Finally, letters from home arrive in Japan!

After being away from home for nearly a month, Maj. Gillham finally received letters from home on this day.  It must have been quite a relief, since there was no other way to find out any news about his family.  In this age of email and cheap long distance, it's hard to imagine exactly what that news deprivation must feel like.  Add to that the uncertainty of the long wait:  Was the mail lost?  Did they just not write anything?  Has something happened to them?  You could probably drive yourself crazy thinking about it.

Consequently, the letter he wrote on this day deals primarily with things mentioned in the letters he just received.  I will try my best to clarify the names and places he mentions, but I may need some help from our studio audience, as well.  If you have anything to add, please make a comment below by clicking on the comment link after this post (it most likely appears as "0 comments," but it could be more).

15 Nov 1945
Tokyo, Japan

Dearest Darling,

This was a big day for me.  I got my first batch of letters.  There were five from you and one each from Emily and Monty.  They were all addressed to my temporary APO and the latest ones were postmarked 30 Oct. which isn't bad considering they were forwarded.

It is certainly fine to establish contact with you again.  It had been just four weeks since I left (not counting the day I gained crossing the date line).

I know you enjoyed the visit from Mary Elizabeth and I am glad you have been getting out and about.  I am glad Emily is so prompt.  It will have to be her job to keep the family on time.  I am sorry George Bull went on such a wild goose chase, but I may get to see him yet.  However, most everyone I know is in Korea now.  The situation is rather difficult there now and I knew it would be before I left the states.  What with the Russians in an arbitrary half of the country, and all the Japanese officials removed and no trained Korean technicians or proven leaders to take over.  Also the Koreans feel they have been liberated and don't want anyone telling them what to do.  Here, other than such problems as food and shelter, everything seems to be running smoothly.  The Japs run everything and we just tell them what we want and they break their necks to do it without any apparent evasion.  For instance, they had stripped two of the four elevators out of this building to get the metal.  They were told to replace them and now they are swarming up and down in the elevator shaft like bees in a hollow tree.

I have wished for the movie camera many times on this trip, but I don't think you had better try to send it.  By the time it arrived and I got film coming regularly I would be back home -- I hope.  And it might get lost or broken.

You are a very smart girl to get your stove fixed and to take such good care of the car.  When you leave be sure to sell Mrs. Baldwin all the oil and butane you have on hand.  She sold it to me when I moved in, and said such a transfer was customary there.

I like the piece on youth very much.  It is quite true, and I believe Dad was a young man when he died.  It has been nearly ten years now.  Can you realize it?

Tell Emily and Monty I wrote to them last night and will write again soon.  I enjoyed their letters very much.  Emily is developing a very nice handwriting and I know Monty is going to, also, if she keeps on working hard.  I know they enjoy Ed Singy's visit, and they really caught some fish!  My!  So Monty is going out visiting over night!  What big girls you have, mama!

The only criticism of your letters so far is that you didn't date several of them, and you didn't tell me enough about Martha.

I am looking forward with great anticipation to the result of Siederneck's work.  He had fine material on which to work and should get results.

I am glad we got to see Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon together instead of separately as Mary E. and George are doing.

I think it is a fine idea for you to ask Father to come out and drive back with you.  It will mean a lot of traveling for him, but it will be over new territory and with his grandchildren, and that should make a difference.  I will write him and tell him how much I will appreciate it if he can.  By the way, when you get to Atlanta, don't say anything about that waiver to any telephone people.  There was no harm in it, but I think it best not to talk it around.

The Halloween party sounded like a lot of fun.  I know the children had a big time.

I know Bryant is disappointed at the prospects of Carl having to stay out another year.  Where is he?  If I get home before he does, I don't think I will be able to face her.  I am already scheduled for a week's "special duty" at a rest camp located in a swank hotel in the mountains -- next spring if I am still here.

Ate supper tonight with a Lt. Col. Smith that taught me when I first started in the army at Ft. Monroe.  He was also on Handwerk's staff at Edwards.

Thanks for Wrightson's address.  Maybe we will be able to get together.  Kobe is not too far from here.  I will write him.

I wrote Mr. Hay and Mother 'Cile the other day.

I will be looking forward to your letters all the time now.  I love you more than anything else in the world, my darling.

Bill

*******************

George and Mary Elizabeth Bull were great friends of my grandparents, and remained so for the rest of their lives.  I don't know the facts about how they met, but I do remember my grandfather saying how great it was to travel with George Bull, because it was easier than bringing along a set of encyclopedias.  I accompanied my grandparents and the Bulls on a trip to Alaska in 1977, and I can confirm my grandfather's claim.  He was a quiet and insightful man, tall and lanky, with a wry smile that always put you at ease.  His wife, on the other hand, was a garrulous, effusive sort who seemed the antithesis of George.  She was a good sport, always loved a joke, and was generally a fun person to have around, but she had an uncanny ability to misjudge situations and speak before really giving things much thought.

