Aloha, You all !!!!!!

Jul 8, 2019, 7:32 PM

After some much needed sleep, several trips to the PX for liquid refreshments and purchase of "goodies" and a bale of cotton, we received word we would be leaving Honolulu enroute to Japan with a short stop at Wake Island. We really didn't get a bale of cotton but we did get several packages of sterile cotton to stuff in our ears to eliminate some of that noise from those four prop engines on our plane.

We boarded our plane at night and then the announcement from the plane crew. This would be a ten hour non-stop flight to Wake Island. We would have an early breakfast at Wake, refuel and then on our last leg to Tokyo. The distance from Honolulu to Wake was just about the same distance as San Francisco to Honolulu. Like the first leg of our trip it's all water from Honolulu to Wake Island.

Those seats were just as hard and uncomfortable as they were during our flight from Frisco to Honolulu and the noise from those engines were just as loud as before. A little bit of cotton in our ears helped dampen some of the noise so that was a big relief. It was another one of those long, tiresome flights but the good news was our stopping at Wake Island would be the first for each one of us. None of us had ever been on Wake Island.

After what seemed like forever, the sky began to show signs of brightness and looking out those small windows we could see the Pacific Ocean was still down below where it was supposed to be. It was not long before we were informed we were approaching Wake. That was music for our cotton stuffed ears, When we started our descent, there were smiles where weary faces were the norm just a short time ago. My seat was near one of the windows and my eyes were glued on the water below. We were getting lower and lower and I could see no land or runway. Finally we touched down and still no land, just water. When we finally pulled up to the terminal and got off the plane, we could see the runway extended out over the water.

We had an excellent breakfast and being able to walk around was a break from sitting for a long time on the plane. We were at Wake for about three hours. The remainder of our flight to Tokyo would be during daylight hours. The mess hall had prepared box lunches for us so we would have our noon meal in flight.

Back on our plane and we were informed our final leg to Tokyo was the shortest leg of our trip --- only about 2,000 miles. I don't recall the estimated flying time but it wasn't another of those ten hour deals. This was the first time our flight was entirely during the day and I suppose the excitement of finally reaching our destination kept everyone in a happier mood. As we were approaching Japan, we saw several small islands and lots of small boats, probably fishing boats. Once in awhile we would see a large ship. And then, our first view of Japan. I don't know how to describe our flight pattern but we looked out the window and there was snow capped Mt. Fuji. It looked exactly like the photograph in my fourth grade geography book.

After we landed, we were met by a bus which took us to Camp Drake. Camp Drake was probably the first stop for troops going to the Far East. We were assigned a barrack and told we would be leaving for Korea in a couple of days. There were a lot of men at Camp Drake, most having arrived by ship. These men were with a company or other military unit and would be going with us to Korea by ship. Our group of 25 was traveling independently as were about 25 - 50 other men. None of us knew the unit we would be joining, we would learn our final destination when we arrived in Korea.

All of this traveled has worn me out so I think I'll stop for now and take a rest.

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Aloha, You all !!!!!!

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