A treatise on inflation and its effect on increasing the size of the Gillham family

Today's letter includes a long expository section on the evils of inflation, using the current Japanese situation as an example.  By Martha's "playmate," Maj. Gillham is referring to a possible new child in the household, something he would love but cautions about given the uncertain financial situation.

Tokyo
18 Jan 1946

Two letters from you today -- 8 + 10 Jan.  Mail is coming about as quickly from Atlanta as it did from Calif.  I guess the time from Robles to S.F. about equals the air time from Atlanta to S.F.  I am always so glad to hear from you that I feel like I should sit right down and write you a letter.  Your letters mean more to me here than they ever did before.  I live from one letter to the next.

I think I remember the Tech librarian about whom you sent me the clipping.  She was just one of the hired hands when I was there.  I noticed that Fred Turner was on the board that selected her.  He used to be Gen'l Com'l Mgr. of SBT&T and is now a V.P. and director.

I am glad Monty got off to a good start at school.  I think she and Emily like it there.

I can appreciate your trip to Little Five Points with all the children.  I will never forget my trip to New River with Monty and Margaret.

I am anxious to read Bryant's book.  What is it about?  Tell her that it had better be good, for my editorial work is making me very critical.

I still put a few entries in my diary, but I find that I generally want to say about the same thing that I have written to you.  It is boring to write it all down again, so if you will save the letters it will help to keep a record of this interlude.  I write more freely and with less care in the letters.  The diary is becoming largely a log.

As for a playmate for Martha, I was serious enough.  The only two considerations as far as I am concerned are your health and our finances.  If we are going to be too poor I hate to handicap the other children.  Frankly, I am afraid of a bad inflation in the U.S. before long.  Inflation is a device that governments have repeatedly used throughtout history in order to wipe out a public debt which is too large to handle.  We are in the economic group that will be hardest hit by an inflation.  I can see it all taking place here in Japan now.  The farmer is fairly well off, for he can provide for himself and he gets increasing prices for his produce.  The merchant can keep trading and marking up prices as fast as they rise and he is able to stay a couple of jumps ahead of the dog catcher.  The black market operator gets paper-money rich.  But the formerly well-off salaried worker with nothing but his fixed income is in a bad fix.  All his savings are wiped out in a short time and he is hard put to get enough to eat from day to day.  Formerly, a person here that made from Y75 to Y200 per month was well off.  Those wooden clogs that I sent the children cost Y50 and that is what the Japs have to pay for them, too, yet their salaried workers still have about the same income.  I hope that the U.S. can avoid inflation, but until the danger is over I hesitate to take on more obligations.  Of course, all of our best moves have been taken in the face of apparent disaster and we generally come through.  Anyhow, be thinking it over.  I prefer to do the job personally and not have to send you a test tube, so a final decision will have to wait a while.

Enclosed are a few documents of interest.  Two of them illustrate the great language difficulty.  It is equally hard for us to put a thought into good Japanese.

Glad you finally got the $50.  Think I will use money orders in the future.  You are smart to save so much money.  I want you to get yourself a nice layout in the spring.  If you see a nice loud necktie, get it and save it for me.

I imagine that the holidays slowed the Office of Dependency Benefits down on getting their checks out.  Also, they are having so many discharges now, which makes extra work as they have to be careful to stop them promptly.  I am glad the changed amount is coming through without a hitch.

I think I have the nicest family of anyone I know.  I love you all very much and yet each in a slightly different way.  My family's bosom is the nicest place that I like to be in the middle of which.  Now the Japs have got me doing it.  I had better go to bed.

Lots of love.

Bill

An intermission with a letter from Frances

Today's post won't follow the normal pattern laid out thus far, owing to the fact that I have discovered a letter from Frances that was written in November 1945 from Robles del Rio.  To date, it is the only letter from Robles that I have found.  Maj. Gillham comments on this letter in his letter of December 3 (posted on here February 11, 2010).  I thought about retrofitting Frances' letter into the February 11 post, but that post is already very long (it includes his trip to Atami).  So I will post Frances' letter here and then attach the pertinent paragraph from Maj. Gillham's letter of December 3, 1945. 

Nov. 23, 1945

Dearest, my love,

I didn't get to write to you yesterday and it has made me feel terrible.  I felt as tho I had missed seeing you.

It was Thanksgiving and I started in early.  I made four pumpkin pies.  Emily mixed the pumpkin filling while I made the crusts.  Really, it was the most popular dish at the meal.  Then, I candied sweet potatoes, creamed onions, made biscuits and cooked cranberries.

