All debts and friendships are cancelled.

This time was departure was on a civilian plane with 50-60 other guys, heading home.  We laid over in Hawaii and with a guy I had met on the plane, we decided to go into town and get drunk as we shared stories of our adventures in Japan.  I decided to talk about the thrill I had in climbing Mount Fuji.  A friend of a friend had introduced me to an Army nurse in Tokyo and she was looking for a partner to go with her.   What fun, half way up.  Then we began to tire and were amazed at the numbers of the much older Japanese men and women passing us by.  We struggled up to the last station and decided to head home.  Then, this 90 year old man sat down beside us and told us not to worry, he would be the guide to the top,  We looked at each other as we had set a goal of making love as we got to the top.  Ha!  The air was so thin and we even had trouble breathing while we were standing up.  Our goal had faded, so we moved on and made it.  As we parted, we made a vow that if we ever met on the mainland, we would - finally, complete the task.

As it was in Hawaii, we slept past the hour we were supposed to leave and had to check in with the Operations office to see when we could get another flight.  That gave us two more days in Hawaii and this time, we were scheduled on an Air Force cargo plane, no seats, no hostesses, no drinks, so we decided to start a poker game.  As fate might have it, the Colonel who had been my Base commander for a couple of months was on board with us and he had lots of money.  By the time we got to the U.S. he was broke and my friend and I had plenty with which to celebrate in San Francisco.  We ate at the restaurant at the top of the Mark Hopkins hotel and I recall paying our waitress $20 to get a quart of milk because there was none available in the kitchen  She returned with a half gallon.  Not having real sweet milk for years, you might understand.  Fun part was the fact that as they left, the people at the next table included my $20 on their bill.

When I got home to Detroit, I would learn that my Mother had moved to Atlanta, GA.  Apparently, her letter telling me of the move never got to me.  Fortunately, my Aunt and Uncle answered the phone and came to pick me up and on the way to their home, we stopped so I could see my Sister and I also met the guy who would become my Brother-in-law.   My Aunt would take me to the farm to see my family up there and after a week or so, I was headed for Atlanta.  It was good to see my Mother and spent some time with her, the first I had really spent time with her since I was little more than a baby boy.

Now, I was on a train to my new duty station, Eglin AFB on the Gulf coast of Florida.  I got there on the 4th of July and it was hot, but not nearly as hot as it would be as I was taken to the transient quarters, barracks made of metal and by the time the sun hit the roof, it was immediately 25 degrees hotter than it was in the sun.  I learned I was assigned to the Armament Test Center and given a room in an air conditioned barracks.  We were only a few miles off of the beach at Fort Walton and we started work at 6AM so that we could be at the beach and in the water by 3PM.   The only problem was transportation, so I still had money from the poker game on the flight back to the U.S., so I bought a car and immediately had "buddies" who needed a ride into town every time I headed there.

It was a good duty station as I was put to work revising the Armament skills section for airmen assigned to such work and had a good boss and a great secretary, a first for me, even though I shared her with the Commander of our organization.  It wasn't long before I noticed the bathing beauties who were everywhere on the beaches.  One in particular came from Iowa, the daughter of a farmer family and it wasn't long before we were in love.  She had to go home with the girl friend she came with, but it wasn't long before she was back.  She wanted to get married and so did I.

Unfortunately, it would never be.  She was staying in a motel and after she had lunch, we would go out on the beach area to take in some rays, waiting for me.  One day, however, we had visiting "brass" from the Pentagon and I had to stay for them.  There was no way for me to call her to let her know of the delay.  Finally, after 6PM, I headed for the beach only to find an ambulance, lights flashing, as I drove up.   She had had a sun stroke and when they couldn't revive her, they headed for the hospital. She didn't make it.  By the time I got in to see her, they were wheeling her to the morgue.  The hospital administration was on the phone with her parents when I got to them.  I was almost scared to pick up the phone as - to me, at the moment, I was responsible for her death.  Her parents would have not have any of that.   She had called them every day, told them of our plans and they were delighted.  They had six girls, no boys and were ready to welcome me into their family.  They even sent me air fare  so I could fly "home" with her body and they welcomed me into a family I had never had

A Flawed Legacy - 5

As we neared  Hawaii, it was raining - a Hawaiian mist as I have heard it called, and everyone was excited as we learned that we were going to be able to go ashore.  As a youngster, I had memorized the harbor and all I could recall was the sinking ships.  Now, we could see the hulks of some, but it was nothing like the scenes you see now.  If you are ever there, do not miss the Arizona memorial.

