Leonard
Naval
Marjorie
Oral
Lieutenant
Conducted
Historical
Oral
Oral
1984 History
and
Wilson
2001
History
History --
1987
Vicki
Program
Foundation
with 11
Tate
Tate .
.
a
•1
I Lt. Leonard Wilson Tate
World War II Career with the Scouts And Raiders and SACO
FOREWORD
In the winter and early spring of 1984, my husband recorded accounts of his experiences as a “ Scout “ during the naval invasion of southern France in 1944. and as an intelligence agent with the Sino American Co-operative Organization of the U.S. Naval Group,China; the so-called “Rice Paddy Navy” in 1945. He did this at the urging of his elder daughter, Vicki(Tate)Knauss. Vicki later transcribed most of the first tape.
After his death in 1987, 1started very slowly to write up a family history. In order to complete his section of this, in 1999 I transcribed the rest of the tapes. I added the above title here to facilitate filing and to clarify the subject matter. The material being donated consists of Chapters 2 through 8 of the biography of my husband.
I had thought to request a copyright, but rereading the donation form convinced me That this would seriously limit the use of Leonard’s story. My request to readers is to please give credits to him and use the facts accurately.
Marjorie I-I.Tate ( Mrs. Leonard W.)
January 25, 2001 Winchester, Virginia
in care
qualities characteristics come
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patients he
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hesitation had aback
lot major enough
discover he to
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to was opinion teens my
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love
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to
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transcriptions
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of masculine.
it
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first.
INTRODUCTION
both Who express comedy when
room
slight
around
were
until girls
forever. the was gallantry
answer, dissension
Hospital
for intelligence
to in
war,
through
when
mighty
so
wife!
of
respond
When disturbed
messages fix his
duty, spent
MY
his thinking he an
to
life
strictly it rash
or typical
humor.
my him.
all
of was
it!
personality. date.
affair. entered?
malaria,
drinking. we
which He
and
If
HUSBAND
he and
situations the on of from fine we Leonard
some feelings
there
of in
fixed.
had to
He
rose
the censored) was
was They
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were
work
Skipping by rest first back
he
an
our his
his
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in
i
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our
guys tempestuous
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etc.). sent was innate
to his able
his
tapes
of He marriage His wanted marriage
met
ready were
Island about would about in
He
collected his For
he first
his
dark
generous,
five a started them
drank China
to
instinct
They
in
would
were found over
problem
feet,
(my
courtesy.
instance,
still life
stay date
to
November his a
(most blue months a never
man
were
proposal start
and wij!
hard, trying the
daughter poised escaped during
telling slanted still
personality,
drinking
in
a and himself months.
simply
was
navy
group
outgoing
New made horrible
job who
of
discuss
afresh.
out-and-out
evident
he He These
went and
later!
to to them
and
World war
to
mainly uniform held
and into was fell
walk please ask York
of Vicki embroiled 945,
bootleg his he
Since
do,
straight
polite,
There
a stories seem
ambulatory things were
nature. head
continued considered on
these
someone New grudges
somewhat daughters
difference
my
War
away. he
and
helped), toward
his me
he
lies! ...
had
like
recovering
liquor over own
was
and
York
experienced, tend but
for
didn’t auburn II.
wrists.
and
Wherever
in.
However,
just
against
strange
He
else
quite almost it. were
instinct heels
to easing
Letters
very
taking to taken
that on of you’ll
in
No
was
need have
the
his how
a
he unhappy
intake
dressed all our the was hysterically
health
the when indifferent
early with addition, Alexandria
and
spite so sweep
southwestern repetitious seemed listening not
his
prostate
fall in “Oh, result
“pneumonia,”
of
fast family’s
frequent
China) late
unfailingly
life comments
clear.
us of his
retirement.
of
we to
of
you’re
Lee
Our so
and of fonnally.
In
Lee 1986 in 1
a Following as Lee is two
to possessions.
His
960s our
were
both
cancer
to
the mercilessly new
the
recounted
1968.
health, took they
had
enjoy
seemed
marriage
passages, at to
shoes,
had
moves, his
aged veiy death
first
of
getting cancer
spring
the
small when fix
of
“hearing in
about many
courteous
his
familiar pain their grew
regaled
had Paul
He
our
It
it. our
stiff daughter,
it! same
early.
much
lay came
these
lungs amazed
to
I he
town. his
was
working of already in
elsewhere surviving old. toll. survived
40s
transcribed his attractive
He older.
many Hemke
and
martinis be
them
had
his time.
1987,
agency
aid.”
I uprooting the and
overwhelmingly
tapes
family. had 54
getting
ceased (even
You
By guess except
so
Much
left
a
his me
“uhs,” In
on
family years
dear
started knack
soon.
his good
Both
(my
into I
many
know,
his
are
before
arm parents newspaper, persuaded constant that habits.
though started
as
the
to
rather My
mid-60s, to when
these
intonations.
old
later his father) part his
after
taste and of
function. many
and my for alcohol he
working
strains:
reason
it’s
us
bones. accounts when dinner.
He enjoyed
pressuring tapes of were
placing joy, some question a vague, years,
back,
taking
in struggles
were
much-desired
probably
times was
family
fast.
my
was
he
clothes
and
and
he forced
for
the
failing.
years
For domestic
through
ii was
but at
husband Very unaware
in
partly
After
fastidious
reeled the
furniture polishing of make
with
doing
cigarettes
loss
marks my
poor
history
several
a
tiring with
his all
and
government
rheumatism!” later
out.
fool
little
insistence,
Zoma
a his of
because
of
them
his World
off
health
so
day
catastrophe looked
to
were sinus that
child).
the
It
and the
easily. of
tales
after
in weeks,
was has
body. in his shoes!
record
was
(and
in
a Tate
pottery
the shine!
the World
his
found
doctor
inserted War in accounts been infections
the
that
of his
our
a very
The
new
Sometimes position, he personal perhaps a scythe
He
(his cold-blooded
growing he He
his
hospital
retirement
hearing
Actually,
marriage. II
he
When
eliminated limited
great
War
worst business, sent
had
patrician
fought
remarked
rooms.
would
adventures.
childhood
mother)
was
where
in
of
complained and
him
II
the
comfort
care,
we and
perfect
death blow
up
was apparently
with
veterans
his
valiantly
gather
I
the
My
near
colds,
his home bellowing made
wonder in
the
when
a came
daily --
cheerfully,
process. neat so
new
came memories pain
a
was
husband
voice
only
The
poor
starvation detail
typical poor
in
all
my one in
with
to to
baby
in to
was
while
if rest aging in
of
take live was
in
the
of
the and In
a
of
.
I long as his heart did. hooked up to a breathing pump. The doctor told me he would last as July 9, 1987. He had a strong heart and a big heart. It finally gave out on Marjorie Tate August 1999
iii 1918
1925
1936
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1946-53
to
1928
or
29
BIOGRAPHICAL
Born Zoma
Lived
manager. Oklahoma,
Graduated Enlisted
attending
Graduated Stiliwater, the Received
Force Florida. York, Raiders.
Operations engaged
Back
November, sent Intelligence
January, Island,
business. from New
Leonard continue
operated
1952.
Midshipmen’s
to
May
Leonard
Tate.
Orleans, to active and
New
and
They
China.
New
United While in
August,
in
proposed
and A&M
work commission
Tamac
attended
September 16
trained
from
Oklahoma.
from
United
near
the York. Group
returned
duty.
work sold
York.
in
Marjorie
iv
Louisiana. W.
in Invasion
in
Perry,
States. Perry
College
college 101
pottery.
the
sent
Florida,
Assigned
at Tamac
June,
in
States Tate
of
School
2nd to
Met
SUMMARY
Ranch
Little
to
China pottery
the
Marjorie. 14,
to
High
in Oklahoma,
Reassigned (with
3rd
St.
returned Marjorie
with
of Europe (now
Naval
Mediterranean United
Leonard
pottery.
Victoria
Returned
transferred at
Creek,
Albans
and
Southern where
until
School,
to
Columbia
and
another
a
Oklahoma
Atlantic
degree
4th
Reserve
Job
as
States
end
to
moved
in
Virginia,
his
first
and
Marie
Naval
grades
part
to
Perry
to
hunted.
Perry, New
France.
of
couple)
to
father
naval
in
Perry,
Marjorie
child
Naval
University,
Fleet
of
Pacific
Fleet
Scouts while
to
business.
born
Hospital
York State)
to
in
the
Oklahoma.
Troy,
and
intelligence
May,
was
start
Marland, of
Amphibious
Oklahoma,
owned
Reserve
and
Special
on
he
City. Henry
War.
and
Fort
married
in
a
pottery New
January
was
released
was
on
New
Pierce,
and
Long
and
from
York.
and
in
to
1,
. . 1953
1955-57
1957-59
1963
1966
1968
1969
1972
1987
Leonard Department Church,
transferred The
After reassigned of
Interviewed Leonard
Family
Zorna
Moved
Final estate
April,
American diagnosed
entered second
1959
family
return
retirement
Tate business.
Lee
returned
to
medal Virginia. where
obtained hospital.
and
Winchester,
to Cooperative
temporarily
with
retired
sent
(now
of
to
Cuban
family
Tehran,
the
the from
Alice
V
to
prostate
to
from
widowed)
July ajob
Army.
from
States, Saipan,
Falls
refugees.
the assigned
Helene
Iran.
government.
9,
Virginia.
in
to
Association
Republic Joel
cancer. Church,
deceased.
The
they
Washington,
navy.
Marianas
Returned
came
was
Stowe
to
family
were
Miami,
June,
born
Virginia.
of
to
Associates.
Leonard
immediately
reunion
China.
Islands.
live
to
moved
November
attended
D.C.,
United
Florida.
with
Father’s
to
and
started
Lee
with
family.
States
Falls
May,
Sino
received
16.
the
in
Day,
in
real-
fall Runs
Redeployed
Orders
Yugoslavia
Life
off
Talking
Father
Flight
Scout
Obstacle
Boat
to
Atlantic
in
The
Father’s
Red
Finishing
to
join
Perry,
Letter
Columbia Life
Convoy
Henry
Officer
to SUBJECTS Joining
pictures Depression organization
Beach
Return --
Transfer Operations the
New
Rescuing
course Remote Fleet
at Cotton
heart Early
OK to
Off C.O.
Invasion
Circus Stories
Arrival
Oklahoma
C.
Parents
duties
at --
York Liberty the
College -- --
Amphibious
to
Tate
University
Home
attack
-- Reflecting
San First
to --
The
Getting Life
production
Navy
control
Douglas --
the --
log about
Army the ------
in --
Bank of
Raphael --
Marriage --
Assignment Ranch
Italy
Return Six --
Algiers Training and
War
Family lifting in
Scouts
Southern Deployment
State
for --
and
Graduation
vi COVERED
out Grandfather
man
Air explosive
Oklahoma
Finishing
Nights
passing -- -
on Fairbanks
Reassignment
Force
in -- -- Naval -- Planning Four of
to -- --
Force
Miami
and
-- move
teams
Rodeos --
Movies
Pearl Europe
Opposed at the
Fort explosive
Tunis France
WWI
at
Fort
month
Raiders -- --
movie
boats the college crews
to
Training to Pierce Little
Harbor -- memories
training
Jr.
Operation
Europe --
Pierce, -- Oklahoma
infiltration
movies
The
landing
cram Aerial
training
business
in
Creek --
Yugoslavia
Circus
UDTs
FL
session
observer
Anvil
. Sent
Floating
Overview
Arrival
to
Transport
Living
hospital
Meeting
First Meeting
Departure
Working
Radio
bombs
in
Liberty
Stop
New --
assignment
off Casablanca
The
Meeting
Bandits
Letter
to
in
communications
up
Admiral
the --
at
The
the end York
with Calcutta
from
B.
Assignment
Stalled Operations A.
with
Kunming Collecting
in
land
Flight
to
Over
States
of Trip
Calcutta
Description
Slow -- Official
Chinese a -- Washington parents
Dai --
the
Chinese
Chinese -- --
Miles
Telegram
Addenda boat
Scout -- to “The
Cairo
Medical
To
via
war
Lee
Return Sino -- destination
vii
intelligence
Navy ------
freighter -- -- China Regaining
Hump”
in -- --
-- beaches
to
Shooting -- Rescuing Spy training
Return Preps dinner
American
of
letter letter Activities
China
Iran --
supplies National
China
Record
Medals
Home --
Letter
for
Blown --
to
from
-- parties
to
for
camp
strength India
snooker
Letter
home
an overseas
Chungking
from Cooperative -- invasion
Airport
in
China
American
Silk
cover
China
to
New
map
home
travel
York
pilot
Asso.
I father they father in Dad house bought grade
then He (during over Opera [Leonard’s
was off Zoma returning when
much stayed houses
think
the
about
and
with
took in lived
move the
fields or
was had
he
on
closer
got
House”
is
the in My
So,
a Meanwhile,
Dad
Dad
Grandfather a
Concerning that
a country. something.
joined
lot about
the partner
his
the Perry
to
there
married. just a billposting
10th
on. father’s in
mother].
farm didn’t
period
grew
and Perry
seems
father,
to
northwest
train
1893,
in
a
50
his
with
and grade,
the
baby, built
built
where
These 1900,
I
up
and
miles
EARLY
and
agree
parents
to
when
have
name
army
my the his
grew
Henty
And, owned
And,
her
in
have car
a
a
then his while
went
relationship this nice edge and
grandfather Land
three-story they groups
north
folks
used with
Dad
for in was
up
of
parents
furthermore,
and
worked
Tate,
attended
and
the
environment
1918. to
two-story
course,
his on the of
raised
Run
his the
Henry
was
or
of
Perry.
were
would
style Perry.
rented
a
father,
circus LIFE
the and
grandfather, Denver.
father.
tapes
farm
moved
into
So,
about
at
stone
sugar
had
with
he
Tates,
with
a then Crawford
some
They
different
he
This
business stop
house,
Oklahoma in
until
and
was their recorded
I
sold
in
think,
his
served and
Perry.
building
to
beets,
them And was
IN
of
busy established in
is the toured
in
Oklahoma
eventually
homes
parents,
the
I
must
where but the
Perry,
that
lB.
the
at
things
Tate.
9th
was
for
OKLAHOMA college.
which
about
with
farm
the in
verbal
I
took
school
in the
touring
think have or a
Tate.
the
were
chairman
Dad’s
I
Born while
time
Perry.
it
me in
10th
suppose, and
country
[?]
had
place, themselves
because they
seemed summer
After
the
been
accounts
probably
only until
in
of
(September
gotten
in
theatrical
grade).
and to
sister
It
period
Perry,
moved
his
Longmont,
and
be
infatuated was
of the
about
for
he
then
for
like
the
of1987
birth,
the
irrigated.
Alma
into
came business
nine
given
a
he
called
and
a on
between
cold
to
couple Mother
lived
school
a
groups few
was
the
a
Perry, half his
he
months
so
was
back.
tract
then
with irrigation
Colorado,
the
days
theater went
was in mother
in
When
block college,
of
board.
born.
and
traveled
then
the
one
“Grand
of where
about
it.
years
or
Zoma
or in).
land
eighth
I When
of
weeks, business.
and my
apart
were And so and water
he
Mother
which
his the he
they
before
later,
and
all
ran
and
he
a .
While he was in the army, he was sent out to Denning, New Mexico. to an army camp there. And he was assigned to be an aerial observer. This meant he would go up in a balloon that was tethered. There he would be in a basket under the balloon so he could observe the German army and report to people on the ground. Well, as it turned out, he was lucky that the gas never caine for the balloon because, while they were waiting for the gas to come (since he knew about motion pictures and theater and things), he was assigned to the movie theater at the army camp, which was great. Sort of detached from the normal troop duties. So, the war ended while he was there, and he went back to Perry. It was unfortunate that, since he had been in the army, later he was ineligible for benefits because a rule had been established that a person had to serve for a minimum of three months. He was three days short.
So, after that, he got back to Perry and reunited with his wife and child
When he went back after the end of the war, he did several things. The one thing I remember that he talked about was that he bought himself a “portable movie theater,” as it was called. And he went around to the different oil fields that were scattered around Perry and would have an open-air theater. He would have a lot of chairs and benches, and then he made a canvas wall that would enclose the area so they had to pay to get in. I don’t know how long he did that ... Sometimes he worked for Grandfather Rosa, who taught him how to paint and wallpaper, and I think Dad said he had been a member of the painter’s union. Also, sometime thereabouts, he worked for a family called Coyle, who had a cotton gin and seemed to be quite wealthy.
The opera house was upstairs [in the Grand Opera House building]. Downstairs there were two parts -- one half a grocery store, the other half had been a saloon. A huge sign on the back of the building advertising the saloon could be seen from a train two blocks away. Apparently, when the saloon business ended abruptly (Prohibition), Dad decided to open a movie theater in that empty building. But then he leased that to someone else and took us to live on the 101 Ranch about 20 miles north of Perry. Nineteen twenty-five went, 1928 to 1929 returned to Perry. That was an exciting period for me, really the first part of my life I remember things. Dad had a good job with them in a managerial position. At first, he worked in the office in an administrative position and was at various times manager of the orchards and the fruit-canning factory, the fields of cotton, and the cotton gin.
One hundred and one thousand acres to start, then it got big! It was something like 15 miles across. It was so big, it had a circus -- a huge circus that toured the United States and Europe, too. And, of course, Dad was involved with that, too.
When Dad first took us there, we lived in what was called the “White House,” which was a big white marble building several stories high, the center of a sort of little
2 . village, the headquarters of the ranch. There were rodeos every Labor Day. They had grandstands in an area big as a baseball field near the river. Huge crowds, but they were always trying to think of ways to bring a crowd. So, Dad thought of a terrapin derby. He was apparently the inventor of this. So, they collected a lot of turtles and put numbers on them and placed them in the center of a large ring in a pen, and the first turtle to cross the outer ring was the winner. About one dollar a turtle could win $1,000 for someone.
A funny thing happened. They painted the numbers in watercolors and put the turtles in a bin. When they got them out to place them in the circle for the derby, all the numbers were washed off, so they had to think of something quick. They used adhesive tape, put numbers on in ink, and got things ready just in time for the race. This [type of emergencyl was just Dad’s meat.
The rodeo itself was exciting. The trick riders and the trick ropers and the guys who bulldogged the steers, bucking broncos, and riding the steers and all those things. The Indians always came and set up their wigwarns along the river nearby. Some of the cows would always get injured, neck broken or something, and the Indians would drag them away with their horses. Well, I had discovered the village, and I suppose unknown to my mom and dad, I had wandered down there, and they took me in and gave me some goodies, like beefjerky (strips of meat). They’re cured by hanging them out in the sun. and the dirt and the flies and all. Course, I didn’t mind, and it didn’t seem to hurt mc!
