We Get Smart Upon arrival in Tamioka, Japan at the formal Japanese Naval Air base, one of our duties was to remove the cosmoline (petroleum jelly) from machine guns and other equipment, part of the 581st baggage. It was a very distasteful detail, and the object was to get out of it whenever we can. They were picking people they could find right after lunch. One Sunday morning around 11 AM Carl and I decided to skip lunch and head for Tokyo. We boarded the Japanese train to Yokohama, and from there to the connecting train to Tokyo. Upon arrival in Tokyo we were wandering and wondering where to go, like two country boys. A colonel from GHQ saw our forlorn faces, and suggested that we go by the Dai Ichi building and from there to a restaurant operated by the American Army.

We Get Hungry Since we were starved by this time, we skipped Dai Ichi and headed straight to the restaurant. A Japanese waitress came by with a basketful of twisted rolls (like Jewish "chale"), patties of butter, and the menu. First we demolished the rolls, then we looked at the menu. When the waitress came by again, we gave her the order and asked for more rolls. We demolished two more basketfuls of rolls, ate our meal, and then went to explore the city. The way we were dressed (in fatigues) we stuck out like a sore thumb, and every GHQ soldier who spotted us was very friendly, knowing that we were about to ship to Korea to join the fighting. One of them invited us to the GHQ club, treated us to drinks (at 25 cents a pop) and introduced us to the slot machines. By the time we finished (around 9 PM) we were flat broke. The soldier, whose name I do not remember, bought our RR tickets and accompanied us as far as Yokohama. We were back in the barracks before midnight. This episode was the beginning of a friendship that lasted until we were rotated back to the States