I went ashore with three other guys and followed them to the "trinket" stores and "hoochy-koochy bars and wished I hadn't.  We were too young to go in, but the doorman let us go in anyway.  The other guys were excited, but after seeing the girls in Margie Hart's group,  I was not impressed.  Of course, the weather was magnificent; that was the first of five visit and it has always been as nice as that first day. There have been many years when I dreamed of retiring there.

Now, we're headed West and there was good news for most of us, or "bad" news depending on one's point of view.  I was in the larger group and we were NOT going to the Philippines; we would debark at Yokohama in Japan.  That was pretty scary for most of us, but not nearly as scary as the typhoon that was headed our way.  Leaving Hawaii, we discovered a sister troop ship nearby, but the clouds that we were sailing into were far more threatening.  We were ordered below and as the ship began to be tossed by the winds and stormy seas, some guys learned that if you jumped up on one side of the latrine area, you could literally float to the other side.  Just be careful of the sudden stop.  For the first time in my life, I decided to try something scary and was thrilled that I was not hurt when I hit the other wall. It was great fun and we kept at it until we were exhausted.  I was lucky.  Some of the other would end up broken arms and legs.

As it happened, we would sail across the International Date Line and have two of the days involved, but no date.  It so happened that date was the one on which we typically  celebrate "Ground Hog's Day" and it was also the date I was assigned to KP duty.  Lucky me - April 2, 1947.

Back to the storm, I could not sleep until it seemed to subside.  When we went up top, the seas were calm and our sister ship was far behind.  Then we learned from one of the guys with binoculars that it was damaged and as it drew closer, there was a lot of damage.  We heard later that there were guys who stayed up top and were washed away.  No one ever heard of this again until I was interviewing men for job assignments on our base, months later, and if anyone was ever lost, they had not heard of it.

Now, Japan was looming ahead and many of us - me included, began to get nervous about serving in what had been an enemy nation.  I thought more and more about it as we were on a train headed for the Fourth Replacement Depot.  It seemed a though we we climbing an incline as the train slowed and you could look into the houses as we passed by.  Apparently, it was dinner time as most of the people were at a table or seated on mats, eating.  They looked like typical American families, but I started to wonder, are they the families of the murderers I had seen on our news reels?

It was snowing as we got off the train.  We were told that this had been the Japanese West Point, but we were going to sleep in tents.  When it was "chow" time, we acted as though we were starved and some of us were.  Our rations had been cut back severally after the storm.  Now, we were being served what I have described as "huge" turkey legs, mounds of mashed potatoes and all the vegetables you could get on your tray.  Need less to say, most of us "pigged" out - and, would pay the price.

It was really snowing when I realized I had to go to the bathroom, now!  Ha!  As I got to the end of our row of tents, I looked towards the line up outside of the latrines - the bathroom if you have never been in the Army, and there were a hundred guys, all squirming like I was beginning to.  It seemed like hours before we got to the door and looked in.  We still had a ways to go.  Then, came the riot.  In  the middle of the area, there was a guy sitting on a pail, doing what came naturally.  Then, a guy from our line headed for that guy and kicked it out from under him.  Obviously, others had used it and as the pail flew the air, the you-know-what went everywhere.  Fortunately for some of us, guys who had been occupying a stool jumped up and got into the melee.  That provided us with an opportunity to sit down, so while the fight kept on, I was relieved - you know what I mean?

Now, it was snowing harder outside, so I will never know how it turned out, except you could see lots of black eyes, patches, a few arms in slings and a couple of guys on crutches.  All of us sat at attention while a Colonel explained our mission.  First, we were to do the jobs that we would be assigned to do and second, we would treat the Japanese populace, wherever we met them, with the utmost courtesy and respect and if that meant we might meet them while at our work, the second rule would automatically become the first.  He reminded us that the ships that brought us sail both ways and if we did not behave as Americans are taught to behave, our trip home would not be nearly as comfortable. With that, he was on his way.  I came away believing this might be a better assignment than I had imagined.