Domain of the Golden Dragon: Crossing the Two Main Longitudes - Part 3

Part 3

                                SAILING TO Yokohama, Japan   
                                    1 July 1964 - 13 July 1964

Green Dragons are initiated crossing the International Dateline

My father was serving as the Operations Officer on the USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 in 1963. The following year, this vessel was sent to Japan during the Vietnam War. We were living in southern California at the time, the ship was sent on ahead to Yokosuka, Japan, with my father on it. My mother was left to rent their home during our time away. She packed our belongings, some for storage & others to be sent on to Japan. My mother drove up to San Francisco to the same port where we previously met the MSTS GENERAL DANIEL I. SULTON now for the second time. This time, we brought another passenger with us, our dog, a Shetland Sheep Dog.

We needed to upgrade our U.S. Passports. 

My mother took some pictures of this trip. I am very thankful. She later made a beautiful photo album of our time in Japan. This album only covered our first 4 months in Japan. The rest of the labelled photos & slides were in boxes

Mother kept a detailed journal of this journey to Yokohama, Japan. 

Monday, 29 June 1964 - We arrived at the Oakland Naval Supply Center & had to wait for the office to open at 7 A.M. I made arrangements for shipping & then took the car to the shipping lot. They arranged transportation to the bus stop to Ft. Mason. The driver was very helpful and paternal. It was damp and windy. He told us we should go into the restaurant to wait as we had an hour. We had some more breakfast. We had trouble getting all of our luggage on the bus. Finally, another passenger, Marine Captain, Jack Davis, helped us. He, too, was going on the Sultan to Sasebo with his wife, Barbara and son, David, 5 years old. We stopped at Treasure Island, the Federal Building in San Francisco & then to Ft. Mason. No trouble getting a room at the Hostess House. Everything very convenient. There was the Exchange, which was closing out, we were able to get a few things we needed. It also included a restaurant, Beauty Shop, barbershop & processing center. After settling in our room, old but comfortable, and resting, we took a walk about the Fort to explore and make good use of the binoculars. After dinner, we went to the bowling alley, but couldn’t bowl as it was league night & they just had two lanes. We watched for a while, then went back to our rooms and read. I wrote a letter to Stan & cards to family. We had a sink in our room but had to use the community bath. Many children about, noisy and restless, & tired travelling mothers.

Tuesday, 30 June 1964 - Up about 7:30. Breakfast. Processing for travel at 9A.M. Had to have flu shots. Picked up passports from Mrs. Otis & got boarding instructions. After lunch, Gib went to the barber, Mary & I to the beauty shop. Later, took a walk away from  Ft. Mason and around the adjacent  North Shore. Watched some old Italian men playing Bocci Ball. Walked to Hyde St. where we found the cable car turntable. Took a ride all the way to downtown San Francisco, got off white the car was turned around, & on again for the ride back. This took us through part of China Town. It was cold & windy during our walk back to Ft. Mason. Had dinner & went bowling. Back at our room,  I reorganized the luggage & took it to the designated spot for pick up in the morning. Martha writes a letter to Stan.

Wednesday, 1 July 1964 - The Big Day of Departure. Up early for breakfast. Boarded the Navy Bus, which took us to Oakland. At the port, we check on Sasha (our dog), & took him through the Vet’s station. Mr. Russell had brought him & his supplies. Gib took him aboard & put him in a cold steel cage where he had a very uncomfortable voyage. Then we went back through the boarding line, had our papers checked & were escorted to our cabin #218. Next to the one #222 which we had occupied on our previous trip on the MSTS GENERAL DANIEL I. SULTON. As per Stan’s advice & instructions & remembering the earlier voyage, we unpacked & got the cabin in order. The army band was on the pier playing farewell songs, so we went up to listen & take pictures. 

But, first, we had lunch sitting at table #10. Paulo was our waiter. We met our table mates, Cdr. & Mrs. Bob Burke (Tottie) & their 16-year-old daughter, Deedee (Diedre). He was going to the Ship Repair Facility in Yokosuka. Sailing time was at 1400 (2PM). It was a beautiful day as we moved under the Oakland Bay Bridge, past Alcatraz Island, under the Golden Gate & we were on our way. For the first three days, we took our Bonamine to prevent “mal de mer.” In the deep waters of San Francisco it was quite rough, but the next few days were calm. We familiarized ourselves with the ship’s regulations & I even did some ironing. I spent the evening getting acquainted with other passengers in the lounge. We retired early.

