SCHOOL / JAPAN ACTIVITIESATTENDEDIva: 1947-1948, Graduated June 1948, Post Graduate 1949. SIBLINGSIva: Younger Brother: James R Hurst, Class 1950 47-49,
Clarksville, TN. ACTIVITIESIva: Library Club. RESIDENCESIva: Zama Army Base and Camp Fuchinobe - 20-25 miles North
of Yokohama. FAVORITE TEACHERIva: Mrs Steinbaugh and Mrs Wilson. HUMOROUS (depends) EXPERIENCEIva: When we arrived in Japan, we were to live at Zama
Army Base. The houses had barely been finished and were terraced with four or five levels.
We lived on about the third terrace in a duplex, and things seemed to be falling into
place. The first night I was sitting on the couch looking out the window contemplating the
new world I had been brought to when a big chunk of the ceiling fell right beside me. (If
I had put my arm out it would have hit me). Dad came running in and saw what had happened
and got in touch with the powers to be and wanted something done. It smelled of fish oil
and was awful. Well the next morning, about 50 Japanese men showed up early at the front
door to move us! We had been assigned to the Pink House on the top level in a single
house. So these men came in and picked up each piece of furniture, our clothes (what
little we had) and trotted all this stuff up the hill in a line. Looked like a bunch of
ants on a feeding frenzy. We took pictures of the episode and I ran into them the other
day. I shall never forget it. SECRET CRUSH/ESIva: Still secret!!!!! FONDEST MEMORYIva: "Skipping" school with Nellie (Gassman) to
try on clothes at the PX - a regular routine, till Daddy found out! The "Senior
Party" hosted by my parents, and Tom and Rob Roy McGregor's parents, at our home in
Camp Fuchinobe. Dropping "water bombs" on students from the school's second
story windows during lunch time. Seeing Mt Fuji out the school window every day. SADDEST MEMORYIva: "Jim" didn't invite me to the prom, and
seeing all your friends sail away. YOHI IMPACT ON MY LIFEIva: I was not your ordinary "Brat" having lived
basically in the same State all my life. Dad was a school teacher and principal until 1940
when he intregrated into the Army as a Lieutenant. He returned from WW II in 1945, was
assigned to Ft Knox, Kentucky. Within weeks he told us we were moving to Japan and I
didn't like that. I pitched a fit and said I was going to go live with me Grandmother in
Barry Illinois - a town of 1300 people where I knew everyone. Well, that went over like a
lead balloon! So, of course, in 1946 I journeyed off into the unknown, but knew it would
be all right since Dad had finally come home to stay for a while and we would all be
together as a family again. After an eighteen day ship trip (I would have been glad to get
anywhere) we docked in Yokohama. We were on the 3rd "dependent" ship (Marine
Falcon) to arrive in Japan. The American School had not been set up yet, so all early
arrivals had to go to St Joseph School, A Catholic School (another foreign experience).
