The nice thing about the temple was that except for the arch, there were no idols, no incense burning, no priest and no preaching.
Towards the end of our first term in the Academy, we were required to go on a three-day trek, with full pack and rifle, and live off the hospitality of villagers we encountered en-route. This was the last major exercise which concluded the first phase of our training. The second term was devoted entirely to flying and to technical subjects connected with flying.
Just before we went on our trek, we decided to practise our sword drill. For some reason, perhaps because we had not slept much the night before because of a long-drawn air raid, the drill was not going too well. The Captain was frustrated and made us repeat each exercise several times over. At every attempt, at least one of us would make a silly mistake and spoil the joint effort. The Captain was red in the face and was just waiting to vent his anger on someone when suddenly he saw his opportunity. A junior cadet happened to pass by just then. The cadet had probably never seen foreign cadets before, so he stood to stare at us and forgot to salute. Apart from the fact that he should have saluted us since we were his seniors now, he had failed to salute a full-blown Captain, and he definitely could not be ignored.
The Captain, who was already near boiling point, exploded. He shouted at the cadet to stop staring at us, walked up to him and slapped him on both sides of his face with such force that his face started to bleed. He then harangued with him for a couple of minutes and then made him march past us twice and salute us. All of us felt very sorry for the cadet. If the Captain had done this to impress us, we thought, he was thoroughly mistaken. All of us felt only disgust at his violent behaviour. The Captain soon realised this and strode out to his room, leaving the Sergeant to conclude our exercise session.
A Three-day Adventure
On the day we started out on the three-day manoeuvre, we were given a rectangular wood-framed rucksack each. It contained our rations, clothes, blankets and ammo. Whoever designed and manufactured these rucksacks must have been a sadist. Apart from the fact that they were very uncomfortable when strapped to our backs, the sharp edges of the frame cut through our clothes and lacerated our backs and shoulders. The pack weighed only about 25 lb, but in the space of two hours, we felt as if it weighed a ton, and with each step or movement, the edges cut in deeper. So much for the rucksacks.
When we did reach the top, we were surprised to find a monastery there and near it a large statue of Buddha carved from a single piece of stone.
The first part of the trip was on even terrain, but by afternoon we realised that we had to cross a small hill to get over to the other side. The climb was steep and there wasn’t much of a path. When we did reach the top, we were surprised to find a monastery there and near it a large statue of Buddha carved from a single piece of stone. We asked the head monk how such a large and heavy statue had been brought all the way up. He didn’t know, and said, vaguely, that it happened long ago and the people must have used ropes and tackle..
We rested there for a while before making the descent, and in the early hours of the evening, we reached our first village. Our instructions were that we were to separate into twos and walk into any of the village houses, explain to the villagers who we were and ask for shelter for the night.
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We followed these orders and two of us entered a small farmhouse. It had a courtyard, a well and a barn which also housed a bath. The Air Force Academy had been in existence for years, and all the villages around had been accustomed to cadets coming to the villages on their manoeuvres and inviting themselves in for the night. So this family was happy to entertain us, the more so because we were foreign cadets, and we were Indians from the land of Buddha. It was typical of Japanese custom and hospitality that the farmer asked his whole family to come out and meet us, and each one was introduced to us with a lot of bowing on both sides. The woman of the house then went to prepare the bath for us. We had been told that because there were shortages in the country, we should share our dry rations with the families when they prepared our meal. The family in this house refused to accept our rations, but we insisted that they did and told them those were our orders.
“¦but Okinawa, the well-defended bastion, held out against the might of the US Navy and the bombing by the US Air Force.
After a welcome hot bath, we sat with the men and had green tea. They talked about the War, and were convinced that Japan would win and that everything would be peaceful again. The women had retired to cook the evening meal. By 8.30, we sat round a low table and were served a delicious dinner. The woman of the house made sure that she used all that was grown on their farm, so we had potatoes and vegetables we had not tasted in years. Rice and shiru and the sweet at the end completed the menu. It was only after we had eaten that the family ate. Such was their hospitality.
After this they made our beds, and it was obvious that the best linen in the house had been brought out for our use. In the morning, we were given hot water for a wash, and were served tea and rice balls for breakfast. We thanked our hosts most wholeheartedly and left for the next leg of our trek.
Over the next two days we enjoyed ourselves even more, and as the rations got consumed, our packs became lighter, a great mercy. But by the time we returned to the Academy in anticipation of a well-earned rest, the War situation had changed dramatically.
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