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trof

(54,256 posts) Sat Dec 7, 2013, 08:44 PM Dec 2013

My Pearl Harbor Day story:

I was about four months old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
I don't remember much about it.

But that has nothing to do with this story.

I'd hired on as a pilot with Nippon Cargo Airlines in 1989.
I was taking my final check ride with Captain Ito.
We were on a layover in Anchorage.

We went to a popular bar & grill next to the Hilton for a few drinks and supper.
(They had great sauteed garlic oysters.)

Captain Ito ordered Long Island Tea for the four of us.
Ito, me, and the co-pilot and flight engineer of the crew being checked.
My co-pilot wasn't much of a drinker.
The engineer and I could pretty much hold our own.
I preferred Scotch, but Ito was buying.
And since he had the say so over whether I passed the check ride or not, I accepted the drink.
Hey, my career was on the line.

I got through it and was about to order a Scotch and water when Ito ordered another round of Tea.
Crap.
Oh well.

At some point Ito got pretty 'happy'.
That's when he threw his arm around my shoulder (very unusual for the Japanese) and exclaimed "trof-san...Pearl harbor? BIG MISTAKE!"

What could I say?
"Yeah, I guess it was."

That was by far the weirdest experience I had working for a Japanese airline for ten years.

5 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

My Pearl Harbor Day story: (Original Post) trof Dec 2013 OP

Well, he was right, my dear trof! CaliforniaPeggy Dec 2013 #1

Ito was piece of work. trof Dec 2013 #2

A good reply would have been angstlessk Dec 2013 #3

A friend (now deceased} told me a story grasswire Dec 2013 #4

Thanks! Here's "My Dad & Gen. Yamashita..." onager Dec 2013 #5

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,642 posts)

1. Well, he was right, my dear trof!

Reply to trof (Original post)

Sat Dec 7, 2013, 08:48 PM

Dec 2013

It was a big mistake.

Cool story!

trof

(54,256 posts)

2. Ito was piece of work.

Reply to CaliforniaPeggy (Reply #1)

Sat Dec 7, 2013, 08:56 PM

Dec 2013

His second favorite cocktail was Martinis.
whew

angstlessk

(11,862 posts)

3. A good reply would have been

Reply to trof (Original post)

Sat Dec 7, 2013, 09:04 PM

Dec 2013

So was Hiroshima and Nagasaki

grasswire

(50,130 posts)

4. A friend (now deceased} told me a story

Reply to trof (Original post)

Sat Dec 7, 2013, 09:48 PM

Dec 2013

He was a retired Army colonel. Green Beret, and one of the first into Vietnam.

In his role, in the 1970s, he was asked to dine with some Asian dignitaries and retired military types. At some point in the evening, formal toasts were offered. The first was by one of the Asian dignitaries.

"Remember Pearl Harbor!"

Yikes.

onager

(9,356 posts)

5. Thanks! Here's "My Dad & Gen. Yamashita..."

Reply to trof (Original post)

Sun Dec 8, 2013, 01:09 PM

Dec 2013

Who never really knew each other. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, aka "The Tiger of Malaya," was the overall commander of Japanese forces in the Philippines in 1945.

In 1946, Yamashita was hanged for war crimes.

My Dad always ranted that Yamashita got a raw deal, and was only hanged because of a vindictive American desire for revenge. There are 2 weird things about that:

1. Dad could thank Yamashita's troops for one of his Purple Hearts. A grunt in an infantry division, he was wounded during the Philippine campaign.

2. My Dad was a white Southerner who...uh...generally had little use for any other races, creeds or colors. To put it as politely as possible.

I always thought that was weird.

More weirdness: Dad was with the Occupation troops in Japan after the war. In Hiroshima.

When I was a kid, he told me that in Hiroshima he saw "people's shadows burned right into the ground." Huh? I couldn't even visualize that. WTF? "Shadows burned into the ground?"

Years later I saw film footage from Hiroshima and he was right. On a concrete bridge the outlines of human bodies could clearly be seen. The blast from the A-bomb had vaporized the people and left only their "shadows" visible.

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