RETURN BACK TO THE UNITED STATES -
12 January 1960 to 1 February 1960
In a previous blog post, I shared my family's story of going overseas in 1957 to the Philippine Islands. My father was looking forward to his job working for the U. S. Naval Seventh Fleet headquarters. Before taking this job, he was a flight instructor at Chase Field, in Beeville, Texas. In order to keep up with his flight pilot license, he found many opportunities to get on a jet with colleagues to get behind the wheel.
Stan was excited to fly again. His next duty station was in Alameda, California, to fly with
Squadron 92, the Silver Kings, aboard the USS Ranger.
This time, the family was sailing on the S.S. President Hoover, a part of the American President Lines, advertised as "Your American Hotel Abroad" that provided cruise line travel anywhere around the world which started in the 1940s. The SS President Hoover travelled back & forth on the Pacific Ocean.
My parents with the children boarded on the ship on 12 January 1960 in Manilla, Philippines. This cruise included stops in Hong Kong, Kobe & Yokohama before returning to San Francisco. We were able to use our same passports used in 1957.
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| We were in highlighted cabin 104 on the Promenade deck. |
In a letter written to 'their' parents, telling them the story of returning to the United States, Martha types,
“As you know we left the Philippine Islands on 12 January 1960. A few couples came from Sangley Point to see us off. We had a special boat take us to Manilla where we boarded the SS PRESIDENT HOOVER. We had a small but lovely stateroom with bath. Room 104. We were a little disappointed with the service. However, we really learned the meaning of the Labor Unions. I was never made so much aware of it before. No problems like that aboard Uncle Sam’s (Daniel I. Sultan) ship on the way out. We met many nice people, mostly older folks. The voyage from Manilla to Hong Kong was delightful. Warm & smooth. Gib managed to get a few dips in the swimming pool those 2 days & that ended that. From Hong Kong to Japan & from there to San Francisco it as cold & rough. Mary was envied by other passengers while trying to keep their balance on deck, as Mary had the help of her braces to keep her balance."
During our time in the Philippines, after I had the body cast removed, my doctor had me wear two different types of braces. First, I wore a curved brace to keep my legs apart & to prevent me from walking. Later, as I grew, I was changed to a straight brace to allow me to put weight on my hips. Here I am ready for Halloween. I was so excited to go Trick or Treating with my brother in 1959.
Martha continues, "I was seasick a good bit of the time. We could not go out on deck except for the enclosed promenade deck. Our stateroom was on the promenade deck also.
In Hong Kong port, the S.S.President Hoover is behind Stan, Gib & Mary.
Gib takes a ride on a local rickshaw.
“We arrived in Japan after 4 more days at sea. We landed at Kobe, took a train to Kyoto. The first thing we did was to find a department store to buy some pants for Mary to cover her legs as it was cold & rainy. Mary got separated from us. In an effort to find her parents, Mary ended up on another floor where her panic-stricken parents found her sitting on top of a counter surrounded with Japanese salesgirls & customers, having the time of her life with all of the attention. The salesgirls were helpful in finding our family’s needs. Then we hired a cab to take us to a Shinto Shrine, a Buddhist Temple & a drive around the Old Emperor’s Palace. Kyoto used to be the capital city. About 1 PM we got on the train to go to Atami, a seaside resort town. It is about 6 hours by train. The train was lovely. Japan is noted for its marvellous railroad system. I enjoyed just looking out the window & watching the countryside. We had lunch in the dining car & got to Atami at about 7 PM. The people were very friendly even though we couldn’t speak to them. One man kept giving Mary candy. I always thought my children were well behaved until I observed the Japanese children. They really made me feel ashamed. They are so quiet & proper. The thing that impressed me most about the people was their extreme friendly politeness & respectfulness. After a while, we automatically began bowing ourselves. Our night in Atami was a little disappointing as we thought we were going to stay in a Japanese style hotel. It turned out to be a combination of Western and Oriental.
