Class Note 1955
We were relieved and heartened to learn that classmate Taro Shindo and his wife, Setsuko, are safe and suffered no immediate aftereffects from the tsunami and earthquake in their home city of Takarazka, Japan, 350 miles from the center of the disaster. Taro has expressed high appreciation for the assistance Japan has received as quoted below from his email:
“Forty days swiftly passed since the disaster. Japan has been given tremendous help from many countries. We realize the strong ties with the world outside Japan and are deeply moved by their cooperation. I should pass on to the American people the strong support in many aspects from the U.S. military with 16,000 soldiers, 13 naval vessels, 133 aircrafts and 8,000 tons of relief materials. The paratroops from the air and the landing operation from the sea reached Sendai Airport, which was all buried in heavy debris by the tsunami. Owing to their engagement in relief operations, after a few days the airport miraculously restored its partial carrying power. It’s incredible that now it is functioning almost as it used to be.
“For the Fukushima nuclear radius accident, the United States provided experts and equipment support, dispatching the very specialized Marine Corps chemical-biological incident response force of 150 men who are ready to act at any time. On the top of this the pilotless photo-reconnaissance Global Hawk plane continues watching the plant. Our defense minister stressed that we have been most impressed and overwhelmed by the generosity, vitality and vigor of the American people through the crisis of this time. Now we have switched our actions from emergency toward reconstruction.”
John Baldwin reported a record, drought-ending 60-inch snow accumulation at his home in Twain Harte, California. It was still snowing on Palm Sunday in Rapid City, South Dakota, when we reached John Barlow. He and Anne had an excellent vacation in Scotland this year including a stop at St. Andrews. John Levitas (Whitesboro, New York) is the winter winner with 120 inches.
Dartmouth College Fund: Please remember to support the hard work of chairman Woody Goss and his team.
—Ken Lundstrom, 1101 Exchange Place, #1106, Durham, NC 27713; (919) 206-4639; kenlundstrom @yahoo.com
