Waiting in Wakayama (87)

Gene was learning all he could about Japan, including taking advantage of any shore leave he could, but Wakayama was not Nagoya, and Nagoya was where the 92nd Evac. was supposed to set up their hospital.  Waiting was not something that appealed to Gene, but it's about to end, at least this time. 


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!"

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.

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.
    

Education Article in Japanese newspaper(86)

     The Mainichi was an English edition newspaper printed by Mainichi Shinbun.  Maj. Pfile kept a copy of the Oct. 12, 1945 edition, from which the following article has been copied.

Free Discussions About Emperor Permissible, Says Education Chief

 Japanese Democracy to be Established

 Ousted Libralistic-Minded Professors to be Made to Return to Their Former Professions, statement is Made to Press

Education Minister Tamon Maeda, receiving the press for an interview on Wednesday, October 10, elucidated his new educational policy following the formation of the Shidehara Cabinet, mainly dwelling on the following points:

New Education Policy Elucidated

1.   Educational policy should be based on a Japanese-style democracy.
2.   Various theories concerning the Imperial Constitution ought to be freely discussed in so far as they are not contradictory to Article I of the Imperial Constitution.
3.   Criticism of the Emperor on the teacher's platform should not be allowed.
4.   As a matter of course, liberalistic-minded university professors should be recommended to return to their original academic profession.
5.   A large-scale personnel reshuffling is under contemplation for the eradication of militaristic education.
6.   Special consideration will be paid to the welfare of students and pupils.
     The Education Minister's statement was in substance as follows:
     It is needless to say that democracy in Japan must be a democracy a la japonnaise.  As regards the enhancement of democratic ideology in education, its fundamental idea is to be loyalty and filial piety.  In this regard I will make clear a new concrete policy before long and want to drive home its meaning in the hearts of the nation.
     While there are various questions arising with respect to the Emperor system, I think that in so far as the educational policy is concerned, the study of truth or the expression of frank views regarding the Imperial Constitution, be it the theory of "the Emperor as an Organ" or what it may, are only natural as long as they are not contradictory with Article I of the Imperial Constitution.  However, I do not want the Emperor to be criticized on the teacher's platform.
     There may be some questionable persons among the liberalistic-minded professors who were ostracized from academic circles, but I believe the majority of them ought to be made to return to their former profession.  Of course, this is only my personal opinion, for the question should be solved by autonomous schools themselves, and the Education Office has nothing to do with them.
     As regards my new education policy, I regret to say that educational circles are now in a chaotic state on account of the lack of a firm policy, but i am sure I can show a concrete policy for a new idea for education in the near future.
     The first requisite of my educational policy is to eliminate all tints and traits of militarism.  In order to go ahead along this line, I am ready to effect a large-scale personnel reshuffle in educated circles.
     Although I am deeply concerned over the welfare of students and pupils, to my great regret I cannot fine a good idea as yet to cope with it.  As students' food, clothing, and housing problems are very important in connection with their education, I intend to study ways and means for them in real earnest.  I also contemplate requesting the help of philanthropic persons from outside.

     Also included on the front page are three photos of American Occupation troops, a report about crop damage due to the heavy rains, details of the dismissal of 3000 police chiefs as demanded by the Allied General Headquarters, two short articles about the Nazi war trials, a report on the harakiri (ritual suicide) of the commander of one of the Japanese naval units, and an article about the first World Labor Union Conference in San Francisco.

     In a box at the bottom of the front page is the following:

Notice

A tabloid edition is being issued

today due to the stoppage of gas

     

Gene in His Element, Exploring Post-war Japan (85)

Maj. Pfile was by nature interested in everything around him.  He liked to explore and learn new things.  We are left to speculate on our own how and why warehouses and offices were left unlocked, for what the machines and chemicals were used, and what niche the many hawks were filling.

Town plan of Wakayama showing where the troops came ashore

17 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     Am I ever getting to be a gad-about!  Yep, off the boat again today!  This morning they started giving the men a few hours on shore.  I drew the afternoon shift.  You know, it is soft being a major!  I had 4 officers who had about 28 men each to look after, while I could go my own way.  They had to stay with the men and try to keep them together, which really was a job with about 20 boats sending in a couple of hundred men each.  We left at 12:30 in an LCM [landing craft mechanized].  We didn't land in the town but at a village in the industrial area.