The teachers were priests and there were about 32 of us military dependents there at that
time. The rest were students from different nationalities that had lived there during the
war. There was a Girls School and a Boys School, but the Girls School had been bombed out,
and everyone had been moved to the Boys School. The other students looked so old even
though they were the same age as me (16). They would tell us what it was like when the
bombs were falling and they didn't know if the school or their classmates would be there
the next day, and some times they weren't. It made me realize what we had done to this
city and the families, and it wasn't good. I didn't learn much academically that year as
we knew we would be moving to the American School for the next year. I did learn that we
live in a big world and that what we do as individuals and as a nation effects the rest of
the people who live in it. BEST FRIEND NOT YET "FOUND"After 40 plus years, the last of the twenty-seven 1948 classmates was found in 1994 - 4 of them are deceased. BEST FRIENDS - C0NTACT WITHIva: Joan (Riggins) Stewart, Loretta (Bradford) Davis,
Nellie (Gassman) Page, Pat (Fox) Meredith. FAVORITE SONGSIva: Spanish Eyes by Al Martino, Near You by Russ Morgan,
Far Away Places by Englebert Humperdink, Peg O' My Heart by The Harmonicats, Blue Velvet
by Bobby Vinton........ 1947 1. - NEAR YOU - FRANCIS CRAIG 2. - PEG O'MY HEART - HARMONICATS 3. - HEARTACHES - TED WEEMS 4. - LINDA - RAY NOBLE/BUDDY CLARK 5. - SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE THAT CIGARETTE - TEX WILLIAMS 6. - I WISH I DIDN'T LOVE YOU SO - VAUGHN MONROE 7. - PEG O'MY HEART - THE THREE SONS 8. - THE ANIVERSARY SONG - AL JOLSON 9. - NEAR YOU - LARRY GREEN 10. - THAT'S MY DESIRE - SAMMY KAYE 1948 1. - TWELFTH STREET RAG - PEE WEE HUNT 2. - MAŅANA - PEGGY LEE 3. - NOW IS THE HOUR - BING CROSBY 4. - A TREE IN THE MEADOW - MARGARET WHITING 5. - MY HAPPINESS - JOHN & SANDRA STEELE 6. - YOU CAN'T BE TRUE DEAR - KEN GRIFFIN & JERRY WAYNE 7. - LITTLE WHITE LIES - DICK HAYMES 8. - YOU CALL EVERYBODY DARLING - AL TRACE 9. - MY HAPPINESS - THE PIED PIPERS 10. - I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR LEAF CLOVER - ART MOONEY POST SCHOOL ACTIVITIESEDUCATIONIva: Longwood College, Farmville, VA. SPOUSEIva: Born: New Canton, IL * 2 Mar 1930 CHILDRENChildren: Cynthia Jean - age 44 - Ft Lewis, WA * James F II - age 42 - Ft Knox, KY * John D - age 40 - Stuggart, Germany * Susan K - age 37 - Ft Campbell, KY. Grandchildren: Darren - age 13, Sara - age 15, Joshua - age 2
MILITARY AND "CIVILIAN" CAREERI failed to qualify for entrance to West Point (or
Sullivan's Prep School), and there are words that describe the reason but I shall omit
them - Father disappointed to say the least, so..... in 1948, "Big Brother" [as
he is called now days] had a "DRAFT" [a foreign word not associated with
"beer"] that was designed to curtail the future of 18 year olds - and it was
bound to snag me. So to obtain some choices in "benefits" (assignments, etc), my
best friend in Yokohama (Russ Meredith) and I left Japan in June 1948 on the 'Edmund B
Alexander' and returned to my Mothers home in Everett, Washington - planning to join the
"Army". We enlisted (WOW, the significance of that word is overwhelming) on 28
June 1948 in Seattle, and immediately was put on a train heading South. Arrived in Fort
Ord California (4th Infantry Division). After issue of our rifles and "field
gear", got on another train heading North. All super secret - you know the military
and their "games" - Wow, Seattle train station looked familiar. Got on Greyhound
busses - North again into the unknown - god help us! Mukilteo (a isolated ferry station on
Puget Sound), a place where I had fished (successfully using salmon berries as bait) from
the "dock" many many times as a "boy" - Everett and it's teepees
insight (3 miles away) in the distance thru the fog (and salmon jumps), and my home. After
a short ferry trip across the "bay" and an hours ride North again up Whidby
Island we arrived at abandoned Ft Casey - the first class of the Army's new strategy of
adventurous "Basic Training", and the first occupants at that installation since
it was closed after WWII (what a mess to clean up - bears, cougars, and 50 foot high
