<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So let's go back to your story. Thank you for sharing that. So where we left off on your story was you were saying, you were just about ready to go to China. Now, why would you go to China? What was bringing you or drawing you to China?

MH: I was not drawn to China at all. I had no desire to go to China. What I wanted to go to was college, but there was no way that I could go to college. There were no funds that I could be supplied with in any way. So my sister Charlotte was left at home here. Actually, she was left in a home for cerebral, you know, for injured people like she's injured. And Charlie and Mother and I went off to China. Dad had established his headquarters there in Tsingtao, and the U.S. Navy was, Western, Pacific Fleet was based in Tsingtao, China. And we went out on what was an unconverted cruise ship, which is not a very pleasant way to travel, I must admit. Although we did have a cabin, the three of us had a cabin.

TI: Were there other families on the, the troop ship?

MH: There were a few, but very few. I mean, this was the first families going out to China after the war had ended. So it was very limited.

TI: And so your dad was stationed at Tsingtao. What was his --

MH: The base of the Navy, the Western Fleet was Tsingtao, China.

TI: And so at this point, he was commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet?

MH: He was in command of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

TI: And so that's, essentially, all of the Pacific? Is that pretty much...

MH: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: Okay. So at this point, he's in charge.

MH: He's in charge.

TI: Of the Pacific.

MH: Western Pacific, yes.

TI: Okay, so your mother, your brother and you, joined him. And what was that like? What was Tsingtao like?

MH: First I'd like to speak about Shanghai.

TI: Okay.

MH: Because we arrived first in Shanghai. And it was blistering hot and very humid at that time. It was the summertime, and we were staying in one of the hotels along the Bund, very nice hotels along the Bund. And I remember that there was a demonstration against the Chinese Nationalists, and thousands of people, looked out from my hotel window and saw these, these people down below, all demonstrating. It was something I had never seen or never thought of seeing, this powerful demonstration against Chiang Kai-shek there. That's all I remember of that particular thing, but the other thing I remember about Shanghai -- well, I've got a couple of pleasant memories, too. But the other thing I remember about Shanghai, seeing, in this department store window, I saw these... what do you call them? From the U.S., these medical... well, it's what you give blood, what the blood comes in after you've given it, you know.

TI: Right, I'm trying to think...

MH: Well, whatever, on sale in the windows of this department store in Shanghai. And I didn't like that very much.

TI: So that only the people who could afford the supplies would get these critical, life-saving supplies.

MH: Yes, yes. That struck me quite vividly at that time. But as far as... I had never used chopsticks, and we sat down to this very honorable dinner, very formal dinner, you know, and everybody, of course, Dad, you know, he was being feted by everybody who was important. And so this, this captain, naval captain who was sitting next to me taught me how to use chopsticks. [Laughs] And it turned out, he was quite a famous man. He was Captain Miles, who, I think, had been, he might have been in... he might have been there in China, he may have been a Chinese language expert. I've read about him in books some places. But so he's the man who taught me how to use chopsticks. His nickname was Mary. He was known as Captain "Mary" Miles, but I don't know what his real first name was. [Laughs]

TI: Merry in the sense of "happy"?

MH: No, M-A-R-Y.

TI: M-A-R-Y?

MH: Yeah. But I know that he's written up some places.

TI: So that must have been interesting, going to a formal dinner, and just having chopsticks rather than -- you've probably been to the dinners where they've had, like, several forks and spoons and knives and plates, and this was a very different experience for you.

MH: Yes.

TI: I'm curious, when they have a formal dinner like that, was it all Chinese food for your father?

MH: This was all Chinese food. I mean, I went to numerous ones in China, and of course, they had the round tables, you know, I mean, there were several groups of round tables. I don't remember at this one, but I know many afterwards where there were round tables, which was rather awkward for me because I'm left-handed. And when you're sitting in the round table right next to a right-handed man using chopsticks, you get a little, you get a little mixed up with each other unless you're awfully careful. [Laughs]

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.