Men of ICD

Fighters are graceful and glamorous things
With lady-like lines and close-cropped wings;
Bombers are great with their bullets and guns,
Precision tested for death-dealing runs,
But the transport plane with its dirt and its grease
Gives wings to the cargo that must not cease.

While the hot boys gather public acclaim,
And the papers are full of spectacular game,
The Dumbos and tankers fly into the sun
To do a job that's only begun.
They conquered the Hump through guts and through grit,
They washed it away with their sweat and their spit.

It wasn't rash talk that made the grade,
It was guys who came . . . and guys who stayed.
It wasn't the boasts of idle men,
Nor flights being made just now and then;
But the will to carry the stuff across
Despite the price, and despite the loss.

Men of the India China Division
Have made this their first and final decision.
"We'll get the stuff there, and we'll get it there fast,
Till the Japanese Empire's a thing of the past."


1st Lt. Rus Walton       
1300 BU (Calcutta)       

Hump Express
June 14, 1945