Officers’ Wives From Hawaii Find Mainland Interesting

 By Louise Rogers

Food and shoe rationing, is confusing to the eight wives of Japanese-American officers who arrived here June 16 from Hawaii, and they missed the flowers which grow in profusion in the Islands. Otherwise they feel at home, and are delighted to have rejoined their husbands, who are with the 442nd Combat Team at Camp Shelby, after being separated from them for 2 1/2 months.

At the Forrest Hotel, where the group is staying, Mrs. Bert Nishimura, Mrs. Theodore Sueoka, Mrs. Masayuki Kawasaki and Mrs. Yaso Abe explain that rationing of food and shoes is not a regulation in the Islands, and that this is their first experience with counting coupons. All were happy the chicken is on the unrationed list, and plentiful here, as there has been a shortage of fowl in the Islands for some time.

The sea and rail trip from Hawaii to Mississippi was described as enjoyable by the group, although some were seasick throughout the ocean crossing.

Upon reaching San Francisco, they shivered in the 50 degree temperature, which is about the lowest level the thermometer reaches in Hawaii. San Francisco harbor and the Golden Gate Bridge received their enthusiastic praise, as did Ft. Mason, just outside the West-coast port, where Chaplain (Lt.) Ball guided them on a tour of the post, and helped them to send wires announcing their safe arrival on the mainland to their families in Hawaii. With Chaplain Ball, they also viewed the city from the top of Twin Mountain.

During the trip from San Francisco to Hattiesburg, they changed trains at Denver, Kansas City and Memphis, and made the journey from Jackson to this city by bus. The only delay was at Kansas City, they said, where they missed their scheduled train because of time lost and detouring a washout caused by heavy rains east of Denver.

Mrs. Abe related that in Jackson a member of the military police approached her with great ceremony and asked if she were not one of the sisters of Mme. Chiang Kai Shek, whom he had heard might be passing through the city. In telling the story, Mrs. Abe, a handsome, well-groomed young woman, laughingly said that the Soong sisters, famed for their beauty, might think it’s strange that an unlaureled mortal had been taken for one of them.

Upon their arrival in Hattiesburg the evening of June 16, the eight wives were met at the bus station by their husbands, and spent the night at the homes of other 442nd Combat Team officers, and on the following day removed to the Forrest hotel.

Seek Quarters

Since then, much of their time has been spent in searching for permanent quarters. Mrs. Abe has found an apartment at 411 Miller Street, into which she will move Thursday, and Mrs. Nishimura, Mrs. Kawasaki and Mrs. Sueoka soon will share a large house which they have found on Monroe Street.

Mrs. Herbert Yamamoto, Mrs. Gregory Ikeda, Mrs. Wallace Kawaoki and Mrs. Yasutaka Sukushima, who were not present at the interview, are still hunting for quarters.

Among the group there are four teachers: Mrs. Abe, Mrs. Kawaoka, Mrs. Yamamoto and Mrs. Fukushima. Mrs. Ikeda is a nurse, Mrs. Nishimura a secretary formerly employed by the office of military government, and Mrs. Sueoka and Mrs. Kawasaki happily described themselves as “plain housewives,” adding that they strive to be good ones.

Misses Pupils

Mrs. Abe, who has taught fifth grade in Island public schools for seven years, stated that she still misses her 35 pupils more than anything she left behind on the Islands.

All hope to have an opportunity to visit other sections of the country during their stay here, and expressed an especial desire to see New Orleans from within the near future.

They are eager to give their time to Red Cross and other volunteer work, having had the war brought home to them at its inception at Pearl Harbor. Although none of the group lost relatives in the bombing attack, all lived close enough to the objectives to see the enemy planes strike at American installations, and the realities of battle are not to them something that happens far away to other people.

This afternoon the group attended the bridge party for wives of officers of the 442nd Combat Team at the Front Street USO.