Excerpt #1:
Part II: Territory of Hawaii, 1940 to 1942
Chapter 2: I Meet My Queen
I stepped off the Army transport in January 1940, onto the dock at Honolulu Harbor and into a new world. It had been a rough crossing. The ship was loaded with troops, most of them Air Corps troops, on their way to the Philippines. The war in Spain had been boiling for several years; Hitler was biting off pieces of his neighbor’s property and bunching his muscles for even bigger things. And Japan had declared its Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and was beating up its neighbors in places like Nanking and Manchuria. It was an angry and dangerous world, and America was pretending that it wasn’t happening. The United States had declared its non-combatant status and hoped it would all go away. Finally, long-overdue action was being taken to strengthen places like the Philippines. Dropping a few of us off at Hawaii was incidental, but it got me to Hawaii in the midst of a rumbling and dangerous world.
But to a 25-year-old bachelor, second lieutenant, arriving in the fabled and beautiful Hawaiian islands, the rumbling over the horizon was hardly noticed. I was glad to get off the boat. My new squadron commander was there to meet me as I stepped off the gangplank. So was my friend Ercell Hart.
When I was a teenager growing up in Santa Monica, Calif., I belonged to Sea Scout Ship 16. There were about 20 of us, we were all Eagle Scouts, we did things together and we were very close. We sailed together, we were patrol leaders at Emerald Bay, the Scout Camp on Catalina Island, in the summers, and we all went to high school together. We were a group of Depression kids with a special feeling for each other. One of the members of Ship 16 was Ercell Hart.
I found myself assigned to the 31st Bomb Squadron of the 5th Bomb Group, on Hickam Field, flying B-18s. Hickam was a new field, still under construction, and there were no bachelor’s quarters on the base. I was invited to move in with five other bachelors into a beautiful home they had rented in Manoa Valley. A Japanese couple, John and Massawa, came with the house. They did the cooking, serving, cleaning and everything else. John even washed all our cars once a week. It was Hawaii at its best.
Letter to Dad
(A letter from Duke to his father)
February 9, 1940
I’ve moved into a big house up in one of the canyons behind Honolulu with five other young officers, and it is really swell. We have a Japanese couple to cook and wait tables and do everything from taking out our laundry to shining our shoes. It sure is a beautiful house and a nice part of town. It’s a little cooler here than down in the city proper and much cleaner. It rains up here at least once every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. It only rains lightly for a minute or two at a time, and nobody pays any attention to it but it sure keeps everything green. The lawns never need watering, and as there really are no seasons over here, the trees never lose their leaves and so the leaves never need raking. What a place!
I spent two-and-a-half hours this morning flying all over the island of Oahu and looking it over in an A-12. I haven’t flown an A-12 since I left Texas and I sure did enjoy it. The island is beautiful all right and even flying bombers is enjoyable when you can go out in a little ship and relax whenever you wish, as I did this morning.
I do think I’m going to like it here. There really is a swell bunch of guys I moved in with and my squadron has a great group of officers in it too. It’s hard to imagine a nicer arrangement than I have here. I sure do have better than my share of good luck Ercell has a place right down in Waikiki Beach where I can go to swim and the Army also maintains several nice beaches for officers.
. . .
I had only been in Hawaii a few days when Ercell had a party for me to meet a few people. He was established with three other Navy ensigns in a lovely cottage on the beach, right behind the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, on Waikiki. Ercell got me a date with a nurse who worked at Queen’s Hospital and there were half a dozen of Ercell’s Navy buddies there with their dates. The moon was full, the waves were lapping on the beach, and the wind was in the palm trees. What a night!
Introductions were casual. It was a nice group of young people, and the men were all Navy pilots, which gave us much in common. My blind date was a pleasant gal who already knew most of the people and I felt right at home. I met everyone in due course, and I found myself repeatedly zeroing in on a beautiful little lady who was the date of one of Ercell’s Navy buddies. My nurse would drift off on her own with friends and, whenever I could, I would join the cluster around the little beauty who had caught my eye and seemed to have me hypnotized. I found out that her name was Lee, she had been in Hawaii about a year, and she lived in Waikiki, just off of the Ala Wai with two other girls and she was head of a ladies-wear department at Liberty House, the biggest department store in Honolulu.
