SECOND ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Vol. III No. 1 BENGAL AIR DEPOT CALCUTTA, INDIA December 15th, 1945
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SPECIAL SERVICE OPEN HOBBY SHOP A Hobby Shop, under the auspices of Depot Special Service, opened its doors to Depot personnel on Tuesday, December 11. Sgt. Pierino Merlo of the 83rd Hq. Sq. is in charge of the shop's activities and will act as supervisor. The shop has ten work benches each equipped with a vice. The tool room is well stacked with hand tools of every description, ranging from small screw drivers to large, heavy duty power drills. The projects and the material used by each man will be up to his own selection. The material will be furnished by Special Service to the shop and will include plastics, stainless steel, wood, shell casings, leather, metals for metal craft, model airplane kits and linoleum for block printing. The shop is open from 10 am to 10 pm. The building that houses the shop is the large warehouse just west of the Headquarters building next to the Houston Street gate. If you come to work on your favorite hobby or if you already have a project started come on up to the Hobby Shop and make use of its facilities. For further information or suggestions you might have concerning a new hobby not mentioned here, get in touch with the Special Service Office at Tiger extension 72. Temporary Neighbor Of Depot All of Bengal seems to be beating a path to Sodepore, a hamlet only a few miles from the Depot where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, internationally known Indian leader is at present stopping. Late every afternoon the Barrackpore Road is lined with Indians heading for Sodepore intent on seeing and hearing the "Mahatma." Mr. Gandhi is now 76 years old having been born Oct. 2nd, 1869. He comes from a trading caste family, his father and grandfather both having been prime ministers of Indian states. The "Mahatma" (Great Soul) is well known in the states for his championship of the "untouchables" of India, for his non-violence civil disobedience campaigns and for his numerous fasts. His last hunger strike was undertaken at the age of 74 years during February-March, 1943 while under detention with other Indian leaders for threatening a civil disobedience movement. |
AT ARC FIELD DIRECTOR'S OFFICE The feminine gender will undoubtedly have a say in the decisions rendered by the ARC Field Director's Office from now on and GIs with problems will have a new feminine shoulder to cry on when they appeal to the Crimson Croix for succor. Charlotte E. Warner of Memphis, Tenn., and former Red Cross memsahib at the Field Director's Office in Calcutta, Kanchrapara and Karachi has been assigned as Assistant Field Director for Bengal Air Depot and surrounding territory. Roy C. Hutchinson, long suffering Depot Field Director, again has someone to share the burden and toil that accompanies the guardianship of Red Cross loan funds. Charlotte was Assistant Field Director at Camp Shelby, Miss., for one year prior to coming overseas. Before and during the early part of the war she was engaged in flood relief work, served at the Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis and was assigned to a Clubmobile that met convoys during maneuvers, way back in 1941. After that flurry of activity, Charlotte drove for the Army in the Motor Corps and Transport Command. Anyone who might doubt that many men have left Bengal Air Depot (BAD) has but to look at the records of the Statistical Department to bolster his waning faith. Between the dates of VE day and VJ day a total of 156 enlisted men went forth. From VJ day to the 10th of Dec., 1817 EM took their last look at Calcutta. Those figures add to a total of 1973 EM shipped out in a period of 224 days. An average of a little over 8.8 men per day. At that rate it won't take long to make Bengal Air Depot as GI less as a Salvation Army reading room on a Saturday night.
Our departed editor wrote his wife recently to try and put a little more color in her letters. That the same old thing about "who shot John" retold in countless previous missives had begun to pall on him. The dutiful spouse, ever anxious to please her wandering warrior, answered Leonard's plea with a letter written in five different colors. Each line was a different hue. The first red, the second purple, and so on through green, brown and black. The soldat liked the letter so much he has requested that his mate enscribe all her letters in a like manner in the future. Up to the time he left, Johnnie had not received a reply to his 'colorful' request. |
TRADITIONAL BASEBALL AFTERNOON WITH FREE POP, HOT DOGS SCORES HUGE SUCCESS
The biggest thing to hit Bengal Air Depot sporting activities took place Wednesday afternoon, December 5, when the Barrackpore Flyers met the Bengal All-Stars in a challenge game at Bengal's Tiger Stadium.
Memories of pre-war Sunday afternoons spent at the local baseball emporium floated through the atmosphere. The early part of the warm-up period inspired inveterate fans to comment on the style of each performing player. "He burns 'em down the groove just like Joe Maloney back in Pa," "I think that guy used to sub for St. Louis" or "Little Rock never matched a catcher as good as that guy."
Each and every one of the fans was sitting in the stadium in his own home town. The ball-handlers on the lime-lied diamond assume the form and face of home town favorites. Even the hard benches seemed to soften a little and a guy could almost feel the yielding comfort of the canvas chair he used to cart to the games.
