CPL Martin E Conlon
US 51 213 731
Co. D 34th INF. REGT. APO. 24
c/o P.M. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
TO:
Mr. & Mrs. William Conlon
9 Elizabeth Drive
Bethpage, Long Island, NY
July 23, 1954
Korea
Dear Dot & Bill:
Well I just got back the other day from a 15 day leave to go to Japan and we really enjoyed it. When I arrived back here there was quite a bit of mail waiting for me and your letter with the pictures was there. I want to thank you for getting them fixed up for me and I see what you mean by the negatives being too dark. It was the first time this fellow ever used a flash, and he didn’t know too much about it. I took some colored pictures while I was in Japan. But I am afraid they won’t come out because I fouled up when taking the film out of the camera.
I will try to tell you a little bit about our trip. This letter won’t be too long because we are still using candles for light and it is getting very hard to see. We left here at 0830 morning by truck and travelled about 25 miles to Chunchon where the rail head is. From here we went by train to K-16, which is the airport in Seoul. We didn’t have any luck with the Air Force and we waited for two days without getting a hop. Finally we went to the Marine Corps office a little ways from there and they fixed us up right off with a flight to Itami Air Base in Japan. We wanted to go direct to Tokyo, but they couldn’t fix this up, so we took what we could get.
We reached Itami at about 1300 Sunday afternoon and the Marines called up the Army R&R Center and had a staff car sent down for us. We never had such nice treatment from the Marines before. Well, the car took us to the R&R center where they processed us and gave us a uniform. The car then took us back and we had an airplane ride waiting for us to Tokyo.
At 2030 that evening we arrived at International Airport in Tokyo and we were on our own. We stayed at a Japanese hotel called the Honlon, we meant to change the first letter of that name but never did get around to it. For two nights we stayed in Tokyo and we had a pretty good time then we went to a resort called NUMAZU where we stayed for 9 days. We had a great time here; dancing, swimming, boating, sightseeing plenty of rest and good food and a few pretty loud evenings. One night we went to what they called a SUKIAKI dinner and that was really fun. We had to take our shoes off because it was in a Japanese house and we sat on the floor and ate with chopsticks, which proved quite interesting as it was a new experience for all of us. Well, we left there after 9 days and went to Kyoto for three days.
We had civilian clothes, which made us feel a lot better. We were really AWOL for the last three days, but we didn’t care because we were making up for the time we had to wait for the airplane ride. They didn’t say anything to us when we got back, so I guess everything is O.K. I sent you a gift from Kyoto, it isn’t much, but I hope you like it.
Well, we are back to the old grind again and I sure hate it, but there is only about 90 days to go before. I’ll be back on the way home. We are right in the middle of the rainy season now, so we are walking around in mud up to our ankles.
I am glad to hear that the baby is fine and I hope that both of you are in good health also. Well, I can hardly see so I’ll have to close this letter. Give my regards to everyone and thanks again for the pictures.
Love
Eddie
