Going home to the East! III - Hong Kong

After the Canton, the USS President Wilson was a floating palace. The American President Lines had other beautiful vessels but the Wilson was my first and so my favorite. We boarded her in the late afternoon and after a light supper retired. I recall the steward spending time in our cabin. He was a merchantman and told us stories of the War and being torpedoed. He was rescued by a Japanese submarine and then whipped with a rope. To me, he was bigger than life. About eleven PM the engines began to turn and we felt the trembling in the bulkheads and deck.

The first destination was Kobe and a few days later Yokohama. Some passengers took the Kobe train up to Tokyo and reboarded. Both harbors were littered with twisted metal and bombed out buildings.

The band played and streamers were thrown from the boat to the onlookers below at each port. One young Japanese caught a streamer from a passenger at Yokohama. The pair began lengthing the streamer with others. They worked hurriedly and kept a thin bond until it was the only one remaining. The boat inched away. Crowds gathered around each individual. They helped them tie more streamers together. Finally the line grew taunt and snapped to everyone's dismay. The tugs nosed us away and we headed for Honolulu.

Three events tag my memory. Shanghai fell to the communists, our third mate was lost at sea, and emergency medical care, I think a surgery, was performed at sea. The ship was stopped for two hours; it seemed so strange to be on the high seas but not underway. We reversed course after this to help take Westerners from China but later our course was altered again. The President Buchanan was assigned this task. A following vessel looked for the third mate, we were told.

Honolul was beautiful. My uncle is buried at Punchbowl. We visited his grave, a tramatic experience but one of closure for my mother. Then it was on to San Francisco. As we cruised under the Golden Gate, I felt sure our superstructure would strike the bridge. I ran to look for a place to hide away from the accident. We went under without a blip! Ha

Rolf Christophersen