This true story took place in October 1954, when I was aboard the US Navy ship USS Helena CA 75, a heavy
cruiser. I had graduated from the US navy Electronics School at Treasure Island San Francisco, CA in August
1954 and I was then assigned to duty aboard the USS Helena at her home port of Long Beach, CA. In late September
the ship left Long Beach for my first six month "WESTPAC" cruise for duty in the western Pacific Ocean in the
Asian theater of operations. This was during the Korean war and the main duty of the USS Helena was to patrol
waters of the western Pacific Ocean and show a presence of strength to the hostile Chinese communist mainland
who were still engaged in that war.

When not on sea patrol, our ship visited many Asian ports; our home port in Asia was Yokosuka, Japan which had a
large naval facility there. Other ports we visited in Japan were Sasebo, Yokohama, Hiroshima, Kobe, Fukuoka, and
Tokyo. Other Asian ports were Seoul and Inchon, Korea, Taipei, Formosa, Manila and Suibic Bay, Philippines,
Hong Kong and Guam.

In September, 1954 the ship had just completed a cruise from Long Beach, Ca, stopped in Hawaii for a few days
and then made port in Yokosuka, Japan in late September. We were in port a few days and then were off to sea
again for two weeks, and when we finally came back to Yokosuka it was in the middle of October, and the crew
was looking forward to “hit the beach”!

I went ashore with some crew mates of mine and we hit the usual places in town, the nicest place was the Navy run
Enlisted Men’s (EM) Club with a beer garden, dining rooms, a movie theater, and recreational facilities. Another
“native” area was called “black market alley”, a hangout of bars, cafes, cat houses and trinket shops galore. In 1954
the exchange rate for Japanese Yen was Y360 to one US Dollar, so we lived like kings in Japan with everything being
so cheap in price to us.

We got bored with the same old scene on the main drag, so one of the “old salts” Burt, who had been to Yokosuka before
took us north to two nice dance halls, one was called the Grand Shima Ballroom and the other one was called the Grand
Cherry Ballroom. Burt warned us that the girls who worked at the dance halls were not prostitutes, they were usually college
girls who worked part-time and were a better class than some of the girls sailors usually met. Burt also told us to behave like
gentlemen and just dance and socialize with the girls, and the girls were not allowed to date the customers, and if we became
boisterous we would be asked to leave the ballroom. That sounded good to me because I wanted to meet some nice girls
instead of the bar girls I had met so far.

We entered the Grand Shima Ballroom and each of us paid a Y1000 cover charge and went into the dance floor area, and I
was impressed. The room was large with a beautiful wooden floor and was very nicely decorated with chandeliers, a band
stand with a 10 piece orchestra up front, there were scores of tables around the dance area. There were about 40 girls there,
all of them dressed in formal evening gowns. I told Burt, “ Wow, this is great !” A hostess greeted us and then introduced us to
4 girls, we paired off and then all of us sat at one large table. We could tell these girls were well educated and spoke very good
English, and all of them were pretty and charming. The girl I was with was pretty and jovial, she talked and smiled a lot and we
soon became acquainted with each other. The hostess had said that my girl’s name was Linda, but of course, that was a cover
name, I later found out her real name was Uriko Saeto.

The girls were allowed to only sip one glass of wine, and no more. There was a bar at one end of the dance floor with all kinds
of drinks you could order, I only wanted a beer and I nursed that a long time. We mostly socialized and danced a few dances,
but I was intrigued by Uriko. She was very interesting to talk to and related many stories about her life. She was a college
student in Tokyo, about 25 miles north of Yokosuka and lived with her parents, she worked at the ballroom 4 nights a week,
Thursday through Sunday. She was majoring in accounting. Times were hard in Japan and it was not easy to find work, but
she luckily found work at the ballroom, she wanted to complete her college education in two more years to get a better job,
she was 20 years old. She also had to help her mom and dad, because they were older and jobless, and her father could not
work because of war injuries.