At two o'clock we all went to Carol's for cocktails (Manhattans).  The children had apple juice.  On the guest list were:  Carol, Lynn, Mac, Peg, Chuck, Carla, Cousin John, Nellie, Jack, Downs Atwood, Pudge [?], Emily, Monty and me.

Also with the cocktails we served celery, radishes, carrot sticks, pickled artichokes and sweet pickles.

Then we went up to Peg's house for the big spread.  They had put three tables together and used sheets for cloths.  They filled silver vase with my flowers for the table.

Cousin John bought a 15-lb turkey and Peg cooked it in her oven.  It was delicious!!  In addtion to the old bird, we had creamed onions, mashed potatoes, broccoli, candied yams, rutabagas, sherry, biscuits, butter, pumpkin pie with air whipped cream, coffee and apricot liqueur.

When we finished, Mac said that the whole dinner party would take a walk around the circle before going to Carol's for liqueurs.

Nellie and John spent the night at the cabin so Jack stayed here.  He slept on the studio couch and had an alarm clock.  He woke up at six and drove John to his ranch above Redding.

This morning the children and I took Nellie to Carmel, then drove up to Santa Cruz to visit Mrs. Carell.  We had a lovely time.

Then we came back to Salinas and picked up Ellen and her children.  Ernest brought them down to Opal's this morning.  Now, Terry and Emily, Tots (their dog) and Flip Flop are in Emily's room.  Ellen and Monte are on the couch in the living room, Monty is on the box our room, and Martha and I are in there, too.

Ellen sends her love to you.  She has just crawled into bed with Monte and is going to sleep.

With all my love,

Frances

And now the paragraph from Maj. Gillham's response letter, written December 3, 1945:

8 PM -- After writing the above at the office, I got another nice letter from you mailed 24 Nov. and telling about your swell Thanksgiving dinner. That was really some spread, and lots of good fellowship makes it really worthwhile. You are certainly sweet to write me after such a strenuous day. I hope you enjoy Ellen's visit.

So, that's how this blog will work eventually, with a back-and-forth between Maj. Gillham and Frances, as best as I can maneuver it.  The main problem seems to be that letters arrived in Japan in clumps, so Maj. Gillham tends to reply to or comment on several letters at once.  I am still ironing out the details of how to present the letters.

Finally, a letter from the journey eastward, and some talk about the trip

Finally, Maj. Gillham gets a letter from Frances written while she, Pop and the girls were en route to Atlanta.  At least now he is aware of some of the details of the trip, even though he still doesn't know about the eventful Christmas Eve arrival home.

Tokyo
31 Dec 1945

Dearest Darling,

Just received a letter from you written in Las Cruces, N.M., on 19 Dec and postmarked Sierra Blanca, Texas, 4 PM, 20 Dec.  I certainly was glad to get it, as I had had no word from you since 10 Dec from Robles.  Something must have gone wrong with a big batch of mail.  Several others here have had the same trouble.  It either got snarled in the Christmas rush in the states, was lost at sea, or went to Manila by mistake.  You see the Rear Echelon of APO 500 is still at Manila and that is why it is important to put Adv Esch on all my mail.

I infer that you met Pop in LA after some delay and then went La Jolla.  I wrote you to La Jolla and El Paso, Gen. Del.; and to Memphis at 1042 E. McLemore.  It doesn't seem that you got the letter at La Jolla.  You may have missed them all on account of the slowed down mails.  I allowed about 10 days which probably wasn't enough.  Did you leave forwarding addresses with the Post Office at those places, so the letters will be sent on to you?

It is a great relief to me to know that Pop was with you.  I know he looked after you all well and I hope he enjoyed the trip and that it wasn't too tiring on him.

I am sorry to hear of your laryngitis.  That is a sure sign you are over-doing yourself.  Please rest up now and get strong so that you won't be in a weakened condition and susceptible to catching something else.

As well as I can remember, it is about 140 miles from Las Cruces to Sierra Blanca.  That doesn't sound like you were setting any speed records.  I am beginning to doubt if you made Atlanta by Christmas.  The thing is that I hope you got there in good shape, regardless of when.

Yes, I think we need a trailer, too.  Our family has just naturally outgrown one car for passengers and freight both.  We will have to get one before we attempt any more long trips.