The grandstand was filled to overflowing. GI and brass, all sitting on the same seats, enjoying the same glow of male contentment that is part and parcel of the American brand of baseball. Who gives a darn if that nudging elbow, pointing out a particularly nice play, belongs to a Pfc or a Colonel. Heck... this is a baseball game.
Special Service in cooperation with Rajah's Rest added the crowning touch. Hot dogs with mustard and pickle relish and ice cold pop! Both free and there for the asking. Nothing could be demanded that wasn't right there in front of each and every man.
Lt. "Bud" Widom, Depot Special Service Officer officiated as entrepreneur and kept the PA system busy with announcements of the umpires decisions and comments on the batters as they walked to the plate.
The game progressed into the scene that every home town fan hopes to see. His team beating the pants off the visiting firemen. The Barrackpore Flyers played a good game. They hit, ran, pitched, caught and performed credibly but somehow, they never reached home plate with a scoring run.
Connoisseurs of baseball could say why defenders of the vanquished had elaborate reasoning to back up the fact that their team was just as good but didn't get the breaks. But... who cares. Somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. No matter which way the game went, everyone was happy that there was a game and that for a little while a few square yards of India became the sand lot diamond of each man's baseball days. The best damned game on earth, the Sport of Presidents and Americans.
Xmas Entertainers
Eleanor also announced the need for entertainers, instrumentalists, singers, dancers and fellows with acting experience.
Dry Cleaning Services At QM Laundry
Dry cleaning services have become available at the QM Laundry to Depot personnel.
Garments that the owner wishes dry cleaned may be taken up to the QM Laundry, located about 500 yds. east of the jetty compound, and cleaning service will be rendered for the following exchange of rupees:
One rupee will be charged for each garment that is dry cleaned with the exception of overseas caps. They will receive the service for the nominal sum of eight annas.
Clothing must be taken directly to the QM Laundry and will not be accepted at Squadron supply rooms with regular laundry collections.
To: The Staff of the Tiger Rag This issue lights two well-deserved candles to mark the second birthday of the Tiger Rag. As a Depot newspaper it has faithfully and grandly fulfilled all functions for which it was intended and I wish on this occasion to express my appreciation and congratulations to the Staff and all contributors for a truly fine paper. Rather than wish you a third anniversary, however, I shall wish that the day will soon arrive when we all look back on the job we did here and its speedy consummation with a rich feeling of work well done. The Tiger Rag has always been an excellent morale agency and has forever steered towards its true objective to inform, entertain and cement the espirit de corps of the troops of this command. GLENN C. THOMPSON Colonel, Air Corps., Commanding |
ARMY AIR FORCES INDIA-BURMA THEATER Office of the Commanding General On the occasion of the 2nd Anniversary of the Tiger Rag I send my hearty congratulations to you who have presented the news, the humor, and the little items of daily interest to the personnel of the Bengal Air Depot and Headquarters, Army Air Forces, India-Burma Theater. The entertainment value and the help to the morale of all personnel of a post publication has long been recognized. Your publication, by maintaining very high standards, has been an aid to this Headquarters in its educational and entertainment program and has helped to cement that feeling of comradeship which all of us who have served in China, Burma and India will remember with pleasure when we go home. /s/ T. J. HANLEY, Jr. Major General, U.S.A., Commanding |
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PX Reopens Watch Repairs A watch repair shop has been opened at the main PX according to Bengal Depot Post Exchange Officer, Capt. Charles Hemenway. The shop has one repairman who formerly worked for the Ordnance watch repair at Kinnison for seven months. The unavailability of parts except for Swiss watches will make it impossible to do elaborate repair work on models other than those with Swiss movements. However, other types of watches with mechanical trouble of undetermined origin will be accepted and repaired, if the difficulty lies in adjustment and does not necessitate parts replacement. Watches should be turned in at the Photo Shop next door to the PX office. |
THANKS A MILLION !!!
Gentlemen, if you'll raise your eyes up to the masthead above you'll notice that this issue reads Volume III No. 1 - which when dusted off and clarified a little, means that this week your Tiger Rag scratched another furrow on the fly-specked calendar and observed its Second Anniversary. Or perhaps we should use the term "survived." For there were moments along the line when we couldn't see over the desk-top and thought surely this publication was stymied, ready to sag at the knees, and would collapse without even the fanfare of a dying wheeze.
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But events, that materialized miraculously at the last second, proved our pessimism was in error.
