如水会
実務英語研究会 |
如水会
実務英語研究会 |
| October 23,1994 |
|
|
Dear Yuichi: I intentionally delayed sending you my letter of 9/12 as I was not sure I would be able to get on the flight which was to leave on the 16th. I put it in a mailbox at Dover AF base (Del.) in the evening of the 16th when we stopped there for a few hours on the way to Germany. This was to give you an indication that I was on my way. Leaving on the 16th caused me to shorten my schedule as I wanted to be back home by the 5th of October. Arrived in London the evening of the 18th. The weather was cold and damp. I immediately caught a cold which slowed me down the rest of teh trip. I still have a trace of it. Spent three nights there. I had lunch with Tom Wade one day. The visit was too short for much discussion, but I expeceted to have more time with him upon my return to London.The next day I went to the Public Records Office in London, but found out the records (war-time) were at the new branch near Kew Gardens. By the time I got there, it was too late to do any research. I did ask several people about the time on the Emperor's Rescript. They tended to agree it was 4 minutes after 5 in the morning. I left London early the next morinig so that I could spend at least two or three night at my favorite Bed & Breakfast in Chester, in North Wales and in Edinburgh before returning to London. I did not get to see Wade again as he was busy with some medical and dental appoints. This did give me a little more time to do some things which I wanted to accomplish in the two days before going to the Air Base to catch a flight home. I would have liked to call your daugter, but the time was too short. I got to Mildenhall AFB at noon on Saturday, the last of October. I was lucky. Twenty minutes later I was aboard a C-5 ready to leave for California. I was the only passenger, so I got to stay in the crew's compartment for the 11 hour flight to Travis AFB near San Francisco. Arrived there at 4pm Saturday and spent the night there. No flights to Texas. I went in to S.F. for the night and then came back to Texas on a commercial flight on Monday. The next week-end I went to a navy symposium in Kerrville which was sponsored by the Adm. Nimitz Museum. The next week-end I went to Mcallen in South Texas for an opening of of an exhibit at a museum. I had loaned them a number of items for the display. My son came and spent the week-end with me. I got home last Monday. In-between times I was nursing the cold. Now I am trying to finish answering the correspondence which has accumulated. The first B-29 over Tokyo was at noon on November 1,1944. It is well documented. I have seen picutures of the plane and crew with that dated on them. The name of the plane was "Tokyo Rose". You are correct about the various misspelling of the Japanese words. Too often we had to rely upon phonetic spellings: such as Lt. Cato, Watanabe and etc. I have tried to use the spellings given in Captain James or Lt.Bush's books. I am still not sure about the correct spelling for the Japanese military secret police as I have seen it written so many different ways ( Kempitai, Kempi Thi and etc.) I can understand why you and others did not know everything Watanabe did in camp. We knew what happened to ourselves, a little bit about what happened to our close buddies, but little about anythig else. In our position, it was a form of protection. I am just now having a better understanding of what went on in Omori. I still have a lot of questions. Tom said he had received your letter and would be answering it soon. He would welcome your visit. I still plan to be in London in September. Hopeful we can get some of the ex-Omorites together. We will need to know the exact time you will be there. I would like to see Friedman's account on Lt.Kato, but I have no idea as to where to look. George Plimer is still alive and living in New Zealand. His address is; XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX Onehunga Auckland New Zealand. I will give him your regards. Recently, someone asked me if I knew where the Japanese copies of the surrender documents are kept in Japan. Do you or the professor know where the original copies are kept? Would they be in the Emperor's palace? I must close now as I have more letters to answer. Sincerely, Bob |
|
如水会 実務英語研究会
|