Ch 34 - Last Leg to Home

CHAPTER 34

LAST LEG TO HOME!

Needless to say, I slept rather poorly. Somehow I sensed we were perhaps finally headed home!

Bleary-eyed, I made my way to the cafeteria for coffee the next morning. I was not alone! The place was jumping. The only topic of conversation was, of course, our departure and, our destination. The excitement built as my time approached. My group, group B, gathered just outside the front door where a sign on a pedestal indicated a large, red “B”. As each of us approached, a non-com checked our name on the list. A small bus pulled up shortly, and we grabbed our belongings and climbed aboard. The non-com walked up to the door and waved the driver to move, and we were on our way! The ride lasted for some time before the bus pulled into a large train depot. So we were going somewhere on a train!

The thought crossed my mind, “Surely this train would somehow be more comfortable than the last one I rode!”

Soon, we were entering the station and walking through the crowd to one of the arched doorways, and out onto the platform to one of several trains sitting there. The non-com conversed with the conductor, then both led us past several cars to one having large red crosses painted on the side. We clambered up the steps and walked into what proved to be a hospital car! Beds were located on each side of the aisle! There were no “uppers” in this car! The interior was indeed impressive! Rest rooms at each end of the car, with showers and stainless wash bowls, big mirrors, everything to make us comfortable.

I tossed my belongings onto the second bed on the left and sat down while the others managed to get settled. The next entrant into the car was a nurse! Followed by a red cross girl! Everyone in the car sat, or stood, staring! One fellow across the aisle murmured.

“Uh-don’t tell me you’re going along with us! We must be going to heaven!”

The nurse grinned, “Of course! Surely you didn’t think we would allow this bunch to wander off by themselves! Not a chance!”

Everyone laughed, each thinking himself another Casanova. The nurse told us the train would be leaving soon, and once we were underway, they would be bringing around drinks and rolls, and other refreshments. She also informed us we could change into hospital pajamas, and we would travel in that attire. She mentioned we should break out our bath robes, since we would be traveling across the Great Northern Route, and to be prepared to see lots of snow! She said we would be crossing over the Rocky Mountains later, and the scenery would be impressive. Obviously, we were heading east, just the way I wanted to go!

The train jarred into movement! We were on our way! The train began to pick up some speed and I stowed my bag and fluffed my pillow and leaned back so I could watch out the window as the city flowed by. The train was soon passing through open countryside and farms began to appear on both sides of the car. I realized it had been a very long time since I gazed onto such a peaceful landscape! There was no war here, and no prison camps! I was free again! It almost seemed unreal! The man across the aisle asked where my home was and I told him Columbus Ohio. He told me he was from Piqua, and his friend in the next bed hailed from Akron, and they had enlisted together at Fort Hayes in Columbus. I laughed and mentioned to him I too, enlisted at Ft. Hayes.

As we talked, I said my birthday was tomorrow, and it was a strange place for a birthday, riding on a train! He laughed, then said solemnly that having a birthday on this train far surpassed my last three birthdays!

“That is for sure!” I agreed, “ I’ve had some doozies the past three years!”

As the beautiful trees, and the shining streams flowed by, I tried to imagine what my first meeting with my parents would be like. Five years had passed since I had seen them, but somehow it seemed much longer. I could only hope they are well. I sent the telegram from Yokohama to tell them I was well and would soon be on my way home, but of course I could receive no answer. I wondered if my dog Skippy was still alive, but I would know soon enough!

The train clickety-clacked along, and the miles rolled by. We settled into a routine as we sped through the countryside. The food was good, and our “private car” was very comfortable. The day passed, and often the train stopped at stations along the way. We were climbing higher into the mountains and the terrain was beautiful. Snow began to appear as we climbed and after nightfall the train slowed and we pulled into small town high in the mountains.

The train station was rather small, but the lights on the platform lighted up the area and I could see snow covered everything! It was beautiful to see the lights glistening on the tall mounds of snow piled everywhere by the snow plows. Suddenly the lights in our car were extinguished! I wondered if something was wrong with the train and then a bright glow came through the door and it was the nurse carrying a large cake covered with lighted candles! The smiling nurse passed the first bed and stopped at mine! The cake was for my birthday! I was completely overcome by this marvelous gesture! The nurse started singing “Happy Birthday” and then everyone pitched in. To this day, this is one of my fondest memories. The nurse later told me one of the fellows told her of my birthday, and she called ahead to this small village and ordered the cake. Unbelievably, the train had stopped here just to pick up the cake! I was required to blow out the candles, then our nurse carefully cut the cake, and served cake to everyone in the car! What a pleasant experience it was for me!

