Issue:
“BEING A CLUB FOUNDED by hacks who came ashore with MacArthur, it’s no surprise that there have always been epic tales from the high seas on tap at the Shimbun Alley bar. Many of us can recall firsthand accounts such as Al Cullison’s tale of his destroyer’s great rescue mission after witnessing the HMAS Canberra take a surprise hit of 28 Japanese 8 inch shells. It was in the still dark hours of Aug. 8, 1942, and heralded the tumultuous beginning of the Battle of Savo Island.
“Then there were the award winning insights of premiere war correspondent Dennis Warner, who started covering the Pacific region in the 30s and went on to report from the fronts of WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam. Dennis filed a number of stories of his close calls, the most dramatic probably being the direct kamikaze attack on his warship Formidable. Years later the experience led to a book, The Sacred Warriors: Japan’s Suicide Legions, co-written with his wife Peggy, a correspondent for the Herald.
“One of our all time favorite stories comes not from the swashbuckling heroics of a renowned journalist, but from longtime associate member Bill Salter. After working in Japan for over a decade, Bill joined the British Navy when the war broke out, and was assigned to a submarine. As the senior officer on deck one day, he was about to start questioning the captured members of a Japanese crew when he hears (‘in the middle of the f--cking Indian Ocean!’ Bill would repeat to delighted audiences for the next 50 years) ‘Saltersan! Saltersan!’
“‘And wouldn’t you know it?’ Bill would laugh, ‘It’s the damn guard from the YCAC who in prewar days once caught my friend Serge Bielous and me trying to burn evidence in the club’s boiler next to the men’s big ofuro.’
“The evidence in question was a rather formidable wood signboard that had graced the front of a police station and which Bill and Serge had been inspired to steal in a moment of alcohol induced merriment. The guard saw the suspicious black smoke go up from the club’s chimney in the early morning hours, and arrived with great urgency to catch the two club members feeding the now chopped up police kanban into the fire. ‘That cost us ¥5 to keep him quiet,’ Bill said, ‘a lot of money in those days.’
“But rather good value, the Round Table Whisperers would venture, when you consider how much chuckle mileage Bill clearly got out of it for the remainder of a very long life. As for the guard, he not only earned his payoff, but enjoyed exceptional British hospitality on the high seas for keeping his end of the deal . . . we’re pretty sure.”
— The Shimbun Alley Whisperers
