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October 1941
I had no time for shopping aboard ship, as I had my detail to get ashore; neither was I interested then, since I had the whole city before me for what I hoped would be a long stay. (It turned out to be a stay of just two months to the day.) There were just nine Marines in my detail, including myself, the rest of the men going ashore being sailors for duty at the hospital and on the gunboats on the river. So we piled aboard a truck and were whisked away through the teeming traffic of Nankin and Bubbling Wells Roads and on to our billets. The day had finally come that I had dreamed of so many times; that of seeing China for myself. I was all eyes and much impressed with the modernity of the city. As you probably have noticed for yourself, there are many completely modern buildings throughout the city, but, then, that is not surprising, since the English built it, all except for the old Chinese city, which was composed mostly of smaller structures and of a more oriental character.
We were soon at the billets, which turned out to be extremely old, huge, red brick, former residence-type structures that had been converted to some small extent for the use of the Marines. They were certainly not lavish in the appointments, but adequate for the purpose and we were soon as comfortable there as anywhere. I, being of the staff grades of non-coma, had, luckily, a room to myself. (I was to learn later that this was not as good as it appeared on the surface. When the really cool weather came rolling in and I lighted the fire in the small coal stove, or tried to, the only thing that greeted me was a great billow of pungent smoke, all of which came into the room. Of course, I had to pull the fire out and content myself with getting into bed. The chimney was plugged up. Since the rooms around me were well heated, I didn’t let that worry me too much, though I was unable to use my room for anything but the bare necessities, such as changing clothes and sleeping. However, it never was really cold during my stay in Shanghai, though some of the nights got rather chilly; and on the day before we left, a fairly good cold snap came in and the next morning had most of us shivering, as the stoves had all been removed from the billet and there was no heat to be had anywhere. We just stood around with our teeth chattering until we got the order to form and march off - we had been misled by the nice weather up until then and had stowed our overcoats.
My stay in Shanghai was not what I had anticipated at all. Due to the strained relations between the Japs and ourselves, and their being in control of the area all around the city, we were under very rigid restrictions as to our movements while on liberty and the length of time we might remain on the streets. (All marines were required to be indoors by midnight, and they were permitted to go on liberty only within the bounds of the International Settlement. Twice a week this restriction was lifted to the extent of permitting us to go to the Hungjao Country Club to play golf. That was a real treat, but I was able to go only three times during the two months I was there; the other times, I had duty as commander of the guard, or the Standby Guard.) So there was not too much of the city that I was able to visit leisurely. However, during my tours of duty, guard, that is, it was required that the officer of the day and I should alternate hourly motorcycle patrols of the area that out details covered, except at night after eleven o’clock, when they became less frequent. So, through this means, I was able to get a much better knowledge of the city than I would have otherwise.
As is true of all Chinese cities, Shanghai is exceedingly populous and full of the many ramifications of the business life of an oriental city. The best visual evidences of its busyness are the throngs of people on the streets all during the day, in rickshaws, a few automobiles, buses, streetcars, bicycles and afoot; mostly the later. There are small shops, of the nature of bazaars, stores large and small and many restaurants all over the city. Additionally, there are several very large department stores, about half a dozen, modern hotels, one of which, the Palace, I believe, was as luxurious as any you might find anywhere; and used only by the very rich. Of course, since the city is not entirely a trading center, there were a number of factories on the outskirts. And the movie theaters were enormous and well fitted out, showing almost entirely American pictures, although there were a few strictly Chinese theaters, showing both Chinese and some Russian movies.
Of course, as you probably well know, such things as intricate handwork of silk embroidery, lace work, work of the woodcarvers in making ornate and elaborate chests, cabinets, tables and chairs, silverware and cloisonne vases, come for a song if you know how to deal with the Chinese merchants (mostly the product of child labor, wrought in blood and sweat and at the sacrifice of their lives frequently, or at least of their eyesight - but life is cheap in the Orient and living is hard). And, of course, many of the marines had stocked up on such items and had camphor wood chests full of thousands of dollars worth of silk and embroidery. All of these which had not been shipped out before we evacuated Shanghai and were carried along with us to the Philippines were later completely destroyed at Olongapo to keep them from falling into the hands of the Japanese, and there were many trunks and chests full of them that went up in smoke.
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November 1941
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