I wrote you a note this morning and sent you a money order for $100 to help on Pop's expenses.  It is a good idea to let any vital information appear in several letters, for they might not always go through.

I know you have your hands full with Martha at this age.  992 Washita must be a very lively location nowadays.

How is Mother Ki?  Give her my love.  I know she and Mother 'Cile enjoy having all the children around, even if they do get in their hair.

Dan seems very pleased with his prospects (both family and job).  I am glad they are not wasting any time getting a family started.

Let know your plans as soon as you develop any.

I feel much better now that I have heard from you, my darling.

Much love,

Bill

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

Sierra Blanca, Texas, is a small town that is about 100 miles southeast of El Paso along what is now the Interstate 10 corridor.  As of the 2000 census, the population was 533, so it's fair to assume it was a small town in 1945 as well.  The town was built at the meeting point of two coverging railroads in 1881 which formed a southern transcontinental stretch.

Assuming that the reason Frances didn't mention Maj. Gillham's letter that he sent to La Jolla was because she didn't receive it, it is safe to assume that she did in fact leave a forwarding address at the La Jolla post office, because we are now in possession of that letter (which you read in the February 13th post).
 

Just as a quick refresher, Mother Ki was the family hypocorism given to Frances' maternal grandmother (i.e., Mother Cile's mother).  Her name was Mary Emma Dixon Kiser, and her husband was a dry goods salesman, Andrew Jackson Kiser, who owned a store at 53-1/2 Alabama Street in Atlanta, which is now a part of Underground Atlanta.

Maj. Gillham mentioned that Dan Holsenbeck (Frances' brother) was "not wasting any time getting a family started," which probably meant that Dan's wife, Nancy, announced that she was pregnant with their first child, George Penn Holsenbeck (who we all call Penn).  The couple was married on March 20, 1945, and Penn was born on June 11, 1946.

Christmas Day in Japan, and details about working with Gen. MacArthur

Today we welcome two more followers, all the way from Dubai, which brings our total now to eighteen.

In this letter we find out how Maj. Gillham spends his Christmas Day in Tokyo, and we also get to hear a little bit more about his work for MacArthur.  There is a family story about my grandfather's work which I had always assumed was somewhat apocryphal, but today's letter confirms the story's veracity to some extent.  The story went that Maj. Gillham had written a report of some kind that, as it worked its way up the chain of command, was corrected, edited and rewritten and was finally covered with red pencil by the time it reached Gen. MacArthur.  After reading the report, MacArthur apparently wrote at the top, "Release report as originally written."  As you will read, this practice was actually fairly commonplace.  We also find out that Maj. Gillham has nothing but praise for the general, despite the inadequacies of some of the brass surrounding him.

Tokyo
Christmas 1945

Dearest Love,

It is now 10 PM here and I imagine that about now you all are getting up and opening your presents.  About noon today I could imagine you hanging up your stockings on Christmas Eve.  This time change is something to keep up with.  You are now almost on the opposite side of the world from me.

This morning I got up and put on my blouse and pinks for the first time since I have been here.  I went over to the Dai-Ichi Auditorium to hear Kagawa, but he wasn't able to be there, so the chaplain carried on.  There was a choir composed of GI's and Japanese girls.

Last Christmas I sang "Silent Night" in Japanese in Chicago.  This Christmas the Japanese sang it to me in English in Tokyo.

It was a beautiful cold, crisp, clear day.  I walked around the Imperial Palace grounds and took some pictures.  After lunch I had a jeep come and got Wright, and then went over and picked up Johnson and we drove out to the football game at the Meiji Stadium.  The game was between the 1st Cavalry and the 11th Airborne.  There was a huge crowd of GI's, two good bands, and a splendid game.  The Airborne won.

We came home and opened up that bottle of whiskey that Lozier gave me in Chicago last Christmas.  If you see him tell him it was fine.  We had a sumptuous Christmas dinner and then went to a big public auditorium to hear Handel's Messiah.  The chorus was composed of 200 or 300, about half the men being GI's.  It was a wonderful performance and the very fact that it was accomplished seemed a miracle.

I am beginning to realize that I am seeing important history in the making and at first hand, and to feel that I am a part, if even a very small part, of the era in which I live.

