Description
247 Navy #3247 (Mil. Govt) FPO San Francisco Sunday 10 June 1945 7:45 am My dearest darling- A week ago today! I should be getting a letter about it today or tomorrow. Last night the Nisei boys gave the teachers - in fact all 88 or 90 of them - a “party” in the new auditorium, now completed except for the job of plugging the myriad tiny holes in the roof, which make it look like the sky at night when the building is semi-darkened by closing all the windows. Morimoto, who runs farm and suiji, more or less took charge and acted as an informal master of ceremonies when the evening's unplanned entertainment began. The auditorium is a good sized building, 30’x90’ - an ideal banquet hall and just right for showing indoor movies. On school benches borrowed for the occasion the Nisei had draped banana leaves and put on top of them papaya, green oranges, soursaps, [pg 2] Wri (melon - a cross in taste between cucumber and honeydew) and mango - lots of them, each separated from the next by 6-8”; at each place was a box of K rations. We were rained out at the beginning; heavy rain for about [Drawing] an hour postponed the gathering so that instead of running from 5-7 it opened at 6 and then ran till 9. Before the soup (made largely of kabucha, or squash) could be served, their had to be a modicum of opening ceremony. Ikeda got up simply to recall what we were celebrating, express his thanks to Takemoto and to the teachers who had borne the greatest responsibility. Then he called on Arthur, who made a very appropriate [pg 3] 5-minute talk in English which of course nobody could understand (the one or two got the drift of it), but which any of them could ask the Nisei boys about later. I was called on next (Tel had the duty, came in later for half an hour and then spoke in his inimitable Japanese, which is funny even to me but which gets his points across with a vengeance simply because it doesn't dismay him and because he has the personality - he recalled how he’d thought the job impossible when he looked at the building from which this material was taken) - I spoke in Japanese, saying ‘Mr. Smith, who teaches English in peacetime, has just made a very fitting talk; because my English is relatively poor, I should like to speak briefly in Japanese.’ That amused them very much and occasioned considerable applause, tho they were much freer than usual in applauding everyone. It's curious how, when on occasion is specified as informal, they loosen up. If it had been called ‘an evening of dedication’ or some such nonsense, they would all [pg 4] have been as solemn as hoot owls. Besides soup, there was rice and hot cocoa (made with water, and very sweet) and lemonade, both made from powder which came in military rations part of which have spoiled and hence which we've been able to get for the school. About 7:30 Morimoto began calling on various people to sing or otherwise add to the entertainment. Not many responded, but the Nisei boys one of them with guitar performed liberally and Morimoto was able to persuade 3 or 4 of the teachers. When they have planned something in advance, every damn one of them will get up and “entertain” ad nauseum. Last night's extreme was the happier of the two, and everybody seemed to have a good time. The gathering broke up with the singing of the Japanese version of Auld Lang Syne after the Nisei and I had sung one chorus in English. My last sheet of paper and besides it's time to go I love you Warren