brush). "Casey" was a Coast Artillery Base awaiting occupation of the Japanese
in the early 40's, and prior to that (before WW I) was a part of the "Pig Wars"
between the Americans and British when we fought over the "fur trade" in the
1800's [It still exists today as a Federal installation and worth "billions" -
what magnificent views]. We spent three months of "Basic" there and shall we say
"enlightened experiences". We joined the army as "Recruits" (grade
level number 1 I am proud to say). While at "Casey" (and a part of the 2nd
Engineer Special Brigade of WW II fame), after a month, we were automatically promoted to
Recruit 2 (a rank just below "Private" - a normal rating as understood by the
world at large) - and despite mischievous behavior (Russ was a trouble maker), then
allowed passes "off post" - WOW, Coupville (formerly a Whaling Station), 5 miles
away by dog sled and had a growing population of 20 or so, but no "bar" or
"girls". Russ and I spent $250.00 (mostly borrowed from my Mother) and bought a
1932 "chevy" 4 door sedan (with a "neckers nob" already installed) so
we could visit Everett from time to time - the ferry trip cost us nearly a weeks wages -
the "passenger" would hide in the trunk to reduce the fare. Good times, always
remembered. After "graduation", having both earlier selected the Corps of
Engineers as our choice of assignment (we thought CE was a non-combat "branch" -
little did we know) we were assigned to Ft Belvoir, Virginia to attend "school"
- Draftsman - I still can't draw (or walk) a straight line. We stayed together for some
time at Hqs, School Bn, attending school and then as "cadre". I had applied
earlier for Officer Candidate School (OCS) - wanted to follow my Dad's footsteps, to buy a
new car and obtain other benefits (money) - and in 1950 left for Camp Funston, Kansas (a
"Custer" place) to attend Leadership School (preparatory to entering OCS) -
three months of "fun". Then six months of OCS - you know, "Candidate pop
your $%#% chest up" or "Candidate I can't hear you", or "drop down and
give me 50 (push-ups)". One day I left (by mistake) a penny in the bottom of my wall
locker - at inspection of course it was found by those "white gloves" and I
received demerits for "attempting to bribe a "tac" officer", and for
"unsanitary house cleaning" because the penny had dust on it - no pass. I hate
"tac" officers and pennies. Iva, who I had kept up with since YOHI, and my
Father attended my Graduation from OCS as a bright (well almost) 2nd Lieutenant from Ft
Riley, Kansas in May 1951. From then on the Army assignments were routine and many, but
exciting also.......32nd Engr Gp - Korea - '51-'52 * 43rd Engr Bn (and Operation "Big
Switch") Tokorozawa Japan - '52-'53 * 9th Engr Bn - Ft Lewis, Wa - '53-55 * 23rd
Armored Engr Bn, 3 Armd Div; and 160th Engr Gp (Atomic Bomb "guinea pig" in
Nevada) - Ft Knox, KY '55-'57 * 94th Engr Bn - Germany - '57-'60 * Post Engr; Special
Troops, 572nd Engr - Ft Campbell, KY - '60-'63 * Post Engr - Korea - '63-'64 * 937th Engr
Gp - Ft Campbell KY & Vietnam - '64-'66 * 931th Engr Gp & 51st Engr Bn - Ft
Campbell, KY - '67-'68. Retired 31 Jul 68 - 20 years-3 days. (The 1948 Class
"Prophecy" said: "when Jim Hyatts bowling alley failed he became an great
engineer" - well at least I could blow the whistle of the train) RESIDENCESJohnson AFB, Japan * Tokorozawa Army Base, Japan * Ft Lewis, WA * Ft Knox, KY * Nelligen Kaserne, Germany * Ft Campbell, KY * Clarksville, TN. HOBBIES AND PASTIMEIva: Keeping "Jim" happy - "full time
position", and golf - "hole in one" 1996, 1997. "Bridge". ODDS AND ENDSDo you remember: having to put light bulbs in the closets to reduce the growth of mildew..... the wonderfully boring tenth "green tea" ceremony..... saki.....the "shell" games at the "flea market".....wooden gettas, and the "cloth masks" over the mouths at the street car stops..... "honey bucket wagons".....daily earthquakes.....the Fujia and Gora hotel....."shangra la" .....the "Daily Worker", and "May Day" and the parades..... all the souvenirs made from beer cans - as well as siding and roofs for homes.....and brass objects made from shell casings, they were wonderful. Drop us a line! We look forward to hearing from "Red Devils" from any era! |