A DIARY OF INTERNMENT
A History of the Capture on Guam
and the Internment in Japan
of
Richard A. Arvidson
During World War II
December 1941-September 1945
Transcribed by Marilyn P. Oppenborn Steber from
Mr. Arvidson’s Original Manuscript
　
　
INTRODUCTION
The following material contains excerpts from a diary that I maintained beginning with my capture on Guam and my subsequent internment in Japan. The entries have been edited along with additional narrative as necessary to make the meaning of the contents more clear to the reader.
The circumstances that found me on Guam at the beginning of World War II are as follows: I was employed by Pan American Airways on July 1, 1941 to be a radio operator on the Island of Guam. At that time, Pan Am was operating weekly flights from the San Francisco area to Honolulu where the aircraft remained overnight and passengers remained in a hotel. The following day the aircraft flew to Midway Island to Wake Island and overnighted then again the next day to Guam overnight, to Manila overnight and finally to Macao which is near Hong Kong. The overnight stops at Midway, Wake and Guam, required that Pan Am provide hotel facilities for passengers as well as facilities for maintenance of the aircraft for fuel and other such items, because at that time these Islands were without such facilities. PanAm also provided radio facilities at each of these locations and I was employed to become an addition to the staff of radio operators on Guam. With my addition to the staff, there were a total of four operators.
The first entry in the diary is dated December 8, 1941, Guam time, and the final entry is dated September 8, 1945 covering a period of approximately three years nine months.