Dearest Betty

Letter #7
August 31, 1950
Osaka Japan

Hi, Darling,
Well we landed yesterday at Kobe, disembarked and came up here. We are in Japan’s Annapolis where they use to train all their naval officers. Very pretty we eat at small tables four to six men each. Jap mess boys. All staff have rooms two to a room. We just went to the P.X. Japs work there too. Didn’t have much soap, cigarettes, cakes. Wouldn’t take any sort of American money except $10.00 bills or pennies. One dollar of ours is worth 360 Yen. Mr. Tate took my laundry out this morning. Cost me 875 Yen, but at the NCO club Whiskey is 5 c a shot. Beer 10 c a bottle 1 Qt. They have the darnedest rail road here ever. 30 mi from Kobe here we started up here yesterday at 5 o’clock and got in last night at 12:45. One continuous town and each house was one room on top of another. No furniture just mats on the deck and babies---I never saw so many kids in my life and all of them had signs and flags etc. “WELCOME U.S. WARRIORS” Yelling and waving all the way.
I don’t know if we will get any liberty or not just waiting now for the other ships to come in then the work will start another around the clock operation.
Everything here has that Jap smell that I can’t stand but will have to I suppose. They use human manure and every time a “honey cart” comes by Oh brother!
Oh! You remember my old foot locker that the bottom came out of? Well some one left me a swell aluminum one just weighs 4 lbs. I took most of the morning re-packing my gear and getting laundry up. Our orders were changed just before we got here so no mail as yet but I know I will have some soon. I hope the three I mailed on the ship are on their way to you. I have # 4 here with no stamp on it but will try and borrow some from some one. Can’t buy the darned things here. Well, Darling tell my girl, Shirl hello and give my love to our families. I’ll get around to writing them all soon but must keep them flying to you.

(some of the words are not politically correct but they are as he wrote them)