Excerpt from Red Jewel
Ted’s letter to Jim – Part One
He collected his papers and Nigel’s and placed them into a side
pocket inside of his duff el bag. He found the sextant on the chart table
and discovered that it was still in good operating condition. He decided
to take that as well. Nothing else though. The publications and manuals
were of no use to him now. He looked around. Anything else? That was
it. But there was something else. “Yes. A letter,” he thought. A letter that
Ted had written to him and had asked him not to open or to read until
he had reached Saipan.
“Cripes Ted. I almost forgot about that. But where did I put it?” He
rifled through some of the pockets of his shorts that he remembered
wearing in Hawaii. It was not there. “Where damn it, where did I put
it? Oh shit, I almost forgot.” He opened the small panel that contained
books that he and Nigel kept for their own personal use. It was secured
to the port bulkhead just aft of the shitter…or head in mariner’s parlance.
Two books were of note to Jim: Hawaii and Tales of the South Pacifi c.
Th ere, in the jacket of Hawaii, was the letter from Ted. He grabbed it,
sat down on the starboard settee, which had been his berth and began
to read.
Dear Jim
If you are reading this then you made it to Saipan safely.
Congratulations. That is quite the accomplishment. You should be
proud of yourself. Enjoy your stay there. I hope you can get out and
enjoy all that Saipan has to offer you and Nigel, especially after such a
long sail from Honolulu. Good luck with your continued adventures.
“Thanks Ted.” Jim said aloud.
I hope that you have a chance to see this small island nation for what
it truly is. In my mind Saipan is a paradox of our creator.
“I will Ted. Paradox? How?”
On the one hand you will see the island as a tropical paradise or at
least an oasis for the modern times that we live in, not unlike Hawaii,
while on the other hand it was the scene of atrocities and a tragedy
that were committed on a scale that is impossible for me to describe
or to comprehend. I do not mean to say that to undermine the horror
and the atrocities that were committed in Europe during World War
Two. No, but the terror that was the Battle of Saipan, as part of the
America’s war in the Pacific, was more in your face war fighting. It
was up close and personal. Its impact affected every one of us who
were involved in it…differently and personally. It was traumatic in
every sense of the word. It was a shock. It belied our beliefs and sense
of righteousness. It became a nightmarish facet of our existence. The
tragedy that was Saipan was the extent to which the human condition
can fall when evil is allowed to set its course. Even to this day, Jim,
some thirty years on, it galls me and plays on my conscience. I have
nightmares just thinking about it.
“Jeez Ted, what are you getting at here?”
For me Jim, Saipan represents not just a loss of my youthful exuberance
and innocence but also a loss of confidence and faith in the human
condition. Added to all of that, I lost some very good friends there,
one in particular. I almost lost the love of my life too, indirectly. You
see Jim, sadly, tragically, at such a young age, with the loss of my leg,
I became cynical about life itself, human nature and the limitless
capacity of my fellow human beings to inflict untold misery, cruelty
and suffering on one another. My heart became hardened.
“Mother of God Ted, I am so sorry.”
It is probably difficult for you to see this now but Saipan in those days
was a world of military fanaticism, of martial madness and of sheer
dread. At its very core life on Saipan was underscored by an oppressor
who ruled with the mindful and purposeful contempt for all that
was good and sacred in this world of ours. Honor, above all else, was
sacrosanct to them. Arrogance was a welcomed trait. Cruelty was
commonplace. Life was cheap. The military rulers of Saipan could
not understand compliance. Surrender was not in their lexicon. They
had no respect for a defeated or conquered people. Surrendering
without death was cowardice to them and was an anathema to their
code of conduct: their Bushido Code – or Bullshit Code as I called it.
Thus, the citizenry of Saipan, by their mere survival, had no human
rights in the eyes of their conquerors. They lived their lives under a
yoke of military oppression and disgust. They were considered lowlife
and dogs by their military masters. Yet unquestionable loyalty to a
foreign deity was demanded of them. Allegiance and devotion were
expected to this foreign icon that was not of the spiritual form in the
traditional supernatural sense but of a human physical stature and
nature…in other words, their Emperor was considered a living gawd.
“Unbelievable Ted. I never knew this.”
The military presence that ruled Saipan in those days ruled by fear.
They were fanatical in their beliefs and demanded the same from the
Chamorro people and the Korean slave labor. To do otherwise meant
untold suffering or certain death. Not surprisingly Jim, over time, the
oppressed people of Saipan adapted and became dependent upon the
military dictatorship for their subsistence, for their security, for their
survival. Ultimately, they were brainwashed. They were brainwashed
into thinking that their military masters had their best interests at
heart. But they were also brainwashed against the very people who
were committed to their liberation and freedom. Us! Consequently Jim,
it was very difficult for us as liberators to undermine their mistrust of
us and of everything that America stood for.
Sitting with you, drinking Oly’s and chit chatting on those
numerous afternoons at the Ala Wai, was very enjoyable for me Jim
and I do not begrudge those moments for a minute.
Jim smiled at that memory.
I thank you for giving me the time of day. In a lot of respects, I saw
myself in you. I was jealous of your youth but for my lost youth. Your
exuberance, your wonderful naivety and your boundless energy took
me back to a time where my own innocence and sense of invincibility
fostered. I possessed some sensitivity in those days Jim and a
vulnerability that many would perceive as a weakness, especially as a
Marine. I didn’t look at it that way. I viewed these traits as strength
for I saw the beauty in all living things and had empathy in spades to
do what I thought was right. I possessed faith in a higher power. I had
faith in God. I guess I was a sensitive soul.
Read about the Battle of Saipan in my book Kurofune, or Jim’s adventure in Red Jewel. For more information on these and other books see the links at the top of the page. They are all available through Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
