4 October 1953 - The typhoon season officially is from May to September…we have compo rations on board. One good thing about them is that it is impossible to ruin them when they’re being cooked.
18 October 1953 - (continuing the Japan planning) I should change the money into US dollars…it appears the Japs appreciate it more than Sterling or HK dollars.
25 October 1953 - I found out this weekend that one of our officers used to be a red beret, airborne, and that he was at Arnhem…also I found out that our orderly sergeant was at Dunkirk, Normandie (sic) and a POW camp. He wouldn’t talk much about Dunkirk but what he did say was that it had a damn good ferry service!
1 Vovember 1953 - Last thursday our unit took part in a massive exercise…we put in three LCAs (landing craft assault), three LCMs (landing craft mechanical) and an FL (fast launch). Actually the whole thing was a fiasco because we had no troops on board and we were supposed to do an assault landing. The umpires asked if we would be kind enough to pretend that there were troops. It was most enjoyable though and made a welcome change.
A tea break in the middle of the exercise.
22 November 1953 - The weather has continued to be cold, at least 60 degrees F. Boy, have we been frozen.