14

Upon arriving in Halifax, I boarded the passenger liner the "Aquatania." It had been fitted out as a troop ship with bunks and hammocks for sleeping. We were the advance party. I was assigned to help serve food in the galley (which had lots of cockroaches). Some English chaps who had been training in Canada did not like the way we served the food so they took over our duties. We didn't mind a bit. The journey took about five days and the seas were a little rough. The ship was quite fast and was able to travel without an escort; however, a day or so before docking there was a submarine scare and we did a lot of zigzagging. We arrived safely at Gorrik, Scotland and admired the lovely green hills.
After disembarking, we boarded a train for the long journey to Bournemouth on the south coast of England. This was basically a holding area where we were issued lightweight tropical clothes and rain ponchos.
A few weeks later, we went to a place near Liverpool to wait for the next part of our journey. As DC3 aircraft became available, we started to move out. I left on Friday, October 13 on aircraft # 613. The first stop was Gibraltar. The next day we flew to Tripoli to overnight, then on across North Africa to Cairo. The next morning we went to Basra, Iraq and finally on to Karachi, India. It was a transit station as most personnel arriving by air went there to become acclimatized to the change in temperature, water, and food. Most people, myself included, had diarrhea ("squitters" we called it), which was treated with caster oil and then "cement."

15

Mauripur Transit Camp
1944
Karachi, India

16

From Karachi, we flew to Northern India to an area that was called Lahore. The airstrip was called Chaklala, and was near the town of Gujrat, where we stayed. As the various members of the squadron arrived (air crew, administration, and service personnel), flying got underway. Air crew soon learned to fly under hot weather conditions and to drop supplies accurately.

17

DC 3's on runway
1944
Chaklal, India

18

Practicing Parachute Drops
1944
Chaklala, India

19

Transport planes, like our DC3s, did not carry bombs other than what they transported to the front line airstrip for the fighter planes to use. However, they did have bomb-like racks on the bottom of the planes that carried large canisters containing paratroops supplies, medical supplies, etc. When the canisters were released, a parachute deployed and lowered them safely to the ground. Loading these canisters on the planes was done in part by the armament section.
Transport squadrons were not fighting units; however, all air crew carried revolvers and all ground personnel were issued rifles. Each aircraft carried a Very pistol and a series of coloured signal cartridges. They were used to identify friend or foe at the drop zone (DZ) in case radio contact could not be made.
Finally, orders came to move to Imphal; a large inland supply base. It was very hilly country and was a challenge for the air crew after training over flat land at Gujrat. At Imphal, the flying was for real. Supplies of all kinds had to be flown to the 14th Army fighting the Japanese in Burma. It was difficult flying in the hills and finding the drop zones was not always easy. Sometimes, unknown to the air crew, an allied drop zone was retaken overnight by the Japanese.

20

Setting up camp
January, 1945
Imphal, India

21

Water Supply
February, 1945
Imphal, India

22

As the army pushed the Japanese further back, the distance to fly supplies became greater resulting in fewer flights per day. To compensate, we moved our squadron down the coast of Burma to a place called Akyab. This was a sea port and supplies were brought by ship.

23

The Harbour
April, 1945
Akyab, Burma

24

Washing Dishes
April, 1945
Akyab, Burma

25

Washing Dishes
June, 1945
Ramree, Burma

26

During our frequent moves, mail from home was rather slow. Sometimes, several parcels and letters would come at once. It was so nice to have canned food, Christmas cake etc. and the letters with news from home. I wrote home regularly, and numbered the letters so my family would know if any were missing. We received more cigarettes than we needed, so with those cigarettes, plus what we got at the canteen, we sometimes put them in containers with the supplies for the troops in the jungle.

27

Mess Hall
April, 1945
Akyab, Burma