Saw one bulldogger: “Black Jack Perkins” or something like that. He was a black man. Anyway, he would ride up beside the steer, and instead of using his hands, he would lean down and get the steer’s nostril in his own teeth. Then he would jump off his horse and drag that steer along until he could throw it to the ground, just using his teeth!
At the general store near the “White House,” a big black bear was tied to a tree. Al first, he wasn’t even tied up. He had a cave there. Someone would come along and give him a bottle of pop, which he loved. The cowboys liked to wrestle with him, but eventually someone got hurt. So, they chained him up to the tree.
Some other experiences I had with the circus: The circus winter-quartered there, of course, and there was a great huge barn -- the elephant barn. Course, Dad would take me there. We’d come in the door on one end, and there would be a row of elephants on each side with their feet chained to big rings in the floor. And when they saw Dad come in, they’d start roaring and throwing up their trunks, and, of course, I was scared to death. But as we went along, I found out what the real deal was. Dad had a bag of big peppermint wafers in his pocket, and they could hardly wait their turn to reach in his pocket!
Then there was the other -- the lion and tiger barn. I remember once when I was in there with Dad and some other people and he was showing off, of course. He would stick
3 his
of his discovered know
to cans fill Miller brought and sent old anybody, cotton.
remember course, tube would the out cotton, end
in, day So, started home, somehow
wasn’t gotten to fell
his
load
the
head
straw
up and
black wagon
of
a
work,
I off, of
down
of
would
and boxcar
straw any
those
main the
Brothers
go
the
the And and,
I them And
blowing All So, apple really
another which
the
Well,
them
so in
also
hat
but
woman
some down more
truck
I
etc.,
to tube.
a cinch
the
when that
here I this
town
guess be hat! of
talk
stables. in
apple
wagon
remember
and in
would
Mississippi mentioned
he
butter
very
of and
they
course,
lion’s
the
let
so
the trucks
cotton car
about other
did
or
there
this
it I
about had
course,
tight
it was drove
often --
we down
gave Dad
in butter
cotton
qualified wagon
turtles got
sold,
would
full everything
they
that be
That
horse
to
there
mouth,
were
kids owned
and
canning enough,
and
I
was
straw
there
carried
pulled
wave
his each felt one
had
of
about
I
was the
and
cans! were
or
river gin
had
had right play
come,
were
haul comes and picked
rescued. hauled fist
like
story
to
Louisiana
orchard
yet. --
of hats! but
they by
mad
it --
up
to
to
sealing
a fruits
have 12
and
that locked Well,
and right when
in
around.
them
into
these
‘em
I playing
the
gun
For when
have
be
and,
alongside
was
Dad
up inches
a
ended
cotton at
Another
into
the
somebody
I
big
ranch,
renumbered,
the
a down
through
him,
than and
mentioned
dripping -- example,
pretty
Dad a
are
going saddle
by
a
the weren’t told.
or
saddle he
house
Marland,
a
way.
horse, cotton
in
up
in pistol. the
would and
stories.
somewhere
anyone.
and did
doors was
and
and the
day
diameter,
the He soon
with
right
canning
So,
it!
and
4
by,
and
that
slipped,
his wet
would
empty there.
quite so dump one
gin.
they
had
plant,
and
There
come
was
and
when
cottonseed, a those
they I
a
I
Dad
pistol
in
a
First
and [this
don’t
little
was
day
bridle,
I’d to
piece
another
built
filled
it.
started
between
They
grab ‘em
factory.
car,
and
and and
would go
into
was bought
and
the
they get
cans They
I
time], right thing
town
saved
think
didn’t
around
a
of
in
and it
the got
and
up. me
saddle
up
had the
I
some
cotton
decided
would
moving
straw
started
fell the
land
there,
ended
take which
he
Well, where
the cottonseed --
500
me the the and
So,
him. I
building,
I
a --
was
would
river. maybe
off.
noticed
lot
person
and
to
main under
I
lion a first the
gin he
Negro hat.
stick
suck
was
and
pony, up
exploding,
He
work course, they
of
to
it around. The
we
sent check
cars
right
took
up
That thing
with
fun
go grow
didn’t
stables
I’d he
riding,
my
its
the lived,
and --
was
sold
horse
families would
the
on
and out
riding
away.
calmly
I
with
be
belly.
there,
a
head
their
Dad
bales day
cotton
think
we
a
Well,
cotton,
and that
track. bite
in an
playing
shoot
we
big
and,
and
and so
went
me. he knew,
be
the
didn’t
on order
Well,
houses into
raise
Oh,
those
and
kept of right
they
took
it
and
metal
right
the
where
blown
I
of
Well,
was it.
bulk.
they
I
hadn’t
back
boy! the
so
in
the
I
it they -- had
off one out
up
an
I
I
.
. And where was Leonard? So, of course, they notified Dad, and he called home, and Mom said, “Oh, no, he’s not here.” And so Dad went down with about a hundred men. and they searched the river for me. and, of course, by and by, I walked home.
Movies were also made on the 101 Ranch, and that’s where, in fact, Tom Mix [one of the early cowboy stars] got his start. They made quite a number of movies -- western movies, of course -- and they made them right there on the ranch. And the indoor scenes were shot in one of the buildings in this little town, Marland, and my mother appeared in some of them as a dance hail girl, which we teased her about. I have today a lot of”8 by lOt photostills that Mom and Dad obtained and kept, which Marjorie and I have now, of activities on the 101 Ranch, especially the making of the movies and some scenes of the circus.
By the way, about the circus. I said it winter-quartered there -- well, this little town of Marland where we lived, I went to school, of course, and talk about a rough, tough bunch of schoolmates. All the circus kids went to the little school, plus all the cowhands’ kids, and they were one rough bunch! It seemed there wasn’t one day I didn’t have a fight going to or coming from school.
In the spring, when the circus was getting ready to start out, the railroad trains came, and several of them would park very near our house, like across a big field. And they would set up the big tents and practice and rehearse, and I had a wonderful time. Several times I got to ride to school on an elephant’s head! Oh, I had lots of fun.
[?]was a two-story frame house, and it had in the living room its central heat (laughter), a big potbelly stove that Dad burned wood or coal in. Dad had to get up early in the morning and go down there and build a fire, and, of course, I was the one who got to carry coal or wood into the house. In the kitchen, Mother had one of those old- fashioned cast-iron stoves that she would build a fire in. She cooked and baked some wonderful things in there. The bedrooms were upstairs, and it does get cold there. I remember her heating bricks and wrapping them in towels and putting them on my feet in bed.
The Miller Brothers were three men -- Joe, George, and Jack [the owners of 101 Ranch]. They were pioneers out there, and they accumulated enough land to start a ranch. I don’t remember how, but the thing was that cattle were driven from Texas up through Oklahoma and on up to Kansas to the nearest railway, and one of these cattle trails went up through the area where they had built this ranch. And this was incidentally in the “Cherokee Strip” which was the last land that had been given to the Indians and where the last Land Run was held. Well, they built the ranch up, and they prospered until the Great Depression when they floundered and two of the brothers committed suicide. They found one in a car in the garage with an exhaust hose running in, and I’ve forgotten how the other died, but Jack, he was the cowboy, and the circus man, he lived a long time. I
5 remember the them collapsed,
the think
things. were did out no pounds
something movie.
polished but drive such machines, south, crowd because,
on this still aisles Nights.” house he
be these give would them always when bag
money,
and the
movie peak
given
break of
he
period on
of
things
things up,
selling
I
down
at
groceries,
it saying,
they
right so
stuck
had mentioned floor,
But The This
stop flour
The another --
Meanwhile,
of
a
smelling home.
of
I
up you
Well,
a we’d
slow
out,
I
theater
but
him
butter, guess.
and
like
but
left ticket,
had gave before where its
movie
to
as away. banks
the after
the was
a
it
or
and
see,
“Peanuts, they
but
helmet
activities
Oklahoma
checks.
out. they coming
Mother night.
was run
But 25
they
man a something
movie
brass!
and
away
about
I
it little
things
there,
like
besides
and this Dad
we
the
had One
cents.
theater went
just
a
Actually,
was
the
turn would
Mother
were
went
someone film
I
like lived,
a ranch
there
earlier.
money
wire I
been Dad remember and
managed
to the
sold
night ran big
rose,
too
and
did
and
away popcorn,
up like
Well,
our
City about
giveaway
working
in into
Lindbergh
else. bring time
turn
thing out
obtained all
basket,
dark tickets,
make
would
I
closed.
I
and collapsed, weren’t
that, Perry
would
he
so
guess house went
when
to
We
would
and partnership,
the
of
I
on
Well, three Lindbergh
to
laid
didn’t
Dad to food, college.
to
was
sets money
candy!”
and
some
weren’t
lights,
was
say. rent all
be
the
back hang
like find
until you and
There
be nights. in
off
there
his
wore
draw and
what
days
a the that
they of
so
Perry
stand
grocery
we
get
But on
another
drawing
a
money, I
all got
it.
movie
to
onto
dishes,
I
and During
sweep they’d
ran
bicycle
I lights,
and, was
went for brought the
there
had
and one.
numbers was flew and would had
school
the and
Every
it
your
out later
6 the
couldn’t
was
his
the
ground
just
moved
employees, hope
of night. every
an
films they
finally film!
But
to though, across
out, very
and come
during and
in
the
candy ticket
basket.
business,
end.
on.
course,
swap
Wednesday really
apartment
in
college.
people
the
the
we
out
then
that we Depression
and
Dad
Perry.
down It long, kid
It
When
floor,
back to raise
called
money
the lobby
was and
store, ate
the
or was
wound of
because
tough.
I we’d the
I
wanted
had
would many
in.
would
would
exchange
ocean,
a and however,
Yeah, well
and
evening.
at
went We
to
pretty it,
the
they
a
can,
theater
on -- “Bank
Of
what
swept
OK
sad
night. in
Perry.
and
make
Dad
I you
we
up
were
opera times
because
the
be or
course,
remember what circulation
paid one,
in,
always and
go
I
and
tragedy
City,
nip
their
with
believe
survived, were
about
up
see,
second
ran
Night,” out and
if
up to
I
enough At
when
Dad
at
people
house remember change the but
to
and
I
your
on
go
the
about and would the
quite first, creditors the
silent
bring
Wednesday the
called
get
find
at
manufacturers
they had the
that
in
tuck,
they
the
ranch
floor movie
wanting
number
floors,
the down
to
farmers
and in, upstairs.
money
would
and and
they
a a stage
got
60
taken
films a
big
Depression do cost
use
“Bank lot
few
they end
bought
I
ham,
that
they
during
miles
he see
closed
guess,
dropped at
after
would
the
empire
of
and
and
with
of
get
of
was about
to
over came
were
would
had
was
the
was
coins
I
it,
no the
the
a
all
. . 0 . your called, Night” only
Wednesdays to grew amount
Well, up
tickets Maybe got year
people others the the
the
seats, ushers!
as companies Tate Tape was
form showman. sound baffles called [endj,
call --
a
that
picture business,
advertising,
called
name
or good
a
so and --
when
#6,
of
and
numbers
you
great like
that
one And they
“washed on
would
they
There two
But,
Movies,
Hey,
This for
And opened, and Dad
air
grew.
Made
film
business
we
down
got
one Jeanette
day, machines those He
night,
for
in that went
conditioning since
the
gave amount
of
picked who
I is
Dad
and
were
used
really
sold
college
money.
was
color course,
the
a
number
I
until
air May you
Fishing,
and,
Wednesday
air,”
and
(they
continuation
remember
days,
from
$1,000
weren’t the I
was including
amount
tickets went drawn
young
a
innovative,
man,
McDonald
up
turn could
of
that
projectors
the oh few
1987,
in as movies
were
a
had Well,
very we
and
change
a --
which
pioneer, yeah, a
through
winner
that
loudspeaker, was out for
Theater, that
movie
relief
and
through there girls --
didn’t
see
a
of
they Side
paid
the it simple
book),
came,
I they example,
for
were
night
full
worked
rental.
was
did in you
of
there
water
and
and for
and
that
hundreds
for
operator,
announced
was actors
1, those.
those
for
Dad’s all
pack all
were
of
everything.
etc.,
them. something had
that
Finishing
open
technical
both
the
and black-and- Nelson
during
and
we
were right,
the by
people
But, there, under
very
and
them when
days,
to
drawing,
who by
-- pretty
Shirley have
maybe movie
you
stations,
of
seven
It
high be and and a
on
Leonard
and
the there
well
the was
and Eddy. high lot
that --
were
in
had
there. there
it
progress now. the
7 Tape
clever. --
I hundreds
can
very time
experience. school
white came of theaters
every brought days
was
Temple
really the
in I
on
pressure was
so to
other
from
don’t people
very
Will
were
you
And
Oklahoma
of
winner write
the Tate. as
inventive,
he
sort
a
to
movie a
day
When
Heniy
week
quite girls
-- the
hand,
popular was running
vacant
imagine?
Rogers
next
filled
negotiating know--
in
he
and who
ushers
of
for
who
your
of
was
weeks
$50,000!
was
I
would the --
in
cool
but you
projection
the example, Gene
Wednesday
would
I had
up, and
(in the had
store
forced know
original,
number
assistant
to was
the at
an
they
week.
$1,000
went
and
All
went
previously
and
the
the
show movie
I
Autry. get
come
inventor.
candy
had
not with
another
in
I’ll
he
those
only
pleasant
dry
time.
into
the
the
in,
in
between,
Well, by,
down,
to
have
to and was never people --
manager,
there
the the
business, they
climate)
you
Then
sidewalk
whole
the stand
had
a
supervise some
the
people
In
mist
creative. draw,
He
a
technical
film
bought.
described I
complicated had
were
and natural-born forget fact,
in
amount
the grew during
to
there
to
invented
and
huge
shebang!
the
against
their
to
“Bank
that
bought they and and
running
there
my
filled
going
up
the they
write
it!
were
boy,
we I
first
in
Dad
did
a . theater. Of course, he took full advantage of this through his advertising genius. He had big banners hung out in front of the theater saying “Come in! Get cool! Get cool!” plus other kinds of advertising for the air conditioning. He, as we know, was always interested in advertising from his youth when he ran away to do biliposting for the circus. He did all kinds of advertising to get people into the theater.
But I want to describe the change in the “Talkies” as they were called and what happened. This took place during the Depression -- during the worst part of the Depression. But to back up a little, in the beginning, a piano player would sit down in front and play music according to what was happening on screen, and this was followed by the theaters all putting in big elaborate pipe organs that also had [sounds ofj orchestra instruments. Then that was followed by phonograph records. I remember that the organ was [?]That Dad just took out that huge, big organ and put it up in Granddad’s barn. And replaced that with two phonograph turntables, and so on, and Dad would sit up there -- he built a sort of booth -- and Dad would sit up there where he could watch the screen and play phonograph records to accompany the silent pictures. In a way, it was kind of like being a disc jockey today. And then the talking pictures arrived -- I don’t know-- in, let’s say, 1932 or something like that. At first, the voices were records on disks -- something like phonograph records. There was a turntable that was attached to the movie projector so that (if you got them started at the same time) the sounds would seem to be coming from the lips of the actors.
Well, this cost a whole lot of money. In fact, I think he had to have it custom built, but he hadn’t had that six months, when sound on film came out, in which the soundtrack was on the edge of the film itself, and a little beam of light went through the soundtrack itself and onto a photo-electric cell, and out came the sound through the speakers, in perfect synchronization with the actors’ voices. So, he had to suffer through all those changes, and meanwhile beating off competition because he was ... of course, all this time, he was competing with the owner of the other theater, and the local newspaper had just been milking them for newspaper ads -- having them run huge ads every night in the newspaper. So, then they decided to get together and form a partnership. And the first thing they did was to stop the newspaper’s advertising except for very small ads like we see now in the Winchester newspaper.
So, by this time (I guess in the late 3Os),Dad and his partner, Charlie Wolleson, really had it good, and they made a lot of money. They’d gotten through the bad years, paid for all that equipment, formed a partnership, and they were jointly able to work together keeping other competition out of town. So, everything went along fine until, when I was in college, I suppose about 1941 or something like that, a chain was able to force Dad out of business. Actually, his partner was ready to retire, I think (as I recall), and that left Dad vulnerable, so Dad had to quit, but he was able to lease his theater to the people for something like five years or so in which they actually paid Dad not to run his theater. But then, of course, after that, they took it over, so that’s how Dad’s theater
8
I business came to an end.
Something I forgot to mention, that Marj and I think is interesting. It must have been when they ran the theater before they went to 101 Ranch, because I was just a little thing -- about two years old. But, in addition to running the theater in Perry, Dad took a film (I think it was made at the 101 Ranch) and showed it in different movie theaters all over the state, and I think some out of state. But it was more complicated than that. 1-le brought along advertising and promotion and materials to get a crowd in. And what he did was he had an elk in a portable pen, and he had this truck with a big box on the back to haul the elk in (laughter). So, he would go to a town and make a deal with the theater owner, and Dad would set up the pen out in front of the theater, and he would stand outside and yell at the people, “Come in, come in!” And he would set up posters and handbills and all kinds of ballyhoo. And so, sometimes Mother would go with him, leaving me with the Grandparents Tate, and sometimes they took me along.
Mother had described that Dad had fixed a sort of kitchenette in the cab of the truck. He even had a little table -- a hinged table with a stick leg to hold it up. Well, she was going to make some pancakes, and she had some batter that she’d mixed up in a bowl, and she had it on this shelf, and she leaned down to pick something up, and just at that moment, I knocked the leg, and the bowl of batter fell over right into Mother’s hair. So, that was one funny experience.
Well, we got out of the movie business just about the time that the United States got into World War II. So, he went with a friend of his, John Mildfelt, who was a carpenter, down to Orange, Texas, where Dad’s sister Alma and her husband were, and where her husband worked for a construction company. They went down there and got jobs with the same company. And, as I recall, they had a house trailer. They parked it in Alma’s backyard and lived in it. And he worked down there (and John) ... I guess -- throughout the war. See, I was in college, and when I finished college at Christmastime 1941, the navy told me they would send for me when they were ready for me. So, I went down there and joined them, and I worked for a while, too, until the navy did call me. Then, after the war, he came back to Perry and retired again, and ... let’s see.
