Class “A” Pass

A guest post by my father about my grandfather

My grandfather, John Mitchell Poland, in Japan in 1946.

Over the past few weeks, you’ve been reading my great-grandmother’s memories of pre-World War I Japan during her Presbyterian missionary trip there in 1914. The other side of my family tree has connections to Japan as well, but under very different circumstances.

My father, Tom Poland, wrote about this and gave me permission to share it with you. My grandfather, John Mitchell Poland, was stationed in Yokohama a year after the atomic bomb went off in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This Japan was very different from the one my great-grandmother had visited 32 years earlier.

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Class “A” Pass

By Tom Poland

Each August I think of my father’s service in Japan, specifically Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Recently I came across one of his base passes that had been hiding from me all these years. Dad was stationed in Yokohama.

The date on his pass is August 9, 1946. That was a year and three days after Little Boy devastated Hiroshima, and a year to the day after Fat Man destroyed Nagasaki. From talking with Dad, I had the impression he landed in Japan mere days after the bombing. The best I can figure is that I was too young to understand what Dad told me about shipping out of Seattle. My confusion, along with some inaccurate dates, led me to believe he arrived in Japan days after the bombings. Apparently it was a year or more later.

Even so, I ran the information on Dad’s records, and AI verified that all of it was correct. If you use AI, be advised that it still has a ways to go—it’s more than a bit contradictory.

Another confusing date appears in the margin of Dad’s photo of a leveled Hiroshima. He wrote, “Hiroshima, Atomic Bomb, 1-22-45.” Another mystery. The bomb hadn’t even fallen then. It has to be a typo.

As for his Class A pass, it was the standard “authorized absence” document that allowed enlisted men limited free time off post when not required for duty.

The back of the card impresses me. It’s about discipline and values.

We have people in this country who would scoff at that. We have people in this country who would call my father a war criminal. We have people in this country who believe anything goes. It’s too bad we don’t have universal military service. That would educate them to the realities of life. Life ain’t Disneyland.

Dad served in the Eighth Army under Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger. Yokohama was a major U.S. Army hub under Eighth Army headquarters during the occupation from 1945 to 1952.

Dad came back from Japan with photos, documents, memorabilia, and memories of Japan and World War II. On leaving Seattle for Yokohama Dad said waves 30 feet high broke over his transport ship’s bow and that many soldiers got seasick. It took close to two weeks to make the trip to Yokohama from Seattle.

I know that Yokohama has a modern waterfront today with a greenspace. Dad would like that. Hiroshima is an ultra-modern city and Nagasaki is a vibrant port city. He’d like that too, but some 80 years ago things sure were different. He was in enemy territory.

Dad left military service at Fort Sam Houston on October 17, 1946. I have his pass, canteen, standard-issue Army knife, and photographs of Japan. Nothing remains of his uniform. He served his country for the cause of freedom. He died in 2003. Were he alive to see how things have changed here he’d shake his head and change parties. He would not give the malcontents, dividers, and haters a pass. Their privileges would be revoked.

I hope you enjoyed this guest post written by my father, Tom Poland. If you’d like to read more of his, head over to his Substack.