George Bull shows up in subsequent letters, since he was also being sent hither and yon by the Army after the war and would occasionally pass through Tokyo.  It always seemed to me that George was my grandfather's best friend, and it was a joy to watch the two of them interact while I was on that Alaska trip.

I have no idea about Ed Singy, Siederneck or a Mr. Hoy.  And it may actually be Mr. Hay, I'm not sure.  My grandfather's o's and a's are indistinguishable, which is not a problem 99% of the time because of context.  It's only a problem when he writes names that are of people or places I don't know and that could be spelled correctly either way, like Hay or Hoy. 

Bryant Holsenbeck Moore is my grandmother's sister, and her late husband, (Thomas) Carl Moore, was in the Marines during the war and fought in many battles in the Pacific Theater, including Guadalcanal.  They were stationed in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  I don't know the specifics of Carl's "having to stay out another year," but I do know that Bryant was living with her parents at 992 Washita Ave. in Atlanta, which is where Frances and her daughters eventually moved in December.  Bryant and Frances' parents were Daniel Marshall Holsenbeck, Jr. (referred to in these letters as Father or Pop) and Lucile Dixon Kiser Holsenbeck (who everyone called Mother 'Cile).

Bill and Frances Gillham with their new daughter, Emily, 1935

Behind Bill are his inlaws, Lucile Holsenbeck (Mother Cile) and

Daniel Marshall Holsenbeck (Pop).  Behind Frances are her inlaws,

George Halsey Gillham and Effie Tucker Gillham.

Taken at 992 Washita Avenue, Atlanta

Ft. Monroe is located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, across the James River from Norfolk.  Maj. Gillham was stationed there in 1940-41 for officers training, before the family headed out to La Jolla, CA, in 1941.

Capt. Gillham at Fort Monroe, VA, 1941

Capt. Gillham (third from right) with Bell Telephone colleagues

at officers training in Fort Monroe, VA, 1941

"Edwards" refers to Camp Edwards, which is located on the southern part of Cape Cod, MA.  It was used as an Army training facility and sending off point for new draftees during World War II.  Maj. Gillham was stationed there in 1943 and the family lived in the nearby town of Monument Beach.

Monty and Emily Gillham showing off their doll collection

Monument Beach, MA, Christmas 1943

I will be heading out to Harlem, GA, tomorrow to visit my Aunt Emily, and I will be sure to run some of these names, places and questions by her when I am out there.

New orders: Assigned to Tokyo

Six days after landing at Yokohama, Maj. Gillham finally gets his new orders.

Zama, Japan
3 Nov 1945

Dearest Darling,

Got my orders today to go to the GHQ-AFPAC in Tokyo, but I don't know yet what my job will be or when we will go in, but it should be in a few days.  Most of the men I know are going to Korea; in fact, only 68 of the 256 are going to Tokyo.  Chun was very disappointed that he didn't get to go to Tokyo.  The Tokyo set up looks pretty good to me now, living out here in the mud, but you never can tell how things will work out.

We have no mail yet, but some men on another APO# are getting letters mailed in the US as late as 24 Oct.

I haven't been anywhere today because I was expecting to have to move.  I think the hotel in town is full and they must be having to make other billeting arrangements.

Last night another officer and I walked out and down the road about a mile.  We hailed a passing Jap and traded him two candy bars for some charcoal.  He said he was Korean -- they were very poor people.

We built a charcoal fire in a formaldehyde burner that the Japs left here.  It makes an ideal charcoal bucket, and breaks the chill in this room.

My new APO is #500 but that is not a complete address, so wait until I can give it all to you.

Lots of love,

Bill

******************

The GHQ-AFPAC stands for General Headquarters, (U.S.) Armed Forces of the Pacific, which had its base in Tokyo after the war.  The offices were in a group of buildings along the east bank of the Imperial Moat, across from the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo.

The APO stood for the Army Post Office, which was a self-contained unit within the Army responsible for the delivery of all Army mail.  Each APO division had a specific identifying number, usually three to five digits in length, which acted as pre-Zipcode postal codes.  Prior to 1980, each branch of the service was responsible for its own mail delivery.  Thereafter, the Department of Defense created the umbrella Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) which followed the USPS model and was assigned its own set of Zipcodes.

