The Honshu Pioneer: The U.S. Occupation of Japan and the First G.I. Newspaper

by Tom Thomas

Overview

The 97th Infantry Division fought its way across Germany in early 1945, crossing the Rhine with 80% casualties, capturing Cologne and other cities, liberating a concentration camp, and earning many decorations along the way. Later that same year the 97th was sent to occupy Japan, less than three weeks after the surrender. This book tells the story of the first daily newspaper in Japan for American GI's, which was published by a small group of men from K Company, 303rd Battalion, 97th Infantry Division. In the news articles, features, editorials and even the cartoons of this paper, we hear "The Greatest Generation" of Americans speak about their sacrifices, their hopes for America, their opinions of current events, and their fears for the future of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781489523662
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Pages:	462
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

TOM THOMAS graduated from the University of Michigan in 1971, with a degree in Psychology. He retired in 2012 after a 40-plus year career in software development, engineering management and sales, mostly in the material handling industry. His retirement coincided with the death of his mother, who bequeathed him a box filled with yellowed newspapers from 1945 and 1946. These were issues of The Honshu Pioneer, a newspaper that Tom's father, Arthur DeLong Thomas, Jr., had helped to found and publish during his service in the U.S. Army. After reviewing some of these ancient documents, Tom decided that the world should hear what these men had to say, so he transcribed and edited every issue in his possession, commenting liberally along the way, and this book was the result.

Editorial Reviews

2013-11-18
A compilation of headlines and essays from a newspaper published immediately after World War II by American soldiers stationed in Japan. In his debut work, editor Thomas collects and transcribes highlights from the Honshu Pioneer, a weekly, mimeographed paper written by his father, Arthur Delong Thomas, and other GIs stationed in Japan in 1945 and 1946. Thomas includes headlines, editorials, and his father's regular column, "From a 6-Holer," which takes its title from the soldiers' term for their latrine. The columns address soldiers' everyday complaints, from cigarette shortages to the many delays they faced in getting discharged from the Army and returning to the United States, and its headlines offer hints of Cold War troubles ahead. The prose across the collection is uneven, but on the whole, Thomas' father brings a M*A*S*H-like sly humor to his cynicism about the Army, and his style often bears a resemblance to that of John Steinbeck's journalism: "Soldiers are intended for one thing--war. They don't look well wandering about town; it embarrasses people. The citizenry can't feel sorry and charitable toward GI's who aren't brandishing bayonets and eating K rations in muddy foxholes." The articles are full of terminology that today's readers may find offensive, though the many derogatory terms for the Japanese were in common use among the soldiers who produced these works. The younger Thomas, in editorial remarks on some articles, is often surprised by the vehement criticism of United States policy in postwar Asia that appeared in this semiofficial newspaper, and readers will be impressed by the soldiers' insights into the challenges of rebuilding a defeated enemy nation and the beginnings of the American-led military-industrial complex. The dominant theme, though, is the soldiers' desire to return home at war's end and their frustrations with the ongoing delays in their departures. Also included are reproductions of the paper's regular editorial cartoons. A funny, insightful and authentic view of occupied Japan.

Kirkus Reviews