Page 76 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

On August 2, I was still reading my RSV Bible and had reached the book of Acts. It
was about the Jewish conspiracy against Paul and his trip to Rome. I received a letter
from Louis A. Willand, Senior Welfare Specialist with the Office of the Protestant
Chaplain, commending me for willingly and voluntarily holding worship services at
Shemya when no Chaplain was available. I also got a letter from Jack Hall telling me
that his wife, Rose, had joined him in Fairbanks. They had a car and a dog. He said his
recon plane flew over Shemya every other week, but never landed here.

I was quite stiff and sore from working on our Jeep. They were going to junk it because
of a broken hub on the rear axle, but I went to the junkyard and took one off an old Jeep,
and put it on ours. I hated to see anything go to waste when it could be repaired and
reused.

On August 3, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ plane landed here because of
engine trouble. Fortunately, it was repaired before they were flying the 1,500-mile
flight farther over Pacific waters before reaching Japan and Korea. He was going to
meet with Korean President Syngman Rhee.

On August 10, I flew on a familiarization route aboard an RCAF (Royal Canadian Air
Force) DC-4 airplane. The flight lasted nine and a half hours. In Tokyo, I got on a
Rickshaw, which was a two-wheeled cart pulled by a man. He asked if I wanted to be
taken to Geisha girl, which is a prostitute. I told him no, then asked him to take me to a
park where I could go swimming. We rode past Hirohito’s Palace which was
surrounded by a moat with weeping willows on its banks. I got to swim in a beautiful
large swimming pool that had very tall diving towers at one end.

A few days later it was time to fly back to Shemya. From the airport, I could get a good
view of Mount Fuji, which is a 12,000 ft. high volcanic mountain about 80 miles
southwest of Tokyo. I had left a roll of film in the desk drawer at the airport, and when
I returned I discovered it had been stolen. At least, I still had my camera with film in it
to take pictures.

On September 1, I had my 22nd birthday. I didn’t have to work that day. I enjoyed
sleeping late, cleaning my room, and just relaxing and reading. Shemya gets its mildest
weather this month with daytime temperatures near 50 degrees, and I enjoyed spending
time along the Bering seashore. One day, I rented a bicycle and rode about 4 miles
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