I was impressed and already I began to admire Uriko. She was an excellent college student, she worked hard to provide money
for her parents, and she was devoted to them. She was a very nice and mannerly girl, I was becoming attracted to her, not only
because she was pretty, but because of her admirable qualities.

She asked about my life, and I told her about growing up on a farm in California and how I loved that life. I told her about enlisting
in the navy and graduating from Naval Electronics School. She asked if a was an engineer, and I told her that was my ambition in
a few years, but my duties on the ship were repair and maintainence of Radar, radio and various electronic equipment. She
found that to be very interesting and complicated work, and I told her I enjoyed it. She said I had a very handsome and kind face
and she liked that. She said she could tell if a person was kind or mean by their eyes, and I was a very kind man. I blushed a little
and she said, “ Oh you’re blushing “. And we both laughed. She said she was pleased to meet me because I was a gentleman,
many of the sailors she met were real crude and aggressive.

She told me that history seemed to be repeating itself, because during WWII Japanese and German sailors would visit Yokosuka
just like the American sailors were doing now; it seems that sailors are the same no matter what country they are from.

I asked her what it was like in Japan during the war. She told me that it was a scary, brutal and painful experience. People
were horrified by the daily air bombing raids, so many people dying every day, the food shortages, and the brutal way the
people were treated by the military regime. When Japan lost the war and surrendered to the Americans, many thousands of
people committed suicide because they were terrified that the Americans would take revenge upon them with executions,
pillaging and raping women. When Tokyo was fire bombed, almost annihilating the city, and when Hiroshima and Nagasaki
were hit with atomic bombs, the entire country was in a state of panic. They thought that the entire population would be exterminated.

Almost all Japanese people were sorry that their government had started the war, and to the Japanese people, Americans seemed
like a super race of people who could never be conquered. In all of its history Japan had never been conquered, and now it was a
slave to the Americans. I was very interested in her revelations about the war. I told her that the Japanese people were not slaves to
America, we Americans wanted to help rebuild Japan and introduce democracy to its people, and we were doing that now. I told
her that soon Japan would become a free and prosperous nation and richer than it ever had been. She had tears in her eyes and
she said, “ Oh Lee, that is a beautiful thing to say. I never thought of putting things in the right way, and you have shown me that I
have hope and courage”.

It was getting late, and we sailors had to be back aboard our ship by 2400 (midnight), so I told Uriko I had to leave. I asked her if
I could come and visit her again, and she said, “Oh yes Lee, you are a very nice man and a real gentleman. It would be a pleasure
to see you again”. I rounded up my crew mates and we all headed back to our ship. I was attracted and intrigued with Uriko, and
I hoped that I would see her again.

For the next two nights I went to the Grand Shima Ballroom, and Uriko was there to meet me. We had many hours of pleasant
conversation and we became closer to each other. She told me that she wasn’t supposed to have a regular visitor, but she
liked me and said she wanted to see me. On Sunday night, her last work night that week, I told her that I was interested in
seeing more of Japan and its culture, and I would like to visit some places of interest instead of just hanging around the ballroom
all the time. So, I asked her if she would like to go on a date with me on one of her off-duty days. At first she was hesitant, but
finally she said she would love to go on a date with me.

The next evening, Monday, she was to meet me at the Navy EM Club at 1600 (4 pm). I waited outside by the main door for a
long time, but she didn’t show up. It was raining and my spirits started going down, I felt that maybe she had changed her mind.
I was just about to give up, and then she arrived at 1630. I was so relieved and happy to see her! She said that she missed her
train from Tokyo and had to catch the next one, and she was so worried that I might have not waited for her. I wanted to kiss
her, but I thought that might be a too forward, and it would be frowned upon to kiss publicly in theJapanese culture. But she
came to me and gave me a warm hug.