Well, of course, Marjorie and I came back to Perry and started the pottery, but when we first started the pottery, Dad had gotten into the window-awning business -- aluminum awnings put up on homes to shade their windows -- and he was in that quite a while until the Macaulays [our original partners] left the pottery, and he came out and started helping us there with the pottery. He was very enthusiastic about the pottery from the very beginning, and he still was, and came out to there and worked. He sort of supervised the mixing of the clay. We had a great big tank with a propeller mixer in it, and we had to dump big bags of powdered clay into it and add water and chemicals to it, and all of that. He also helped load and unload the kilns, doing it himself a great deal. He would get up early and do that and take care of a great many things that had to be done
9
when
open
leave school,
theater.
anything
course,
basketball
We
did
was
interested
everything,
beating.
before got
moved
was
few had
stayed
to worked
were
Bechtolds
that,
he
diagnose attack,
--
office
Perry.
had
his
early.
the business
had
whatever
there,
had
face.
to
a
days,
going
an
up
really.
my
I
in
wonderful,
hospital,
downtown,
go
And
she with
got
I
and to the
I
which
agency
Well,
You
He
a
So,
the
Florida
at
I
want
didn’t
together
dinner
Then,
good
it.
was
he back
a
in I
--
all.
bought
to
in went
real
had
had
he
nursing
and men
theater,
he he
Mother,
But
see,
sports.
anything.
passed
he
seventh
last,
let’s
to
was
there
He
and
put
did
to in
relationship
care
heart
the
and
to
after
I
(it
in
back
wanted
he
in
finish
when
took
kind,
except
Perry
work.
stayed
and
the
go
right
himself
a
the
see.
after
Mother
must
Perry.
first
got
home it
and
I
when
anything away
lot
and,
we
attack,
don’t
back.
and
grade
was
pottery,
I
oven.
Mother
But
I
up He
loving
over
of made
--
heart
we on
sometimes
to
And
have
was
sold
my home
of
And
started
in a
in
it
this
serious. hard,
had
do right
wouldn’t
he
the
think
But
had little
--
and
happened.
course,
which
it.
And
his
Perry),
going
in
then
the
about
attack,
been
another
liked and
we
person.
and
back
tape
I
square,
his
and
He
school then,
left
into
dirty
guess into
sleep.
pottery
company
he
living
Dad
liked
we
never
heart
she
had
We
fishing
he
in
by
kept
I’d
to
fishing Perry
to
we’d
ever
so
have
sports,
that,
actually,
finally,
work
had
about
trip
survived,
fish,
He
and
it
Miami
saying
so
He
[Lee’s
went
and
this
And a
get
each
in
attack,
house.
anything was
and
cramp
went
he
go
as
was,
[1952].
to
another
by
was
her
Mother with
there
which
growing
time, out
and
(laughter).
10
I
we
1965,
there
could
usual,
get
other,
to
during
left,
she
myself--
wouldn’t
how
mother]
with
before
home
to
unconscious,
however,
there,
the
And
it
had
so
or
him
of
up
in
I
called
a
must
he
sold
else.
on
call.
I
I
went, something
I
worked
have
course,
game
time
me,
but
full hospital
--
guess),
went
the
remember
up,
this
sometimes
again
she
got
we
our
but
they
worked
monuments
Or
I
For flew.
have
Mother
get
of
and
funeral
again
I
to
coffee
don’t
period
into
worked.
left,
and
I
selfish,
summer always
would
fishing
I
vim
played
in
would but
eat
home
on
instance,
got he
she
every
been
and
And
I
another
Perry.
but
in
(meanwhile,
Saturdays
with think
guess
began
there.
he
and
Dad
breaks
burned
said
and
that
stayed
and
his
get
his
cheerful
looking
with
the
until
But
was
get
he
in
vacation in
day.
vigor.
for
them took
--
left
she he
up
working we
baseball,
heart
about
I
rallied,
I
1952
doctors
to
business,
up
finally,
his
handicapped
don’t
him
don’t with
they
the
with
out
We
had
early
hardly
fail.
arm,
didn’t
later.
and
care
or
back
He
personality.
with
just
or
cemetery
on
quite 24
he
went
to
were
the
his
us
Mother
think
think
And
and
and
didn’t
and
Sundays, had
1953.
at
when
of
visit
it,
hours
football,
had
Especially
stopped
think
upon
a
ever
a
heart
old
in
the
while
a
back.
maybe.
smile
after
ready
go
he later
a
which
he
Dad
bit.
been
friends
and
little
But
we after
did
would in
to
after
went
it.
he
was
a
He
Of
on
I
on
so
to
lie
the
he
I
0 0
just
had
And
and things
as
course,
for
houses.
This
(laughter).
of
Leonard.”
couldn’t known,
granddad,
there,
Grandmother’s
always
sister
was
there
course,
them,
why
didn’t
putting
to
Canada
really
we
when
the
the
whatever
throw
an
(with
didn’t
about
was giving --
--
lived
apartment.
away.
although
emergency,
but
little
didn’t.
like
Another
After
Dad
But I
lived
But
So,
not
Another
they
on Dad
the
I
and
walk
think
during
my think
the
the
who
“Hello,
he
Probably
have
a
to
Dad there,
Perry
the
only
air
bear
ponds
was
joined
So,
they
had
all
show.
I’d
there
help)
wouldn’t
tools
play
same
down
he
conditioning
had
Zoma
party.
the
death
sideline
over
what
the
bought
first,
one
gone
thing
because in
a
I
may
was
could
and
hello,
we
and
don’t
bridge,
with
lot
get
down
Rosa
mind
He
the
the
thing
Depression.
because
the
of
the
I
he
and got
to
my of
couldn’t
a
have
about
that
rivers
call
loved
go
Opera
the country
the
her
get.
small
street
about
hello!”
think
college, place,
was
buddies
family
I
of
and
him
at
mother’s
his
to
he
had
thing
few
a
house
husband
had
home. being
Can
broke
Dad.
other
other
normal
around
to
really
didn’t
walk
[Grandfather
town
House
to
around
Dad he
lots
find
and
people
club
have
a
[Zoma’s
The
go
you
going
Dad
who
was
little
He
on
in
people’s
friends
down
He’d
of
away,
that
parents
be great
--
to
anything.
dance
so type
Perry.
and
the
and
people
people
imagine?
Cedar
was
the
relatives
and
at 5,000
liked
a
gone
that
streak
in
I
used
few
all
take
movie
could
three
on
parents]
at
was
just
square
of
almost
they Mother a
--
Rosa]
11 had
lived
anxious
fixing
homes
to
Street.
showman for
a
population,
home
who’d
come
dances.
the
to
all
of
Have
blazing
in
leave
fish,
sons,
there.
Buying
knew
go,
business,
annoy
two
$2,500.
politics,
his things inferiority
--
there,
no
not
that
bought
things
to
life
but
and
It
everybody
too,
owned
to
everything
weeks
to
clothes
time.
and
But
our
had
seemed
See,
continuing
hot me
--
run broke --
--
he
a
be
these
and
so
and
for
so
house
not
he it
--
and house,
but
moved
never
day.
a
(laughter).
But
his
a
to
they
it at
was
complex
that
we
one
house
and
liked guest
example,
Dad
up
like
the
had
other
they
to
a
so
dad
knew
when
Boy,
time,
always
there,
like
probably
would
of
is,
early played
me
throw
I and
store,
to
out
Marj
gone
was
to
had
there
and
all
in
her
in people
maintain
he
that
he’d
be
me
he
there,
he
Perry
as
of
He’d
knew
an
because
so
the extremely
mother
sisters,
he
them
broke had
paid and
go
buy
alone
golf,
got well
--
could apartments
--
for
the
emergency.
plunge
Mother’s
liked
same
I
off
did.
“Hello,
never
and
because
her
a
more
through, don’t
his
about
$2,500!
next
in
as
he
lot
and
a
unless
together,
entertain
Gladys,
of and
family.
home. So,
a father,
moved
to
going
thing.
never
of
into well
heap
tools.
put
time
know
sold
be
$2,500.
his
of
family
urging
into
he
Of
he
he’d
such
that
out
went
I
on
we my
it
out We to .
the floor (laughter). I don’t know if I was born different or my navy training turned me around, but Ijust thought it was such a waste of time and effort not to put things away.
Bear in mind, however, that Dad and Mom pulled out of the Depression very early because of the oil fields around Perry, and the drilling of new oil wells brought in a lot of new people. Dad, I think, bought a brown, new Ford sedan in 1933. I think it was the first Ford V8. I remember it had yellow wire wheels and two fender-mounted wire wheels, which was popular then. So, we lived very well during the latter part of the Depression. And this helped to be able to send me to college.
Well, Mother and Dad seemed to get along fine -- at least as far as I knew, they didn’t have any serious problems. Of course, my mother got sick and tired of the fishing trips, and after we made the big month-long trip to Yellowstone Park and Wyoming and Colorado and New Mexico, she said, “No more of that for me!” and from then on, Dad went with his buddies on those fishing trips. And she went on a trip to California with Charlie and Pearl. She loved to play bridge and go to the ballgames. She was my supporter in sports -- Dad never wanted me to participate, but she did. She fought with him about that. And she would haul -- see, there were no buses in those days to haul the kids to another town to play a game. The parents always had to haul the football players in their cars. So, Mom would always take a load along.
Well, another thing about Dad is he never threw anything away, and the house they bought had a detached garage, and by and by, the garage was so full of stuff, of course, you couldn’t get the car in. He started doing the same thing in the basement of the house, filling it up. Never throwing anything away. But he loved equipment. The fishing, now, I think a lot of that had to do with the equipment. He liked to go out with a fishing pole and fish, but he didn’t like to eat fish -- he gave them all away -- but he liked to have boats, and for quite a while he had two boats -- a speed boat and a kind of mini fishing cruiser kind of boat. Of course, I got to help take care of all this stuff, and he had lots of water cans and End of the tape about Henry Tate.
Leonard’s Grandfather Tate
The following is an excerpt from his verbal accounts of his grandfather, Joel B. Tate, which I wrote in 1987.
When he was a young boy, he and his grandfather used to play dominoes -- double nines, no less. He relates those games to his later ability to do quick mental arithmetic.
When Leonard was about 14 years, the two of them made a camping trip to a state park in the southern part of Oklahoma. They pitched a tent after dark, unknowingly in a gully. A heavy rain that night sent a flood of water down, and in the morning the two of
12 them found a foot of water in the floorless “A-tent.” Floating around were the dominoes
J.B., Alice, and Alma made a grand tour of the West -- going to all the parks in a Model-T Ford. They drove right over the Rockies on a narrow dirt road. There were no paved roads. In the late 20s, the family, including Leonard, made another tour of the West, this time in a 1925 Dodge sedan -- a huge car. They carried all the latest camping gear on the running boards. The car had roll-down window shades. When Leonard was 15 years old, he went with them to Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were taking Alma, who was frail as a girl, to the mineral baths. Alma was their daughter and Leonard’s aunt.
13 .
FINISHING COLLEGE AND NAVAL TRAINING
From tapes recorded by Leonard Tate January 9, 1984, and April 19, 1984.
These cover the time of his service in the navy, from December 27, 1941, until his return to the United States in November of 1945.
This is Leonard W. Tate on January 9, 1984. We’re going to make a tape of my memories of my navy career during World War II. The idea for doing this is my daughter Vicki’s, who is with me this afternoon at my home in Shawnee Land in Winchester, Virginia, and she may be prompting me from time to time.
We’re going to start with when I enlisted in the navy while in college on December the 27th, 1941, which was 20 days after Pearl Harbor. I was a senior at Oklahoma State, majoring in general business when Pearl Harbor came. The draft system really moved into high gear, and I decided to join the navy before being drafted.
I think that I should mention that a year before, in the summer of 1940, along with several of my college chums, I attempted to enlist to be an air force pilot, and several of us took the physical examinations, and some of us made it and some didn’t, and I was one who didn’t. I went to Oklahoma City and took the preliminary physical exam there and passed that. Then I was sent to Tulsa to the airport where the army had an air base, and I took the complete and full examination. I passed everything except one part of the eye test, which was a test for bilateral vision. And the way the test was given was to induce a “crossed-eye” situation. An object would be brought straight towards our head, and we were to keep our eyes on it, and well, I could keep my eyeballs on it until the object reached my forehead, but then one eyeball would pop back out. I couldn’t hold the cross- eyed look long enough, and so I was rejected. Well, I felt pretty unhappy about that. So, I learned about a navy pilot training program. So, I went with a couple of other fellows from Perry back to Tulsa and went through that (the exam), and I passed everything then except they told me I had a slight astigmatism in one eye. So, I decided to go back and check with the draft boards and see whether it was worthwhile to go back to school or not.
I thought if I was going to be drafted right away, there was no use in going back to college. Well, the draft board said to go back to college because my number was so high that I would probably never be called. So, I went back to college. That was September of th 194]! And December the 7 was Pearl Harbor. A few days later, I got a card from my draft board saying to prepare to come for a physical exam. We’ll let you know when to
14
I just
come. degree requirements newspaper applied be for
three tough addition the Seamanship Completing spherical
worked be 22’’,
at
subway my
we another given same midshipmen’s so that and finished. So,
Columbia
given
sent
they
officer
navy
were
college
20
he
they
my
math
1943,
midshipmen’s
to
a So,
within
days
spent
And,
So,
orders So,
for
Midshipmen’s
We
operated
medical on
up physical
last
to
get --
12
in
really
trig.
my
training.
one
courses
that. a our
and,
finally, to
I
roommate,
at New
were months
after
all them.
year
and
of University. got construction
the
could
roommate New
12 Well, I
when
school. morning meeting
the 14th
course, worked
oh,
We
discharge rest on
a
months
York and examination,
told of Pearl
lot
So,
I requirements
with
York That be
Street
yes, the
of
college
were we
they finished
school
of
removed
of that
my sworn
inactive
City. school, We
with
Harbor.
we
train
the
us
had the
a a
the
goodies a
in
and
City
were
both
tiny project
C
and
last the
man
hard.
before
didn’t
had
college
war
requirement
had on
navy to
whom
or
However,
at
in
into could
navy
to
checked
little
which 12 add that
ready and accepted
better the
Port duty
academic who
a
December
been
As
the
Midshipmen’s
for
like
had civilian wear
until months
the he
same
that
they I and
and
policy
pass
I article
Arthur
to could
United my
had
finished.
for
recall,
grade, that.
lasted navy difficult,
given
my my complete
a
into
then into I
found
degree
and
for
the
me. date,
uniform
enlisted
got
studies
working at
was
that complete friend, orders
of
on
and
the
our
all States only four a
Oklahoma which physical
gave
15 sworn busy.
So,
1942,
list
although
inactive
When
that
that
but
the
of
midshipmen’s in
got
regular
college months,
I
one-half and
in
of
came, or
him
the
whose
business
School
went
Naval And
in navy that
he was
by
into
off
and the
books
anything.
his
we
exam
Oklahoma
some
other
had
the a
duty
in
turned
State
we
college degree. navy, I
down
the
requirements
I medical which
had
reported
at
name
happened
Reserve,
was
was
New
of
time
a
to
didn’t his
as little and
subjects,
navy
as
tumor
brought
the
was
read,
we
told
well to
a
But out
an school.
own
were
was York --
algebra,
We meet
real
and
fellows bit
Port
discharge
on
were
there,
a
apprentice
since
room
to
we
the Midshipmen’s
on
as too.
mighty to
Roy had expense.
of
the
rat
to
be Texas. and
City out
all
Arthur,
the
for one notice
had
navy
Strangely
physical
both
report
we
race. just
Like together.
we
to 27t1
plain
of
Uhi,
who
a
it
a math
and
of
to
have new
busy the from
were made
[college]
were
said
sent
a
of
seaman in
Knight’s
his
have
I
So,
Jr., Texas.
started, on trig,
warm-up
took
had
other
courses December, the
program
activity,
completed
period.
already testicles, I
the
to enough.
February given
we
was it
So.
would School
an
and
thought
pretty the
the
navy.
and and
there
still
for
for the by at college Rooms room course, and when our $50 Saturday went Virginia, kitchen small sailors 50 15 second line line got ocean us and for, Annapolis the to pounds soldiers 12” expenses, to various a I took officer officer, home live guess, in we month, boat time Fort surf! -- Of In My were I I graduates we lieutenant And, We floor, match a was, was until us a finished which in! addition hotel course, right flotilla. crew got Pierce would first we on trained in We’d things down I about assigned in so, And a I was which of and the about boxes leave paid guess, finished boat and four assignment away. is of let’s course, -- navy, had the and in there qualified a just run we to a to were The at four have five that sort officer, month years. the on five made Fort -- the see Little as course, were on -- out out outside had small the that was eligible sailors. deducted. we of army. dollars midshipmen, our commissioned grind o’clock as a -- Pierce, on on it That first-come a given or way I to a Creek much were in was four-month some training tough school think, the the ramp landing we something command command And of at every And to is from to beach beach. got Norfolk. Florida, to Sunday this school, fun fun, in of stand because the that First I I was learn my remember boat in back was navy craft New five basis, other as but Atlantic too, -- Virginia dropped an cram established at flotilla, boats we of because like afternoon. Assignment commissioned everything the handling where most whatever dollars And subjects. ensign which York top because we week. three 16 starting could ocean that. session. at watch weren’t I Fleet of being had down we I to went sea of were, we every in think, Actually, that Then on and Norfolk. beach we So, these were little there We the on been in and Amphibious got at the at there when was allowed maneuvers four the didn’t I we other sea, navy, Norfolk they would had at think, liberty crews bit funds to for little in -- what held 2nd were after we have months so the And a was about you loaded training week which arrive tent boats, that, head about got floor, we and to back on Chesapeake is on to hit left going advanced I Force use city called and was 10 had weekends paid be as the personnel. being that the us at downtown is over by 40 each and groups or pocket equivalent the the had tactics an all available. assigned home 4 th beach, something at the a foot 12 a I equivalent after elevator. person a up same of with Little general been wound training boat general navy Bay. like July, long money, on on after or and uniforms and four hour. to set the officers. whatever leave Creek, to mine. to Of learned So, -- up and lunch duty 40 a like I in them up get duty cover train like lost to and on we or the for a a . a then we went down and trained until August, I think, at Fort Pierce, and then we were told to stand by, that we would be going off to the wars.
Transfer to Scouts and Raiders
Well, just about that time, another group stationed close by called the “Scouts and Raiders” asked for a few more volunteers! And, as it ended up, I and the three fellows that I shared a tent with all applied for Scouts and Raiders and were accepted! So, I think in August we moved over there next door, became Scouts and Raiders officers, and started that training program.
Letter from Fort Pierce, Florida Leonard to His Parents
Postmark Dec. 5, 1944
Hi-- Your good and long, too, letter came yesterday, and all the good news was well received. I am glad that Jr. brought the camera back. Of course, we know that the girls are responsible.
The paymaster here has started to loosen up a bit, so enclosed you will find a couple of money orders. $140 worth. There will be more soon.
We are living in the same tents but expect to have some nice wooden cabins soon. They are prefabricated and just require setting up.
There are about 10 of us here, and we are teaching the new boys (Scouts) how to handle them. It’s kind of monotonous, but the weather is wonderful, and P.B. [Palm Beach] is not far.
