Maj. Gillham is on his way back to Tokyo

This is a quick letter that was written while Maj. Gillham was waiting to catch a train at the Kokura station on his way back to Tokyo.


Kokura, Japan
25 Apr 46

Dearest Darling,

I got to make the flight all the way around Kyushu, but I am grounded here now and waiting for a train. I have never seen such rain. The flights we made were in bad weather and appeared rather dangerous to me. I enjoyed it very much, but I am glad to be back on the ground again.

Sam Wrightson turned up in Nagasaki after I wrote you from there. We had a fine reunion. The Marines have been swell to us here.

Am going to Osaka tonight and hope to see Nara and Kyoto tomorrow.

Am well and love you. Train is almost due.

Love,

Bill

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Kokura is the last train station on Kyushu on the line leading back to Honshu, the largest Japanese island.  It is located in the city of Kitakyushu and lies on the Straits of Shimonoseki, which separates the two islands.  The city was the primary target of the "Fat Boy" plutonium bomb to be dropped on August 9, 1945, but cloud cover made it necessary for the pilot to bomb the secondary target, Nagasaki.  Kokura was also the secondary target for the "Little Boy" uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima three days earlier.