We went inside the EM Club to the nicest resaurant. It was first class with fancy décor, linen table cloths, real siverware,
silver candlabras, floral arrngements, and plush carpeting, she was obviously impressed. We ordered wine while our dinner
was being prepared. I ordered a filet mignon with all the trimmings and she did the same. When our orders came, she was
amazed at the size of the steaks and all the food on the plates. As we ate we talked and talked and just couldn’t get enough
of each others ideas to relate. I had finished my meal and Uriko had only eaten a small part of hers. She said that she could
not possibly eat all the rest, there was too much for her to eat. She said that she was surprised at how much the Americans
ate, she was used to much smaller meals. I agreed, and then I told her to take the rest of the meal home. She was surprised
and asked if that was permissable, I told her, sure it was, I paid for it and she should take it home, and she did.

After dinner we strolled along the main street, holding hands, and looked into many of the shops. At one shop there was pottery
on display and I saw one item I liked. It was a large coffee mug with a picture of the USS Helena on it, my ship. I told Uriko that
I would like one of those. I told Uriko that I was going to buy it, but she said there was a chip on the handle and she knew of
another shop to buy one from, so I said okay and we walked along. I asked her if she would like to go to a movie, and she said
that would be great. She knew of a theater that showed american movies and we walked there and went in. The main feature
was “ Sabrina ” starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn, and the sound was in English with Japanese sub-titles. She loved
the movie because she loved romantic films and we held hands all the way through the film.

A second short feature was the movie “Modern Times” starring Charlie Chaplin, it was a very funny film and the audience
loved it and roared with laughter, and Uriko and I did too. After the movie we walked slowly to the train depot and talked all
the way there. It was 2200 (10 pm) and Uriko said she had to go now because she had classes tomorrow and had to be up early.
We held hands and looked into each others eyes, and I could feel that we wanted to kiss, but not in a public place. She said to
me, “Lee, I had a wonderful time. This is the first time an American has dated me and I loved it !” I told her I was so pleased that
we had dated together, and I hoped we could do it again. She said we will date again, and soon, she said that next time she
would take a day off from classes and she would show me some cultural places like Kamakura. I said that would be wonderful
and was looking forward to it. We hugged and then she boarded the train and waved goodbye from the window.

KAMAKURA, JAPAN

The following Monday, Uriko and I had planned to go to Kamakura, an ancient shrine town rich in history and culture, just the sort
of thing I really liked to see. Kamakura was south of Yokosuka on the coast, about 12 miles and we traveled there by train. I met
Uriko at 0900 (9 am) at the train depot and then we took a train to Kamakura. The train was an old narrow gauge with small cars
made of wood and wooden seats, Uriko said that the train was a relic of the past just like the town of Kamakura! It was a sunny day
and we enjoyed seeing the countryside with farms and forest areas, a refreshing change from city life. On the ride there, I felt a bit
strange because I was the only non-Japanese person in all of the four cars. However, the people did not stare or seem to notice
minding that I was there with a pretty Japanese girl. I thought to myself that these same people were at war with Americans just nine
years ago, but it seemed like that was past history and I was treated politely by by everyone I met.

The train pulled into the depot, and we walked on the narrow main street, It was very different from Yokosuka with small shops and
restaurants right on the waterfront with sampan fishing boats tied up at piers. All the signs were in Japanese, there was not even a
hint of anything western here, not even any cars. The town must have looked this way for hundreds of years, and I felt like I was
stepping back in time. We walked quite a way and soon we came to a plaza leading to the Dia Butsu, the Great Buddha. The sitting
statue was a magnificent sight, 100 feet tall and the base covered an area of 50 square feet. The shrine was made of bronze, and Uriko
said it was several hundred years old.

We admired the shrine and took some photos. Then we circled the shrine and I saw a path leading up a small hill in back. I wanted to
climb the small hill in back to get a better view. When we were on top of the hill, there were trees that hid us from people below, and
suddenly Uriko embraced me and gave me a long kiss. I was pleasantly surprised and I was glad we finally kissed. She said, “ Lee, I like
you very much, do you like me?” I told her that I liked her so much and I wanted to kiss her before, and at last we were away from people
and now we could. We kissed some more, and then we headed back down the hill, holding hands.

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