Partially completed factories at Wakayama

     Really it was the darnedest feeling to walk into the buildings where things had just been left!  The first was about a half a block long and a huge open affair - roof 75 or 100 feet high and it was all one story!  I climbed to the top of an outside traveling crane as high as the building and took some pictures [see photo above and that in post #84].  The inside of the plant hadn't been finished and there was not much machinery in it.  Outside there were some sort of chemical processing towers, huge electric gadgets and motors.  Darn if I know what it was!
     Back of it was a wooden building that housed a chemical lab.  It had 3 large rooms just filled with chemicals and apparatus of various kinds.  And no one was around - not even any "keep out" signs in English!  There was a library in the place of at least a thousand books - US. German and English - all on chemistry.  I looked at all the chemicals, but refrained from rifling the desks!  Practically all bottles had English or Latin labels.  A few had German.  There was even some perfume!  There were 2 pint bottles that I think had rose oil.
     In another building - a sort of office, there was the first complete household shrine I've seen.  I saw several dismantled ones in odd corners of the factory.  They are wooden affairs - plain wood but carefully made.  They are about 18" high and almost that wide.  They are made to look like the front section of a building, roof sweeping down, doors, a sort of porch, fence and steps.  On each side was a blue and white bud vase holding a sprig of pine.  At the side of the "steps" were 2 small porcelain "stone lanterns", shaped just like the man sized ones they have around the shrines.  By them were 2 doll sized saucers with dry rice on them.  On the stops were correspondingly sized cups, probably for some liquid.  Inside the 2 lattice doors were some papers with figures on them - printed, not painted.  Oh you bet I looked around to see no Nip was watching me finger his shrine!  But Honey, you'd have been proud of me!  As much as I wanted to swipe the vases and the "lanterns" for you, I refrained and didn't do it!  Have I reformed!  Besides souvenir hunting in Japan is apt to be labeled looting by the unfeeling M.P.'s!
     Another building manufactured some sort of chemicals and had big vats of sulfur-smelling stuff.  Another place had some huge electrical things.  Of all the places, the chemical plant was the only one which looked as though it had been used.  On the sand dune back of the wide beach there were oil tanks in the making, but they were very rusty.  There were fox holes and trenches all along there and one place for a gun mount.
     It is remarkable how many hawks there are.  I saw at least 6 today and there were that many around the town the other day.  They fly quite low, too.  The dune was overgrown with pine trees and a great many of them had been tapped for pine resin, like rubber trees for catouche [caoutchouc, or natural rubber].  They had a series of gashes with a bit of metal as a gutter at the bottom and pieces of bamboo to catch the gum.  It looked like a mighty slow, slim yield!
     Back at the ship - no news, no mail, no nothing.  Just think, the last news I had from you was way last month.  Confound this inefficient brass!  I wish congress would turn loose on them!

Bored on the Boat (84)

     Gene was lucky.  He was an officer and had been allowed to go ashore.  The enlisted men had been denied that pleasure, but they had to watch the sailors line up to go ashore every day.

16 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     Today has been nothing and more of it.  Right now we are alongside a tanker taking on oil but that doesn't mean we are going anywhere!  The rumor now has it that we may be here on the boat for 2 or 3 weeks.  Gadfrey!  I don't know how I'll put up with that!  Why we'll be running out of good food and then we will have something to howl about!  We heard that the I Corps was willing for us to get off here and to go overland but the lame-brained Gen. Mullins (and I hope he reads this!) [I could fine no information on Gen. Mullins, other than he was a major general, commanded the 25th Infantry Division from 1944 until 1948, and his given name was Charles, so he probably wasn't very important, which may be why he acted as he did] of the 25th Div. says "no", while he, the regular army ---- is on shore and at Nagoya.  He's the dim-wit who said for us to polish the rough-finished field boots.  But enough of that.  I get so hot when I think how ships times are being wasted that I sizzle!
     They are starting tomorrow to allow several hundred GI's a day to go on shore - one batch each morning and afternoon, and some officers.  Mullins, the ----, had blocked that when we first got here, curse him!  Why, these poor men just have to have something to occupy them!!  That living in the holds is no joke.  They won't be allowed to take things to trade.
     This morning we really laughed.  They line up all the sailors who are going ashore and search them - i.e. make them pull up their pants legs to show nothing is stuck in their socks and pat their pockets.l  They had been inspected and were filing down the gang plank when one started to re-adjust his white cap and 3 packs of gum fell out on the deck.  Was he ever embarrassed and all the officers standing there burst out in a roar of laughter.  He picked up the gum!