Thursday, 2 July 1964 - Religious services are held daily in the chapel. Gib goes up to feed and clean Sasha daily. Mary & I pay an occasional visit. We spent some time on the sun deck today, chatting & reading while Mary played on the swings. The Children’s Playroom is open every morning & afternoon with an evening movie. The children have to be in their staterooms between 1-3 P.M. & by 8:30P.M. Many teenagers aboard for Gib. Not many Mary’s age. She went to the movie today & came back & tried to tell me about it & burst into tears. “Lad A Dog” was playing & she managed to hold back the tears until she returned to the cabin. (I was very sensitive to any movie or television show about animals. I was not allowed to watch Lassie growing up, as every episode made me cry.) After settling Mary in bed, Gib & I played Bingo. I won a pair of binoculars. 

Friday, 3 July 1964 - I have to be careful not to overeat. The food is too much & too good. Physical activity is limited. Doing lots of reading & talking with the Burkes; Beth & Carl Jennings; & Ann Gorman, who has been in Japan for nine years & returning after a home visit. Her husband is Civil Service. I discovered we were going the northern route, bypassing Hawaii, so I sent radiograms to friends notifying them that we would not be seeing them. I also sent one to Stan informing him that we were arriving in Yokohama on the 13th of July instead of the 16th.

Saturday, 4 July 1964 - Dance tonight in the Lounge. Orchestra made up from the troops aboard. Teenagers do the decorating & most of the dancing. Burkes invited me to their room for a drink after the evening buffet. I saw “Lilies of the Field” at 1800 (6PM) movie. Not impressed. I received a radiogram from Stan in reply to mine. 

Sunday, 5 July 1964 - My day to supervise the children’s playroom ages 6-12. Sunday school first, then a short movie. After lunch & rest period, they showed “Swiss Family Robinson.” Children are very difficult to keep under control. Tonight is Casino Night in the Dining Saloon. Each player is given $1000 in paper money. I only observed Gib not interested in older teenage activities, like dancing. He was chumming with DeeDee Burke, Vickie Jennings, with Carl & Billy Jennings. They saw “The Music Man” tonight. I had a Meeting of the Golden Dragons (that’s us) today to plan the International Date-Line Crossing Ceremony.

Monday, 6 July 1964 - The daily routine is becoming monotonous but relaxing & enjoyable. Up at 7AM. Breakfast at 0800. Lunch at 12:15. Dinner at 5:15. Bingo again tonight; but I choose to go to the movie “My Geisha.” It was excellent. But the screen flew up in the middle of the movie. Gib got up to pull it down but couldn’t reach it. Others tried, but it was stuck. At least 20 min. went by before it was repaired. In the meantime, I went out on the deck & met the Master of the ship, Capt. Harrington. Filled out immigration forms today. The officers in charge of the Military Dept. are all very wonderful. The Special Services officer is very good - trying to keep everybody busy and happy.  The Chaplain doing the same with the children. I had to pay subsistence & pet charges today. We had to bring Sasha’s food with us, plus dishes, leash, muzzle & blanket. The charge of $7.50 was for his cage. Charge for Gib, Mary & I was about $50. Where else can one get on a two-week cruise for that? It might not be a luxurious trip, but it is comfortable & everyone is very kind. We have an adjoining bath to our cabin & a steward to clean it every day. No tipping allowed. Excellent table service at meals.

Tuesday, 7 July 1964 - Clocks have to be set back one hour every night, & tonight is the big jump as we cross the 180th meridian & lose Wednesday. Today is the Date Line Crossing Ceremony. Gib is busy getting all props ready for the initiation of the Slimy Green Dragons. They

had to abide by certain rules of dress - all women had to go without make-up & wearing hair curlers. Men had to put red spots on cheeks & nose. All had to wear their clothes backwards. They had to remain silent all morning unless spoken to by a Golden Dragon; but before answering they had to salute and say, “Hail to the Glorious Golden Dragon.” At 1330 (3:30PM),

the initiation took place in the Children’s play enclosure on the sun deck. Each green dragon was taken by the Sheriff of the Sea to the Court of the Golden Dragon (a King, a Queen and mermaid) who were represented by the man,

woman & teenager who was the earliest aboard to have crossed before. The initiation consisted of blindfolding, then having the individual put his hand in a can of cooked cold spaghetti and were told it was worms; walking barefoot over “glass” (eggshells); putting faces in a pig trough to remove an olive from salad fixings; greasing the area around the mouth and blowing hard into a cup of flour; raw eggs broken overhead, ice cubes down clothes, etc. I busied myself taking pictures. Mary laughed very hard at it all & Gib assisted inside the cage. Later at dinner, we confessed to the Burkes that we had never been through initiation as we had crossed in 1957 on Christmas Day & we celebrated Christmas instead. This made Tottie & DeeDee furious as they had been the target of our personal harassment. This evening there was a Shipwreck Dance; but again I went to the movie, “Woman of Distinction” with Rosalind Russell. Funny. Later, joined Tottie and Bob in their cabin. 

Stan writes to his parents, “After ten days on the high seas from Pearl Harbor to Yokosuka, the USS Oklahoma City finally made it alongside the ship that we will relieve as flagship, the USS Providence.” 

