Many times on national holidays, Veterans Day or other civic events, I have heard these words of thanks. But the people who should also be recognized are those whose duty was on the home front. They too served, often out of immediate contact, coping with life in a foreign county and very much reliant on their own initiative.
When we arrived in Japan in April of 1970 the Navy put us up in local Japanese hotel, outside the Yokosuka Navy Base. I was the new Supply officer on the USS Windham County (LST 1170) homeported there.
Three days later, after restocking the ship, I was gone for a four month deployment. Our initial role was a joint U.S. Navy-South Korean amphibious exercise off the coast of Korea, called Operation Golden Dragon. Then on to transporting marines from Okinawa to their firing-training range near Mount Fuji and back. And then further south to the Philippines and Vietnam. With a cruising speed of about 7 knots, we spent a lot of time on the water.
My life was structured on the ship. My wife, Mary Ann, had to find housing, buy a car, learn to shop in local Japanese stores and take care of Lara, and then Alix. We would exchange letters often arriving days or weeks after being written-sometimes in stacks of five or more at a time.
Mail call was the only contact we had when deployed. No telephone, no Internet, no live connections. The wives were not supposed to know where we were, what we were doing or when we would be back to home port.
Mary Ann took our two girls to play on the beach in Hayama. The seaside town is where the Emperor’s summer palace is located. For the first 15 months we lived there “on the economy” in a Japanese family’s compound. Even after we moved into base housing, Mary Ann would take our two girls back to the beach and meet with our Japanese friends.
That’s Mt Fuji in the background hovering like a cloud.
So when people express appreciation today to those who wore a uniform, it is vital that we honor those who also served on active duty by their side for just as long and with equal devotion.