IVA JEAN (HURST) & JAMES F HYATT


"Iva" - "Jim""


CLASS 1948

SCHOOL / JAPAN ACTIVITIES

ATTENDED

Iva: 1947-1948, Graduated June 1948, Post Graduate 1949.

Jim: 1947-1948, Graduated June 1948.

SIBLINGS

Iva: Younger Brother: James R Hurst, Class 1950 47-49, Clarksville, TN.

Jim: Younger Sister Helen Norton - did not attend YOHI - Anacortes, WA.

ACTIVITIES

Iva: Library Club.

Jim: Class Secetary/Treasurer, Neet-Nac Counsel, "Echoes" Business Manager, Football, Softball, Track (shot-put).

RESIDENCES

Iva: Zama Army Base and Camp Fuchinobe - 20-25 miles North of Yokohama.

Jim: # 22, Yamashita Park, Yokohama.

FAVORITE TEACHER

Iva: Mrs Steinbaugh and Mrs Wilson.

Jim: The "Principal" - Loren McCartney (now deceased), "Coach" Glaab, and "home room" teacher - Doris Steinbaugh (deceased). We had several great visits with Loren (and wife Pearl - who also was a teacher at YOHI) in 1989-1992, but never saw Mrs Steinbaugh again after Graduation. She was just wonderful. Larry has blessed us by attending all "Bluff" Reunions.

HUMOROUS (depends) EXPERIENCE

Iva: 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.

Jim: Stacking 22 classmates in (and ON) Tony Cravers jeep for a short ride.....

As a reward for a brilliant football season, the team was treated to a visit to Shiga Heights Hotel in February 1948 - 5 train hours North of Tokyo in a "boxcar" with wooden benches and an open charcoal fire in a section of a 55 gallon fuel drum for heat. From the train station to the "rest hotel" it was by Army "weasel" (a tracked vehicle). Each of us was honored by being admitted to the "DOMAIN OF THE KING OF POLAR BEARS" Club, having frolicked in the outdoor pool in the snow and ice. The last night there, while most every one was in the dining hall watching a movie, some one "short sheeted" some of our team members beds (Army cots with GI blankets), while others were hand packed with snow and then recovered. I can't remember any longer who .....helped.

Two classmates (who I shall not identify for reasons you will discover), and I were professed great "fly fisherman", so our parents arranged for us a fishing trip up in the mountains to camp for 3/4 days and fish one of Japans great trout streams - that was supposedly full of trout. One of them owned a jeep. We used Army "Pup" tents and other "field" equipment furnished by our parents. Spam and "K rations" were mostly on the menu. We fished hard for 2 days, never saw a fish. On the 3rd day we discovered a branch of the stream that lead thru an odd sign we did not understand and to a forest area, then into a manicured clearing where we found a dozen or so 30 foot diameter 6 foot deep concrete pools with 4 or 5 feet of water in each - all fed by the stream we had followed. The pools were surrounded by a concrete sidewalk, flower beds and then freshly mowed grass out to about 20 feet. Not your normal "trout pool" at your favorite local river. In each pool were hundreds of trout, each pool segregated into different size fish - from minnows to perhaps 4 pounds. Wow, we struck a gold (fish) mine - now we knew why it was a great trout stream. With no fences - although obviously a hatchery of some type - however, no one was around except us - we thought. Sooooo, each of us selecting a pool as our "own", stood in the brush off to the side so as not to be seen, and cast into "our" pool. Every cast a fish, skill not required - up the wall of the pool we pulled them, over the sidewalk, thru the flower beds and then across the 20 feet of mowed grass to the brush where we were standing - the piles of fish were growing, flopping everywhere. Happy, happy were we. Suddenly, from out of the forest and with no advance warning - so we could escape (ha, where could we go - we were the only "round eyes" in the area) - there appeared a platoon of "special" Japanese militia - with weapons, fancy uniforms (you know - the black karate type). Some had swords and other stuff - there may have been a dog or two. We of course were surrounded quickly and apprehended ...... held "hostage" against our will by a superior and highly trained force who apparently did not like to fish - actually we were handcuffed and taken to jail and our gear confiscated. An interpreter was located and finally we were able to converse with our captors. As it turned out we were fishing in Emperor Hirhito's private fish reserve. MP's from Tokyo were summoned (quickly I might add) to escort us back to Yokohama and our parents - who I recall each received a "reprimand" from General MacArthur. In all the years since, I have never found fish like at those pools - even in Alaska. I often wonder what happened to those piles of fish. Fishing has been a disappointment to me ever since.