I got a roll of black-and-white film at Palm Beach, and we are going to take some pictures here. This film can be developed and printed and [in] P.B. in quick time. We are going to take the colored pictures later.
That Perry-Enid game must have been hectic! Bob didn’t seem to do so good, but Perry won, so what’s the difference! I saw Fort Pierce High defeat Vero Beach Thanksgiving night.
We had turkey Thursday noon, Thanksgiving, but they never season anything. as usual. However, Gus Evans took me home with him for supper, and his wife had a swell meal. She is from Virginia and can really bake biscuits! Just about as good as yours, Mother. We went on to the game and then had some drinks with the gang, out at the
17 Officers’ Club. Swell day!
I saw Bob Foster last Friday, and they expect to leave here soon. Chow time!
Son
And a short time later, the amphibious flotilla that we had been a part of departed for England. I decided to join the Scouts and Raiders because I found my duty in the amphibious force would be very dull -- extremely dull and boring. And although we didn’t know hardly anything about the Scouts and Raiders because it was a secret activity, it sounded a lot more exciting, and I think that’s the main reason why I decided to volunteer.
My three buddies in the amphibious force who went with me to the Scouts and Raiders were Don Robillard, who eventually was best man at my wedding. Another was Frank Sullivan from New Hampshire, and the other one was Bill Morrisey from New York City. So, the four of us, as it turned out, went to the war in Europe with the Scouts and Raiders and all came back from there a year later to Fort Pierce where Robillard and I continued together to China. And the other two went into what later became the “Underwater Demolition Teams” -- the so-called frogmen. And they went to Japan or were headed for Japan when the war ended.
Well, the life as a Scout and Raider officer was far from dull or boring! It was just the opposite! We were formed up into teams there. Each Scout officer had one 6-man crew. So, I had -- that’s what I was -- Scout officer with six men assigned to me. And we trained together. There were about, I think, perhaps 8 or 10 crews that went through the training program that I went through.
We were taught to come in from the sea in a small boat at night and find a predetermined spot on the beach. And how to sneak ashore if necessary as -- I’m referring now to an enemy beach like in Europe or somewhere. Sneak ashore and go around and look things over or to meet people, talk to them, collect information, and then sneak back out with the information.
Also, we were taught to investigate the hydrographic features. In other words. whether there were any obstacles in the water on the way to the beach, because we would be checking out prospective landing sites for invasions.
The Scouts and Raiders were considered a special operations and intelligence type of activity. So, we suffered through that training, and that was very rigorous. We had to be in tremendous physical condition. The reason it turned out that there were six men and one officer was that we mainly -- we used rubber boats a lot of the time, and one of the most common boats used was a -- what was called a six-man boat in which six fellows
18
a paddled, and one fellow sat in the stem and steered it. And, of course, that was the officer who got to sit in the stern and steer. However, in actual practice, we took -- I and the other officers took turns paddling when we were making a long, tough paddle trip.
We had to go through the obstacle course time and again. And that was just terrible. Absolutely terrible. I don’t know how I ever did it. I thought one day I was gonna fall out of a tree -- a big tree. We had to climb a rope -- a thick rope up -- way up in a high tree. About like these oak trees here around our house. And then when you got up there, you had to pull yourself up over the limb and back down the rope again. Well, the first time, I didn’t think I was gonna be able to even reach the top -- reach the limb. But finally, I managed to pull myself up the rope to the limb and get one arm over it, and then I looked down to the ground, and I thought, “My God. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m so weak. I think I’m gonna fall any minute to the ground, and how I’m ever gonna get up on that limb, I don’t know.” But I did.
Then, another training exercise helping us develop our muscles and our team work: The seven of us would lie down on the ground side by side and with our heads up against a palm tree log about 20 foot long -- well, I suppose 15. And we had to reach our hands back and lift that log up and hold it up over our heads. It was so heavy that the seven of us could just barely hold it up there. And then they told us we had to throw it up and down and catch it. And put it down on our stomach and lift it up and put it back down on the ground behind our heads. Well, we had a lot of goodies like that, but we all survived.
There was one fellow who lost a hand -- had his hand blown off making -- working with a homemade hand grenade. Included in our training was using explosives as well as all kinds of small arms weapons and how to kill people. Sneak up behind a person and kill him without him making any noise, and all that kind ofjazz.
19 .
OFF TO THE WAR IN EUROPE
So, after having been at the -- in the Scouts and Raiders training from August, I think it was in December of 1943 that six of we Scout teams were sent to Norfolk and boarded a ship and went in a convoy to the war in Europe. We went across the Atlantic in a big flotilla and had a lot of cargo ships -- slow cargo ships. Even though the ship I was on had been a, what was called a banana boat in the South American trade, it was a combination passenger and freighter, could go fairly fast, but none of the ships could go faster than the slowest ones. And, of course, the German submarines were busy at that time. So, a lot of destroyers were cruising around the perimeter of our flotillas. But nevertheless, it was so slow, it took us 25 days to get to Algiers [in Algeria, North Africa].
We crossed the Atlantic, went through the Straits of Gibraltar, and stopped at Algiers. Twenty-five days!I would like to go back and describe one training operation we had in Florida which we were rather proud of being able to carry off. The training exercise was to land and negate -- capture the defensive forces at Miami! And we did it! We took our boats down there, and submarines who had been training for their part -- they were actually the Raiders. We were the Scouts, and they were the Raiders. We loaded them up in our boats, and we came in from sea, came right up and landed right there at Miami Beach, and the marines went charging off-- this was at night, of course, sort of a Pearl Harbor type of thing (laughter). And they managed to capture all of the defenses -- the Miami defenses. The people and the guns they were supposed to be manning. What happened was, when they were captured, somebody would make a chalk mark on them -- on the door of their room, on the gun, all this. So, a few minutes later, they came charging back into the boats, and we withdrew. Sailed away. We were very proud of that.
We did hear later, however, that that was the first and last joint training exercise with the port defenders. Apparently, they were too embarrassed.
One other incident that happened [in Florida] -- another training exercise just outside of Palm Beach. Another Scout officer and I were paddling in there in a kayak to check out something along the beach, and we anchored our -- this was at night, of course -- we anchored our kayak, and we were swimming on into the beach -- well, we got in about halfway where the water was -- I suppose, three, two or three feet deep -- and we saw a coast guardsman coming along riding a horse. He was on duty. Guard duty. 1-le q didn’t see us, but the horse spotted us. So, the other guy and I (Joe Mandel), we decided that he should try to escape, try to get back to the kayak and get away, and I would cover his escape by splashing and sploundering around and letting myself be captured by the coast guardsman. Well, I wound up spending the night in the Palm Beach jail (laughter)!
20
I But I was vouched for and released the next day.
The convoy went to the Straits of Gibraltar and stopped at Algiers, which was the first real city on the right-hand side. While in the harbor, I saw a ship -- the ship that one of my college roommates was on -- so I managed to go over and call on him. Visit him on his ship. It was Jack Streetman.
Then our ship, or the ship that we were traveling on, continued on to Tunis [in Tunisia], where we disembarked. We went on then by truck or something 30 to 40 miles to a place called Bizerte, and that was where we -- that was our destination which was the headquarters of the Special Operations Group of the Mediterranean Fleet which was to be our home for the -- our base for the time we were in Europe. This is, of course, in North Africa, in the country of Tunisia. The commanding officer for our Special Operations Group was a well-known person by the name of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
In addition to our Scouts and Raiders outfit, there were several other units in the Special Operations Group, such as a group called the Beach Jumpers who simulated invasion landings at night using electronics. It was a deception type of operation. And I’ve forgotten what the others were. Couple of others. We did work with the Beach Jumpers some.
Tape #1, Side B The first operation that we were given was a request for four crews to go to Italy to run missions in and out of Yugoslavia. So, we didn’t really have a commanding officer. There were just the -- I think eight of us and our crews. So, we decided to draw straws to see who would go, and I didn’t -- I was not one of those who went. I and three others stayed behind.
Then, a little later, the rest of us went to Italy -- to Salerno, Italy, to run missions behind the lines on the west coast of Italy. But before we got started with that, I was given ajob in Naples. Iwas given the job in Naples, butT was told that I had to continue living
in Salerno, which seems like -- is probably something like 30 miles away, and 1had to commute back and forth to work each day. I also had no vehicle, so I had to hitchhike back and forth most of the time.
This didn’t seem to make too much sense to me because the job I was assigned to gave me the knowledge of all of the plans for the forthcoming invasion of France! It seemed kind of ridiculous that they would want me hitchhiking back and forth up and down Italy with all that information! But there’s an old saying, “There’s the right way and the navy way.”
So, my job in Naples was working in the dungeon of what seemed to be an old palace where the intelligence was being collected and collated on the proposed landing
21 . sites on the coast of southern France. They had big collections of things on the walls like pictures taken by fighter planes that flew over the coast frequently -- over the beaches. And photographs of these beaches were blown up, and all these were pasted up on the wall so you could see the whole -- each beach. And arrows were drawn, you know, pointing to various things. And then they had reports from agents, and I don’t know where all the information came from, but this time, instead of collecting the information, I was putting it together and helping with the planning. So, I worked at this until the time came to -- until the four of us and our crews were assigned to the (laughter) -- back to the Amphibious Force to go in the Invasion of Southern France! As Scout officer, however.
So, my job was to lead the way to one of the landing sites. And I was right familiar with it, of course, from my work during the planning stage.
Well, the office I was working in there in Naples, down in the dungeon, there were, of course, a number of other people working there, too. I don’t remember now what the name of the unit was or anything like that. It was probably all too secret. But it was hard to get into the place. Had to go through several sets of guards to get there. Even going through the tunnels down in the basement, every 100 feet or so, there would be a door and American army guards. So, it was well, well protected.
I think all the people working there were Americans. So, finally, all of this was published, printed up in books, and printed on the maps -- which I eventually saw, after we were at sea, on the way to the “Invasion.” We Scouts were assigned to the staff of the commander-in-chief of the invasion and were on board his flagship, which was a big -- like a big troop transport, actually.
The Invasion of Southern France
Yes, this was the “Invasion of Southern France” in August of 1944. We left Naples in the convoy -- a huge number of ships -- sailed west, went between -- through the straits, between Corsica, and yes, through the straits between Corsica and Sardinia and then headed north, and our landings were east of Marseille [France] -- between Marseille and Cannes. And the beach I was assigned to was at San Raphael, which is right next to Frejus.
Landings were made at several places. There was one to my right, and I -- at least one to my left. And mine was called Red Beach. To make a long story short, we were driven off of my beach. The resistance was so fierce that the admiral decided to give up on it because good success had been had at the beaches -- the other beaches -- and so, the • soldiers who were supposed to land at my beach were diverted to the other beaches.
So, the reasons -- well, let me start over and say my assignment was to lead -- as I said before, lead the first wave to the predetermined landing site, and I was in a small
22 boat, about 60 feet long (it had a captain and its crew), but it was assigned to me for my use. And we -- the first wave of boats that we were leading in were small boats trailing paravanes [cutting devices] to cut the cables in the minefield -- so, there was an underwater minefield! It was the first obstacle on the way to the beach. So, the -- I was to lead these small boats, to be sure they went to the right place, and we did that. And it was in broad daylight (seems to me about 10 o’clock in the morning) -- beautiful sunny August day. And nothing happened until we got in very close! And I was beginning to wonder if they had -- if the enemy had decided to retreat.
One trouble with me and my boat was we had to stay there almost in one place. When we led these waves of boats in, they were -- these boats were about 10 abreast. And so, we were, like, on the right-hand side going in, and when we got within about, I’d say, 500 yards from the beach, then we had to stop our boat and stay right there while the little boats with the paravanes went ahead and turned and came back out again. So, the other side would come by us. What I’m trying to say is we went and stayed there in the center of the two lanes so there wouldn’t be some mines left floating around in between the path they went in and the path they came out.
So, that was the worst part of the whole thing, was waiting there. All we could do was just back up a few feet, and another salvo of shells would burst right behind us. And we’d go forward a few feet. Same thing. Go sideways a few feet [then] sideways [the other way]. [Shells] bursting all around us constantly. And we had no casualties, but I was up on top of this little thing. It had a little wooden deck on top with a canvas around it, and that was ripped up somewhat, and I had my helmet blown off, and I bruised -- skinned -- my elbows and knees trying to burrow into the deck (laughter)! Oh, and of course, the flagship was -- we were communicating with the flagship with the radio, telling them -- giving them a running account of what was happening. And they would say, “Where -- can you see the flashes of the guns?” And I said, “I -- I can’t see -- can’t see the flashes of the guns for the waterspouts around us.” And we’d begin having trouble with the radio, and eventually, the radio and all the navigational gear was all shot up, but when the boats had turned around and come back out, then we led them -- started leading them back out to sea again.
But right at that time, the second wave was another 10 of these little boats or so -- had no people in them, but they were loaded with high explosives -- each one, I think, had five tons of TNT in it -- and they were radio controlled. That is, they were guided by radio. And they were being sent in to blow up some concrete piers that the Germans had put in the water just to -- near the edge of the beach to keep the landing craft from being able to get to the sand. And every other one of those concrete piers -- piers, that’s poles -- had an explosive charge on it. So, these little boats were supposed to go up and go between these things and blow them up when the button was pushed.
Well, it was a great idea, but it didn’t work. Because right after they went by us,
23 .
.
.
.
that
the
our
Air
were
Yugoslav who
secret
the
Europe ride
longer back
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were
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on went
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ships,
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technology
sea
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our
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ashore
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24
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was RETURN State on to Scotch. movement war, when Sullivan, at new in got then Ireland hours, too. inn, a and American then that civilian my land down night, City, that place something New weeks, at to and out up we and activity and I we faster, such career we meant Fort and our terminal! eventually And think the at something So, seaplane spending and landed When York and were I to called which backtracked, we left and Newfoundland, we clothes. think international we I as Pierce, inside underfoot. Fort then, that airline suppose, went and over -- that it couldn’t was landed the Shannon myself! flew documented like City had at we Limerick, in there
was HOME was Pierce finally we finally, and Wayside Rabat they of a Cork emerging right Long Our the too. took happened to wheels -- again, week this very in were good, back were could and Port go And There 16 th -- back uniforms So, to again Shannon, and in off headquarters the we Island cabin this there it there nice, go on getting although the where concerned Leoti, of that to Inn several the pulled as and we at were water landed land to called was on familiar
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even RE-ASSIGNMENT all orders us “Underwater up. this and the had and officers the and like Fort right is York ‘44. morning, on around breakfast, City. on of -- locked fellows the for off Anyway, we waited near the propellers, way, the is through though good Red we God, a the the a Pierce, We another which over the river, from air. were railroad -- war So, Since thing were So, Rabat because time river Cross was it there worked up food, the Scouts were We for we after was the in we we the and going the customs, it’s in Demolition finally Florida!So, taxied this there, we a same at the parts. one woke flew in and for portholes! workers pullman were the seaplane really water and an going thing a then Shannon. the it were French and airline our Pacific, few to quite of overnight was they plane. four! over let’s the came, right first So, up only go those we had Raiders way and went and into days put a just captain and couldn’t a car, on we called see, stopped Spain Morocco time flew Teams,” neutral we - up It while. supposed So, a it in there up -- Well, and U.D.T. a amusing roaring Morrisey, there, ball spent as looked seems sent made on had the we trip, commercial I in off on in I the guess we and a ever gave the we in a were Far Europe There then country been take into down in we and a we large and plane were and up on from lot like ramp to the the us the at be of
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and
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26
we
into
When
little of
Pacific.
was
we
the
we Naval
into
were
him
Washington
window
knocked
our
back
were
six
the
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Pierce.
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and
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didn’t
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new
into
to
the
to
in,
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down in
sit
collect
hotels
D.C.,
and
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six,
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‘44
the
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and
and for
-- of ASSIGNMENT TO CHINA
Tape #2, Side A With this tape, we’re starting phase two of my active duty in the navy. As I mentioned at the end of the first tape, six of us were sent from Fort Pierce, Florida, up to Washington, D.C., to the Chief of Naval Operations Office for reassignment, and we reported to our doorway down the hail from the big chiefs office where we were given a secrecy agreement to sign and told to come back the next morning! So, we went back the next morning and found that the situation had changed somewhat. We were told that we [had gone] for reassignment to the Office of Strategic Services, commonly known as 0.S.S., but the situation had changed overnight, and 0.S.S. was no longer handling the special operations in China. That a new group, a navy group in China, had taken over, and instead, we were going out with the navy group!So, actually, what happened was that I was one day in the O.S.S. (laughter). Without even knowing it. We later heard that General Chiang Kai-shek, the president of China, had had a disagreement with General Donovan, the head of the 0.S.S. General Donovan stated that we were to be completely in charge of our activities there, but General Chiang Kai-shek said, “No. You are guests in my country, and this is going to be a joint effort.” Well, that didn’t suit General Donovan, so Chiang Kai-shek said, “Well, that’s a very simple matter. I’m revoking the visas that you people have to be in China.”
Chiang Kai-shek had thought ahead and had required all the Americans coming to China to come on passports, which seemed kind of strange to us who had been in the war in Europe, because there in the American military no one had passports to go to the war.
So, we were told we were going to China, and we were each given a dollar and told to go to the passport office and get our passports. So, I got a passport that said I was I authorized and entitled to go to China, and in transit to pass through any countries going and coming that were necessary. Needless to say, it had a Chinese visa in it, and as I recall, several other countries, too.
Letter from Washington, D.C. Leonard to His Parents jAmbassador Hotell
Postmark Jan. 12, 1945 I Hi- I’m sure I’m not writing too often to interfere with your business (ha). It is still cold up here, but I stay inside, someplace, and not worry about it.
27
three
first. priorities.
details
would
up thing
of
the
weight
newspaper].
that,
about
acts
some three
decided
may
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marine
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28
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traveling
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Florida
got
to passport.
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another
transportation
we
a
number
that
to
is
us
the
told
would
camion
stay
days
desert,
Now,
#3,
two-motored
a
our
got
section.
and
So, Well,
as
Well,
In
It
out
And up
window
time
get
Especially
“Globe
on
and
was
to
we
order
what Side
--
back. downtown
town
advantage
we
later,
headed
into and
--
back.
these of
be
come our
to
there
and
we
went
meanwhile,
were
we
points
enjoy
nice
continued
the
Casablanca
Same
A
some
had
segments.
put
to
way
and
Went Girdling
had
we
seat
got
we
available.
are
And,
back.
do
hotel,
was
back
off, told to
when
us
happened,
[planes].
ourselves
began
of
get
all
were
tried
back
delay
thing,
because
be
in
two-motored this,
in
in
on
and
quite
interest
and
of
the
this
to
on
Cairo
back
and
on
the
the
someone
Air
the
to
to
And
course,
to
we
Tripoli.
to
where
a until
a
way
gave
except
So,
to
plane.
utilize a
diner,
the
huge
waiting
they
get
plane
next
So,
get
Transport
on
when
had
for
in
bit
he
Tripoli.