I didn’t learn much else. She was always busy and surrounded by guys; her date was beginning to get suspicious of me. She was pleasant enough to me but totally without interest, and I had my own date to be politely attentive to. I did ask Lee if I could drive her home from work some time, if I happened to be in Liberty House around 5 o’clock some evening. She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no, either. She kind of shrugged her shoulders and said, “We’ll see.”
That was enough. The door was open just a crack and I intended to make the most of it. The party wound on to a finish. I took my nurse back to where I had found her and never did see her again. To this day, I can’t remember what her name was or what she looked like. But I had been harpooned. I couldn’t get Lee out of my mind. The next day, I asked Ercell about her. He didn’t know her well, but said she was quite popular and seemed to date this guy she was with at the party fairly regularly. Ercell told me that this guy was the great operator in his squadron. He rode a motorcycle and had a lot of wahinis, but that Lee seemed to be his favorite. It wasn’t an awful lot to go on, but it was enough. I was fascinated by Lee. Now, of course, I realize that I had already fallen head over heels in love with her and wasn’t smart enough to know it at the time.
Letter to Dad
(A letter from Duke to his father)
March 14, 1940
I was very interested in your observations of Margaret, they coincide closely with mine. She is a very nice girl down inside, a “diamond in the rough” as you might say and I’m sure with time and energy expended she would turn into an alright article, but I’m sure I can find one tailor-made and save myself lots of trouble.
I’ve been going down to pick Lee up after work every afternoon, and it makes a nice break in the day. I have also seen her every evening since the first date. There are so many guys here to every girl that you can’t use kid-glove methods. You have to dive in and hang on with both hands and feet or somebody else will be beating your time.
Letter to Lee -- October 8, 1942
Darling, I don’t think you’ll know your husband when you see him again. Everyone here looks several years older than they did three months ago and I’m no exception. In addition, I’ve lost about twenty pounds and feel much better for it but it will sure make my clothes hang on me like a scarecrow’s. I’ve also let my mustache grow in again and after a couple months it is quite respectable. You’d be surprised.
Letter to Mom and Dad -- October 11, 1942
Two days ago they had a little ceremony out here and Admiral Fitch came over and gave a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) to my bombardier and me for a mission we pulled last month [Mission of 19 August]. It was just a small affair but there were some reporters around taking pictures and stuff so you may hear about it. I’ll be ashamed to come home if this keeps up. Somehow I always get the publicity and there are any number of boys out here who’ve done a much better job than I have. Folks will begin to think I spend all my time getting my picture taken while everyone else fights the war. It just seems to happen that way. At least it’s the only way I can let you know what I’m doing. I can’t tell you in my letters but they can put it in the papers. Seems foolish doesn’t it? The medal is a beauty. They were going to give me the Navy Cross but gave me this instead and the Army has me in for a DFC also which means I’ll have an Oak Leaf Cluster to pin on it some day. All very fine to show off after the war but right now they aren’t worth a dime a dozen.
Letter to Mom and Dad -- October 26, 1942
Just had an interruption while three reporters came into the tent and wanted to hear the story of yesterday’s mission. Had quite a time and I had my usual lucky horseshoe wrapped around my neck. Sure hope I can get out of here before I use up all my luck.
History is being made down here by out little bunch but it will be a long time before it leaks out and the real story will never get into print. Heads would sure fall if it did. Hope you get to read enough scraps about us down here in the papers to have some kind of an idea of what a job we’re doing.
Sure makes my mouth water to hear you talking about Ted’s steaks. It will be a big moment when I get my first real meal with fresh meat and vegetables and maybe a salad. Haven’t tasted milk for four months.
You probably won’t know me when you see me again. I’ve grown a mustache and lost about 20 pounds and feel about 50 years older although I only show about five of them. This war will make an old man out of a guy in a short time ~ but then you can’t live forever.
