Evening star., 1945-10-01
Shippen
Continued From First Page)

ceremonial dinner This was held, |
appropriately enough, on the sacred
island of Miyashima, dedicated toi
the Goddess of Peace At this shrine
Kamikaze pilots had come, before
the atomic bomb dropped, to apof-
ogize to the peace deity for the de-
struction they thought they were
about to wreak.
Took Bath Before Dinner.
In preparation for the feast the
general and his aides were given
kimonas, grass slippers and invited
to bathe in a tiled pit. The gen.
eral said attendants drenched him
with hot water by the bucketful
until he began to fear he was to
be boiled and served up rather than
to be a guest at the table. The
party emerged very clean, especially
the ranking guest of honor.
The visitors were seated at the
sumptuous banquet, whose central
dish was venison supplemented by
many vegetables and fish delicacies
washed down with green tea and
followed by numerous expressions
of mutual esteem at considerable
length.
When work began the experts
learned among other things that
after Hiroshima's hurricane of fire
it was from "a to 48 hours before
relief was organized for those escap-
ing the fate of some 100000 dead.
Loss of life was less than at Naga-
saki, but destruction of military
establishments was equally as great,
experts said, at Nagasaki the bomb
went off between huge steel mill,
rivaling Pittsburgh's best, and
vast plant turning out air and ma
rine torpedoes. Gen. Newman said
he was most impressed by the total
destruction of these plants, liqui-
dated along with war production
personnel. On top of the bomb
blast fire, typhoon that swept
Hiroshima during the missions abb
sence drowned many.
Hotel Lights Doused.
One end of the typhoon doused
the lights in the missions hotel and
the governors emiSsary turned out
in theemiddle of the night to apollo
gize for the inconvenience to the
distinguished visitors.
The japanese provided the best
of the remaining motor transport
for party. including two buses and
two luggage trucks, meeting them
at the airport. The first bus, the
general said, blew tire on the road
and there was no spare. All piled
into The second bus, with apologies
from the escort, but the fuel system
was bad. A local carburetor expert
disassembled the carburetor, but
couldn't get it back together again.
The visitors we're transferred to
the first baggage truck, which
bounced along until the ignition
went bad. The ignition expert
pulled a fistful of wires from under
the hood and then stood scratching
his head until the general suggested
they proceed by the remaining
truck that came in on two cylinders.
The general said it was the best
they had, and we were grateful to
them.
/ On departing, the interpreter said
his wife had a gift for the generals
wife, two dolls in native dress. Gen.
Newman has two sons also in the
Engineer CorpA They fought in
. France with their father and now
are with occupation troops in Ger
many. Gen. Newman is West
Point graduate, and has spent most
; OF the last 10 years in Washington.
The general, who was an engineer
, on the staff which built the Wash
ington National Airport, married
Miss Robinson on December II
/ 1941. She lives at the Wardman Park
Hotel in Washington.
Memories of Nebraska.
/ One of the generals assistants Is
Col. Peer De Silva, who has been
working out of Washington on the
! atomic bomb project. He had landed
at Hiroshima in seaplane when a
quaint character in battered put
+ put" pulled alongside and called,
Hello, welcome. Is anybody there
from Scottsbluff, Nebraska?"
BY some weird coincidence one Of
the party was familiar with Scots
bluff and the old fisherman was
, quite beside himself to greet resi-
dent of the town where he had
cooked for 40 years. He put him
/ self at the disposal of the visitors
q and every day since has been wait
ing at the dock ready to serve ir
any capacity, refusing all remunera-
/ ton except an occasional cigarette
Incidentally, Hiroshima schoo
kids refer to Boeing Super Forts
!. quite respectfully with little bows as