TRIP
around
we
we
to
we
in States.
the familiar
a
a
we
had
of
a
would we
the
to
ball plane
had
hotel
guilty
And
there
But
Cairo!
had
had planes,
started the hitched
couple
our
we
could
panic
number
took
travel
list
checked
desert
had
Cairo.
of
Landed
truck
reached
he
told
were
some
time
We
I
Command.”
(laughter), and
we
TO
to
call
conscience
was
ground
fire
off
Where
no
reassured
get
there.
descending
starting
of
30
from
a
continue.
us
also
were
(we
give
and
in
taken
to
ride
jurisdiction
us.
coffee,
from
Really
days.
came
on
looking
in
that
there
CHINA
the
Cairo.
the
began
So,
Port
They
were with
ride
a
because
the
the on
told
flight
Tripoli, up
from
there end
airbase,
The
out
which
us
that’s
for
had
a
It
came
(laughter)
plane
dispatcher
out
Leoti
the
to
out that
We
out
truck
somewhat, hadn’t
seemed
that
to
of
of
call
gas
Casablanca.
the
to
was
a
there
over
airbase
this
learn
the
the
one
over
went
suited
the
nice
what
back
stopped,
we
continue.So,
to
he
and
and came.
--
colonel’s
a
been
window,
engine!
is
Casablanca.
air
segment
us.
rode
was
flew
and
that
better
the
and
time.
something
out we
out,
we
at
the
food,
us
there
force
and
All
the
We
desert)
able
up
stay
proceeded they
in
went
and
did.
fine,
about
place
and
another
All
Being
way
he
Well,
the
the
high
and
office
airfield
continued
and
and
had
and
to
visited there
Well, had
that
we
could
of
the
out
pilot back
where
an
and
find
is
then
about
And
found
enough it
had
some
course.
in
I
checked
the
pretty
plane rest
at
was
to
hour,
sounded
was
until
the
to
the that
six
us,
do
the
circled
of
the
took
the
there
to
world
we
traveling
of explore
the
forward,
tents
out
name
kind
a
or
navy
was
transfer
they
we we
and
airport
and
flat.
that
the
truck
had
off
into
end
was
that
out
of I - another crew! Those [first] two guys had had enough! Took off again, went about an hour -- “boom!” Big red ball of fire! Turned around, back to Tripoli. Well, of course, we weren’t too excited that time. Got some coffee, another plane, another crew, took off again. And that time, we made it all the way to the southern coast of Iran, some city down on the Persian Gulf, where we gassed up and ate again and took off and had an uneventful trip from there to Karachi. Which, at that time, was in India but is now in Pakistan.
Same old story. “Get in the truck, go out to the camp in the desert, and we -- we’ll tell you when to come.” Well, this time we thought we’d over -- we’d had as much as we should take, so we got in the truck and went out to the desert. About a week later, our conscience began to get at us (laughter), so we went back to the airport -- taken up to an angry colonel’s office (laughter), but being in the navy helped.
It seems that they had made a mistake. That someone in the office there had thought we were replacement pilots, and we were being assigned as copilots flying transport planes over the “Hump.” So, when the colonel found out that we were sea pilots and not air pilots, he really got excited! Well, he calmed down and discovered that the next plane (laughter) going forward was a general’s plane. The general was flying to Calcutta. And so, he made arrangements for us to be taken on his plane, which was leaving that evening about five or six o’clock. And this, I suppose, was around noon that all this took place. So, we were instructed not to leave the airfield.
Well (laughter), we mosied around, and we found that there was a -- a PX there, across the street from the office building. We went there, and we saw fellows drinking beer, so we went up and asked -- ordered a beer. We were told that they couldn’t sell it by the individual can or bottle -- that you had to buy a case or none. And that the procedure there was that the American servicemen got a ration card once a month for a case of beer. And that these were obtained from the chaplain’s office. We went to the chaplain’s office, and we got a card for a case of beer! Went back to the PX, got the beer -- cold beer. And went outside and sat under a shade tree (laughter). So, when they called us for the plane about five or six o’clock, we were ripe (laughter)!
They put us on the plane, and (laughter) there was -- turned out to be a problem there because the general had offered rides to two Catholic nuns. They put us as far in the rear of the plane as possible (laughter). And then we were dumped off at the first stop, which was Agra [India] (laughter), and taken to a tent and told to stay there until called. A tent with cots in it. So, we stretched out and went to sleep, and it seemed in no time they were shaking us. “Time to go! Time to go!”
So, we went out and got in another plane. That plane got us to Calcutta [India]. Finally! Calcutta! So, I went to a phone in the waiting room and called a number I’d been given, which was the navy office downtown. And I told the man and gave him our names and said we were there. And he said, “Where are you?” Said, “We’re here at the Dum
31
I durn Airport.” “Well,” he said, “I’ll tell you what.” He said, “You see a couch over there? You guys go and sit down on that couch.” And said, “You stay right there until someone comes, which will be about 20 minutes.” (laughter) Sure enough, a chief petty officer came driving up in a sedan! No more trucks, but a sedan! Took us and our bags downtown to the captain’s office. He said that the admiral up in China was very concerned about the delay in our getting there. That the whole operation was being held up, waiting for us. Furthermore, that the admiral had sent a cable to every possible place between Washington and Calcutta that we might have stopped. (laughter) But none of it was our fault. We just obeyed instructions.
So, that was about 10 o’clock in the morning, I would say. And by midnight, we were on another plane, on our way to China. So, that day was being spent being issued a big bag full of field gear -- even gas masks and helmets and all kinds of stuff like that. And going around from office to office with paperwork and so on, so on, so on. And what they did, they arranged for us to take the next plane, all right. And it turned out to be a commercial airliner, flying over the “Hump” to China -- the “Chinese National Airways.”
So, we were taken out in the evening about 10 o’clock or 11, I suppose, to the airport -- the commercial airport -- to board the commercial plane, and it looked just like a scene from an old Grade B movie -- bare light bulbs dangling down from the ceiling, all kinds of people milling around in the -- Chinese civilians, Indian civilians, all in their native dress -- you know, there were Australian soldiers with the hat brims turned up on the side -- all kinds of people.
So, we had to go through customs, and they went through our stuff very well -- they emptied our bags, looked at everything, and we got through okay. But some of the civilians -- they were even squeezing the toothpaste out of their tubes and looking [to see] whether they had any photographs ... searching them -- like I say, it was like it was out of a Grade B movie.
Finally, I guess there must have been about 20 passengers (this was a DC 3. too). Robie and I and the other passengers ... took off in the night. And we flew several hours and stopped somewhere -- went into a diner and had something to eat -- I guess they gassed up again -- took off again. I fell asleep. When I woke up, the sun was rising all rosy and red, and I looked out the window, and right off the wingtip was a wall of rock. I said, “My God, Robie. Look at that!” “Well,” he said, “Look out the other window!” Same thing. We’d been flying through canyons -- the Himalayas. The plane wasn’t big enough to fly over them. We had to fly through canyons. And, of course, the Jap fighters - - the jets -- were patrolling the route, too.
Well, just then, we burst out of this canyon right over a plateau and flew a little way, and there was Kunming, our destination. We landed at an airport, were met and taken to an office there at the airport.
32 gear put we until they airfield, bowl. the too. So. finally up pretty and haul was nearest cabin, where. navy out, on had going and take So, had since China, [ship a were were end in We during faster. picked that All been that because that discovered little the with we ships landing we Well, a well on, which managed And to So, So, So, Yes, By one I got of car the and maximum were used we no way was think left waiting the bit, us which the But the that finally, -- they as filled out out and to seats gas the were so, got an was they was Washington. yeah. issued overloaded. “denied to down sites.] I light runway. the “denied this the our said, some day invasion we driven pilot would that got in haul to was up one had leaving for didn’t about front plane there that was bounce took enough sleeping amount So, and the again. with was That someone Kunming had in sites to us. been change area,” be quite The area,” happened, at all plane lines. evening supplies investigate 15 off trust late by And down won’t to supplies the the put last, tentatively, Across Of still taken it feet to pilot of the once circle bags a and in up of United next the I I in wound we go course, had while supplies. we was mean sleeping think in the lift United long just clothes that at went that to over out again got Chinese and November filled knew around and morning. the and Kunming, off afternoon on an some to in tank and Robie States of the we a up we went the end beyond and airfield we a the mail, quick a time, States, in it, and Robie bags, why the plateau, and would house area 2 had possible until mountains the separate to arrived ground. of and we or to had and 33 gas that etc., do went and the we briefing 1944. and plateau 3 occupied we by really bed. were just the -- and a we and feet be decided tank I a big we were an now surrounded field we were for were proper had point at off landing got The out like I planes By By to told American in were wonderful were our extra the sailed that and a caught and down dinner, was there go the to diameter. there briefed in now, the pilot couple by of we to destination, fellows job. that continue was there the being the because gas were way, the stopping, sites a have invasion over were and the about row three keeps by up last next only and tank supposed Japanese airfield on of in things in told along runway flown a what with an the at And of to plane hours person ring the Robie Calcutta, weeks airfield passengers. the a on trying had the invasion mud spend houses. of that month so, which our mission then we our the -- -- planes of out airfield. France been again to -- to there -- I that and all houses and mountains, had were operation, to coast think way. behind burn to faster the so be the and was part we jump Well, of put the I was we check we gone -- empty, we we night were plane by to China. The needed up of they come a that of -- and in coast could flew were. do ships the were DC the it China then right gas by this the then there. idea ‘em up who was were and faster like and lines. 3, back in of And to -- -- He at
a
. . called “mummy bags.” They were a sort of triangular shape, so you could get into this thing ... and pull the zipper up to your chin, and the zipper was designed so that, in case of emergency, if you just threw out your arms, the zipper would open up, and you could jump right out!
I woke up to loud noises -- loud and very violent noises, and found myself on the floor, running as fast as I could, but still in the bag! (laughter) The zipper didn’t work. There was a great deal of shooting and bombs exploding right outside the window. So, we just stayed there until it was all over and went back to sleep and were picked up the next morning ... of course, we found out what had happened the night before. I forgot to say that before we went to sleep, we could hear the Jap bombers -- one would circle around, “Rrrr-rrrr,” but no bombs fell. Well, they had come in force, and unknown to us, this house we were in was at the end of the runway, and there was an anti-aircraft battery on a mound of dirt right in back of the house. The planes would come roaring down, and the anti-aircraft battery was shooting at ‘em. (laughter) We were also told that the Japs, in addition to dropping the big bombs, would also drop small bombs -- banana or cluster bombs -- and they tried to drop these over the airplanes parked on the field because ... an initial charge would break it open, and all these little bombs would scatter over a considerable range, and, of course, one or two of these could ruin a plane, let alone any people that happened to be around.
So, we weren’t at all unhappy to be continuing on our trip the next morning. (laughter) ... So, we got on the good old DC 3 again, and this time there was no baggage except Robie and me, some mail, and a trunk full of money and afull gas tank, because we were going to be making a distance from about St. Louis to Washington, D.C., where we were to be let out, and then the plane had to fly back again, just on the gas they carried.
Well, we took off, heading east, and it was reassuring to see the American fighter planes escorting us. And Robie said, “Hey, Lee! You remember we were reading ‘Terry and the Pirates,’ the comic strip we were reading back in Washington? Where these guys were going into China -- they were going into the denied area -- and they’re flying over the front lines and were being escorted by the American fighter planes and just about the time they get over the front lines and the fighters peel off?” And Robie said, “What was the next story?” I couldn’t remember any of it, and it turned out that was the last chapter we’d seen before we left Washington. So, we didn’t know what was going to happen to us. We had to continue without knowing. So, we flew all day, and, I guess later in the afternoon, the pilot couldn’t find our destination. So, he circled around, and he asked Robie and me, “You see anything familiar down there?” (chuckle) “Hell, no. We’ve never been here before, and you’re the guy that’s supposed to know!”
He circled around another time or two, and then he said we’d have to head back, because he just barely had enough gas to get back. Well, we flew and flew and ran into
34
jumped
the
and plane
or
used these
we
one weed
who
landed continued,
said,
at
and Danced
Same and
going --
gas
from.
“Well,
get
strong
the
I
four
didn’t
field
don’t
back.”
walked
to
caring
kissed
hit
had
by
“Yeah,
two was
--
end!
old
And
to
go
head
his
feet
Another
we
So, the
So, Fortunately,
the the
in,
it
had
been
get
know
down
plane,
guys
have
right
shot
plane
whether
He
don’t
and
the
But the
and
ground.
off
back
high,
Flying foliage
out
winds
out!”
he’s
been
radioed
expecting
earth
pilot
we
down,
that
this
the to in
-- onto
--
one
word
but
to
between
have
something
jump
supposed
500
stopping
planted
about
went
Tigers,
and plane
--
the
time
Finally
had
it
time.
said,
we
and
a
the
to
was
about
shortly
new any
miles
to
shack
stormy
out!
met were
again.
show
9
gravel
we
said,
us
just
another
“Now
the
If
an
in
or
gas.”
but
crew.
got
it,
through
to
this
we
us found
that
back
There
rice,
upwind
10
over
turned row
again.
after
he
“Thank
us
be
after
Fighter
weather,
it
and
and
don’t
we’re
(laughter)
o’clock
landing
concealed
where
spun
stopped,
I
one
airfield
to
or
of
the
said
what
it
were
trotted
the
managed
radio “Bang,
the
around
something
flags,
had
or
of
do
end
God!
it all
escort,
Japs
to
the
and
Americans. downwind
the
was
that
around
a
strip
it
let
that
going
somebody,
signals,
couple
and
of
He
off
that
and
the
old
35
bang,
best.”
I’ve
and
us had
he
night,
a
the
to
he
was
over
had
down
we
shallow
off.
we
gravel
time,
“Flying said,
like
to
get
so
took
driven
never thought
runway,
of
bang!”
got
and
that
to
jumped
put
that
the
we
But
or
it
that
guys
to
“I
I’m go
“Is
off,
stopped
out,
runway.
whatever!
on
they
lines,
it
got
been
the
valley,
don’t
the
the
them
Tiger” back
--
was
was
he
going
Back
parachutes.
and
on
right
and
back
road
out,
something
wingtips
fellows
had
a
so
fighters
the
think
out
a
to
a
better
the
before
and
I
runway
Later
landing back
scared
again
little
and
to
stuck
to
to
where
got ground
...
and
pilot
pull
this
where
he
I
landed
We
a
down
navigator?”
have
flopped
closer.
down
we
peeled
we
in
they
couple
I
was
some
that
in
it
small
he
had flew have
strip
went the
--
heard
went
my
up,
we’d
enough
started
on
able
had
grew Americans
on
the
been.
morning.
flags
And
it
just
off,
that
life.” and
up
of
town.
off
my
a
right
off
that runway,
evacuated,
started
to
other
riverbank
and
up
and
And
with
enough
they
had
we’re
in knees
So,
from.
land
gas
the
the
three
in.
the
down
we
he
been
guys
they
cliff
to said,
--
so
no
So
. . OPERATIONS IN CHINA
So, Robie and I went trotting into town with one or two Americans who’d been there to greet us (that’s right, the Japanese fighters roared over while we were trotting into town), and these were two Americans who were in the same outfit, and they had radio communications with headquarters, and they had taken rooms for us in a small hotel in this small town, which I would describe as being somewhat like ... umm ... Stephens City. About that size.
We linked up there then to get ready for our mission. When I say linked up, we four guys were there, plus the men who were already there -- two or three of them.
Now I need to explain in more detail about our situation in China. The [?]was working directly with the Chiang Kai-shek forces -- the equivalent of the American O.S.S., which was headed up by a man called Dai Lee, and he had a special operations group, so we worked jointly with him
And I might add that this place where we lived was just about 30 miles inland from the China Sea. So, when we had the meeting in the hotel that night, we six [former] Scouts and Raiders and the two or three Americans who were there already and some representatives of Dai Lee’s Chinese group. So, we discussed the details of the operation and what the latest intelligence was about where the Japanese were and what we might expect them to do to stop our mission. And then, the next day, we set out on our mission.
Well, what our mission consisted of was in checking out some landing places. So, we divided up into teams to check out the various landing places. I went with a fellow by the name of Andresson [spelling?] who’d been a Scout and Raider in Europe, too, and we were going to go to Swatow [port on southern China coast] to check out that area, whereas the other fellows were going to some other beaches.
Activities in China Tape #2, Side B
So, the next day we took off, heading south to our respective areas! And there were four of us traveling together in one group, and we had an old United States Army jeep that had been left behind by the “Tigers” when they had evacuated. And it had been converted to use castor oil for lubricating oil and pine oil for turpentine mixed with rice alcohol for gasoline. And it ran pretty well on level ground, but it didn’t have much power we had to get out and push it over the hills. So, you should have seen us going along. The four of us and our two Chinese associates, who were bilingual and also served
36
jam
the written
Dear
our on
meant
schedule complicated operator pass
already the messages
our
generator
bear
digress
radio we
information, which
Japanese
also
Kunming
make
of town
careful,
as
And
our
the
our
mailbox,
messages.
came
headquarters
commissions,
all
learned
a
in
Mother
whenever
occupied
a
that
test
air,
fork
interpreters
interpreters.
You
if
the
for
It mind,
But
at
mentioned,
calculated
not
and
came
the
to
was has
that
had
this
before
the
of
about
radio every
to
at
will
a
only
by
how
and
could
weather
and
but
sending
a
crossroad
was
a
Japs
take.
to
night
At
moment
had
around.
space
by
the
Morse
we
probably
communications,
be
three
the
it
other
and
we
not
Dad,
the
to
that
over
the
to
guess
had
will
would
operate
fact
And
we
But,
wanted
enciphered,
it’s
say
only
started
to
same
be
many
between
was
and
Chinese
weeks
wasn’t
day
code
to
had
to
And
probably
500
get
that
not
or
“I’m
cranked
they
of
as
way
go
explain
start
receive
receiving
bad
a
time,
we
course,
a
into
teams
a
to,
to
so
miles
out:
we
dot-dash
another
fork
talk
radio
noncommissioned
were
American,”
because
good
who
or
we
his
could
easy
jamming.
because
Communists.
had
a
but
Leonard
although “You
by
be
the
to
in
town
this
about
had
in
away, big
so
and
very
Letter
we
you
enough
when
hand.
the some
only
been
another
10
obstacle
the
come
static
network,
as
toe
we
with
of
had
can
send
words
occupied
it
can
road,
handy,
the
soon
field.
was
communicating
commissioned
We
was
assigned
and
are
someone
which
locals
Another
all
to
from
was
tell
on some
several
37
trust.
for
radio
two
and
So,
His
by
of
we
had
was
on
as
the
a
the
a
a
and
this
because
bad,
minute complicated
we
petty radio
and
China we
Japanese
a receive
is
when
weeks
maps
had
by
Parents
This
next
to
system.
air
the
little
a
thing
“Megwa,
jumps
more
the
exercise.
naval
came
the
then
schedule
communications
Postmark get
[on
at
to
fact officer
--
reminds
toe
we
and
power
in
trip
before
make
10
Japanese,
as
the
officers
and
very
envelope]
that
letters,
we with
officers
on
that
Morse
from
out
came
from
we
o’clock
what
that
latest
we
matter.