From a newspaper, copywrited by King Features Syndicate in 1945

     Yesterday in the cemeteries I noticed the "spirit gates" or I took them to be that.  Inside the open gate was a short straight wall __---__, thus.  Their toriis are quite graceful as are the slight up-curving of the roof eaves.  The tile was certainly an unusual color - almost black.  The pine trees scattered around the buildings and among the rocks were quite handsome in their effect - only it was spoiled by electric wires.  I'd scarcely realized before how ugly electric lines and poles are and how they spoil the overall effect.  We saw some Aussie officers and sailors on shore - all dressed in shorts even though it was quite chilly.  Our sailors were everywhere - dressed in whites and quite conspicuous in them.  Today I noticed they are wearing blues.  There were M.P.'s and S. P.'s [probably shore patrol or special police] only about every mile on the streets.  Some soldiers told us that when they first landed the people were very distrustful and rather uncooperative but a pat of the hand on your .45 along with a request thawed them out.  They said that often the women would cross the street to avoid them.  As soon as they realized they wouldn't be mistreated, they changed their attitudes.
     All my love, Eugene

A crane is poised over an unfinished and abandoned factory;
in the middle is a long line of GI's going to and from the ships

Some photos from Owi to the Philippines (83)

    Here are a few photographs from Gene's collection.

On Owi:

Lt. Joseph Davis getting his mail from Sgt. Ahern on Owi,
Dutch New Guinea

A hut on Owi, Dutch New Guinea, at sunset

Officers' tents on Owi, Dutch New Guinea

In the Philippines:

Ruined bakery in San Fabian, the Philippines (note Gene accidentally
reversed the negative)

Turnips for sale at the market in Guimba, the Philippines

Gene's washstand (a device to hold his helmet) in Baguio, the Philippines

Cub ambulance service airplane in Baguio, the Philippines: "Goldberg's Angel of Mercy sponsored by the students of Goldberg Elementary School, Detroit, Michigan"

Bilibid Prison in Manila, the Philippines

A line of Igorot girls looking for lice in Caba, the Philippines

Granary in Caba, the Philippines

A view of Mount St. Tomas from Caba in the Philippines

Some photos from DTC to Biak (82)

     I'm going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks, so here are some photos that didn't fit in elsewhere.  I hope you enjoy them!


From the Desert Training Center:

Near Freda looking toward the Chuckwalla Mountains

Members of the 92nd Evacuation Hospital lining up for innoculations

In Australia:

Australian soldiers riding bicycles near Rockhampton

Rockhampton train

Australian men working in the train yard in Rockhampton

In Hollandia:

Piece of a  wrecked canoe near Hollandia Gene sent through the
 mail to Beth

Carvings on the other side of the piece of wrecked canoe

Some of the enlisted men of the 92nd Evac (they look like characters in the musical,
South Pacific, don't they?)

Japanese supplies

On Biak:

Looking from the beach road on Biak up to the the Japanese
bunkers dug into the cliff

Japanese bunker on Biak

Major surgery tents on Biak

Minor surgery tents on Biak

Ward tents on Biak

Capt. Hiram Armstrong's fox hole on Biak

First Impressions (cont.) (81)

     Gene's letter to Beth continues with his impressions of Japan.  He had treated Japanese soldiers and picked up many items of clothing, photos, post cards, etc. they had left behind.  He had also read all the information provided by the army about Japan, but that wasn't the same as experiencing the country first hand.  As long as he couldn't go directly home to his beloved wife,  Beth, he wanted to see the situation for himself and take photos of ordinary things.

