NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1 JANUARY 1962, THE GINZA

One of my best friends in the squadron and I decided to celebrate the end of 1961 by spending it in the night clubs of the Ginza. I had arrived in Japan in August and had not yet met the young woman who would accompany me on future New Years eves while in Japan. To make this caption brief, we had a good time, spent a lot of Yen at some of the high-class clubs and didn't get a wink of sleep all night. We returned to NAS Atsugi later in the day, exhausted and ready to begin another year of our Navy career. My friend went on to flight training in Pensacola and became a naval aviator. I continued in my tour with VQ-1 until I was transferred back to the USA in 1964.