My job is working out a little better, and although I wouldn't have chosen the work, it is a wonderful spot from which to observe.  I am head of the division that does the editing on all economic subjects.  That covers quite a field in a nation this size.  Among the subjects covered are agriculture, food, fisheries, forestry, mining, transportation, public utilities, communications, industry, exports and imports, money and banking, and the Zaibatsu.  I have access to all available information on these subjects and should be the best informed person around from the broad viewpoint.  When I get through with a document, it becomes MacArthur's report on the subject.  Things are checked by the high brass for policy matters, etc., but very little change is ever made.  I surely wish I could read faster and spell better.  The Col. told me yesterday that they were very pleased with my work.

I guess it is this broad picture that makes me feel so deeply about things over here.  I see too many little men handling jobs that are too big for them.  The fact that they wear an eagle doesn't enhance their stature or ability.  However, some are doing a fine job, and foremost in this category is MacArthur himself.  He has done a masterful job of handling a very delicate situation.  He has tremendous prestige with the Japanese.

The last letter I had from you was written about four days before you were to leave Robles.  I think a spell of bad weather shlowed up the air mail.  I am anxious to hear of your trip and hope you made it without trouble.  I want all of you to stay healthy in Atlanta this time.  I will send you some more money the 1st.

Darling, you are my greatest inspiration.  I love you more than pen can record.

Love,

Bill

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

The term "blouse and pinks" refers to the Army dress uniform, which included a nice shirt and pinkish-tan trousers with a stripe running down the side of each leg.  These uniforms were worn only during celebrations or official ceremonies, and this would have certainly been the first time Maj. Gillham would have been called on to wear a dress uniform.

Meiji Stadium, where Maj. Gillham saw the football game, was a sports stadium that was built in 1926 as part of the Meiji Shrine in a neighborhood in western Tokyo.  The shrine is a 175-acre park which was started in 1920 to commemorate the Emperor Meiji, who had died in 1912 and who had done quite a lot to pull Japan from its feudalist roots and into the modern world.  The stadium is now a popular baseball stadium, home of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

The Zaibatsu was the clique of monolithic, family-owned Japanese financial-industrial corporations that ruled the country's economy from the end of the Meiji period until after the Second World War.  These were true monopolies, similar to those of the robber barons in the U.S.  These companies included holding companies, banks and loan associations and industrial branches that all served to corner several specific markets.  After the Japanese surrender, there was a somewhat successful Allied attempt to dismantle the Zaibatsu (since such restrictive business practices were seen as ultimately undemocratic), but total dissolution was never achieved, primarily because the U.S. was intent on shoring up the Japanese economy as a buttress against the growing Asian communist movements.  Some of these corporations still exist today, such as Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Nissan.

The last letter written to Robles del Rio, California

Today I noticed I have 15 followers, which is great, and I welcome the four new followers, whoever they may be.  For some reason, only 13 are identified on my dashboard, so I am assuming I have two additional stealth followers.  Maybe one of you veteran bloggers can explain the discrepancy to me.  In any event, everyone is welcome, and don't forget our big Followers Reunion in Bermuda this spring.

Yesterday I made several amazing discoveries in an old green army trunk in our attic:  I found bound copies of six of the reports that Maj. Gillham had been working on for Gen. MacArthur and the GHQ SCAP.  They are veritable works of art, with charts, graphs, maps, and the typing job is masterful, considering this was way before the advent of word processing or even electric typewriters.  There is no way I can include these in my blog, but if anyone is interested in them, I would be happy to go into greater detail about them.

My other discoveries were several personal items of Maj. Gillham, including his dog tags, his military ID, and several medals that he was awarded for service in WWII and during the Occupation.  I am trying to find a way to scan these, or photograph them, to include on this blog.  I also found a pile of old photos, some of which are pertinent to us here, and I will post some of them below, after today's letter.

This letter is a short one, the last one addressed to the Gillhams in Robles del Rio, since the family is now most probably underway on their trip east.  Maj. Gillham also comments on the growing influx of private citizens in Japan, usually sent over by private companies.  This is a fairly common phenomenon with all wars, most recently seen in our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tokyo
9 Dec 45

Dearest Love,

I don't know if you will get this before you leave Robles or not, but I said I would write you there until the 10th.  I am also writing to La Jolla and El Paso (Gen. Del.) and will write to Memphis.

I certainly hope you will have a nice trip and enjoy the reunion with your family.  It is nice to have a family to go to see.

Today is Sunday and it is a beautiful day -- but I have to work, so I can't take it all in.