"They gave us kimono's to wear but that was all. Private parties were being held in the Oriental dining rooms, so we had to eat in their European dining room, and the food was terrible. Couldn't even get Japanese food. We got up early the next morning and got the train to Yokosuka, where the U.S. Naval Base is. Since we did not have breakfast we bought a bag of mandarin oranges & little clay pots of hot tea to eat and drink on the train. We stopped at the Officers’ Club for brunch & while we are eating we walked into one of the nurses who we had known at Sangley Point & who had been transferred to Japan. She sat down & ate with us. Then, as we were leaving the club, we met a fellow that Stan had known some years ago. We then went to the exchange to buy some much needed warm clothing for all of us & two small tape recorders that Stan & I can use for corresponding when we are separated. Then back on the train again to Yokohama & a ride around the city & a trip to the exchange there. We then took our merchandise back to the ship which already arrived in port, repacked our bag for the night in Tokyo & made reservations at a genuine Japanese hotel. We took the train to Tokyo at 5:30 & after arriving at the railroad station there, we transferred to the city transit system which is far more crowded than N. Y. subways will ever be. Mary went into a panic & screamed at everyone not to push her. She really let them have it. Finally, an American sailor gave us his seat. We got to our hotel at 8 PM. It was a small hotel with only 14 rooms. We were treated like royalty. The manager was at the door to meet us & show us to our rooms. We even had a choice of rooms. We chose a three-room suite, very small rooms, a sitting room, dining room, & sleeping room. The furniture was all the low Japanese type, of course, & we did our best to act appropriately. We took off our shoes & slid into slippers, then they helped up into our kimonos. We had a girl who assisted us in every way. She served us tea & sweets. The manager remained with us to chat as he had been educated in the states. We were sipping while she prepared our sleeping mats on the floor in the sleeping room. Then we had a sukiyaki dinner which she prepared at our table, also all the hot sake we could drink. All this time the manager sat with us & described what we were eating. I wish he hadn't told us everything, but I must admit it was all very delicious. I wish you could have seen Mary trying to manipulate the chopsticks. She was very persistent about it & chose to use them instead of the spoon they brought for her. Then it was time to take a bath. I was disappointed in not being able to get a real hot bath with massage and all, but we did bathe Japanese-style. The tile tub is about 2 ft. square & 3 feet deep. You wash yourself outside the tub, scoop up the water from the tub with a little basin & rinse yourself off, then get into the tub of scalding hot water up to your shoulders to soak & relax. It really felt good for the room was quite cold. Everyone soaks in the same water after they have scrubbed well. From the bath, we got right under the featherbeds, all very cosy, the four of us in a row. We left the hotel about 8:30, after we had breakfast in our room, to board a train to Yokohama where we toured one of the shopping districts until it was time to go back to the ship where it was waiting for us. I bought a kimono and obi (belt) for Mary & me & ‘happi coats’ (shorter in sleeves & length than the kimono) for the boys. We visited the toy stores and bought some interesting mechanical toys for the children, then to a hat shop for some feather hats for me. We did not see Mt. Fujiyama as it was dark when we were in that area. We left Japan at noon on the third day.
“The rest of the trip home seemed uneventful after the excitement of seeing Japan. They had many different entertaining evenings for us. One was a costume party. Stan won a prize as a rickshaw boy in his ‘happi coat.’ Actually, there was nothing outstanding about that, but it was his hamming that did it. He dragged a deck chair in front of the judges with a little boy in it, joggling in typical style. He received a solid metal model of the ship.
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I found this ship model in a box & wondered what it was. Now I know.
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I had Gib dressed in my clothes as a glamour girl & he got a do-it-yourself ship model. I had taken Mary to an indiscreet spot where she could watch the proceedings, as she could not go to sleep. When it was time to take her back to bed, she raised a terrible fuss. When I got her to our room, the captain knocked at the door and gave her a huge stuffed doll. Later at the children's party, she got a lovely blond-haired doll. They had all of the balloons they wanted and party hats, etc. A number of people had cocktail parties to which we were invited, including two by the captain, so towards the end of the trip, the five military families aboard went together and gave one.”
I found this program of a show put on by the children on the ship on the Friday afternoon before we reached San Francisco.
My brother & I were a part of the show. Gib & Robert were in a skit called ‘Chicken Fight.’ He was in another one called ‘A Trip to California.’ I was in something called ‘Flower Girl.’ I have no memory of this. I will have to ask my brother.
“We arrived in San Francisco on Monday, February 1, where we were met by a chief who formerly worked in Stan's office in Sangley Point. He took us to his house first, and they drove us down to Alameda where they had a Quonset Hut reserved for us on base at the Alameda Naval Air Station.”
Thus begins our adventure at a new location to find a new home & new friends with my father’s new duty station.
I love my mother’s detailed descriptions of our adventures. I wish we had more pictures aboard the ship.
Mother kept the ephemera for her scrapbooks (which she never got to complete) of this trip. This included daily schedules & meal menus.
Mother told me “once when we arrived into a new port, we stood on the upper deck near the horn. As it blew to announce our arrival, it scared me so much that I would cry out in screams. Nobody knew it until they looked at me & saw my red face & wide open mouth, because they couldn’t hear me.” No more standing in the upper deck so close to the ship’s horn. Dad caught upset Mary in the photo above.
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Postcards were sold to passengers to send off of their
return home from their ocean voyage cruise.
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