State-Side News : Feb 8-9 1946 [ USS General Sturgis ]
$650
In stock
Description
Pair of USS General Sturgis Shipboard Newspapers, State-Side News, Printed For Occupation Troops Returning From Japan In Early 1946
Unknown. State-Side News. USS General Sturgis. Feb 8-9 1946.
A pair of mimeographed shipboard newsletters printed for troops returning from newly occupied Japan aboard the USS General Sturgis traveling from Yokohama to the West Coast of the United States (the destination was changed from Seattle to San Pedro between the two issues).
As the name implies, these papers focus on providing world events and domestic news to isolated troops about the USS General Sturgis as well as updates on sports and comic strips, including one from Terry and the Pirates creator Milton Caniff. Including early coverage of the Indonesian War of Independence, these issues feature stories on the Japanese use of “balloon bombs” against the US, the Great Sunspot of 1946, a tugboat strike in New York city, and the ongoing debate over where to place the United Nations.
The writers (and presumed readers) clearly possess a great knowledge of the contemporary situation in Japan. In addition to the paper’s tagline, “Ah So Deska”, a transliteration of the Japanese phrase, “How It Is”, the February 8th issue includes an editorial on the then in progress Yokohama War Crime Trials, considering the rejection of Admiral Yamashita’s appeal and the precedent set by the prosecution of “Little Glass Eye” that the Japanese are not entitled to the protections afforded under Anglo-Saxon law for the introduction of documentary evidence.
[4]pp. Pair of staple bound mimeograph newsletters with past creasing. Pages toned. Minor soiling and wear to external pages and folds with small pinhole in back page at fold Feb 8 issue. Good and very good, respectively.
If you liked these items, you might also enjoy these shipboard newsletters from the USS General Hersey featuring a map of “Operation Magic Carpet”. You may also like this Army Counterintelligence Corps guide for occupation forces, So You’re Going To Japan
