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| Cover of Bill's 1956 dairy he kept while stationed in Japan |
This morning, while in Bill's bedroom preparing him for the day, I noticed a little book in the headboard of his bed, a bed he doesn't use, he sleeps in a recliner.
I picked up the book and noticed this Japanese writing on the cover. Does anyone know that the Japanese says? I tried to look it up on Google translate but I didn't have any luck.
I opened the book and saw where it was journal/diary that Bill kept while he was serving with the United States Air Force in U. S. Occupied Japan in 1956. I read a few entries and discovered new things about Bill that I didn't know before.
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| Bill's first entry in his 1956 diary in Japan |
Bill isn't stupid but I didn't realize that he was that curious about his friends and fellow service members.
The daily entries in his diary are mundane but I think interesting. Much like mine, it states the time, weather and what he did during the day. Samuel Pepys diary, his is not. However there are some very interesting entries like the day he and his buddy visited Tokyo and Mt. Fuji and on the way they stopped by the Japanese Imperial Palace and saw Emperor Hirohito and his wife strolling through the gardens of the palace. Pat and I plan to visit Japan someday but we will never see anything like that. Bill has had a very interesting life. Prior to joining the Air Force, he was in the Army and in Germany right after World War II. He visited Hitler's mountain retreat home before the Army blew it up.
One thing I really found interesting in Bill's diary was the impression he has written about some of his fellow service members. Usually just one or two sentences but succinct enough to give an idea of who that man was. For example:
"Dickey - A odd guy, fair in personality, & intelligent, considering personal appearance, is supervising, although not the type for close association -"
Another one:
Durham - A very swell guy - very considerate & a good personality. A true rebel from Louisiana."
I didn't realize, after living with Bill for the past fifty-seven year that he was that observant of people's personalities. I asked him what he thought of me when he first met me. All he could say was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.
That's good enough for me!