The situation in Korea at this time was much more volatile than that in Japan, owing to the fact that two months earlier at the Potsdam Conference the Allies had decided unilaterally to divide Korea along the 38th Parallel.  While the country was ostensibly under the control of a U.S.-Soviet alliance, the northern section was an "area of responsibility" of the Soviets.  This made it one of the buffer zones promised the Soviets in return for their aid in defeating the Japanese in WWII.

During the war, Korea was under the control of Japan, which used Korea's resources and manpower in its war effort.  Over 700,000 Koreans were transported to Japan for this reason.  In the above letter, Maj. Gillham writes of an encounter with a Korean, who was most likely in Japan as a result of the war.  In the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over 25% of all victims were Korean.

Cold War-era map showing relationship

between Korean peninsula and Japan

A day on the town: The first trip into Tokyo

From his quarters at the Army post in Zama, Maj. Gillham took a day pass into Tokyo and describes some things for the first time that will soon be very familiar to him.

Japan
2 Nov 45

Dearest Darling,

Got a pass yesterday and went into Tokyo.  It was quite a day.  I haven't had so much fun since I was in college.  This place is about 45 miles S.W. of Tokyo right out in the country.  Five of us, all majors who shared the same cabin on the ship, went in together.  We left here about 1000 and walked about a mile to the nearest electric railway station.  Only Maj. Chun and I could talk much Japanese and we were rusty.  We had no map and no idea of how to get anywhere, but we just kept trying to talk Japanese to everyone we saw and figured out how to get to Tokyo by making two transfers.  I had heard that the Japanese were the train-ridingest people on earth and now I believe it.  All trains were packed so that people had to climb in and out of the windows at stops.  They all carried either a big bundle or a baby or both.  We pay no fare and ride anything we want to.  I was amazed at the the electric railway system around Tokyo.  It is on a par with the I.C. in Chicago, only much more of it, and it is functioning smoothly in spite of tremendous bomb damage all around.  Yokohama is nothing but burnt out ruins and Tokyo was hit bad in spots.  The industrial areas are the worst, naturally.  The people have salvaged the burnt, rusty sheet metal from the roofs of the plants and constructed thousands of little huts out of them.  Chun and I talked to all the Japs near us and they were very interested in the fact that we could talk a little Japanese, and tried to be very helpful.  The rural areas are just about like I expected them.  Right now they are harvesting the rice.  In Tokyo I was a little surprised at how modern it was.  I knew it was a very large city, but I didn't expect wide, clean streets and beautiful modern buildings.  Some of them have been burnt out, but others are intact.  We went to the GHQ and there I saw several that I knew, including Col.  Dillard, Col. Clark from Chicago, Lt. Cmdr. Wilson, Maj. Raul (just out of hospital at Manila) and others.  They are all set up and you might think you were in the Pentagon Bldg in Washington, D.C., just to look around.  Most of them are living in the Dai-Ichi Hotel, a nice big modern hotel.  The big shots live at the Imperial Hotel.  The desk clerk, a Jap, told me there were 20 generals there at present.  It was about 3 PM when we were there but we talked our way into the kitchen and got them to fix us sandwiches and coffee.  Only field officers and above are allowed in the place.  We went back there for dinner that night -- the only thing we paid for during the whole day.  We went to a supply depot and drew two wool shirts, two pants, a sweater, and a combat jacket -- no charge.  Nearly everywhere we went we would hail a jeep and get a ride.  Kimonos are very high right now, Y500 to Y1,000, but the native population looks very well dressed, and I know they don't pay those prices, so after I get established I imagine I can get some cute things.

I don't know where I will be assigned yet, but may find out this afternoon.  A large per cent of this group is to go to Korea.

I washed all my dirty clothes this morning and took a sponge bath -- all this in my helmet.  I am ready to move now when I get the word.

I am afraid that your mail may be slow in catching up with me.

I want to get you one of these rigs for carrying a baby on your back.

Lots of love,

Bill

**************

The Imperial Hotel was the jewel of Tokyo hotels and was not damaged significantly during the war.  It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to replace the original hotel built in 1890.  Wright's hotel was completed in 1923 and was damaged slightly that same year in an earthquake.  It was designed in the "Mayan Revival" style that incorporated a pyramid motif and other features prominent in Mayan temples.  It was the primary billet of the upper echelon of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers during the occupation of Japan.  After years of gradual demise, the hotel was demolished in 1968, although several sections, including the famous main entrance, were restored in local museums.

The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, in the 1930s

Below is a clipping from the Pacific Stars and Stripes from October 1945 that Maj. Gillham included in a letter.  Across the top he has written, with his trademark misspelling, "This is no exageration."  You may have to click on the cartoon to get a bigger image.