<Begin Segment 13>

TI: And when you sort of got together, the two of you decided to get married.

MF: Yeah, I didn't trust the Air Force.

TI: Yeah, without the permission of the Air Force. So tell me about that decision.

MF: We went down to a Shinto temple to get married and stuff like that, so we went in, and really, at the time -- I don't know if I put this in the book or not -- but of course you have to take your shoes off. And I took my shoes off, and I had holes in my socks. And she looks down and she says, "Look!" What can you do? So on our wedding night she was darning my socks. [Laughs]

TI: That's a good story. But this was kind of serious because you were kind of breaking the rules.

MF: Oh, yeah. In fact, when we went down to Okino, of course, once we got married, we went down, and of course, you had to go by boat. But that was after I'd come back, I'd gone to Okino and asked for (loans)... I get mixed up because I made one trip down, then I went to the thing and came back. Then we went down to Kagoshima and we took the ship down to Okino.

TI: Okay. But so this was sort of, from the perspective of the Air Force, kind of a secret marriage.

MF: Well, we didn't tell 'em, because it was breaking the rules.

TI: Right.

MF: But, of course, when somebody moves into town, the Japanese, she's got to take the thing and she's got to go down to the police department. And so she goes to the police department and shows them the thing and stuff like that, kind of register, I don't know, thing. And they told the base.

TI: Oh, interesting.

MF: And so then the base commander asked me, and of course, I have to tell 'em, can't lie to him and stuff like that. And so then he basically said, well, you broke this rule, so they were going to court martial me.

TI: Now the person in the town that showed it to the base commander, was he trying to get you in trouble?

MF: No, it was basically... it was the chief of police, and he just, I don't know if he reported it, the thing, because they did have some relationship to the (jobs), but he informed him that we've got this "dependent," you know, who is registered, blah, blah, blah.

TI: So he was just probably following protocol.

MF: He was following protocol, yeah.

TI: Because this police chief actually became a close friend of yours.

MF: Oh, yeah, he was my judo instructor. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. So now you're at this, the Okino Erabu Shima, and the base commander finds out that you broke the rules and you got married. And you said that they were going to court martial you.

MF: Yep.

TI: So tell me what happened next.

MF: Well, what happened, I wrote my parents, and I basically told them what was happening and stuff. And I wrote 'em and told 'em we got married and stuff like that. And I don't know, it was such a short period of time between the time when we got there and they found out about it and stuff like that. I don't know if they got all the letters together, but I wrote 'em and said, "Well, they're going to court martial me for getting married," and stuff like that. And so my parents told my grandmother, and my grandmother got back on the phone to Jacob Javits and said, "You're not doing this." Jacob Javits, I understand, from what I've been told, from what I've been told, himself, rather than his aide, called the Pentagon and said, "Don't do this." So I'm downtown, the only way off and on the island is by boat, so I'm down there waiting for the boat. They come down and they says, "Well, you don't go to (Okinawa), we've cancelled that thing."

TI: Oh, so you're waiting in the boat to go to your court martial.

MF: In Okinawa.

TI: And so it was that close.

MF: Yeah.

TI: So I guess the lesson is, if you're ever in the military, know a U.S. senator.

MF: [Laughs] Or have a grandmother that's politically connected, right?

TI: So twice Senator Jacob Javits really helped her out.

MF: Yeah. And the second one... of course, the first time, most likely just his aide called, his senior aide called down to the Pentagon. I understand from what I was told the senator himself called.

TI: Right. As you were waiting to be taken to the court martial, what was Tsuchino doing? She stayed there thinking...

MF: Oh, yeah. Well, she was upset, of course.

TI: Thinking that you were going to get court martialed, she's on her own, she'll probably have to make hr way...

MF: Yeah, she's down there on Okino. And, of course, the only way for her to get back home would be to go and take the boat (home). And, of course, she gets sick as soon as she gets on a boat, so she wouldn't be looking forward to that.

TI: So I'm guessing, at this point, you're not a favorite of your base commander.

MF: No. I would say, especially, I think it was more for the political influence than the fact that I had disobeyed the (rules) and got married. I don't think that bothered me as much. I remember one of the commanders, a captain, I don't remember his name, had said that the Air Force did not allow dependents on this base or this area, so therefore, as far as he as concerned, I didn't have any dependents. So the first year we were married, I came back to base every night, ten o'clock, bed check.

TI: Because there was a ten p.m. curfew, you had to go back to camp, or to base. And so Tsuchino had a, what, a house or apartment?

MF: We had a house.

TI: A house.

MF: Yeah, we rented a house.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.