The American civilians are coming in here in ever-increasing numbers.  They all have some sort of official job so far, in order to get in.  We call them the "carpetbaggers."  I guess they will gradually take things over here -- and at a very good salary for themselves.  Most of them get from $6,000 to $10,000 a year plus expenses.  They rate as experts, but I think that most of them were previously government clerks or small-time politicians.  Some of the WACS are taking their discharges and staying on as civilians.

I got a good box and I am gradually collecting a few more things for you and the children.  When I get it full I will send it on.  I sent one box to Atlanta.

I guess this will be my last letter to Robles, unless I hear from you to the contrary.

Good luck and have a good time.  I will be writing to you wherever you are as long as I know where it is.

Lots of love,

Bill

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

This may be as good a point as any to offer a small biographical sketch of Maj. Gillham prior to his joining the Army.  He was born William Tucker Gillham on October 6, 1908, at the home of his parents, George Halsey Gillham and Effie Young Tucker Gillham in Memphis, TN.  He was an only child, although he did have an older brother who died in infancy.  His parents were married in 1898 and were by all accounts a fun-loving couple who were the life of all the parties they attended.  His father had many careers during his life, but the one he is remembered for most is that of a writer of stories for boys and young men.  His most famous work was The Adventures of William Tucker, the protagonist of which he named after his son.  The work was serialized in The Youth's Companion magazine in 1926 and published as a book in 1927. 

Pages 4 and 1 of a four-page circular touting George Gillham's book.

Pages 2 and 3 of the circular, with reviews of the book

William T. Gillham (who was known as Bill to his friends, but was William to his family) grew up in the small town of Kerrville, Tennessee, about 20 miles north of Memphis.  The town was named after the family of his paternal grandmother, Maria Henderson Kerr Gillham.  The family name is pronounced just like the name of the movie star Deborah Kerr, yet the town's name is pronounced like the words "curve ill."  William attended the McCallie School in Chattanooga and graduated in 1926, and that fall he enrolled at the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology), or Georgia Tech, in Atlanta.  He majored in electrical engineering and was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity.  He graduated in 1930, having witnessed the Georgia Tech Ramblin' Wreck win the national football championship in 1928 and attended the very first night game at Grant Field in 1929.

One of the earliest photos of William Gillham (right), astride a burrow

with his cousin Edward Lang in El Paso, TX, ca. 1910

Young William in an undated photo

William as a teen in the 1920s

William with an unnamed college sweetheart at Tech, 1920s

He met his future bride at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta while at Tech and while Frances was at Girls High.  After graduation, he got a job with Southern Bell Telephone Company in Atlanta, and Frances attended the Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville.  As a result of the stock market crash, however, he and most of his colleagues lost their jobs and he was forced to return to his home in Kerrville where, as he put it, he got a job with Standard Oil, i.e., pumping gas at a local filling station.  The couple finally married in 1933 in Atlanta, and they lived at his family home, called "the little brown house," in Kerrville.

He was ultimately hired back by Southern Bell and was sent to Knoxville, TN, where Emily was born in 1935.  By 1938 they were back in Memphis, where my mother, Monty, was born.  After a short stay in Jackson, MS, he and several other Southern Bell colleagues joined the Army and began officer training in Ft. Monroe, VA, in 1941.  The rest of his Army life should by now be very familiar to you.

Fourth Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Today's letter marked the fourth anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, and on the letter itself Maj. Gillham double-underscored the date.  I tried to replicate that, but apparently there is no underscore, much less double-underscore, on this blog editor.

Maj. Gillham is still in a fog about the family's trip back to Atlanta, and we get the impression that Frances is not helping matters by being vague in her letters.  He comes pretty close to an outright scolding of Frances for this transgression, but he makes a nice save in the closing paragraph.

7 Dec 45
Tokyo, Japan

Dearest Love,

Well, just four years after they started it, here I am in Tokyo.  It was a long way off four years ago.

Received two nice letters from you today, one mailed the 26th and one the 29th of Nov.  Also got a clipping from Mr. Hay telling about his retirement, which was mailed from Jackson on 29 Nov.  The mail seems to bunch up a little, but I am well pleased with the way it comes through.  It seems definite that air mail is by far the best.  I had heard that before.

I am glad you got the Montague family together.  It was a fine thing to do, and one that couldn't be rushed.  You worked it just right.

I am very much in doubt as to what your plans are and I don't know if this will reach you before you leave Robles or not.  You said Father couldn't come, so I gave that up.  Now you talk like he might.  If he can that is fine.  I will have to get you to advance the money for the ticket as I have no funds to draw from now.  I sent $50 to you to Atlanta by F.O. check which you should get by Christmas, but that is for your Christmas.  I imagine a one-way plane ticket will be something over $100.

