Sat, Sept 29, 1945: citizen of Japan

[language warning] "Pat Katsura, our reading instructor, keeps us well entertained with his stories of what an enemy alien has to go through in this country.  He's a citizen of Japan - which means that even if he goes to Denver he has to get special permission from the district attorney's office.  It doesn't pay to drive in for the permit he found out.  Once he dropped down to get permission to go beyond Denver - but their question was how he got to Denver without a permit.  He apparently really got raked over the coals for that.

"When war broke out Pat was in Washington.  Hearing the news he rushed from a pro football game to the Japanese Embassy.  Seeing a mob there shaking fists at the staff members on top of the building burning papers and taking movies - he decided that it'd be healthier to drive on by - so he missed helping Japan in this war just by a hair.

"He then posed as a Chinese until the Chinese Embassy started passing out their 'I am a Chinese' official buttons. Pat tried to pick one up at the Embassy but they chased him off.  It wasn't safe to be on the streets so he finally lifted one from the coat of a chop suey joint cook.  After that he got a lot of sympathy.  In restaurants people would come over to pat him on the back and tell how sorry they felt for our brave Chinese Allies 'but those d__n Japs: Yeah, those d__n Japs' he'd agree in his thick Japanese accent.

 “Actually Pat looks more like an American Indian than a Jap.  Once he stood along the sidelines while an anti-Jap mob beat up two Filipinos.  'But we're Filipinos,' they protested, to which some mob fanatic replied 'We don't trust you Japs!'"

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, September 29, 1945.

Sat, Sep 22, 1945: seems like a century

"I graduated from V-12 only 1 1/2 years ago but it seems like a century.  And the guys have scattered to the far corners of the earth.  About the only person who writes at all regularly from those parts is Louise.  Tell Stanley not to worry about my girl troubles -- the affair with her is 'all over now.'"

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to my aunt, Winfield, Kans., Saturday, September 22, 1945.

Sat, Sep 15, 1945: curiosity

"Wednesday night Jim Allen and I went to a meeting of the University Young Democrats club. Don't worry, Dad, we went just out of curiosity....

“The local congressman won't have any luck if he searches for 'Isaac A. Waldenstein' of Denver, Colo. and 'Minamoto Yoritomo' of Vista, Calif. who signed the petition circulated that night recommending that we break relations with Franco Spain.  It was Joker Jim Allen's idea--not mine."

--Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Sept. 15, 1945