Smiling family (the man is tipping his hat) in Wakayama with cars parked in the background on the left side of the street

15 Oct. '45 [continued]
    
     We went on down the street, on which the car tracks ran. They drive on the left side. There were a fair number of civilian cars and trucks - some charcoal burners and 3-wheeled motor cycle affairs. At intervals we would look at stationery shops, radio shops, etc. All of them were more like junk shops than anything else.
     In some of the home shops we stopped in I looked at their living establishments. The first room off the street-level shop room was raised about 2 feet and covered with straw mats. They stepped out of their clogs when entering it. They sat on flat cushions or pads. There was always a large urn (about 2 feet high and 2 feet in diam.) full of sand in which charcoal was placed. If there was a table, it was low. They sat cross legged. Eating, of course, was accomplished with chop sticks. Understand all these were poor people's homes. Out in front might be a couple of dozen pieces of kindling wood drying, or some chicken manure carefully gathered together on a piece of paper, or some sawdust!
     When you'd go in a place they might have on display a bowl or some wooden buttons or fancy hair pins! Kimono prices were something - 2 or 300 yen [$13 to $20] for punk-looking stuff. We passed a few shrines - torii gate, stone lantern pedestal, upright stone tablets. I saw one temple that was off limits but got some good pictures - the horrible looking figures you see in museums, a curved roof affair and black with age. The walls were open around the gates so I wasn't trespassing (t'ain't healthy!)

On the back of this photo Gene wrote: "Stone lanterns.  Steps beyone the Torii lead up to a hill-top shrine.  Woman behind the post of the torii is stretching & drying an obi (sash worn about the kimono) after washing it."

     The further south we went, the better the shops became.  Several times men would stop us and ask if we wanted to look at things.  So several times we sent down devious narrow streets and alleys to go to more private homes to look at more kimonos!  Most of the nice appearing places were surrounded by stone or stone and 'dobe [mud] walls.  Most of the homes had heavy tiled roofs - rather ornate - the tile being almost black in color.  There were pine trees (small versions of our Ponderosa pines) and ones that may have been cypress, all about - none very large.  There were small hills along some of the streets and not much of the area was thickly built.  The houses were mostly of unpainted, weathered wood.  They had garden beds stuck everywhere.
     Finally we began to find lacquer work in the stores.  We took a narrow side street and it turned out to be a short cut to where we wanted to go.  I had 2 packs of cigarettes and he finally traded for 2 lacquer rice bowls and covers that aren't very fancy.  The guy wanted 45 yen [$3] each for them to start with.  Of course we aren't supposed to barter but it is practically impossible to get a thing otherwise.
     Down at the end of the street, we were directed to the pier - where we arrived about 1 P.M. and our boat didn't leave until 5:30.  We just happened to talk to the mess officer of the base [the officer who procured food and oversaw its preparation] and he said to go to the officers' quarters and go to the mess.  We looked in where the field grade officers [senior to company officers but junior to general officers, i.e. major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel] stay.  You have to take off your shoes to go in!  They say the officers sleep on regular floor-level Jap beds and like it!  There is a rack for their shoes!
     We went into the mess and didn't have to go barefooted!  Along this water front is quite a resort spot, with fancy hotels built along the cliffs over the sea.  These places were supposed to be visited by members of the Royal Family at times.  The mess hall was a former private theater with beautiful screens and a marvelous stage curtain all hand embroidered and stitched.  These places had windows from the ceiling to the floor on the sea side.  We were served by Jap girls who knew a few words of English.  Then we sat a while.  I used the latrine.  What a spot!  There were conventional urinals, but the stool was a fine heavy porcelain oblong box set in the floor, complete with a curved shield at one end and self flushing.  A neat trick, that!

Toilet stool in the floor at a theater in Wakayama that had been converted to the mess hall

     Then we went along a wide curving walk, thru 2 short tunnels, with homes, hotels and shops along the way.  The whole place swarmed with sailors at that time of day.  At 3:30 we were back at the officers' club and had a few drinks, then came back at 5:30.  Yours truly feeling quite light hearted and gay [in other words, he'd had a couple of drinks!]
    The Major bought a pearl.  I'm not certain but what it is a fake.  He paid 3 packs of cigs for it and it is as large as a fair sized pea.  So ended the Odyssey.
     All my love, Eugene