Darling, please remember the time element in our correspondence and try to think ahead.  Please don't make me have to pull answers out of you about vital questions.  It takes too long.

I know the children have had a fine time with their raft on the river.  I hate for them to leave there -- it is such a fine place for children of their ages.  Thanks for the other picture.  From the looks of your discarded proofs, your selected proofs must be excellent.  The proofs are a nice size to put in my wallet.

We are starting our busy period again now and will have to work straight through for about 10 days.

They are having a dance here tonight, the first one they have had.  I went down and looked on for a while.  There is an assortment of WACS, nurses, Red Cross workers, and a few Jap girls.  I don't think they would do so well in a normal competitive market.

I will try to write a note to Cousin John.

Thanks for the Coronet clipping.  It was a pretty picture and a well-written article.

My dearest darling, you are the one for me.  I love you more and more all the time.  The best thing here is being able to look forward to going home to you.

Much love,

Bill

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

I am not sure who all came to the Montague reunion, but there were quite a few in California at the time.  Just this weekend I have been doing some research into the Montague line, and I have determined that my grandfather and Cousin Ellen were second cousins.  This means they shared a common set of great-grandparents, the male half of whom was Young Montague, born near Durham, NC, and later settling in western Tennessee near the town of Ripley.  Young Montague (who got his first name from a family last name) had a son named Adolphus Wiley Montague and a daughter Henrietta Helen Montague (among 12 total children).  Henrietta, who was known as Helen (pronounced HEEL-en) was my grandfather's maternal grandmother, and Adolphus (known as A.W.) was Ellen's paternal grandfather.  And yes, you will need to know all this for the test.

Ellen had two brothers, Donald and John (known as Jack, the owner of the Gillhams' house in Robles del Rio), and she had two children at the time, a daughter Terry Jean and a son Montague, who is known as Monte.  Any and all of these could have been at the Montague gathering, including Ellen's father, who Maj. Gillham refers to in this letter as Cousin John.

The Gillhams' youngest child, Martha, was born February 2, 1945, in Chicago, but Maj. Gillham received his orders to report to Fort Ord in California before Frances was allowed home from the hospital.  Therefore, he, Emily, Monty and their English springer spaniel Flip Flop motored west, and Frances and Martha stayed with friends in Chicago for a while before taking the train out to California.  Before they moved into Jack Montague's vacant vacation house in Robles del Rio, Maj. Gillham and the girls stayed for a few weeks at the home of Jack's sister, Ellen Montague Upshaw, and her family in Piedmont, CA, adjacent to Oakland.

Ernest and Ellen Upshaw, on the lawn of the Gillham's house

on Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, 1941

Top to bottom, left to right:  Ellen and Ernest Upshaw, Emily Gillham,

Terry Jean Upshaw, Monte Upshaw, and Monty Gillham,

at the Upshaw's house on Arbor Way, Piedmont, CA, 1945

Three children with names derived from Montague:

Monte Lang, Monty Gillham and Monte Upshaw,

Piedmont, CA, June 1945

Our family has stayed fairly close to the Ellen Montague Upshaw family over the years.  In fact, Monte Upshaw was in New Jersey for a business trip in 1974 and was at our home the night Hank Aaron hit his 715th homerun, as we all watched on an old black-and-white TV set.

 I have traced our lineage back to a Peter Montague who was born in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England, about three miles from Windsor Castle and Eton College.  He sailed to America on the Charles in 1621 at the age of 18, having to work on board to pay his passage.  He settled in Virginia near what is now the town of Suffolk, and he eventually married the daughter of Samuel Mathews, the Royal Governor of Virginia.  This makes us part of the exclusive First Families of Virginia, that include the names Mathews and Digges (Samuel's wife's maiden name) on their list.

The first days in Japan, and some spousal advice

Once he had settled into his digs at the U.S. Army replacement depot at Zama, southwest of Tokyo, Maj. Gillham began sending letters on a regular basis, about one every two days.  He wrote them on sturdy 8" x 10" stationery, often with matching envelopes, and attached a 6-cent air mail stamp, pictured below:

These red-tinted (or carmine) stamps were by far the most popular air mail stamps of the 1940s, with over 4.7 billion printed.  Occasionally Maj. Gillham would post his letters in a pre-stamped air mail envelope with the familiar blue and red striped borders.


