I own nothing from Hearts of Iron nor the Kaiserriech Mod.

Private Petros Sahakian

Journal Entry 3

May 30, 1932

Last night was crazy. Our ship came across some wreckage and floating on it was a middle aged man. He was brought onboard sick to the bone and starving. The fellow only spoke Japanese and didn't understand any English. The captain asked for a translator and believe it or not I volunteered. Back home growing up I used to work for Mr. Katō at his little grocery store and learned a good bit of the language from him and his wife over the years.

They're good people, hard working and dignified despite the troubles they get from folks who look down on them.

Anyway I helped question the fisherman who called himself Ueno Eiji and he proceeded to explain his story. Apparently the fellow had been part of the crew of some fishing trawler, from Formosa. They had been out at sea for several weeks when they got caught up in a terrible storm and it sank the ship.

Eiji survived and found some wreckage to stay on, losing track of how many days and nights he spent alone with no food or drinking water. It's a miracle that he lived through that at all.

When done the poor fellow broke down weeping, muttering about his shipmates that the sea now claimed. We left him alone to get some rest. The skipper has telegraphed the Japanese authorities, letting them know about the situation. After some discussion it was decided that Eiji will stay with us until his countrymen can pick him up.

We will rendezvous with the Imperial destroyer Tanikaze out at sea after we depart from Guam. The Huns and them hate each other's guts so we can't have the latter come even close to the Mariana Islands without provoking the German naval garrison on Saipan. In the meantime I'm assigned as Eiji's translator. He is not responding much to anyone. Then again who would after that hellish experience?

On a different note we had a boxing match amongst our company. It was Hector of our squad versus Frank from D squad. It was quite the bout lasting three rounds. Hector nearly had him but the other guy took him by surprise with a right hook to the jaw. He actually fell out of the ropes and crashed on top of us.

That something certainly to remember.

I can't help but think about our destination, Shanghai. Since we sailed I have been listening for more information about the place. Each new story is more crazy than the last. Most of the old hands who been there just shake their heads at us or just laugh as we try to figure it out. By their reaction it makes me wonder what really awaits us at the Pearl of the Orient.