Megwa!”
were
the
along
So, the
rapidly.
like
a
for of
went
the
the
this
March
me
a
calculated
wearing
couldn’t
has to
but
were we
the
air
navy
in
code
Chinese
the
had intelligence.
but
this
headquarters
Japanese
out
a
at
of
is
who
addition
along,
or
thought
taken
it
I
dark.
fork
radio
mailed.
night
what
think
This
also
schedule,
allowed
been
14,1945
of
required
is
because
in
headquarters
was
zoris
the
luck
order
stop
in
because
us So,
decision we
not
was
was
for
I
required
I
were
the
first
was
to
was
a
should
away
until
to
had
every
[sandals].”
to
radio
to
30
Well,
to
there
the
was
further a
--
road,
which
set
I
get
told
trying
encipher
receive
minutes
which,
to
have
a
men
from
our
as
that
up
time
came
to
was
into
be
you
one
in
to
our
to
a
I I the
this
Now
me) mountains. chiefly hours. that’s
plenty has cafes.
be human
of okay, There About
first-class bed, am chickens.
Since
and crews town,”
ways,
cooked.
fact
is
to
getting
now
read,
don’t
and
enough
but a
I
be
very
On are
of
I are Now, all
As because
I
that refuse
In
call
Another very
though,
About
Also, You
know
am
seafoods, think
when practice boiled
it
we
addition plenty these if
you
the hotel,
worry
Boiling From
few along
communications
it
sure
we really
safe
must
if
take
living to
the
as
only
you
know,
the
nothing
you
I
the
places
can
walking
because
before
national carry.
gets
first fertilizer. a
of
place
Perry
about
better
only
because
understand
along
only bed
seeing
must
to vegetables
ones
mountains
and
will
Chinese
find
off
wake monotonous.
I rice,
have
running composed
started
of to
drinking,
to
diversion
the
cooking
the
now
be
have
going
on trips, as
something,
habit
the
be.
walking
Stiliwater
rice
we
interested,
you up walking.
country.
a
good
cigs
that
are
heart
trip
been
that
have
(except
out the
(everyplace)
in
there
is
is
water
know,
is
very
the so
for served
sleeping
I
is
of is
enough
coolies by
modern
20
necessary have
of terribly
The
eggs
sightseeing
cigarettes, there
a
these on would You
It sale,
morning
plane
is
difficult miles China.
barn here
corn),
I
is
the
run Chinese
never
cut
every --
the
should
is
lamps
but carry
on days.
China
worried fried
is door
days
be and
make
just and
down a
38
universal and
Living
to
hard
some
day
naturally
my
did
a
meal.
in
of
everything. eventually kill
or
get
We cinch
hot
to
not don’t and laid
see
a some
is which
auto
through back
like from
beds. reading.
sort
read
news:
by
it, bacteria
the
tea
are
en in
It me
scrambled
on
and
the and care
roads not
transportation takes
Chinese
parts
feels
they route. of
coastal
and
12
all by, two
there eat
Can
noodles
country. --
hearing, should
the
reached
to
looking
for
Well,
We
we
wine. rice
aren’t
created
sawhorses! broken the or of
almost
you
10
is
bathrooms
candy
cities,
I sure
China,
hotels wear --
place with
almost
hours
should
imagine we
only
pork
Also,
or
as
this
but
forward
go impossible.
as
in
look
our
spaghetti.
or good
chopsticks. in
and
of
and
On
of about
take
a
we
to prepared
place
enough
pastry
China, say the
That’s
result
bread.
pistols,
sleep are
bed
our
while
finding,
the
eating
must
as
about
food
to over
five
all by
ours.
bomber with other
“moving
either.
of
a the and
This
over All
accept
We
walking, walking.
“Chick
a
night. must and --
I
in places.
using
seven
number
in
got
typical
the
the
water
hand,
their
(even
is
here.
a
all
to
I Sales.” cruisers pictures. upstream.
cookies,
along And had and
yes, took
down we
impossible
in 50,000 information, get
would see Japanese guarantee maps they American
a
were
down a a
for
we house
there
off
have,
couple to school,
to
Although Frank showing
Even
So,
suffer about So,
Japanese
ourselves.
So, had
and And
And a
from
Swatow,
contacted
A
place headquarters there
we
it
in we
ships we
all
for
we
big
a
even back
will
of Marshal
we
they and
the
etc.
50
from made
navy there.
went the
left
us
gradually
where
gang ourselves sisters
called
we
said, feet --
soldiers suburbs,
be
we
Spam, at
to
walking
said,
defense
So,
the
everything it, by photographer
our
along walk
the I
accurate.”
continue
said, long
of
went
could
you
“That
members all then
radio there Mehshin,
“Well, in
headquarters
men bases,
etc.,
realized
the
there mostly,
and
Swatow.
see. as and and “No.
preparations,
or
to
they
make
operator, --
sounds
take
far
soldiers
on
so
Swatow down
see
by been
-- they we But
he
“Whaddya --
That
of
said,
as all
sampans, which
he
along
not sampan,
a I
was that
about
a
are
the
nevertheless, we have
And line insisted packages
has fortune there
like through
won’t
in
50,000,
“Well, are
pretty
and
they a
along Chinese could
was --
it and a
boy
it.” what
he a done
located,
a Catholic
all.” a
the pretty
mean?” which
and
were
has long
chief do. here that
inland walk
much in
the
with
we go
39
will
but
they’ve rest
a
we
Shanghai
secret access We’ve
bit
in
we
city time can
big we in afraid
petty is
at
up
Andresson how be
of
got
the living
“Well, mission.
from of
his
sailed
stay
least
Must said
Son
order get to
the
us gratefully --
traveling
service done
jeep,
into
to
come
many construction officer.
the that
divided
conducted
the
there
bank.
Swatow
we’ve
when all
off
5,000.
close we
(down) --
the beaches
to
if
and There
information
the
the how
all
there
and
have who
we
prevent
and
suburbs
You
So,
the
accepted. on
got
for
information. this up I
So,
country
about
think stirred our
can
or
let was the
said
are, we
Japs church
a
into
today,
to because will
of
we
way,
poled
spy
them interpreter,
he
rivers go landings made
houses.
at
what of
then that
30
met two
invaded
see
up for as
have working
down
least
and
Swatow
services
or
and
get
regards
trouble,
it
by
you, these there teams
we
our by
kind
He
40
was
we’ve
all
the one
the
pulled
by there
motor
finally
way
miles. Shanghai
can
and
and, that?”
of were
in fellows
where
and
priest
and
candy,
they
guns the
bring got
and
we
oh
got
to
S
I in
he school invaded
decided
they about,
work
commandeered finally baggage They
photographer. back
route. Andresson
of
up we going conditions communications, toward we’d
hole
(laughter)
1935
can
us!
about
went
brought
to out.
knew
that
bring --
and
been
So, We
had So, back And So, or
He
to again, So,
Well,
where
So,
the high
So,
on
along.
a So,
1936,
do
had
he the
we said decided we
to
And we
took half about
of given Eric, our
he Americans. everything
inland we’d
a
it
had school
flee now
we
as said, question man
the said, been
Each
we
split said,
their
when
into
hands.
whenever a
we We
his
an
the
had
the
him.
dozen to come
roads from
started
whatever they’re
from that to
“All
“Thank
blown up went interpreter.
a one spy “No.
walked way. fulfill and
photographer,
papers
he
several
the
group
then. We So,
you
was,
that
since
to
All
(such and
tried right. little of
Swatow.
college
through house. off
I
looking
it
a
out, while we
had can’t.
us
need,
you
these --
bridge food along, of was. his and do
Andresson --
the adventures
tiny, to
had
as escape
had
We’ll
coolies
and to
the
He’s we
interpreter, very get
And
the --
they
we spy
I
and And and
were take villages
And
an
the for tried uh,
and
place I go
that
Eric
and
out,
maps
guess were
stay completely
had much.
interpreter,
from he
you water were),
me,
back information
they
guerillas,
him,
carrying
we
requirements then
had
I
to --
would
he
identified
on
where
and here.” blown
won’t
out --
I and
were and get
you’d
that
had took
with guess and and the Now been was
they
never
what
40
the
there.
out
you everything.
take --
way to a I
working they And
flee
his
I him have available, loyal,
nothing
I brought told call interpreter, blown
lot are
in
guess he
without
dress
bridges think,
seen we himself
have
cover,
my
order to
ourselves,
of
went took the
-- back
you
them
you
to
wanted,
and
Mehshin.
intelligence
baggage
picture
a
you’d like
out, to
go
next
and
all
or
him white going
the we
to
there to
off anyone
the
and take
paths, as we’re
down
do
the
a
and meet I
Japan
we
left the spy day
one back
coolie,
guess Japs
call
but
it
the
obviously.
standing
person time, care
back
were,
or
took
their I
To
man in
the
about -- there --
way, knowing,
us. would
them, we
attitude
something,
must with and
requirements
touch
and
I
clarify -- of
radio and
taking and guess
off.
So,
telephone
way?
had
they
and
in me!”
yourselves.”
and put
three
I
them
in
be to
get
continue?”
went their the he
And
with
some
of the we operator.
were
him protect a
evening I in
So,
but
note
got
down
took jig
little
feet
the
when
hot
had
hole! and
we life
with
him.
we through
it
extra
was talking -- people of
wide.
didn’t pursuit
another went
better,
picked -- he
us
in
that
the they the --
And
never
up.
the
as heard
bathing! look they’d sure
the have little restaurant
reciprocate, drinking rice
an President
know And
mayor
to in Eric,
after
the glass
teeth And
to
next whatever chair,
officer. over.
his orange get
second
get
enough, wine
face! like
helpers
been
then,
of
all who
Eric
town.
or were planned -- plate!
up,
Except So,
down. said,
and
So,
electricity So,
And
So,
You the the
we’ve because So,
screen
And
called
Roosevelt!
was
color.
and
10 had was of
means Eric story
of
he’d
somewhat
I
I and
president, And whole “This
in eight we Well,
we’d
course,
got or
see, woke
Some
this course,
we he upstairs.
a a
the
sitting
been
and
or
were “la-ju.” behind 12
of terrible
dinner go And
up
poor
every
started
we every
didn’t
hours
town
anything, or is
that stop street
town a
of
up
a
I
to
soft-boiled
through!”
little the
you
radio had. and
Gombay!”
little each
expected
us we
right
old loose,
the the
steady
was
time
for in
And
everyone
day was
It hangover.
later
happiest get there would
to down
had
had the
building
a
Eric. So, tasted next secretary
way of
or us
next waver.
the
village
we
bombed
and one on we
and
interpreter
us
we to
to movies Eric.
that
we --
around
by
morning cue
in
be had a He’d eggs
ate show had to say,
That
the the of
something
get
my
river
at
day were
that
the evening.
down
And He me,
(there
And to
the
we’d
and
to the
of
mayor sidewalk
a to
“A
and
out lip
walk
or means of
spend mayor
your
shot
and couldn’t keep
outside. that state,
traveling Chinese the said,
table
I
drank
I went
cut, toast automobiles my
in
there
so
rice thought, been
was happened
throw
a
next the
goes glass.
empty and
much. traveling.
like
life.” the
“Lee, etc. little but “Bottoms
and
was
41
--
to to
came
some
and -- waiting
hotel,
And
make
the
the
made town.
night
the down President persimmon
no
by
(laughter) where
up. the
So,
a
way
And
“Oh, cup
ate But I’ve
chamber
waiter
usual
broken
foot right to
shop dinner it
chamber Walk and,
the --
it
(these a
and was
And
to look ... and
We for.
at he
up!”
got
my they down nothing! toast
this
So, mayor
up
Swatow. that
downstairs), fare.
pitched
fortunately,
with
drank, Chiang
throw had a
We
and to party.
guess leg Well, God.
out
juice
into
were big are of
day.
this
to
take
dinner, to
of
And
could to or
commerce throw the a
America,
was
tiny
round
eat
And the
We commerce.
pitcher
goes
up. and
what? About finally, We
keep arms -- bathing
forward,
Kai-shek!
And a
window
then
breakfast.
warm,
leak.”
window! saying,
little
can’t I’d
get
I
there had
in up.
all
on but
table. met
moving
or
I
Same the
30
we get
of
was up
much
I
and
Poor we
places), anything stationed --
the --
had lose
So,
terrible his was a
wine.
miles --
river,
and took
him “A communal
They and
Gombay!”
There Chinese had
talking
on,
Hit
so-called
there
thing
I
he face
guy. were
by
face later,
toast managed a
go.
a it
off
to you
lot to Warm me started
it’d
but said
sedan
was
stuff--
else.
must right
our
was
now, all So,
the
my
again. of
to
the to
in
naval
on
him
no
S
a (through
blowing from
them
and
-
we
about
they’d and
in,
and
and
float
got
and
Swatow,
everything
out
finally
took
“Well,”
as
And
“Well,
“Well,”
“Come
So,
I Anyway,
been about Really,
up I the And
it
And So,
There
And
guess between it
wide
said,
made
off down.” Japanese
I
I
interpreter)
they
they
said,
converted they
said,
I
I halfway and
yeah.
to
“What’s
as he
said, on
were it
said,
I I
had
a
thought
said.
go may the
said,
sat the
the
said, “All said, down,” sort we’re
“What
We
“Get back
been
“Oh,
about ships!”
down next
Potomac
sections
have
“That
of “Oh, down,
right!”
“We’re
“Well,
to
the and
cut
making
a this
down
it do
made morning come
he
burn
three
gas
and
been matter?”
fixed.
bamboo there’s asked
sounds
you
said,
and
was
and
the
at
that
doing
started charcoal.
the to
on,
of
floating
some
Washington, mean?”
the
part
Get
engine him
burn “and
pack
we them.
went
a river
you
like
in
problem.”
boat
quite
it
got to of
of
what
lengths
gasoline, I’ll
them
guys!”
fixed!”
good
to into
bombs They play
my that
Well, stopped.”
stopped up
a
see show
he
bit.
duty
the 42
with and
“la-ju”
the
fun!”
D.C.
had
about
his
was
[I’m
they
and
We’ve
engine.
but you.”
got harmonica! --
explosives in outfit.
a
All
doing --
to sure
tinkered
floating
sort
since talking, the four
into
pretty
report
of
got
center
there
of
or a to these
there
tank
sampan a
wide.
win five
them
around maybe.
on
place
and
was
of
boats
wasn’t
what
that
the
feet
put
this
down
more
here --
with war.
they
long
and a
was
motorized
river,
detonator any
just
the
said!]
it burned
buses
going and
gasoline,
for
river
which
up
hollow
a
the
and
on.
while, sampan
charcoal on
and
was
river
cars
Well,
it - reach to hours,
down
place.
we
playing down
there.
fisherman heard shot
and coast.
on later been (more this planes went
trail), out
brought interpreter
suit, on out
[Junior seemed
fix
got
walking
his
there! I
part
of down
the
out
and
there
and shot had both
to they
that I
It
The two
But
laughter) back So,
Well,
here!” So,
face came did.
So, the
Well,
visit had
Grade], boat
and this to of
regrouped
uh,
the
down I had
that’s
while got (laughter) sides I navy
or and we
harmonica
now
with know
the
was I and
when
into
said,
been
it’s grab was guy out,
quite all
shot-down and three
I
you
the
picked continued
turn
don’t story)
riding
I in I officer of the about me communication like
what
fortunate strafing
out “Well,
tell had where and introduced
get
he bombing one thing
may the
the a
fellows
around
there.
aircraft --
bit
I saw When
remember of
going. you
we
they him
some
we fellow’s
was. and
and area
three sampans, river
wonder was
the going.
of
we
pilot!
I
up
Swatow took
me,
that did.
think
Me
up that
they picked faking
beard,
came
(laughter),
and
Reddish-brown and
bushes, I
more
were.
carriers
in looking the months
Hell,
to
actually
in
and
navy with
him We
the
The that’s
foot,
wanted an retreat. how
strafing river I
his
a
etc., --
up
changed
but baggage. a
boat or they
him The I
cabin
dropped
American
along
I
pilot
the shutdown.
introduced name pilot and
to
(they by for but
Amoy, we found
what
and he and
met
Japanese and
up tell
wouldn’t and
downed
Get to the
he me. the
were he
with looked
had
was
to
got
finally
-- and
this looked
verify
my
we ‘em, they
was time Just hidden out
this wiggled
out
hair where
Chinese
he
and
Which
43 been
pilot,
to
really
me,
able
took
mind.
did,
guy
myself that was
of
still brought naval navy in what
all
another
and I he
do knew that
got
like
hooked
and
here.”
on
case
to we
him (it because
right who him
had Japanese
a was
it! glad
wearing
away.
about ports. back I
I
avoid pilot
young I
a was
officer
peasants)
think
got he
and
was
And that
needed.
navy
they and
parachuted,
out
him, was
town perhaps
otherwise.
to
was
up
to to
in
and
Well,
said, an
there American, So,
I capture, see taken to they
I
guy got
a Mehshin aircraft a
his a found
with troops
off
better and
inch also
and
his place navy
kind
Andresson
I
me! So, -- “I’ll
shot
navy took
-- kept
at
why were after
here
care
aircraft
him.
got
of
trying
probably shorter
Andresson the
out
I’ll of
give I pilot,
were and since
where
carrier
do
down, course,
think
him
the it
coveralls,
about another four
Americans tea and
of he
first
much never And
up,
my
some
up
to
him
crew rushing was!
carrier, who
the
stop on,
with
than
then
or the some
and
convenient
best get there off
on
(to a
a
I
forget later
Chinese five until
and
couple
Lt.
had
Chinese surprise
had
had along pilot
was
going
the
the me the
they
I finish
his
to
of
tried
was
J. and up
in
we
days
my when
the
China they been spy! get guys ...
our flight G.
had the
the
and
the
of
kept
he
help
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. area, too. But that’s why we had to keep moving. But once again, the Japanese had learned it was dangerous to go out into the country looking for us unless they were in a large force, because the Chinese would ambush a small group of them, and we carried money with us to bribe or pay the local Chinese not to report it. I had a suitcase with something like 500,000 Chinese dollars in it, which is probably only $5,000 American. When I took it, I didn’t carry it myself. I had one of my little guerillas carry it, keeping it in sight all the time.