Excerpt #3:
Part V: China-Burma-India, 1944-45
Chapter 33: Tokyo Rose
One incident that occurred during my year in India and China was a chapter of the war that Lee and I never forgot. In June 1944, we flew our first mission out of China against the Japanese home islands. We bombed the steel mill in Yawata, on the island of Kyushu. It was a tough mission and we lost several airplanes and crews. It was the first time that Japan, itself had been hit since the Doolittle Raid and they tried to make the most of it.
The Japanese had a propaganda broadcast that they put on the air every night pointed at the American troops. Most of us listened to it for a couple of reasons. It was usually good for a laugh and it played good music. The announcer on the program was a young Japanese woman called "Tokyo Rose." She spoke excellent English, and was, in fact, a young lady who had lived in California for a number of years and had graduated from UCLA, in Los Angeles.
After the Yawata mission, Tokyo Rose announced that several B-29s had been shot down and listed six crewmembers, by name, who had been identified and buried. My name was among those she listed. It was sort of a joke to us, but of course, the broadcast was picked up in the United States and this came as a shock to my little Lee. She got in touch with my folks, who were also shocked. My father got off a wire to the War Department asking for confirmation. In China, we were on the end of a long pipeline that extended three-quarters of the way around the world. In those days, there were no satellite relays and it took an ungodly long time to pass the word back and forth between Washington and China.
I wrote Lee a letter right after the mission and when she received it about two weeks later, it was the first word she had that I was still alive. To show how thoughtful some people can be, Lee's postman was aware of Lee's being on her own while her husband was in China and he made a special point of it whenever he had a letter to deliver from me and he knew that I had been reported missing. He was sorting mail in the Post Office one morning when he came across my letter written after the mission and he stopped sorting and made a special trip to bring Lee the letter.
This was a harrowing experience for Lee, as the Japanese propaganda mongers intended it to be, but the truth finally came out and Lee had the strength and courage to see it through. If the Japanese lie did anything, it brought us closer together.
Report from the West Los Angeles Tribune, June 23, 1944
Japs Report Death of Col. Edmundson
Report from the Evening Herald-Express, June 1944
Japs Bury B-29 Dead
Report from the Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1944
Wife Receives No Report On Col. Edmundson
[Full text of articles in Letters to Lee]
Letter to Lee -- June 24, 1944
Last night Radio Tokyo announced that I had been shot down over Japan on our last mission and that the honorable Japanese had cremated me. A little later, they gave my name as being a prisoner of war in Japan.
Honey, I can just about guarantee that neither of those stories is true. Of course, I might not be a very good authority, but I’m relatively certain they aren’t right. What do you think All kidding aside, Sweetheart, I sure hope word of this report hasn’t reached you. As soon as I heard it I contacted Bomber Command. They sent a radio message to Washington denying the statement and asking the War Department to notify all concerned immediately that it wasn’t true. That was the fastest way I could think of to stop your worrying in case you had heard the story. Bomber Command told us to write to our next of kin as soon as possible and deny the story as well. I hope you didn’t hear it and I hope, Honey, that you never let anything you hear through the Japs bother you.
Letter to Lee -- July 6, 1944
I received a very sweet letter from my darling wife today. It was dated the 27th of June and I know it was a hard letter for you to write. You see the wife of one of the boys in the Squadron sent him a clipping form the LA paper dated the 24th which gave Tokyo’s account of knocking me down over Yawata.
I had hoped that would never reach you and I had assurance from General Wolfe that you would be immediately notified that it was a false report. I could tell by your letter that you had heard the report and also that you hadn’t yet received word that it wasn’t true. It must have been a tough letter to write, Darling. I know by this time that you know better and your worries are over. You are a wonderfully brave little soldier to carry on that way without a peep. I love you so much. You must have known in your heart it wasn’t true and yet the doubt was still there. My Sweetheart, never, never believe anything you hear from Jap sources and don’t worry for a single instant about me. Everything is okay and will continue to be that way. O’Reilly’s Daughter [B-29] is getting to be an old hand at this business and she’ll take care of things.
