20 Oct. '45
Beloved,
Happy is the day when the army gets its mail! We received 3 sacks of it and my share included 18 from you, 3 and a birthday card from Mom, 1 from your Mother, and Mr. John Fisher, the Colo. Masonic [officer?] and Mead Johnson. We have gone 24 days without mail. What an item to go on the blink [the furnace?], at least you could keep warm, which reminds me - yesterday [Maj.] Hi [Armstrong] went ashore. He came back perfectly sober. It had rained a bit so he hung my jacket (which he had borrowed) out to dry. He had not brought his along as this was to be a 5 day trip and he wanted to carry his air mattress. Well, later in the evening he said he hoped the jacket would air out O.K. and could I smell the whiskey on him? On account of he had had a pint bottle in his pocket - they'd bought drinks at the Navy Club and just poured them in this bottle. Well, it was a bit rough on the way out to the boat and he felt his leg getting wet, then smelled whiskey! The bottle had broken! It made me howl the way he led up to it!
Today I read "Tortilla Flats". Oh me! How I laugh and laugh! It is short and quick reading and how Steinbeck knows his Mejicanos! It is definitely on the "earthy" side and the scene is in Monterrey. It is the only one of Steinbeck's books I've liked. - - - - It is about like some of Pablo's reasoning in "Tortilla Flats" when he sees a neighbor's young rooster - "Poor naked little rooster. He must get so cold these damp nights. It will be much better for him if I just catch him and eat him!"
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| Maj. Pfile on shore leave in Wakayama (no one looks very happy!) |
21 Oct. '45
This P.M. I went in on the shore party, went with Gentry and [Capt.?] Joe D. [Davis]. We went first to the Post Office in Wakagura [see map in Post #85], which is the small town at the landing. The gal wouldn't sell stamps because it was Sunday but she did stamp this page for me with the cancellation stamp. Then we just walked and walked, stopping to see a half a dozen or more shrines. Shrines and memorial tablets and stones are just everywhere. One shrine was on a big rock on a little island connected with the street by a short causeway. We saw a stone cutter busy chiseling away on granite. There were 2 lions and a fox he had made. It must have been slow work.
I almost purchased an obi for you. It is the sash they wind around their kimonos. They vary in width from 3" to over a foot. This was a sort of brocaded affair and was embroidered with gold and silver threads. They wanted only ¥50 (about $3.35) for it but it had been used and was soiled and I couldn't figure what you could use it for as it was only 8" wide and 10 feet long!
I got some post cards which I'm going to send the Bersano [Hildegard Bersano was his office nurse in Trinidad] and Armentrout [another Trinidad family that had moved to Seattle] children and Karla Moritz. And I bought 2 small ashtray affairs - only they can't be used for that or they would scorch! They come in neat wooden boxes for ¥5 each (about 33 cents). I'll send one to each of our Mothers. The wooden box makes them convenient to mail.
We poked all around the darnedest alleys. For 2 pieces of PX gum I received 5 of the 10 sen notes and 2 of the 50 sen notes. I wanted the money, not what they represented. Any of them I send in duplicate, give Moppy one, please. [Maj] Ray [Nethery] is excited about the prospects of getting home by the end of November. The others are really sweating out the time wondering if they'll be home by Christmas! Not me - I don't have to worry about that (hollow laugh!)
I had to laugh at [Capt.?] Joe [Davis] today. He said he thought the town was pretty clean and the sanitation fair! I told him he just hadn't been down as many side streets as I had. So we walked down a few and he found out about the odors. Outside one Shinto shrine I saw the first rickshaw I'd seen. One of those rides I must have sometime! In the larger cities there should be some. No doubt the goods in Nagoya will be all picked over by the time we get there. One sees few dogs or cats but the hawks - I'll bet there were over 100 circling around. No pay day till we get ashore. I have loads of money anyway. If I draw about $100 in yen it will be about ¥1500.