USS Oklahoma City is pushed alongside the USS
Providence in Yokosuka, Japan, on 7 July 1964.

Stan also mentions that he heard from Marty about their earlier arrival. He continues, “They will arrive earlier than scheduled which means I will be here to greet them instead of being out to sea as originally scheduled. Everyone is much happy to be sure. I  have so much to do

in the next few days before Marty gets here…get a Japanese driver’s license, find our new house, buy some Japanese furnishings for the place, staple foodstuffs, registrations forms for Japanese license plates for the car & whatever else I run into. Since we will be the flagship for Vice Admiral Johnson who is the Commander of the Seventh Fleet there will be a lot of responsibility in my hands which I cannot afford to make mistakes at this time as my name will be appearing before the selection board for Commander next month. Mary is enthusiastically looking forward to her new home in a new land. Come to think of it, she is about the same age that Gib was when he first went to the Philippines. We are anticipating a good tour of duty here & plan as a family for all of us to climb Mt. Fuji all the way there to the top so we can have something to remark about for the rest of our lives. I hope to hire a maid before Marty gets here.”

Wednesday, 8 July 1964 - Lost day with crossing the International Date Line.

Thursday, 9 July 1964 - Weather not good today. Some excitement though. Had to veer from off course to go on a rescue mission. A crew member on the Navy freighter USNS Bland was stricken with a perforated ulcer & the doctor was sent over on a lifeboat to bring him back to the Sultan & operate.

Friday, 10 July 1964 - Routine day. Foul weather. Fog and rain. Sick passenger doing satisfactorily. Went up to see Sasha. He’s most unhappy. There is a laundry where the wash is done for us, & an ironing room in which we can do our own ironing. I had long chat with Betty Jennings today. They just came from Lemoore, where he was a maintenance officer. We had to fill out more papers. Talent contest in the Lounge tonight. Some very good. I was a spectator, of course. Got sea-sick today.

Saturday, 11 July 1964 - Routine day. Weather still bad - fog. Bingo again tonight. Filled out Declaration papers on what we were taking into Japan with us. Sick again today. Spent most of it in bed. Gib also not feeling well. Mary fine. 

Sunday, 12 July 1964 - After Sunday school, children played Bingo. I attended Debarkation meeting for all those passengers getting off in Yokohama. First stop. Then the ship goes on to Okinawa, Korea, & back to Sasebo before the trip home to San Francisco. Sayonara dance tonight in the lounge. Went to 1800 (6PM) movie with Mary in the playroom to see “Pollyanna.”

Then to see “Spartacus” in the theater, but couldn’t stand it so left & went to watch the teenagers twisting. Spent the afternoon packing. 

Monday, 13 July 1964 - We were up early & very excited about our arrival & seeing Daddy again. Put our baggage in the corridor & had breakfast. We saw land & a few fishing boats & freighters from our porthole. Got more excited as we came up Tokyo Bay. Thought we could see Yokohama, but no one seemed certain. Tried to take some pictures, but it was too hazy. Went through Immigration after the Officials boarded in the Lounge. Very fast & out on deck again as we came closer to the pier. 

Yokohama in view.

Could not see Stan anywhere. I lost my sunglasses over the side. A band was playing a Welcome song for us. We said good-bye to those we would not be seeing again & went ashore. We waited for about 30 minutes for Stan inside the terminal. Finally, he came, looking thin and pale, gave me a quick kiss & headed for the men’s room. Poor fellow! He had been sick in bed all weekend. He was late as he had trouble finding the North Pier where we tied up. After introductions to Bob & Tottie, he changed our money for us, got our baggage into the old broken down auto-bus that belongs to the Oklahoma City.  He & Gib went to get Sasha who was very excited. It was hot & humid. I ran into the Exchange & bought myself another pair of sunglasses & we headed for Kamakura & our new home. Yokohama was not a very pretty site & the streets were busy & crowded. The Japanese drivers are mad & dear Stan was acting like one of them. We hung on for dear life. Somewhere along the way, we took a wrong turn.”

Mom continues with great detail of our first exciting day with Dad driving us to Kamakura, getting lost, finding & moving into our small Japanese home. Dad was out to sea a few days later leaving mom on her own. I have wonderful memories of our 15 months in Japan. My mother was the perfect military wife as she loved adventure with her independent spirit which my father adored about her. 

Our next trip back to the United States was in the fall of 1965. My parents thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience if we took the “long way home.” I literally saw the world as we travelled through Southeast Asia, the Middle East & Europe. My mother also kept a daily journal of this trip with a few days missing. It was the best education I could experience. My next blog post will cover this. Do you want it in full detail or just an edited version? Let me know what you want to read? I will gladly share my experiences with you.