SECRET CRUSH/ES

Iva: Still secret!!!!!

Jim: Nellie Gassman, and Iva .....but was never a secret. Took Jeannie Fuller to the Senior Prom - much to everyone's surprise......and am reminded of it OFTEN!

FONDEST MEMORY

Iva: "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.

Jim: The opportunity to re-acquaint myself with my Father after his absence during the "war years", and living in an environment that was unlike my former world, wonderfully stimulating, productive, and with hope. Without exception, I enjoyed and had fun with everyone I knew at YOHI - I think of each of them often, and miss the camaraderie we had then.

SADDEST MEMORY

Iva: "Jim" didn't invite me to the prom, and seeing all your friends sail away.

Jim: Locating and visiting with classmates / faculty lost for over 40 years, and then discovering some have left us for a YOHI World just out of my reach......Missing bombing practice.

YOHI IMPACT ON MY LIFE

Iva: 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.

Jim: My dad's National Guard unit was federalized in 1941 and left to participate in WW II in the Pacific. In the following years in Everett I became a "gang member" and was out of control. In 1947 when I (only) joined him in Japan and became for the 1st time a "brat" away from home, it was a new experience for me. The classmates treated me differently, I was human - and I liked it, the faculty was respectful and helpful - it was a different world - I felt as though I was a part of something.....He required me to work to "pay my expenses" while there. Thus I became the "Ass't Bowling Alley Mgr" (at 75 cents per hour) at the "Beach" Bowling Alley - opposite Area 1 and 2 - you know... the guy who locked and unlocked the doors, took employee headcount, counted money, issued shoes and chalk, but mainly to constantly test the condition of the "lanes" for serviceability - by actually playing on them - free! All of these things made me realize I was a part of a community of great things, and I could participate if I wanted - and I did. Now it's payback time.

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 WITH

Iva: Joan (Riggins) Stewart, Loretta (Bradford) Davis, Nellie (Gassman) Page, Pat (Fox) Meredith.

Jim: "Biff" Barnes, Class 1948 (now deceased), and Russ Meredith (Yokohama 'Buddy') who married a classmate of ours.

FAVORITE SONGS

Iva: 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........

Jim: "Big-Band" era music shall live forever. Imbedded in my mind from records at the Neet-Nac, and "The Far East Network" radio station on the "Bluff", are Blue Moon by Vaughn Monroe * Good Night Sweetheart by Mitch Miller * Serenade In Blue, Dippermouth and Perfidia by Glenn Miller * Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael * Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton * To Young by Nat Cole * and Because of You and ...... many more wonderful dance and listenin' tunes. We remember well the musical "radio programs" of Kate Smith, Kay Kyser's Musical College, "The Hit Parade", and Dance Night from the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, the "Palladium" in Atlantic City, and the "Palisade" in LA - all rebroadcast for our service men overseas. They are like the drama radio programs "Gangbusters", "Fibber MaGee and Mollie", "Amos and Andy", and "The Shadow" which also will never be forgotten. "BILLBOARD" top 10 hits by year were:

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 ACTIVITIES

EDUCATION

Iva: Longwood College, Farmville, VA.

Jim: Univ Maryland - Army Extension Courses.

SPOUSE

Iva: Born: New Canton, IL * 2 Mar 1930

Jim: Born: Everett, WA * 14 Feb 1930 * More of a devil than a cupid.

Married 11 August 1951 - "Military" Wedding - sabers and stuff - Ft Lee, Va

CHILDREN

Children: 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" CAREER

I 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)

Then employed here in Clarksville as Ass't Plant Manager, ACME Boot Company - 2,600 cowboy boots a day - I hate them. Six months later (some rule required "retired military" to wait that long before they could be re-employed by the US Government) I became a career "Civil Service" employee and worked for the Army 23 more years at Ft Campbell, KY - Plans and Operations Officer, Supervisory Transportation Specialist, and Maintenance Management Officer. Retired from CS in Feb 1990 - haven't worked since - except "windows", "dishes" and "yard stuff".

RESIDENCES

Johnson AFB, Japan * Tokorozawa Army Base, Japan * Ft Lewis, WA * Ft Knox, KY * Nelligen Kaserne, Germany * Ft Campbell, KY * Clarksville, TN.

HOBBIES AND PASTIME

Iva: Keeping "Jim" happy - "full time position", and golf - "hole in one" 1996, 1997. "Bridge".

Jim: YOHI "Red Devil" activities like the Web Site.

ODDS AND ENDS

Do 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!

Jameshjim@aol.com