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| Bil Keane, creator of the cartoon "The Family Circus", created "At Ease with the Japanese" for The Stars and Stripes newspaper |
[From Gene's diary:] October 22, 1945 Baldy [Maj. Ray Nethery] and [Col.?] Huey left the boat on points. Huey is a no-good skunk.
[His letter continues:] 22 Oct. '45
I just read the 6th Army will land in Seattle. Now ain't that something! I'll write the Armentrouts not to expect me so very soon however! Ray and Huey left today to go to 6th Army headquarters at Kyoto. They are starting to hint that we may leave Thursday the 25th and get there the 26th. I doubt it very much. At least it gives us something to talk about.
23 Oct. '45
We just had a good show "Rhapsody in Blue"! It was quite long. Plans are being made and changed again. This evening we heard we leave tomorrow afternoon. Now a little later, it is the next day. Time will tell. Anyway, I hope we get going soon.
This morning [Maj.] Hi [Armstrong] and I took our shore parties ashore. I was shy one man when we returned. That sometimes happens to morning parties. They purposely miss the boat and go back on the evening one. But it is no problem of mine. Hi and I made the rounds of more factories. In one a fellow was trying, apparently, to practice arc welding. A while before the boat left we heard a loud humming noise and saw a big flash among the wires of an electric line. Some wires had dropped down and shorted for some reason. They melted thru and in the middle of the next span the process was repeated, when the wires sagged and so on down the line. Otherwise the trip was uneventful. In the morning the advance billeting party is leaving for Nagoya by rail. I don't know why they have to go but they should have a nice trip - it is about an 8 hour ride. We were issued some rations - enough KC and D [K rations: two packages of dried biscuits, cigarettes, gum, sugar (granulated, cubed, or compressed), and a key (dubbed a P-38) to open a small canned portion; items specific to the breakfast meal were canned meat and eggs, a fruit bar, and instant coffee; dinner (lunch) items consisted of canned cheese and a lemon (early), orange, or grape (late) drink packet; the supper package contained toilet paper, a bouillon packet, and a lemon, orange, or grape drink packet; late production meals had a disposable wooden spoon; in total, the three meals provided about 3,000 calories; the K-ration was produced by the Cracker Jack Company with the waxed paper ration box about the same size as the Cracker Jack box; C rations: 3 cans containing a meat and vegetable component, and 3 cans, containing crackers, sugar, and soluble coffee; it furnished 2974 calories, 114 grams of protein, and an adequate supply of vitamins and minerals; D rations:
chocolate bar, stabilized to a high melting point by the inclusion of oat flour, and it provided 600 calories; three 4-ounce chocolate bars provided one ration] for 3 days. The radio news sheet says tonight that the 2 millionth GI has been discharged. I'm amazed at that. Maybe things will move faster. I saw in Time that half of the Medical Officers in the Army had never been out of the States!
24 Oct. '45
It is claimed that we will be under way by 2 P.M. tomorrow! I won't believe it until we actually move. ... Apparently we will go down a gang plank, our outfit first. That will be the first time I've ever gone down a gang plank! We are to wear green fatigues. I hope it isn't raining.
This morning we had beans and corn bread for breakfast - something different! Hallowe'en will be coming soon. One thing that certainly can't be done in Japan is pushing over the outhouses [a common Halloween prank at the time]! When I was ashore yesterday I saw a Jap going down his garden rows ladling out "liquid fertilizer". The odor was something fierce. ...
25 Oct. '45
We are underway at last! This afternoon they hauled in (should I say "weighed", ahem!) anchor about 2. We should enter the gulf about 6:30 and come to anchor about 11. Then we may dock about 1 P.M. or later. In fact, it may be so late that we won't get off till the next morning. Apparently the channel is quite shallow - 28' and we draw 27'! Now wouldn't it be something to go aground! They say we will have a Jap harbor pilot to take us in. Otherwise the day has been uneventful except for cleaning trouble.
