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obtaining three daily meals of American food after being on "short rations"
for so many weeks. The apprehension that the field trip ship might arrive
and depart in their absence was the only serious question raised by these ©
present at the meeting.
This fear was quickly dispelled of course,
The ensuing period was spent by the men in collecting and bagging the
prepared copra and‘ bringing it from the outer island to the main storehouses
on Ujelang Island; making sleeping mats and refurbishing well worn clothing
for the voyage, on the part of the women, The latter task required great
ingenuity due to the paucity of clothing and textiles on the atoll. Women's’
"panties" which are not normally worn, were made especially for the impending
"cruise", (An exampble of adjustment to a changing situation, based on
previous experience.) An interesting acculturative note! = -
An attitude of expectancy and subdued excitement prevailed especially
on the weekend preceeding the anticipated arrival of the "cruise" ships
Expressions of "yokwe tema” (I really would. love to see that steamer) were
heard on every hand. This was especially pertinent in view of the fact
that all supplies of rice had long been exhausted and only a microscopic
supply of flour and sugar remained on hand. The writer was repeatedly
asked "When to you think that ship will get here?", etc, etc. The only
discordant note was the apprehension expressed by many people, especially
justified, as will be delineated later.)
(These forebodings were™
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women, that they would suffer from "mal-de-mer".
At long last the "day of days" arrived; the early morning light of
Monday, 27 October revealed the silhouette of USS LST 827 on the horizon.
. The ship was sighted by people who were on the ocean side of the island
commencing their daily activities. Their excited shouts summoned the pop}
ulace for a look at the topic of conversation of the past week,
Preparations for boarding the ship were hurriedly completed and a
sailing canoe got underway immediately in order to pilot the ship in.
Passengers included the writer and the two iroij: JOANEJ and EBREAM,
The LST lay-to about two miles off the end of Ujelang Island.
When the
party from the beach boarded the ship the writer was taken to the bridge ~
and informed by the Commanding Officer that he would not risk his ship by
entering the un-buoyed and unmerked lagoon, Arrangements were made totransport the Ujelang people to the LST via two LCM's (smallcraft carried aboard
ship.) The sailing cance returned to the island; the population was alerted
and loading operations commenced at approximately 1300 hours.
Heavy swells, were running and the trip from island to ship was very
unconfortable for the passengers, who were bounced about and drenched with
salt spray. The bow doors of the LST were opened and the small craft were
taken alongside to off-load the passengers. The heavy swells in the open
sea (at least two miles from land) caused the LCN to crash repeatedly against
the loading ramp and to move up and down rapidly with resultant gap between
COPIED/pQ
LANL Re 7
ship and beat. The transfer of passengers under these conditions was, I am
sure, a traumatic experience for the Marshallese involved as well as the |
American personnel who assisted in the operations. The writer was extremely
anxious and unhappy about the whole situation. Especially when aged women
/ and expectant mothers were transferred under these hazardous conditions.
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