Excerpt #1:
Part II: Territory of Hawaii, 1940 to 1942
Chapter 2: I Meet My Queen
I stepped off the Army transport in January 1940, onto the dock at Honolulu Harbor and into a new world. It had been a rough crossing. The ship was loaded with troops, most of them Air Corps troops, on their way to the Philippines. The war in Spain had been boiling for several years; Hitler was biting off pieces of his neighbor’s property and bunching his muscles for even bigger things. And Japan had declared its Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and was beating up its neighbors in places like Nanking and Manchuria. It was an angry and dangerous world, and America was pretending that it wasn’t happening. The United States had declared its non-combatant status and hoped it would all go away. Finally, long-overdue action was being taken to strengthen places like the Philippines. Dropping a few of us off at Hawaii was incidental, but it got me to Hawaii in the midst of a rumbling and dangerous world.
But to a 25-year-old bachelor, second lieutenant, arriving in the fabled and beautiful Hawaiian islands, the rumbling over the horizon was hardly noticed. I was glad to get off the boat. My new squadron commander was there to meet me as I stepped off the gangplank. So was my friend Ercell Hart.
When I was a teenager growing up in Santa Monica, Calif., I belonged to Sea Scout Ship 16. There were about 20 of us, we were all Eagle Scouts, we did things together and we were very close. We sailed together, we were patrol leaders at Emerald Bay, the Scout Camp on Catalina Island, in the summers, and we all went to high school together. We were a group of Depression kids with a special feeling for each other. One of the members of Ship 16 was Ercell Hart.
I found myself assigned to the 31st Bomb Squadron of the 5th Bomb Group, on Hickam Field, flying B-18s. Hickam was a new field, still under construction, and there were no bachelor’s quarters on the base. I was invited to move in with five other bachelors into a beautiful home they had rented in Manoa Valley. A Japanese couple, John and Massawa, came with the house. They did the cooking, serving, cleaning and everything else. John even washed all our cars once a week. It was Hawaii at its best.
Letter to Dad
(A letter from Duke to his father)
February 9, 1940
I’ve moved into a big house up in one of the canyons behind Honolulu with five other young officers, and it is really swell. We have a Japanese couple to cook and wait tables and do everything from taking out our laundry to shining our shoes. It sure is a beautiful house and a nice part of town. It’s a little cooler here than down in the city proper and much cleaner. It rains up here at least once every day, usually in the afternoon or evening. It only rains lightly for a minute or two at a time, and nobody pays any attention to it but it sure keeps everything green. The lawns never need watering, and as there really are no seasons over here, the trees never lose their leaves and so the leaves never need raking. What a place!
I spent two-and-a-half hours this morning flying all over the island of Oahu and looking it over in an A-12. I haven’t flown an A-12 since I left Texas and I sure did enjoy it. The island is beautiful all right and even flying bombers is enjoyable when you can go out in a little ship and relax whenever you wish, as I did this morning.
I do think I’m going to like it here. There really is a swell bunch of guys I moved in with and my squadron has a great group of officers in it too. It’s hard to imagine a nicer arrangement than I have here. I sure do have better than my share of good luck Ercell has a place right down in Waikiki Beach where I can go to swim and the Army also maintains several nice beaches for officers.
. . .
I had only been in Hawaii a few days when Ercell had a party for me to meet a few people. He was established with three other Navy ensigns in a lovely cottage on the beach, right behind the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, on Waikiki. Ercell got me a date with a nurse who worked at Queen’s Hospital and there were half a dozen of Ercell’s Navy buddies there with their dates. The moon was full, the waves were lapping on the beach, and the wind was in the palm trees. What a night!
Introductions were casual. It was a nice group of young people, and the men were all Navy pilots, which gave us much in common. My blind date was a pleasant gal who already knew most of the people and I felt right at home. I met everyone in due course, and I found myself repeatedly zeroing in on a beautiful little lady who was the date of one of Ercell’s Navy buddies. My nurse would drift off on her own with friends and, whenever I could, I would join the cluster around the little beauty who had caught my eye and seemed to have me hypnotized. I found out that her name was Lee, she had been in Hawaii about a year, and she lived in Waikiki, just off of the Ala Wai with two other girls and she was head of a ladies-wear department at Liberty House, the biggest department store in Honolulu.
