WITH THE J-FORCE
DUNEDIN BOY'S IMPRESSIONS VIEW OF HIROSHIMA His first impressions of Japan are given in a letter to, his parents by a D,unedin boy who arrived there on the troopship Cbitral on Monday, August 19. “ We came off the boat on Monday morning,” he writes, “and were driven to Kure railway station by Australians. The waterfront and many of the factories are in a bad way. Most of them have been burnt out. All the Nips we saw seemed to be quite well fed, and many of the women were quite well dressed in European clothes.
“ From Kure it took us about seven hours to reach Chofu. We passed through Hiroshima on the way. Believe me. the atom bomb is pretty good! Tne place was flattened. “The first thing for us was a,feed and then a shower. Our camp is in part of Kobe Steel. It was one of the biggest steel works in Japan, employing about 80.000. Our quarters are quite good. The food is first-class, and there is plenty of it. The Japs serve it all out, wash up, and clean the tables We have table cloths and china. The Japs clean up our quarters, make beds, etc. There is a laundry here employing about 12 girls to do our washing free. “It is very hot, and most of us have been sweating since our arrival several days ago. We have to wear long trousers and long sleeves. This is a precaution against sleeping sickness. It' is carried by mosquitoes, and there are plenty of them around. At nights we cover ourselves- with insect repellarit and sleep with mosquito netting over us. “ I have been into the town a few times and found it a fairly dirty place. There seems to be plenty to buy, and actually money seems to have very little value here. I went to the pictures last night. I could not understand the talking, but it seemed to be a cross between Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. “ We are not allowed to eat or drink anything outside the camp. The Japs around the camp work pretty hard and jump to it when you talk to them. We- set seven bottles of beer each a week.”
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 25894, 11 September 1946, Page 6
Word Count
373WITH THE J-FORCE Evening Star, Issue 25894, 11 September 1946, Page 6
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