That young nurse and the birthday cake did more to speed my repatriation from the Army than did all of the so-called POW ‘expert’ Officers assigned to tell me that they knew better than I did what it was that I needed.

While I was eating cake and sipping hot coffee, and starting to feel whole again, the train began to move and we were off again, headed to the east.

While we were eating cake and sipping hot coffee, the train began to move and we were off again, headed to the east. As the train rolled across, and through the mountains, I thought of all the incredible events that had occurred since September 6th, the date I stepped from the train in Yokohama! I suppose each of of us had dreamed of that magic time when the Yanks and Tanks would free us. At times, it was still difficult to believe all this had happened. I looked about the hospital car and I knew I was here, but there were times when I raised my arm and studied the wine colored corduroy pajamas and the watch on my wrist, just to verify this was all true and I was going home.

As the train sped across the northern states, I slowly became accustomed to the newness of freedom, the accessibility of good food and coffee whenever I wished. I often thought, “what a delightful feeling it is to be alive!”

We pulled into Minneapolis during early morning and were told two cars would be added to the train. After considerable bumping and jouncing, the train was soon on its way again. After lunch, I noticed the door at the front of our car was open. There was a chain draped across the doorway and I could see the car ahead of us was now occupied. I laid down and was reading one of the newspapers the Red Cross lady had handed out while we were in the station at Minneapolis. I could not get enough news! So much had happened during the past few months. I looked up and saw a well dressed man standing just beyond the chain. He cleared his throat and asked, “Anyone here from Columbus?”

I held up my hand and said, “Columbus Ohio?”

He nodded and waved at the nurse who was nearby. He asked her if I could come into his car and sit with his party. She nodded, and the man unhooked the chain for me to pass through.

I followed him to his seat which resembled a booth. The two seats were facing each other, with a table between. Two other men and a very attractive young woman were already seated in the booth. The man who invited me to join them introduced himself as Russ Needham, a sports writer for the Columbus Dispatch, one of the two major newspapers in Columbus. The other two men were introduced to me, one a sports writer for the Columbus Citizen, the other an executive of a large tire company in the city. The girl was associated with one of the men.

Russ Needham explained they had attended the Ohio State-Minnesota football game the previous day and were on their way home. He said they had just learned the hospital car behind them carried homecoming prisoners of war, and they were curious to know whether any might come from Columbus.

Each of the three were avid to learn about my experiences during the war, and while a prisoner of war. We continued to talk through the afternoon, and they insisted I have dinner with them in the dining car. I explained I had only pajamas to wear, and a robe. They would have none of it. Russ Needham declared that those in the dining car would be more than honored to dine with one who had suffered the starvation and hardship I had endured! I was almost dragged to the diner.

As we entered the dining car, and walked through the aisle to our table, I saw the well dressed people on both sides of the aisle looking at me as we passed. I felt totally out of place. After we were seated, Mr. Needham ordered drinks, and I asked for a coke. They were quite surprised that I did not drink any alcohol, apparently thinking all service personnel were boozers. After the drinks were served, Russ Needham arose and stood in the aisle with his glass. Addressing all of the occupants in the dining car, he proposed that everyone toast a soldier just returned from three and a half years in Jap prison camps, a former defender of Corregidor in the Philippines! I was thunderstruck when everyone in the car got to their feet and toasted me, sitting in my pajamas. I thanked everyone for their kindness, and I asked for them to toast not me, but those that did not come back.

After we finished eating, we sat talking, and it seemed that everyone present during dinner, approached our table asking to shake my hand. It was a very moving experience for me, and I saw tears in many of these peoples eyes as they came to the table.

When we had returned to their seats in their car, the pretty girl in the Needham party took my hand and held it.

“That was one of the most moving scenes that I have ever experienced,” she smiled.

I told her and the others that I too, was moved very profoundly by the warm feeling I received from all in attendance.

As the train rolled into Columbus, I said goodbye to the four kind and generous people, and I thanked them for their kindness. They were leaving the train in Columbus, and I would be continuing on to Cambridge Ohio where the nurse said I and some of the others would be debarking. I wondered why we were going to Cambridge, a small town well east of Columbus. The nurse later explained that a large Army convalescent hospital had been erected there, and I would stay there during physical examinations, and various tests to determine the after effects of my long incarceration in the prison camps.

The train stopped in Zanesville for a few minutes, then continued onward. Our nurse indicated the next stop would be Cambridge, and those of us scheduled for that hospital would be departing the train at the Cambridge Station.

CHAPTER 35

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