And another problem we had, in addition to the Japanese and the Chinese Communists especially, were the bandits. And our Chinese associates were concerned about the bandits, who had no political affiliation. They were just mercenaries. They never knew for sure what was going to happen, so the best thing to do was to just keep moving.
[Not understandable] asked me how we identified ourselves to the other people, especially in the dark, because we did do quite a bit of traveling after dark. I had learned the Chinese word for “American” is “Megwa,” so the first time somebody jumped out of the dark and put a gun in my gut, I was glad I remembered “Megwa” and that he was a loyal Chinese! Then we had other obstacles, too, at least in the [?]One time we were staying in a little town, and we heard a big commotion one morning, and there were some guys with a tiger -- a big orange and black striped tiger, dead, stretched out on a ladder. They’d killed it out in the country and brought it into town.
And I thought, “Oh, my God!”
Tape #3, Side A, China “You mean I’ve been out walking around at night with these sorts of things?”
Well, we all regrouped in Mehshin and sent our reports back to headquarters, and then we made our way back to where we started out from where the plane had let us out, and we just had routine experiences going back there, but nothing dramatic as I recall. So, we finally got back to the airstrip, and a plane came along and picked up the pilot and the spy and all of our reports.
When we had radioed back to them at Mehshin -- told them the situation -- headquarters responded to us, at the airstrip, that they had decided that instead of all six of us coming back with our reports, as had originally been planned, they thought that two could bring back all of the reports, and the other four of us stay out there and keep up the good work.
So, once again, we drew straws. And I considered myself one of the lucky ones, not having to make that plane trip back! I thought it was safer out there with the Japanese than it was to ride that damn plane back! So, we split up again, and Robie went to one
44 town where there were some Americans working, and I went to another little place where there was an American camp. It was called “Camp 7.” The Americans there were training Chinese men as soldiers and guerillas with the idea that when the invasion -- the American invasion -- came, these people would attack the Japanese from the rear as the Americans attacked from the ocean. Plus, doing sabotage work, sabotage against the Japanese meanwhile.
So, I got a group together -- 15 or so -- and trained them in sabotage and ambushing, things like that, and we were going to go up along the canals and go inland from Shanghai to Beijing. There’s a railroad and a canal system which the Japanese were using to haul supplies inland -- into China. And our plan was to go up there and blow up the railroad cars and the barges. But we had to postpone it because the money didn’t come, and without the money we couldn’t do anything! I’ve been asked what did we need the money for? We needed the money to buy rice -- to buy food for all of us. You see, we didn’t have any supplies. All we had was some money! We lived off the land. That’s why we ate in little restaurants and things like that. We ate the best that was available, but it wasn’t much damn good -- at least, it didn’t seem to meet my needs.
Well, from time to time, a plane would be sent out from headquarters, bringing us money and mail and exchange of people -- for example, like when Robie and I went out there.
I guess this would be a good time to say something about the American presence in China. There must have been a couple of thousand Americans in China, but most of them were in Chunking and Kunming at headquarters. However, there was something called the “Coastwatchers,” who were men scattered along the coast -- the China coast -- usually two or three of them, and they had a radio, who watched the Japanese ships, and they could contact the American fleet and tell them where the Japanese ships were, hoping the American fleet could attack the Japanese ships. And up north, there were weather observers. Yeah, I think up in the Mongolian area -- weather reporters, because I think the weather used to come from that direction down across China and then out over the Pacific Ocean.
And then there were almost half a dozen so-called camps set up in the Japanese- occupied area. Which were very much the same thing where I wound up -- Camp 7. They were supporting the local “underground” as it was called in Europe, supporting in training and money. But the majority of Americans were back at headquarters, in Chunking, Kunming, and even Calcutta. I doubt if there were more than ... 200 altogether in the Japanese-occupied area.
One thing I might mention is that, except for the six of us who had gone out from Europe, all the rest of the men had gone out from the United States to India, and finally to China, and we were the only ones who came out there on a strictly intelligence mission
45
I and then stayed to continue until the war ended. So, what I’m saying is that there were only a few of us that were going aggressively after the information that was needed.
Well, we didn’t travel all the time, but when we were traveling on an operation, I had a map of China (of the part we were in) that was printed on silk, and in the winter I wore it as a scarf around my neck. In my jacket pocket, I had a hand grenade, and I had a 45 pistol on my hip, and I carried a carbine rifle, or I had my coolie, my “gun bearer,” carry it (laughter).
So, when I organized my group, I had to teach them everything -- how to shoot pistols and rifles and how to throw hand grenades. And that was the hairiest part of everything because they had a great curiosity -- they always wanted to see everything explode! I guess maybe they thought they were firecrackers. So, I had to scheme and devise ways to keep them from getting killed. So, one thing I did when it came to hand grenades, I found a little hill -- a sharp little hill -- and I’d get them on one side, and on the other side was a rice paddy. I’d get them on one side. (I had a deep hole to get in myself). I’d give them a demonstration myself, of course -- you know, you pull the pin, and you throw it over the hill into the rice paddy. And the thing explodes, and the water comes up! You not only hear the noise, but you see the water! I thought, “Well, maybe that will take care of them!”
And it did. I didn’t lose any of them. ... But can you picture me in a school room, with a group of guys, working through an interpreter, teaching them how to use an American Army pistol -- how to shoot it, how to take it apart, clean it, load it, everything [?j Of course, first aid, too. Of course, I didn’t do that -- I didn’t have anything to do with that.
I didn’t have any medical supplies. All I had was a little box that was sort of like a Sucrets box, that had some Atabrine and some quinine and some sulfa powders and maybe some iodine -- that was my whole kit. But I learned something from them [the Chinese].
I didn’t have to use their techniques. They did things like make a poultice of manure and put it on a wound. It looked crazy to me, but it worked. So, they did things like that.
[There was a long interruption in Lee’s dictation here.]
(April 19, 1984. We are continuing again after an interruption of several weeks, and this is April 19, 1984. Change to three months. It’s been a bad winter here. Lots of snow and ice and rain.)
But I want to backtrack a little while. A few minutes ago, I mentioned that I had a
46 .
map printed on silk. Well, I also had a map printed on plastic. And my wife has had that map framed, and it hangs in my den now. [Note: He made a mistake. The silk map was framed.] The other thing is in reference to my little first aid kit that included atabrine and quinine. Well, that was important because malaria was very bad in the area where I was, and it seemed like almost all of the local people had malaria. But the navy planned differently from the army about dealing with the malaria. Whereas the army people took atabrine on a daily basis so that they would never know whether they had malaria or not, the navy decided we would not take anything unless we got sick, and then we took atabrine and quinine to beat it. I was extremely fortunate in not getting malaria, because I think practically all of the Americans did, and some of them 7, 8, 12 times. And I must have been bitten 10,000 times by the mosquitoes because none of the buildings had window screens, and, of course, I was out a lot at night walking around and just constantly being bitten. The natives taught us how to tell an Anopheles mosquito from a non-harmful one. We would sit and catch ‘em and look at their wings -- it still didn’t matter because they just swarmed around us all the time. (laughter) I did try to sleep under a net at night during the mosquito season. Although I was exposed to all kinds of diseases, I didn’t catch anything that was really bad. I did have diarrhea two or three times, but just for a day or two, but thank goodness, nothing else. Except by the end of the war, I had lost a lot of weight. I guess as a result of the climate and malnutrition, I had developed some skin trouble that went away when I got back to the States.
Let’s stop for a minute here and take a look at the overall time frame. I went out there, I guess, in November of 1944 and stayed until the war ended in August of 1945 when I left the denied area and gradually worked my way back. So, arriving there in the winter, we went on our operation -- the main purpose to gather information to use for the American invasion of the coast of China.
And then we spent the spring in training the soldiers in the sabotage groups that I mentioned, and we were going to use the summer to start the sabotage operations. But we couldn’t get started on the sabotage business in a very large way. We did mount one campaign down to (I can’t quite think of the name of it now) -- down south of us on the river that came inland, a town about 30 to 40 miles in from the coast where the Japanese had been, and we heard they were pulling out of this town and going down to a seaport. So, we gathered up all our Chinese troops, whatever we had, and went down there to occupy the town after they pulled out. But our gang got there a little too soon and (laughter) ran into the tail end of the departing Japanese, and there was a little skirmish about that. But mostly, it was training and getting ready for the invasion. But fortunately for us, instead of the invasion coming, the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in August, and the Japanese surrendered, and our war ended.
Letter from China After V.J. Day Leonard to His Parents
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Thanks for the picture of Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Bechtold. She looks plenty okay. and Jack has made me feel a bit old, but better late than never for me, I hope. Have you any suggestions yet?
Mother, today is the first word that you are working again. Does it seem good to be back in action?
The bird I am holding in the colored picture is a Chinese pheasant. It was very pretty at the time, and I am sure anxious to see all those pictures.
As far as I know, neither myself nor the other fellows received any medals at South France, but I may receive a commendation over here. Buck and the old Scouts have plenty of medals. I think the navy point plan stinks.
This is not the only place that wealthy students have Parker 5111pens. They buy them in the black market at terrific prices.
Tell everyone hello for me. Love,
Son
49 himself out headquarters while up and thanked take So, plane. Chunking three and Admiral throughout the 3, course, go months They down with. you enlisted directly stayed for was Chinese or in on in when equivalent about take I know, me when two-motored the went. of were Of he the to to They there As “Well,” So, they Well, Well, with I back us, out him men, the a Miles guerillas. Shanghai. was the little was they denied a with look. it the among being we the year And and, just from coast happened, had until just six very to there, to the when there. and town war got of got area, and me.”So, he send headquarters of in left the as to area one the reason in the much, they where this the the transport back said, ended the us usual, They walk the I THE we where Arkansas plane I’d them and a CIA, became States Chinese on who news first was plane boondocks, were Chinese Admiral joined got “You to obviously, I but myself. to they a took was it wanted off, came, which personal Chunking we went Americans the back the by being earlier plane, able I out SLOW fairly and got a said someplace can right were, man so up group radio nearest place, man out Miles, to to and to it was a with have to summer, do what and and in who junk get the was a well off get inspection there, and go about with lieutenant it -- that, who’d the headed oh, to him. airport some river for was I it the back who the to like was I acquainted wanted we and RETURN get and war. landed really 60 him, Shanghai all I Shanghai the chief airport. they what didn’t Well, had a 50 been and was to interpreter there, made other or wanting right, by fresh-air There at bomb trip, who the says, 70 wanted the didn’t to navy in commandeer Chunking, General our we doing he see fellows their miles go States. and Well, a but which with radio, was was when were called commanding little and “yes, was doctor to to any taxi. bother I first and to the way the eventually an that go him, south Dai surrender, I there HOME valley, Well, several he of of do who, we sir!” should a official bulk to there bodyguard I So, city! up take “C-47,” I’d course, the liked want Lee, was to and some left New of for to the the as these been put of other and was (laughter) a Shanghai. officers say, to for he an who officer you a I to in the look three coast found York a sampans mentioned, the couple go so admiral said also do. we day Chunking. out a what were the five to training all was weapons he over doors at hopped of He to City. there fly later he in out and known rolled other radioed me. for was, the well of us I Shanghai. China, traveled to wanted back felt and (laughter), that on several days, the were he The guys And in Shanghai of guys had I into known Of carrier on, like the get as turned China guess, the they to last his place was I -- and gone a I to the one. did by -- was DC six I there to take us into the admiral’s headquarters. A weapons carrier was like a pickup truck -- a little pickup truck -- so the three of us rode in the back. There were some other little wooden benches back there where soldiers normally rode. And so it seemed like we had to go the whole way through Chungking (which was the capital of China at the time), all the way through the city, to get to the admiral’s camp and offices. So, the admiral gave me a tour -- he described the places of interest as we went along, one of which was the residence of Patrick Hurley, who was the American ambassador to China and who Admiral Miles did not hold in high esteem by any means! In fact, he made a few comments about the ambassador that the ambassador would never want to hear, I’m sure (laughter)!
Well, I won’t go into all the reasons for that, but there were things going on in the political as well as the military matters between China and the United States at the time.
So, I saw the good doctor, who was a full captain. He was the senior medical officer for China. And he looked me over and said, “Well, I don’t know.” And I said, “Well now, Captain, the admiral said after I checked in with you, I could go on back to Shanghai!”
“Well,” the captain said, “I think it would be a good idea if you went on down to Calcutta to the general hospital and let them look you over.” “A-a-agh!” I said. But nevertheless, I found myself on another plane going to Kunming first, where I had to check into an army hospital and wait a few days until I got a plane down to Calcutta where I finally took a ship back to New York.
So, I guess we can figure I never did get to Shanghai. I just kept going backwards (laughter)! So, I finally got back to New York where I had started out my first day in the navy! First day and last day of active duty in New York City.
We did have some interesting experiences while I was there, e.g., the American bombers would fly over us on the way to bomb the Japanese, and then they would come back over us again on their return. And we would always count the planes going and count the planes coming back to see if there were any losses, and from time to time, the Japanese fighters would attack the American bombers. One time a Japanese plane was forced down, and we captured the pilot, and we all had a lot of fun sitting in the cockpit and having our pictures taken! Well -- I don’t think I did, but I remember sitting in the cockpit of what was called a “Zero” fighter plane -- a one-person plane with an open cockpit. Well, we turned the pilot over to our Chinese counterparts, and he was debriefed and taken away somewhere. Well, he actually surrendered (laughter). His plane was damaged, and he had to make a forced landing, and there was no place to go (laughter)!
As a kind of a wrap-up of my time in China, it was an extremely interesting experience that I’ll never forget. I was in places in China that no white man had ever been
51 . before, and people had never seen a white man before. So, I’m glad I went, and I’m glad I got out with my health and no wounds, but I have no desire to go back to China again. I’ve seen enough of it.
One more thing about China is that after the war, an organization was formed by the navy people who had been there, which was called the “Sino-American Cooperative Association” (which is what the navy group was called, actually, during the war). We have a national organization which has a convention every year in a different city, and this year it’s going to be in Seattle, and the year after that, it’s going to be in Taipei [Taiwan], which would be a wonderful trip for anyone who wanted to go because the Chinese government (now, I’m talking about the free Chinese, not the Communists) -- the government pays all the expenses [for] a week or 10 days there. The only thing it costs is the roundtrip airfare.
I’m a member of it, of course! I’ve only been to one convention, which was in Washington, D.C., and one other affair I attended, also in Washington, which was when several of us were presented Chinese medals.
Tape #3, Side B The medals were presented by the Chinese ambassador to the United States, and a couple of other high-ranking Chinese people. And there is a scroll or certificate that has printing on one side in Chinese, and on the back, it has a translation describing the medal, what kind of medal it is and why it was presented, and the actual medal itself My son-in- law mounted it in a very nice box with a glass cover -- red velvet in the back, and I now have it hanging on the wall in my den, along with the certificate and the map of China which I mentioned earlier.
Well, I don’t know -- I should say, I haven’t memorized what’s on back, and I’m not home right now to quote what it says.
I would like to go back to my trip from China back to New York. I went first from Chunking to Kunming on military passenger planes and checked in there at an army general hospital, waiting for transportation on to Calcutta!
As a general background to this, I want to mention that military people had to have orders to travel to go from one place to another, so the orders I was given in Chunking were to proceed to a navy hospital in the United States, and I was authorized to travel by air or sea or by whatever means were available and necessary. And, I think I had mentioned earlier, that before leaving Washington for China, I had been issued a passport authorizing me to go to China and back and to pass through any countries that were necessary. So, I was in good shape -- I had my passport and my orders (which were very general) and didn’t have a time limit and no specific travel itinerary to follow.
52 .
So, at Kunming when I checked in, the patients at army hospitals are all issued army hospital pajamas and robes, and it seems like they were all red -- red-colored corduroy, or something like that, and all the patients were dressed the same. Well, we had to -- everybody that could walk -- had to walk from the ward where his bed was to the mess hall to eat, the mess hall, of course, being a little distance away, but not too far for us to walk. Of course, there wasn’t anything wrong with me except I had some blisters on my skin in various places. However, as you know, the war ended, and I wasn’t the only American needing medical attention that was sent to Kunming. The American prisoners of war, in the Japanese prison camps in China, most of them were brought to Kunming for first treatment and processing before being forwarded on back to the United States. It was really a traumatic experience to see those fellows, and it really made me happy and glad for my good fortune because they were really skinny and had endured terrible hardships, and a lot of them had nervous breakdowns, and they were confined in their wards. So, I, too, had lost quite a bit of weight, although I had been a free prisoner (laughter), and I was surprised and embarrassed in the dining hail to be mistaken for one of the fellows who had been a prisoner.
And my office was in Kunming, and I went down and visited them a few times and got a decent meal in town (laughter). A few drinks. And I was assigned to a hospital evacuation plane, taking patients to Calcutta. And it was a big plane, but once again, it was very upsetting to see about 10 or 12 of these fellows who had been released from the prison camps, in straitjackets and tied down on stretchers as they were carried and put on the same plane.
So, it was an easy flight this time going from Kunming to Calcutta. I didn’t have to worry about Jap fighters shooting us down, and I didn’t have to fly through the canyons and hide ... and we stepped out in that sun at Calcutta, and, oh boy! It felt like it was 200 degrees. And it might have been -- Ijumped into the shade under the wing as fast as I could (laughter) ... and we were taken into the army general hospital in Calcutta ... where I spent perhaps a week, as I recall.
Now this is the latter part of August, as I recall. And they decided at the hospital all I needed was nourishment. So, they fed me lots of vitamin tablets and wanted me to eat all I could. In fact, the nurse would bring me a glass of whiskey (a small glass of whiskey!) before each meal to stimulate my appetite! How’s that for being in the hospital? Well, they weighed me when I got there, and I weighed 125 pounds. The food really tasted great -- the first American food I’d really had in a long, long time -- and I would go into breakfast, for example, and I would eat several menus -- I’d have, like, Spam and eggs and toast, then I would have pancakes and whatever else they had -- I ate it all, everything. That was for breakfast. Go back at lunch -- same thing. Everything they had, I ate it! Same thing for dinner.
Well, I guess I had a period of adjustment gradually. Remember when the war
53 . ended, I went back with the admiral to his headquarters, and I spent a couple of days and had some American food there, and from there to the army hospital in Kunming ... by the time I got to Calcutta, I was really packing it away. And then after dinner, I would go over to an officers’ club at the hospital and have some drinks and a sandwich or something (laughter).
And I’ll always remember that army general hospital, because many years after, when I was working for the government, I met a couple who had also been there, at the army hospital in Calcutta.
