I am working on this
year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s
Southern Family or at My Trails Into
the Past. I’m looking forward to
writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
I
have several independent, unmarried great-aunts, two of whom I’ve already
written stories. My paternal aunt, Lorene E. Hork Waldron, was also a very
independent woman who married late in life. She was our “fun” aunt. She had no
children, but loved to pay attention to us.
After
World War II, she worked for one year in Tokyo, Japan, for the U.S. Army. We
know about her activities in Japan through the letters written home to her
mother, and to her two sisters, Virginia and June. She left in early March
1952.
The
first letter is dated 9 March 1952 and she wrote of the first few days at sea.
She claimed she “hadn’t been sick yet but had her thunder mug available just in
case.” There were 2500 people on board, with twelve civil service employees,
300 women and children, and the rest military personnel and ship’s crew. She
never named the ship but refer to it as the “Mighty A” which could be the USS
Alabama.
She
arrived Yokohama and was bused to Tokyo, where she and the other civil service
employees were placed in the Osaka hotel. Many of her letters were about the
many dates she had with different officers and civilian men.
Her
job was as secretary and the rest of the others in the office were men who were auditors. She had to
type up their reports. She became very spoiled with a personal maid who took
care of her laundry, cleaning, and any other chores that were needed.
In
May she felt an earthquake. “Last Thursday we had one that was a pip. I was
sitting at my desk at work when it happened and was really scared! It lasted a
full minute and was the worst one here in seven years. This old building really
shook and the fellas in the office said my face was red as a beet!”
By
June the occupation was over and she was assigned a new job. She was in charge
of a typing pool consisting of Japanese girls, who typed well but had poor
spelling skills. Lorene had to take care of the classified and secret work
herself.
She
also wrote about her disappointment in her brother, Billy (my dad) wanting to
marry Lea (my mother). She felt he could do better, but didn’t write why.
Lastly,
even though she went out on lots of dates, she wrote to her mother, “I guess I’m
not the marrying kind. I’ll find someone over here if it’s supposed to be but I’m
certainly not going to get married just to get married. Being unhappily married
and a good Catholic at the same time isn’t my idea of an ideal life. This is
leap year though so don’t give me up!”
To
be continued…..
Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.
What an interesting life your Aunt Lorene had! Did she ever learn to speak Japanese? Looking forward to reading about how she eventually married.
ReplyDeleteShe did learn some Japanese. I was once with her at a Chinese restaurant when she tried speaking Japanese to a waiter, who turned out to be Japanese. I was pretty impressed!
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