This is the dock that we pulled in at Yokohama. This is our sister ship, the USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) Departing Yokohama, Japan, with the first Korean War dead to be returned to the United States. 11 March 1951.
Have I had a surrealistic moment, yea, now that you mention it, I have. I think that is the correct word, a moment that I, to this day, vividly remember, it happened in 1954.
I enlisted in the Navy in 1952, and spent two years in San Diego, at the Receiving Station, which I don't think is there anymore, and then was transferred to Seattle, and did my last two years aboard the USS William Mitchell TAP 114, my two year taste of "sea duty."
On my first cruise we left Seattle, Washington, headed for Japan. Saw a lot of water before getting there.
One morning, we were alerted that we were pulling in the channel and heading to Yokohama Harbor.
Let me digress. I was born in 1932. I remember December 7, 1941, vividly. I remember the war well. I remember we were told of those "dirty little Japs." I remember all the movies, the newsreels, the radio announcements, and when it was over, after the "bomb" dropped in 1945.
So, here I was, only nine years after the war ended, sailing up these waters that still showed signs of the war, Sunken ships, debris, I remember some of the buildings had marks from bullets, it was almost like a dream to me, being there, seeing all of this, just a few years after the war.I found this photograph on the web, but it is where we pulled in, and I remember the sign, and how strange I thought it was, to be welcomed, after all I had seen and heard during the war, to be Welcomed to Japan.
I can still see those sunken ships in the harbor, I was then, and still am, in awe of those scenes, a war I had lived in my mind, I was actually seeing, up close. I think that surreal sums it up, pretty well.
PS - I don't remember how many crossings I made. I was in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, San Francisco, Seattle, and every time we left or pulled in to a port, there were crowds of people, troops and bands to either greet us, or say goodbye.
