Some Catching Up Before I leave for Japan

In the winter quarter of last year  I joined a class called His 180D- Japanese Empire. Up till this time I had taken no history classes in the concentration of Asia and the Islamic World, and had little expectation for what was in store for me. Almost a year later that same class has turned into a research project, inspire me write my own thesis, and is now taking me to Japan.

Heres the Nagamine Project blog: http://thenagamineprojectblog.wordpress.com/

  

Before I start uploading the massive amounts of pictures and stories that will no doubt follow my trip, I will briefly tell you about my trip to Boise, Idaho for the Wake Island Civilian Survivor Reunion. 

Over the summer I started reading a book by a Wake Island Civilian's son named,  Calton Lewis. I ended up talking with Mr. Lewis and found out about a reunion that take place every year in Idaho. He
 gave me the contact information of Alice Ingham. Evidently her husband had been running ran the reunion before his death and now she was took over the job.

     Talking with her she told me the reunion would be held on September 16th  and the 17th a couple days after I was supposed to be at school. Evidently there were two days of meet and greets with a banquet at the very end. I was cautious about spending money on something that I wasnt sure would pay off. However Alice assured me that there would be survivors at the reunion who I could talk to.  After thinking it over I decided to reserve a spot at the hotel and buy tickets to fly out.

So on the 16th I flew out to Boise, Idaho to see what information I could find.

These are some pictures of the view from my hotel:

Staying at the Owyhee Hotel. I couldn't help but feel like I was on vacation.

I took the opportunity during my free time to walk around downtown Boise

Visiting the state capital










Other cool places

While seeing Boise for the first time was enjoyable the real reason I was there was to interview survivors and learn about my grandfather's past.

     The first day I went to the conference hall that had been rented out for the reunion as a meet and greet. There I met Alice for the first time in person. She was a very nice and treated me almost as if I was a family member. This was true for mywhole experience for the whole of the trip. Everyone at the reunion had a sense of connection through the common experience our family members had. 

Asside from Alice there also several family member of Wake Island Civilians who were alive or had passed. It was great to meet them and exchange stories. The attached room had a collection of Wake Island related document, including personal collections of various survivors. 

           

Around dinner time, everyone went there separate ways for the night. I  went out on the town to experience Boise. I was surprised to find the  streets were deserted, which I later found out was because there was a Boise State Football game.

The next day I went back to the meet greet. This time I was able to talk with some actual civilian survivors. I was also able to piggie back a couple interviews with a professional documentary make, named Seth Randal. He was making a documentary on the survivors and had a professionally lit interview room, so it was nice to be able to partner with him.

 

Following the second day of meet and greet, their was a banquet for the survivors. This was held in a large banquet room and had catered food by the hotel. It was surprising to see how many families were at the banquet compared to how many were at the meet and greets. 

     One of the interesting presentations during the banquet was a posthumous  purple heart for one of the civilian survivors. Evidently there has been an ongoing struggle for many civilian survivors to achieve recognition for combat service during the battle of Wake Island. I thought this was an especially interesting part of the Wake Island Civilian story and plan on looking into it further

two civilian survivors 

Jo Young

Leroy

To be Continued..