Sayonara Baby

From Dick Mauer


I was an I.I. (in spanish, yoyo)  Toronto airport on Pre Flight 
Clearance from 1971 until 1975. We had a crusty old Inspector working there who was nearing retirement. This guy had come on the job after returning stateside from a four year Marine enlistment, during which he had visited and toured various small islands in the South Pacific in the early 1940s. He had emerged from his travels unscathed, joined the Border Patrol starting in El Paso, and was now enjoying the inspectional benefits of 31 act and 45 act in Toronto. Old George had one hangup, JAPS! It just so happened that Japanese tourism of the United States was in full swing back then, and George was determined to repay them for his tourism experiences on their islands a few years before. These tour groups usually numbered around 25 and were led by a Japanese tour guide who spoke english. The tour guide always had the I-94s filled out for their customers, and, nobody, as far as we could tell, spoke english. The guide would furnish the departure date for the group and the average age of group members indicated no worry of overstays, or other potential violations of status. The inspection process was simply a matter of looking at the passport,stamping the I-94, entering the B-2 designation
and departure date.

Here's where it got interesting.George would always check the DOB of any males passport and when he found somebody who age approximated his own,he would squint his eyes and say "Where were you in '42". Of course he never got an answer, aside from a bow and a toothy smile. His final shot was to give them a departure date of December 7, no matter the date of their entry. He would then return the passport with a toothy smile and simply say "next"