Japan
31 Oct 45

Dearest Darling,

I have written you several V-Mail and air mail letters so far.  I think I will send this one straight for an experiment.  I understand that all mail goes by air as far as S.F.  If that is true and with you so close to S.F., this should make as good time as any -- maybe better.  Let me know how long this one takes.

If you can, please send me a couple of 100 watt light bulbs, a couple of padlocks and some assorted Singer sewing machine needles.  I know that is a funny combination, but there seems to be a national shortage of light bulbs, and I didn't put any in my locker.  The padlock on my foot locker was broken off in shipment and I lost the key to the extra lock that I brought.  I imagine locks are unobtainable also.  The needles I understand are excellent trade goods, but don't go to too much trouble to get them, if they are scarce in the U.S. also.  Those are about the only things that I see I need so far.  Except for the lock on the trunk, all my things came in fine shape.

I haven't seen much of Japan yet, but the weather today could be Arkansas in the middle of winter.  It has rained all day long without a let up, and the black mud is everywhere.  We were very fortunate indeed that it was good weather the day we debarked.

One of the boys in the room with me has a radio, and we get the Armed Forces Radio station in Tokyo.  The programs are very good, much better than any I remember in the states.  There are no commercials except occasionally an announcement such as "VDMT VDMT" which upon decoding is translated as venereal disease means trouble.  We also can get a Japanese station.  I can get words and phrases of what they say but miss the context generally.  The accent and the pronunciation is exactly as we were taught.

A couple of officers who were substituted on our order at the last minute and couldn't bring any equipment were permitted to go into Tokyo to a Q.M. Depot today to get some.  One was going to try to send a cable to his wife, if such facilities were available.  I asked him to send you one if possible.  He hasn't come back yet so I don't know the answer.

As far as knowing what is going to happen to me, I am still in transit for all practical purposes.  However, they say they don't keep you here long and I should know something soon.

How are you?  And what you doing and planning to do?  I am very anxious to hear from you.  We may get some mail in a few days if we are still here.  Did you get the oil changed in the car?  Remember to keep the tires properly inflated.  If some of them are getting smooth before you start back to Georgia, get them retreaded.  It only costs about $7 and takes a couple of days.  If more than one tire is involved, you will have to leave them one at a time, so start working on it before the last minute.  Darling, you have plenty of time for anything you start to do, so don't go and work yourself down trying to get something over with in a hurry.  When you get tired, slow down -- don't fight the thing you are working on.  I have known you long enough to realize that that is one of the biggest dangers that you face now.  If you can keep yourself and the children well, you will have won half the battle.

Did you pay Becker Roofing?  If you haven't, drop them a note and explain the delay.  That is always a good policy if you can't handle a bill promptly.

Must stop now and go to chow.  They are feeding about 10,000 men here, under terrible conditions, and putting out good food.  All the cooking is on field ranges, and they have no refrigeration or other refinements.  We eat out of our mess kits and I am careful to wash them well in three waters, boiling hot.  We always have great quantities of butter.  I can see why it had to be rationed in the states.

They have an ingenious arrangement for keeping hot water here.  The Japs left a big "wash boiler" mounted over a fire box.  When you want hot water, you dip out a helmetful, replace the water and put a stick on the fire. Thus there is always hot water for everyone.

Tell Col. Post that I sprinkled some water from the Robles del Rio water works on the shores of Japan as soon as I landed.

Lots of love,

Bill

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

Zama is a town in the Kanagawa Prefecture, about 45 miles southwest of Tokyo.  The Imperial Japanese Army Academy was established there in 1937, and after the war the facilities were refashioned by the Allies into Camp Zama, where Maj. Gillham was quartered.  The U.S. Army camp is still in use today, primarily the base of operations of the U.S. Army Japan and I Corps (yes, the same I Corps that Radar O'Reilly was constantly trying to get on the phone in the TV series M*A*S*H).

The "Q.M. depot" mentioned in this letter refers to the Quartermaster Corps, which is a combat support service branch of the U.S. Army.  It is responsible for general supplies (except ammunition and medical), food service, petroleum and water, shower and laundry facilities, and also mortuary affairs.

The Armed Forces Radio Service mentioned above was part of the larger American Forces Network (AFN) which was established during the war, in May 1942.  It would broadcast popular American radio programs, as well as news and bulletins.

