Search For Shorty

Search for Shorty

William C. Beck, 8800 Oldenburg Drive, Mt. Pleasant, NC 28124
Email:wcbeck2@windstream.net
Fax & Phone 704 436 2364
Blog me at: http://searchforshorty.blogspot.com/
(Call to clear fax)

November, 2009

While stationed with the United States Army's 11th Airborne Division at Camp Younghans, near Jimachi Japan (About sixty miles from Sindai and about fourteen miles from Yamagata) I was sent on detachment from, November 1947 to February 1948, to the eighth Army Quartermaster Corp's Food Service School, at Kyoto Japan for food-service training. While at the Food Service School. I met a fascinating young person who would now be 80 or 81 years old. She was known to her American friends as "Shorty". She worked as a table waitress in the Army Mess Hall along with ten or twelve other young ladies. Her Japanese name was Takahashi, Hisako. Please bear in mind that in that time, Japanese always gave their last name first. Since that time she would have married and her name would be changed also. My purpose at this writing is to try to make contact with my friend again so that we can discuss our lives, our families, and say goodbye one last time. At that time, among our close friends, I was also called "Shorty", being only 5 feet 5 inches tall.
If you know how to get this into the hands of eighty to eighty-five year old veterans—please do!!!

I remember Shorty
(I will hurry on to say: At that time, when our American and Japanese friends were between eighteen and twenty-two years old, and had very little concern about religion of any kind, Shorty had moral principles that put the rest of us to shame. That was one of the main things that set her apart and made her one to be remembered.) Shorty was four feet eight inches tall, and weighed about ninety six pounds.

Shorty’s Hometown
As best I can remember, to arrive at Shorty’s hometown it was necessary to take the train from Yokahama to Kyoto and then continue on for three more stops. This would bring you to Nishi-Akashi; I believe this was her home at the time. However, the cities following Kyoto are: Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Nishi-Akashi and Hemeji. These names are on the current map, I was there sixty years ago. By now the names may have changed.

If there is anyone out there who knows how to search Japanese marital records they might be able to help me to learn the married name of, “Hisako Takahashi” who probably lived in “Nishi-Akashi”. In the late nineteen forties and fifties. Shorty told me it was her destiny to marry a Japanese man and to work to rebuild her Country.

I was a member of the, U.S. Army’s 11th AIRBORN DIVISION stationed in Japan.
If you are an Army veteran, from 80 to 85 years old and you served or had reason to attend the eighth Army food service school, APO 343 unit 2, near KYOTO Japan from 1947 to 1953. Please contact me. I need information on how to pin point the eighth Army food service school the nearest towns and villages along with the name of the commuter train route taken from Yokohama to the school. It would be useful to know the names of the four towns immediately surrounding the school. With this information I may be able to contact Churches in the area and asked them to locate my friend for me. Shorty would be 80 or 81 years old now. It has been more than 60 years, and I can no longer remember all of the simple details. Anyone who served at the school and ate at the mess hall there would have known Shorty. She was a fascinating little person.

It has been sixty years and I have forgotten the precise location. As best I can remember, it was 13 or 14 stops from Yokohama Japan, using the SHINKANSEN commuter train which was used by everyone at that time. I believe it was near the town called "Kyoto", near the Kyoto University.If there is someone out there reading this who attended or who was assigned to the Food Service School or any of the other schools in the area, would you please contact me through one of the systems provided above? I would like to communicate with you. Please remember, I am thinking sixty years ago, in 1947 and on into the early 1950's. I
Would deeply appreciate any information you can provide me with.

I am looking forward to communicating with someone,
Respectfully yours.

W.C. (Bill) Beck
[Shorty]