1963

A new home

  A new home indeed, in March I arrived, after a really long flight, in Japan.  The country was different, the work familiar.  The flight began at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento California.  I even got a job on the flight, to partner with an un-accompanied 10 year old boy, his mother and 3 other children were on the same flight.  It was what we would call "old technology" at piston engine C118.  We had stops in Hawaii and Wake Island, total flight time almost eighteen hours!  On the way back it only took nine and a half in an airforce KC135 tanker.
  I was assigned to the Naval Supply Depot at the Naval Base in Yokosuka, it's a very large base with a lot of activity.  My job was in the Technical Library, it was our job to find the right numbers so our "customer" could order the right part.  I was an Aviation Storekeeper but that didn't matter, we did all parts, food mixers to torpedo tubes, and Fruit fly Larvae to jet engines.  Most request were fairly mundane and normal, a gear for mangle, or piston rings for diesel engines, we were busy, three military and six Japanese civilians.
  At lunch time we played roof tennis on the buildings roof and got some exercise, and a night every week three of us went to teach English to the good men at Mitsubishi Manufacturing, at that plant they made electrical parts.  The materials were supplied by Readers Digest, and we spent out time just following the lesson plan, then teachers and students went out for beer.  At the end of each year the students would put on a play; it was a lot of fun watching grown Japanese men playing Goldilocks and the Three Bears!
  I got to travel some too, Gene and Dorothy Rice were in Iwakuni, at the Marine Corps Air Station near Hiroshima, it was quite a distance, I took a train but the citizens were helpful, if you found someone with a basic English ability.  Another friend and I stayed in a little town near Mount Fuji for three days, a small hotel, sleep on the floor and shave with cold water place, a "normal inn" in Japan.  And I went to Kamakura to see the "Great Buddha" it's large with inside stairs up to see from his eyes, maybe three stories tall, and the traditional potato salad sandwich!

The great Buddha at Kamakura, those flowers are a long distance from the image.

That's me, on the buildings roof, the USS Ranger in the background.  Wow, no belly! - click

Movie of the year - 1963