In September 1944, a nonfraternization order was imposed by the occupying Allied command in Europe, forbidding the mingling of Allied troops with the enemy "upon the terms of friendliness, familiarity or intimacy, individually or in groups, in official or unofficial dealings." This was part of an effort to limit the spread of venereal and other sexually-transmitted diseases among the troops.  This directive was later expanded to include the Pacific Theater after V-J Day.  The AFN mounted a PSA campaign to this end, broadcasting a simple spoken message, "VDMT," several times a day for weeks, until it was finally revealed to mean "venereal disease means trouble."  This was usually followed by the admonishment, "For a moment of play you may have to pay."

Throughout his correspondence, Maj. Gillham refers to the Japanese people as "Japs," which was common practice at the time, especially among American troops.  There is, of course, an implied hostility when referring to the enemy as "Japs" or "Krauts," but I think for the most part my grandfather's use of the word "Jap" is fairly neutral and simply explanatory.  In subsequent letters he will also use the term "Oriental," which has only recently been relegated to the non-PC bin.  Also, later he will use the term "Negro" when referring to African Americans, which was the accepted norm in the 1940s.

The first letters: Aboard ship, heading for Japan

The first letters sent by my grandfather, Maj. William Tucker Gillham, were from aboard the transport ship U.S.S. Admiral Henry Thomas Mayo, which had begun escorting occupation troops to Japan beginning in September, 1945, about a month after V-J Day.  The ship left on October 17, 1945, from Pier 45 in San Francisco, California, bound for Yokohama, Japan, a large port city located on Tokyo Bay.

His initial correspondence was written on the day of embarkation, on normal 6"x 10" stationery.  It was just a short note written aboard ship, after having just said good-bye to his family earlier that day at the Monterey station as he boarded his train for San Francisco.  The letter was addressed to Mrs. W.T. Gillham in Robles del Rio, California, a small town in the Carmel Valley about 15 miles east of the city of Carmel.  Major Gillham and his wife, Frances, and their three daughters, Emily, 10; Monty (my mother), 7; and Martha, 8 months; were living there in a small vacation cabin owned by friends who lived in Oakland. The Gillhams had been there since February 1945, while Major Gillham was stationed at Fort Ord, about 20 miles away.

The Gillhams, Christmas 1943

Monty and Emily hold their dolls

Monument Beach, MA

 

San Francisco, Calif.
17 Oct 45
1500

Dearest Love,

Well, I am aboard ship and it is a very nice one -- a big new Navy transport about 600' long.  There are nine of us in a stateroom (Majors and Lt Cmdrs).  It is a little crowded, but we have good beds and plenty of room on deck to roam around.  It should be a fairly quick voyage.

I hated to leave you and the children this morning.  You were very brave and cheerful.  You have a big job to take care of our family while I am away, but I know you will do a good job of it.

I will remember last night as long as I am away.  You are a very sweet wife.  I love you with all my heart.

Don't forget to change the oil in the car.

I am not sure that I can get this mailed before I get to the other side or not, but am writing it just in case I can.

Remember, I love you.

Bill

**********

His second letter was in the form of a V-Mail, or Victory Mail, which was a standardized system for delivering mail between troops and the homefront during the war and thereafter. V-Mail used standard 7" x 9-1/8" stationery that had a glue flange on one side so that the page could be folded in such a way as to become its own envelope.  This letter was written five days out to sea.


22 Oct 1945

Dearest Darling,

We are now about halfway across and I thought I would write this so I would have it to mail at the first opportunity. I have been keeping up my diary and I feel like I have written to you after I make an entry. We cross the date line tomorrow and thereby get an extra day's pay. So far it has been a fairly rough voyage but I have eaten three fine meals every day and kept them all down. This is a fine ship -- one of the best in the transport service. I will write several letters before the end of the trip. I am well and hope you and the children are too.

Lots of love,

Bill

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

The U.S.S. Mayo was named for Thomas Henry Mayo, a Navy admiral who served in the Spanish-American War and World War I.  The Mayo was a so-called Benson-class Navy transport ship that was commissioned in the last days of World War II.  She transported over 5,000 released American prisoners of war from Le Havre, France, to Boston, and then moved nearly 5,000 troops from Marseilles, France, to Okinawa.  Once in the Pacific, the ship was used as a part of Operation Magic Carpet, transporting U.S. troops from the Western Pacific back home to the U.S. mainland beginning in September, 1945.  Major Gillham was aboard the Mayo on one such return trip to Tokyo.  Below is a photograph of the Mayo taken in 1945.