This is Betty and Billy Milton, dear friends, and still are, and live near us here, in Front Royal. Betty was an army nurse stationed at the hospital. I never met her while I was there. And Billy, who’d been in Burma and China, he went there, too, on his way home, but that was some time before I got there
Well, as I was getting my health back, I decided to take myself out of the organized stream of patients, and I got my orders and my passport, and I went into the hospital office and said, “Well, thanks for everything, fellows. I’m checking out now, and I’m going to continue on my way.”
So, I went downtown to Calcutta and checked into our navy office there, and they put me up in a house where several navy fellows lived and which was in the suburbs of Calcutta near the racetrack. The horse racetrack. So, during the short time I was in the hospital and the few days I was in the house, many days my daily routine would be to go down and have lunch at the British “Bath & Tennis Club” (where you could get real genuine Scotch). I think they call it a “peg” -- about an ounce -- have lunch, and then I would go to the Metro Cinema and watch a movie, and then I would go to Firpo’s restaurant for tea (laughter), sit out on a balcony, and watch the traffic going up and down this big street with the cows and the monkeys and the elephants and the rickshaws -- a very colorful procession. Oh, and they had bought the old streetcars from Washington, D.C., so I felt right at home watching the old Washington, D.C., streetcars going up and down the street in front of the hotel. And then, I would go on to the Great Eastern Hotel and have dinner. The service at the Great Eastern was very good, because there were always from five to seven waiters assigned to my table. If you pulled out a cigarette, by the time you got it to your mouth, there was a man there with a lighted match in his hand.
One afternoon when I went to the Great Eastern, as I was walking through the lobby, I heard the click of what sounded likepool balls. So, I went down in the basement, and there before me was a row of what looked like snooker tables! And British men shooting snooker! Well, this was the first time I’d seen snooker tables since Perry, Oklahoma. It seems to be an English game which jumped from England to Perry, Oklahoma, to Calcutta (laughter). So, I had a lot of fun shooting snooker. This is a form of pool, but it’s a larger table, and there are a lot of red balls -- solid red balls -- in
54 . addition to the numbered balls. And you have to shoot a red ball before you can shoot a numbered ball. Well, this is an oversimplification, but that’s the general idea.
Well, obviously, I was getting foxy by now, and I was still trying to scheme how to get back to Shanghai, when I learned about a place that ... sounded very different, but it sounded very interesting and exciting, and I wanted to go there. And these were the -- I think the British called them “hill camps.” They were R&R (Rest and Recreation) places the British had up in the mountains north of Calcutta. They were on lakes and rivers and had beautiful scenery -- like Switzerland. Of course, the British kept talking and talking and talking about these wonderful, exciting places, so I was determined to go up there and enjoy myself for a while!
Well, I had a problem about clothing. I lost my bag, my clothing, in China, so I had to get re-outfitted down in Calcutta, and, as it turned out, the American navy officers there patterned their clothing after the British, or maybe the British were in charge and the British and American navy officers were supposed to wear the same thing. Anyhow, during the daytime we wore whites -- those were the short-sleeved white shirts with the shoulder boards and the short pants and long white socks. So, I had to go out and buy myself those outfits to wear during the day, and then at night we wore what were called “dress whites,” which were the long sleeves with the long pants, because of the mosquitoes. And being dressier, too. Mind, you couldn’t go to a first-class restaurant or hotel without being dolled up! I tried to go in one place one day and didn’t have a necktie on, and the head waiter said I couldn’t go in, but he would rent me a tie! (laughter) The only exception to the necktie rule was the “bush coat” or “bush jacket.” Well, I happened to have one of those, too. It happened to be a British one, but it worked.
Well, on with the story. I think I was saying something about these hill camps up where it was cooler -- they were like resort hotels where for years and years the British people -- all of the British government people -- would go up there in the summertime. ... and it really sounded great.
But at the same time, I began to become more concerned about my skin condition. It really wasn’t going away that fast. So, I finally decided to take first things first, and the most important thing was my physical condition. So, I decided to go on back to the States and try and get well.
So, although I could travel any way, I wanted to ... I really was tired of flying. Really, I had done quite a bit of flying -- I had left France, gone back to the United States, crossed the States, back to the East Coast, and from the East Coast all the way out to China. That’s a lot of miles. So, I was down in the Officers’ Club one day, and I happened to bump into another American navy officer who I’d known over in Europe, and guess what his job was? His job was to assign American navy officers transportation back to the States!
55 . So, we had a few drinks, and I said -- well, I didn’t want to go back on a troop ship or anything like that. So, he said that, just by chance, a brand-new American freighter was coming soon and would be going back to New York City by way of the Mediterranean and was going to carry about 20 passengers, of which about 10 would be civilian passengers, and the other 10 could be American military officers.
So, I said, “Put me down!”
Letter from Calcutta Leonard to His Parents
Postmark Tuesday, Oct. 9, 1945
Dear Mother and Dad, These past two weeks have been the most hectic ever -- especially the last few days. I have a berth on a freighter -- a new fast one -- and it’s much more desirable than the crowded transports, but it’s a merchant marine ship and doesn’t sail until the skipper is good and ready. Three times in five days they have called me to be ready to go aboard in two hours and then canceled at the last minute. So, I just sit here in the navy house and wait, patiently, for them to decide to leave.
We are supposed to leave at noon tomorrow, but I won’t believe it till we get underway.
I guess that sounds kind of bitter, but this last-minute waiting is the worst.
It will take us about 28 days to make New York or Boston. We don’t know yet which it will be, but I’m going to write every day until we leave, and so if the departure is as speedy as it will probably be (after the delays), you will know about when I will reach the States even though I don’t have time to write that the time has come.
This new freighter is a swell break because there are only a few passengers. We will have staterooms and good chow (hope) which is much better than the crowded transports and just as fast. Turbine engines.
Gee, but it’s hot here. I stay inside and under the ceiling fans just about like a bear hibernator. It was nice and cool in Perry a year ago -- remember?
I haven’t received any mail for a long time. Must be looking for me in China.
It’s supper time now. Then a movie and bed, and tomorrow noon we may leave.
56 .
Love,
Son P.S. I’ll call you when we land.
And he did, so I got on board a ship with a few other lucky fellows -- some navy officers, some air force pilots, some army officers - I’ve forgotten. But, as it turned out, I was the lowest-ranking one of the whole gang, and, in fact, I think I was still a lieutenant junior grade when I got on the ship, and all the rest went from army captains and majors to lieutenant colonel, I think. And the navy fellows were lieutenants, lieutenant commanders, and maybe even, I think, a full commander. So, I was the Indian, I was the lowest-ranking one, and if there was any work to do, I got the job (hollow laughter).
Oh, yeah, all these other people, they were healthy -- there was nothing wrong with them. I just wangled a reservation on this ship because I knew the guy who made the reservations. I don’t know how those other guys managed, but it was considered a good deal.
But one thing that appealed to me about it was that I knew it was going to take a month to get back to New York, and by the time I got there, maybe I would have gained some weight back and my condition would have improved by the time I got there. And that’s the way it turned out -- I was in pretty good shape when I arrived. They had plenty to eat. I continued about like I had at the hospital when I arrived there. I had the three meals on the ship. Usually they had a choice of three entrees. Well, I ate all three. Then they always kept some goodies in the refrigerator in the dining room, so I’d sneak down there in the middle of the morning or afternoon and have a piece of pie or cake (laughter)! Can you imagine just stuffing yourself-- anything, everything, and all you want? And not worry about gaining? Ho, ho!
Well, we started out from Calcutta on the ship and stopped first at Columbo, Ceylon, where the ship was going to discharge some cargo and pick it up. But there were some delays about the cargo being ready -- something like that, anyway, so we spent three to five days there. So, we spent most of the time ashore. I did anyway. And I met some nice people who lived there, and they had me to their home for dinner, and I went out to restaurants and did some sightseeing, and it was very pleasant. And we continued on and went across the Indian Ocean, then the Red Sea, and through the Suez Canal to Port Said. That was the next stop. Boy, it was hot in the Red Sea. We wore nothing but our underwear -- there were no women on the ship (laughter), so it was really hot, and at sundown, the sun going down -- it looked like a huge ball of fire. Another interesting thing. We went through the Suez Canal, and it’s not in a straight line -- it kind of zigzags as you go along, so you’ll be riding along, and you look across the sand, and it looks like another ship, and it looks like it’s had the bottom cut off, and it’s just standing there on
57 the sand (laughter), but it’s in the Canal, too! So, that was funny.
And we got to Port Said, which is in Egypt before you get to the Mediterranean, and pulled the ship up and docked right at the end of the main street, with houses and businesses and everything going right down to the dock. You can look right up the Street from the ship. Well, I don’t think we stayed there hardly any amount of time -- anyhow, I didn’t go ashore there
And then we went on through the Mediterranean, went by Crete, and doubling back where I had been before, and by the time we went by Tunisia and Italy, it was kind of like going back home again! Because, bear in mind, I’d started the war by going over there (the Mediterranean) by sea and all around there, went back to New York, so when I went to China, even though I went by air -- I went by the same towns, and here I am coming back again -- third time!
And then we get again into the Atlantic -- somehow by now, it’s November! I don’t know where I’ve been spending all of this time since the war ended in August (laughter). But it was November when I got back to New York City - sometime in November. But crossing the North Atlantic -- boy, it was rough! And this freighter would be heading into the water, and the waves would break right over the bow of the ship and come all the way across the front of the deck, and some of it hitting the bridge, and some of it coming right over the top of the bridge! Of course, once again I was lucky in not getting seasick, which I have never yet been in my life -- yet, anyhow. And so, we finally arrived back in New York City, and the freighter dropped anchor in the harbor. Being a freighter, it had to be in quarantine and be inspected before it could sail right up to the dock and let us off.
So, the last night, the captain had a dirmer -- a farewell dinner. And everyone was supposed to dress up a little bit -- whatever we had to dress up with. And it was quite a nice affair. But I’ve got to backtrack a little bit. He had kind of taken an interest in me during the trip. He had invited me up on the bridge several times and shown me all the navigation equipment and how everything worked, etc., and I appreciated it, but I didn’t pay much attention to him, except I thought, “Well, he’s a typical merchant marine ship captain. He was gray-headed and a little bit short and paunchy, a bit fat.” I figured he’d spent his whole life sailing around on merchant ships. But at his party, when he came in the dining room, I did a double take. Here he came in dress blues -- navy uniform. He had four gold stripes on his sleeve and a gold star! And he said yes, he was a retired navy captain, and when the war started, he was too old for active duty, so he volunteered to be a captain on a merchant marine ship! (laughter) Did I feel put down (more laughter)!
The next morning, the captain said that we passengers would be sent ashore in a boat. But he called the
58 .
Tape #4, Side A So, the next day he arranged for us military passengers -- and I suppose all of the passengers -- to be taken to the dock in a boat. But he said that he wanted the military officers to report to his office. Which we did, and he was standing there holding a piece of paper in his hand, and he said in this situation, he would allow us to go to shore, but the senior ranking officer would have to be with them and would have to sign the document as the person responsible for the group.
And all these other guys were standing around there -- these commanders and colonels -- and everybody started looking around. And then the captain said, “Will Lieutenant Tate please step forward?”
(laughter) I thought he’d made a mistake! And he called my name again and made me come. And you should have seen the look on those other guys’ faces! As it turned out. I was the only general duty officer in the whole gang -- the rest of them were all staff officers of some sort -- and I was the ranking command officer of the group! So, I (laughter) -- I had to sign for them. I always thought that was kind of amusing. Okay. I’m going to stop for a minute.
Well, my great glory didn’t last long, because we reached the dock, and there was no one there to take care of my baggage!? I had to throw my bags up on the dock and climb up and look around.
“Well, here I am! Back in New York City, down at the Battery!” Nobody there to meet me, no coolies to carry my bag, no taxis in sight, no nothin’! Bear in mind, please, my orders were to report to a naval hospital. So, the navy doctor who had treated me in China had told me that if I could wangle it, I should go back to New York City and go the St. Albans Naval Hospital on Long Island. So, I had decided that’s where I would go.
But the way navy orders are written, it says you will proceed on about a certain date to such and such a place. Well, the word “proceed” automatically allows you three full days. So, I had decided to use my three days downtown in New York City before going out to the hospital. And don’t forget that I was fairly familiar with New York City, having gone through Midshipmen’s School there, and then been in and out several times during the war. I never had any trouble getting a hotel room, for example, but I was soon to find out that the situation had changed, because now all of the men were returning to the States, and there were no hotel rooms to be had. I looked and looked and looked and called and phoned hotels. The first night, I wound up sleeping on a massage table in the Turkish bath in the basement of a hotel! They rented it to me -- after 11 and before 8 in the morning. That was a great homecoming. Walking along the sidewalk that night, looking at all those windows, thinking there are 7 million people here, and everyone of them has someplace to sleep!
59 . that hadn’t morning think, they’d me hospital told
“I’m
Goodbye!” Tate?” just key. front!”
front out treated (laughter) he was from made 40 and
KMAVG
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I towards north there a tickets, out till absolutely downtown Cairo, Long passengers, June was to long, except orders looks Dear LOVE AM VLT city know Tuesday. to written WELL 17, were Mother MRS. at of Island, on like a Abadan from for Here SON Departed I We My Gosh, etc. place any Shanghai, Hong that don’t the 1946] I running some no to orders had will I’m so H the rate, AND Washington. coast, is = you and So, and send near Japs. but C Kong have the LEONARD (Persia), a a first not Trip finish rough brief TATE I from and about are nice Dad, it won’t COMING were food Amoy. the you go over Then even sounded enough of to all I up log trip back telegram, with Washington will water will about September, 30 to and PERRY Karachi with well. know the going by Since of The stop back minutes let find a points quarters all home the river good HOME people. in a clear It’s you end when hundred at to means Leonard the Monday on Letter past Chien-au. and, (OKLA) (India), a been town to to know to the record. of by I naval late Atlantic and think. were Nan you hear SOON It’s 10 let get the subway of freighter. almost in until from miles months. “brief me Calcutta is as out, impossible transportation can hospital line Ping, = your good. January to That a 61 soon where tell holiday, I His expect so was from two New start from voices then you, is log” The It’s it as (India), Parents for a where will and months a home. Shanghai. I downtown little York a up me to few Postmark [Early New weather find the a of new on by probably get thorough a except until past I fellows doctor road secret the Kunming, out. air [How York was a since ship, November?] hotel telephone to was I If 10 parallel This talk Sunday when flying New field Casablanca, is I you and little be the checkup. got months am good room, a to hospital some madhouse. last Chick-yang, York. there can sick, in the to or did him. to [1945] this a and see autos mail, war taxi, find the place time he but were Then I It won’t afternoon smooth is Tripoli, stopped know!] coast ended, can’t Foo theater not and from at yet. where It only new Jamaica, and is me. Chow, be that and be [Note: just and a out on and It few I . . . caught a plane ride back to Chung King with Admiral Miles. Then on to Kunming and Calcutta. Did you ever guess where I was? Ha! Maybe that article in the Perry Daily was enlightening, but I sure can’t imagine what or why. Can you send me a clipping? Also, when did the admiral send the silk? I don’t understand that either. I think that you know more about things than I.
By the way, I left Kunming just three days before the revolution started there. The Americans should all get out of China and let the Chinese settle their troubles.
That last letter from Calcutta is probably funny, but I sure was mad at the time. Three times the sailing date had been postponed.
Is Oklahoma still dry? Crazy people. Now that gas rationing is finished, the price of the stuff should go down, but I’ll bring what I can.
The last big package was the one with the bottle of catsup and the first-class Zippo both caught me in Kunming.
Is Twink [cousin] still in New York? If so, send his address, and anyone else if they are here, and I will try and get in touch with them.
I am writing to Junior today and asking him about the McCay sisters before I write to them. For all I know, Helen may be married again by now.
Also, is Jack Powers home? No word from him for about six months. Sure too bad about Mrs. Powers. And how about L.L. De Noya, Don Kennedy, and the others? You see, I am months and months behind on the news.
There is so much to say and ask that I am all confused for now. Maybe I won’t be so excited tomorrow, so will close and get this in the mail.
Love,
Son
62 a
ADDENDA
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. .
. B. Descriptions of Medals Awards for my husband’s valiant efforts in World War II were late in coming, and, actually, were not given by his own country, but had to be sent for by his children. The reason was partly that he had seen too many medals handed out to undeserving “heroes” and didn’t ask for them. After he died, our ignorance concerning the process of obtaining them by the family slowed down our efforts. The Nationalist Chinese or Republic of China awarded two medals in later years as follows:
1. Service Medal of Sino-American Cooperative Organization. Presented June 22, 1974, in Washington, D.C. The medal came with a handsome certificate in Chinese. On the back of this was a translation of the Chinese text. I have included a copy of this.
2. In June of 1987, Leonard and I attended a SACO convention in Annapolis, Maryland. Even though he was very ill with cancer (he died the next month), he wanted to go. Neither of us knew that these medals were to be presented. The Chinese dignitary who gave the presentation made a point of announcing that the awards were being given only to those men who had been in the field, and that these actually numbered only 12 men! My husband at last received recognition for that long hard year on the back roads of China! As I recall, only two other men received the medal that evening! The others had either not attended, or had died, I suppose.
Since we didn’t get an explanatory certificate this time, I will give a brief description:
The bronze medal is a circle about an inch in diameter. Before two crossed flags (both Chinese, I think, because they both bear the Sun Yat-sen), there is the head of Chiang Kai-shek. Below is a scenic design of a river and bridges, and behind that. many smokestacks pouring out smoke. I don’t know if this is a real or imaginary scene. The ribbon has a wide gold stripe in the center, flanked by dark blue and red stripes.
We wives all received a lovely brooch of gold ornamented with green gemstones.
Lee was deeply moved by the awarding of this, and I’m so thankful we decided to go at a difficult time.
At the end of 1996 or perhaps early 1997, John and Vicki Knauss (my son-in-law and daughter) persuaded me to write to the Department of the Navy to see what, if any, American medals Lee had earned. John had obtained information as to the process of applying. Eventually, the Bureau of Navy Personnel, Retired Records Section, sent the following medals: 1. American Campaign, issued 4/5/97.
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MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE REPUBLIC OF CHINA
CERTIFICATE OF SACO SERVICE MEDAL
No.: (63) Mu Tiao 0903
In recognition of the recipient’s many outstanding contributions to the Republic of China during our war of resistance against Japan, the Minister and the Chief of the General Staff of the Ministry of National Defense have the privilege to act on behalf of the Government of the Republic of China to award to
__ this Service Medal of Sino-American Cooperation Organization as a token of appreciation.
Kao Kuei—yuan Lai Ming-tang Minister General, Chinese Air Force June 22, 1974 Chief of the General Staff
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