I am delighted to share Gerald Altman’s World War II story, the link to it below.

Gerry, as he went by, was sent to the CBI in April 1945 with a contingent of men from the 10th Weather Squadron to set up a ground-based radar net to aid in forecasting the weather for the Hump airlift.

It was a secret mission.

In preparation for his deployment, Gerry studied meteorology at the University of Chicago, then under a security blackout, the just-emerging technology of radar at Harvard and MIT. Only 50 commissioned AAF meteorologists during the war completed this specialized training.

Gerry was stationed at Tezgaon Airbase in Dhaka, India. His work proved vital to Hump pilots navigating the locale’s violent thunderstorms that could materialize with little notice and fell aircraft.

And in summer of 1945, the Hump airlift delivered record matériel tonnage to China, facilitated in large part by accurate weather forecasts that helped reduce flight accidents.

My father’s story, I hope you’ll find, is an interesting one, and I’ve tried to give it a compelling voice.