Chapter 13: It’s a Small World

There have been several times that I met someone halfway around the world with whom I was somehow connected.

The first was in Vietnam. Several friends and I were sitting outside the barracks having some drinks. Adjacent to our barracks was the officers’ quarters. Their compound was surrounded by a protective wall. It was about five feet high, and three feet thick made with a plywood frame filled with sand. It was built to protect against rocket or mortar attacks. It was totally useless since if we were attacked, the mortars would probably go over the walls and hit the buildings inside. Anyway, I digress…

While we were sitting there drinking, a captain was walking by. It was obvious that he had already imbibed in too much alcohol. Firstly, he was wearing his dress blues. This uniform is worn mainly by office workers at a stateside base. Nobody wears blues in Vietnam. Secondly, his jacket was unbuttoned, and his necktie was not tied. We asked him if he needed a drink. He said, “Yes, please,” and someone handed him a bottle of Jack Daniels. He took  big swig. We then asked when he arrived in Vietnam, and he replied that he landed in Saigon that morning. He then said that he lost the key to his room and was going to the housing office to get a spare key. A couple of us decided to walk with him (so he wouldn’t get lost?). One of the first questions we ask someone that we just met is, “Where are you from?” He answered, “Bremerton, Washington.” I told him that my father worked in the Naval Shipyard there. He said that his father did too. The shipyard has hundreds of shops that do various kinds of work. I don’t know why, but I asked what shop his father worked in. He replied, “Shop 36.” I said, “No way. My father worked in the same shop.” I wrote a letter to my father, and it turned out that the captain’s father was my father’s boss. My father took over his job when he retired.

To make a long story longer… they didn’t have a spare key for his room. We went back to help him get the door open. He finally asked us to just kick it opened. One of my friends was happy to do it. He leaned against the door across the hall to get some momentum and the person inside the room opened the door just at the same time. My friend fell flat on his back and looked up at a major looking down at him. My friend saluted the officer while and his back and said sorry. After explaining the situation, he told us to hurry up, finish the job and leave.

While I was stationed in Okinawa, my sister came to visit for a couple of weeks.  One night I decided to take her to the Miami Bar for some yakitori. It was a pretty quiet place with a jukebox. While eating some yakitori and drinking a beer, I offered some beer to a Japanese man sitting next to me. He then offered me some of his. His name is Terasaka san.  After talking for a while, he asked if we would like to visit his apartment and meet his wife. I asked my sister how she felt, and she said, “Why not?” I told him that his wife would be “waji waji,”  and he said no problem. (Wajiwaji is an Okinawan word meaning angry and usually said while holding the index finger of each hand on the side of your head to look like the devil’s horns.)  We jumped into a taxi and got to his place in about five minutes. His wife met us at the door, and she had some beer and snacks set out on the table. His wife spoke English rather well. He said, “She is the interpreter, and I am the interrupter.” I liked his sense of humor. Anyway, first questions first, “Where are you from?” When I told her that I was from Seattle, she told me that her aunt was married to an American and lives in Seattle. One of my sister’s good friends is a second-generation Japanese. Seattle has several communities of Asian peoples. My sister wrote to her friend and asked if her grandmother might know this lady. As it turned out, they were very good friends! Small world! He was in the Japanese military and transferred to a base on the main island of Honshu. His base was near Misawa Air Base, so I decided to catch a hop to Misawa and visit him. By chance, it was apple harvesting season. The Japanese military volunteered to help harvest the apples and in turn, the farmers donate apples to the base. He took me to several orchards and the farmers all gave me some of their apples. My suitcase was full of only apples. He drove me to Misawa for my return trip. Along the way, we stopped by a huge fish market. It wasn’t open to the public yet, but he talked with the fish monger to sell us some super fresh scallops. They packed them in ice and a big plastic bag. The ice started melting a little on the flight back to Okinawa, but it was a cargo plane so no problem. The scallops were so delicious. Years later, after being stationed at Yokota, I had a chance to see him again. I had a business trip to Misawa for a conference. After the conference finished, I took a couple days of leave and visited him. After a few drinks, Terasaka said that he wanted to introduce me to his friend. His friend was a Japanese military general and commander of the base. The general’s base house was big but was probably built in the 1950s. We looked into the front door window to see what was going on. The general was having a semi-formal dinner with some VIPs. One of his aides saw us and came out to see what we were doing. Terasaka gave him a message to pass on to the general. I knew that we were in big trouble at this point, especially with me being a foreigner on a Japanese military base and looking into the window of a general’s house. A few minutes later, the general came out laughing, talked with Terasaka a little then shook my hand and apologized and said that he was sorry, but he was busy and couldn’t go out drinking with us. Who says that life isn’t interesting?

Here is one more “it’s a small world” story that I almost forgot.

My wife, Keiko, had a very serious medical condition and was taken to the University of Washington Medical Center. The doctors there finally found the cause of the problem and were able to bring her back to good health. The doctors, nurses and staff were great. On her final day in the hospital, she was dressed and ready to go. We were just waiting for the release documents were completed and signed so she could leave. Nurse Ivy was assigned to Keiko had nothing to do, so we just talked. Of course, the question came up, “Where are you from?” I started by saying that I was born and raised in Seattle, joined the Air Force when I was 18 and was stationed in Vietnam, Thailand, Okinawa and Mainland Japan at Yokota. I said that I had retired from Yokota and still lived there near the base. She said that her mother was from Okinawa. Then she said that her aunt was married to an American who works at Yokota. The base has about 12,000 people including the military, their families and civilian workers. Again, the chances of knowing her aunt and her husband were small to none. The she said the husband’s name is Rick Gardaya. I said, “What? No way! Rick is my best friend and lives across the street from me. During our conversation, I told her that I loved sata andagi, or Okinawan donut balls. She called us later that evening and told us that her mother would make some of the donut balls to bring back to Japan for me and Rick’s family. I was leaving for Japan on the next morning. We met in Seattle on my way to the airport and she gave me a very big bag of the donut balls. I had to empty my carry-on bag to make space for them. She and her mother visited Tokyo and Okinawa about a year later, so I had a chance to see her again. She is a wonderful person. It’s a small world!

The first picture is of Okinawa donuts. The second picture is the Air Force blue uniform. In Vietnam, we all wore “jungle fatigues” like my friends were wearing in the picture on the right. My friends were a scraggly bunch.

“Barracks” means “dormitory in military slang.”

“Quarters” means “the place where you live, especially in the military.”

“Compound” in this case, it means “a group of similar buildings.”

“I digress” means “I got off subject.” In this case, the subject was talking about “it’s a small world” but I started talking about our living quarters.

“Imbibed” means “was drinking alcohol.”

“Took  big swig” means “took a big drink.”

“To catch a hop” means “to get a free ride on a military aircraft.”

“Fish monger” means “a person who sells fish.”

“Release documents” means “paperwork saying that she could leave the hospital.”

“Scraggly bunch” means “a group of people who don’t look sharp or neat.”