I didn’t learn much else. She was always busy and surrounded by guys; her date was beginning to get suspicious of me. She was pleasant enough to me but totally without interest, and I had my own date to be politely attentive to. I did ask Lee if I could drive her home from work some time, if I happened to be in Liberty House around 5 o’clock some evening. She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no, either. She kind of shrugged her shoulders and said, “We’ll see.”
That was enough. The door was open just a crack and I intended to make the most of it. The party wound on to a finish. I took my nurse back to where I had found her and never did see her again. To this day, I can’t remember what her name was or what she looked like. But I had been harpooned. I couldn’t get Lee out of my mind. The next day, I asked Ercell about her. He didn’t know her well, but said she was quite popular and seemed to date this guy she was with at the party fairly regularly. Ercell told me that this guy was the great operator in his squadron. He rode a motorcycle and had a lot of wahinis, but that Lee seemed to be his favorite. It wasn’t an awful lot to go on, but it was enough. I was fascinated by Lee. Now, of course, I realize that I had already fallen head over heels in love with her and wasn’t smart enough to know it at the time.
Letter to Dad
(A letter from Duke to his father)
March 14, 1940
I was very interested in your observations of Margaret, they coincide closely with mine. She is a very nice girl down inside, a “diamond in the rough” as you might say and I’m sure with time and energy expended she would turn into an alright article, but I’m sure I can find one tailor-made and save myself lots of trouble.
I’ve been going down to pick Lee up after work every afternoon, and it makes a nice break in the day. I have also seen her every evening since the first date. There are so many guys here to every girl that you can’t use kid-glove methods. You have to dive in and hang on with both hands and feet or somebody else will be beating your time.
Letter to Lee -- October 8, 1942
Darling, I don’t think you’ll know your husband when you see him again. Everyone here looks several years older than they did three months ago and I’m no exception. In addition, I’ve lost about twenty pounds and feel much better for it but it will sure make my clothes hang on me like a scarecrow’s. I’ve also let my mustache grow in again and after a couple months it is quite respectable. You’d be surprised.
Letter to Mom and Dad -- October 11, 1942
Two days ago they had a little ceremony out here and Admiral Fitch came over and gave a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) to my bombardier and me for a mission we pulled last month [Mission of 19 August]. It was just a small affair but there were some reporters around taking pictures and stuff so you may hear about it. I’ll be ashamed to come home if this keeps up. Somehow I always get the publicity and there are any number of boys out here who’ve done a much better job than I have. Folks will begin to think I spend all my time getting my picture taken while everyone else fights the war. It just seems to happen that way. At least it’s the only way I can let you know what I’m doing. I can’t tell you in my letters but they can put it in the papers. Seems foolish doesn’t it? The medal is a beauty. They were going to give me the Navy Cross but gave me this instead and the Army has me in for a DFC also which means I’ll have an Oak Leaf Cluster to pin on it some day. All very fine to show off after the war but right now they aren’t worth a dime a dozen.
Letter to Mom and Dad -- October 26, 1942
Just had an interruption while three reporters came into the tent and wanted to hear the story of yesterday’s mission. Had quite a time and I had my usual lucky horseshoe wrapped around my neck. Sure hope I can get out of here before I use up all my luck.
History is being made down here by out little bunch but it will be a long time before it leaks out and the real story will never get into print. Heads would sure fall if it did. Hope you get to read enough scraps about us down here in the papers to have some kind of an idea of what a job we’re doing.
Sure makes my mouth water to hear you talking about Ted’s steaks. It will be a big moment when I get my first real meal with fresh meat and vegetables and maybe a salad. Haven’t tasted milk for four months.
You probably won’t know me when you see me again. I’ve grown a mustache and lost about 20 pounds and feel about 50 years older although I only show about five of them. This war will make an old man out of a guy in a short time ~ but then you can’t live forever.
Excerpt #3:
Part V: China-Burma-India, 1944-45
Chapter 33: Tokyo Rose
One incident that occurred during my year in India and China was a chapter of the war that Lee and I never forgot. In June 1944, we flew our first mission out of China against the Japanese home islands. We bombed the steel mill in Yawata, on the island of Kyushu. It was a tough mission and we lost several airplanes and crews. It was the first time that Japan, itself had been hit since the Doolittle Raid and they tried to make the most of it.
The Japanese had a propaganda broadcast that they put on the air every night pointed at the American troops. Most of us listened to it for a couple of reasons. It was usually good for a laugh and it played good music. The announcer on the program was a young Japanese woman called "Tokyo Rose." She spoke excellent English, and was, in fact, a young lady who had lived in California for a number of years and had graduated from UCLA, in Los Angeles.
After the Yawata mission, Tokyo Rose announced that several B-29s had been shot down and listed six crewmembers, by name, who had been identified and buried. My name was among those she listed. It was sort of a joke to us, but of course, the broadcast was picked up in the United States and this came as a shock to my little Lee. She got in touch with my folks, who were also shocked. My father got off a wire to the War Department asking for confirmation. In China, we were on the end of a long pipeline that extended three-quarters of the way around the world. In those days, there were no satellite relays and it took an ungodly long time to pass the word back and forth between Washington and China.
I wrote Lee a letter right after the mission and when she received it about two weeks later, it was the first word she had that I was still alive. To show how thoughtful some people can be, Lee's postman was aware of Lee's being on her own while her husband was in China and he made a special point of it whenever he had a letter to deliver from me and he knew that I had been reported missing. He was sorting mail in the Post Office one morning when he came across my letter written after the mission and he stopped sorting and made a special trip to bring Lee the letter.
This was a harrowing experience for Lee, as the Japanese propaganda mongers intended it to be, but the truth finally came out and Lee had the strength and courage to see it through. If the Japanese lie did anything, it brought us closer together.
Report from the West Los Angeles Tribune, June 23, 1944
Japs Report Death of Col. Edmundson
Report from the Evening Herald-Express, June 1944
Japs Bury B-29 Dead
Report from the Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1944
Wife Receives No Report On Col. Edmundson
[Full text of articles in Letters to Lee]
Letter to Lee -- June 24, 1944
Last night Radio Tokyo announced that I had been shot down over Japan on our last mission and that the honorable Japanese had cremated me. A little later, they gave my name as being a prisoner of war in Japan.
Honey, I can just about guarantee that neither of those stories is true. Of course, I might not be a very good authority, but I’m relatively certain they aren’t right. What do you think All kidding aside, Sweetheart, I sure hope word of this report hasn’t reached you. As soon as I heard it I contacted Bomber Command. They sent a radio message to Washington denying the statement and asking the War Department to notify all concerned immediately that it wasn’t true. That was the fastest way I could think of to stop your worrying in case you had heard the story. Bomber Command told us to write to our next of kin as soon as possible and deny the story as well. I hope you didn’t hear it and I hope, Honey, that you never let anything you hear through the Japs bother you.
Letter to Lee -- July 6, 1944
I received a very sweet letter from my darling wife today. It was dated the 27th of June and I know it was a hard letter for you to write. You see the wife of one of the boys in the Squadron sent him a clipping form the LA paper dated the 24th which gave Tokyo’s account of knocking me down over Yawata.
I had hoped that would never reach you and I had assurance from General Wolfe that you would be immediately notified that it was a false report. I could tell by your letter that you had heard the report and also that you hadn’t yet received word that it wasn’t true. It must have been a tough letter to write, Darling. I know by this time that you know better and your worries are over. You are a wonderfully brave little soldier to carry on that way without a peep. I love you so much. You must have known in your heart it wasn’t true and yet the doubt was still there. My Sweetheart, never, never believe anything you hear from Jap sources and don’t worry for a single instant about me. Everything is okay and will continue to be that way. O’Reilly’s Daughter [B-29] is getting to be an old hand at this business and she’ll take care of things.