These events that happened, rather than manna from heaven or warm April showers of fate, were brought about by you yourself, the personnel of the Depot. So instead of boring you to distraction and thumping our coffin-like chest about how zealously we, the staff, worked - which is a lie anyway because if you enjoy your job the word work is a metonym - we wish at this time to extend heartfelt thanks to all who helped provide the braces that held up the Tiger Rag's pants when the going was rough and the diet of news exceptional skinny.
First we want to salute our boss, Lt. Col. Dixson, the Public Relations Officer, who in the majority of the issues gave us free reign and allowed us the privilege of sticking our own necks out on what to say. At times the necks came back slightly twisted and bent when our quotes ruffled some individual's feathers the wrong way, yet we appreciate the independence allowed us in our actions.
Then in rapid succession, a salute to Col. Thompson, Depot Commander, Lt. Col. Petersen, Executive Officer and Captain Crim, former Adjutant, all of whom pulled the many necessary strings that kept the Tiger Rag afloat and acted as silent partners to bolster the Rag's esteem.
A particular bouquet is given to all our unit contributors! Their columns, which featured homey personalized writing, brought many happenings and names into observation which might otherwise have remained figuratively hidden from sight under the bushel basket. Since their contributions represented effort outside normal duty hours their interest and aid holds a special niche in our tower of admiration.
We thank the Depot Motor Pool for saving us innumerable of shoe leather in the pursuit of our destiny in tracking down clues and material for publication, and for always furnishing transportation in taking our written sproutings downtown to the printers. The dispatchers, in some instances, were magicians and grew a necessary vehicle on an empty parking lot when occasion demanded.
To the Chaplains, to the Royal Asiatic Society, to Mr. Woolley the Security aide, to the Gurkha Jermidars, to Captain Hemenway the PX Officer, To Headquarters personnel and all Departmental personnel, to Debi Shaw our Indian translator, to the Red Cross
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We shan't lisp and lower our eyes and say that we hope the Tiger Rag celebrates a Third Anniversary. Not in this world. But we can truthfully take a deep breath and mumble that the present staff, as well as those who preceded our inky footsteps, thoroughly enjoyed getting out your Depot newspaper and sincerely hope that you've enjoyed the finished product.
Even the tiger, growling atop our front page is snarling in his own imitable fashion his booming thanks for the support everyone has proffered from all sides. - The "Tiger Rag" Staff
LEST WE FORGET
We cannot help feeling that but for the foresight and hard work of our predecessors, we would not be here now making bows for the success of the Tiger Rag.
Most of all do we owe our thanks to Mr. (then Cpl.) William A. Frank under whose wise guidance of close to a year the paper earned the prestige it now carries in the Theater.
Then there followed Pfc. Art Goldberg, also a civilian now, whose hard work during his three month's reign caused the Tiger Rag to reach its present peak of efficiency.
Next for a spell of two weeks came Sgt. Bob McCarthy who had the Windy City in his veins and started a short blitzkrieg of his own.
Last in the succession was our co-editor, Cpl. Johnnie Leonard, now sweating it out at a shipping point, whose innovations provided so much added interest in your Tiger Rag/
Nor can we forget artist Cpl. Layton H. Wicksten or photographer Sgt. Les Gurwitz who helped us make the Tiger Rag a credit to the Depot. They are the men who really deserve those overwhelming pats.
THERE WAS NO JOY IN CHABUA
Here's a story out of Dum-Dum by way of the Herald Tribune of New York City about Lt. Joseph Del Masso of the ATC who does his flying here in India and claims to have recently flown one of the most precious bomb loads in history.
The load was nothing to do with atomic energy - it was just two cans of good American beer. But what happened to that beer is something that Lt. Del Masso would like to forget.
It all started when Lieutenant Del Masso and his crew were flying a Liberator bomber to their base at Chabua, India. The plane had taken a pounding. Del Masso decided, against his will, that he'd have to stop for repairs en route. He landed at Dum-Dum airfield near Calcutta, and the boys resigned themselves to boredom.
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Then they discovered the PX. Only a sagging hut - but it was bulging with treasure. Real American beer, in cans!
The boys dived into their pockets and pooled enough money to buy 100-odd cans of the stuff. What they couldn't drink at the moment, they packed into the empty bomb bay of the Liberator.
"Migosh!" said Del Masso. "Those dusty-tongued guys at Chabua will think we're angels from heaven."
The moment the Liberator was patched up, the boys set off. When they approached the home base, Del Masso radioed the tower that he had a bomb bay full of the real article aboard. The word must have spread, for they could see the whole personnel of the base gathered in a knot to greet them.
Then the awful thing happened. As Del Masso wheeled his plane back over the jungle and came down for a final approach, there was a groan from the crew behind him. He jerked his head back - and saw empty air where the beer had been. Someone had tripped on the lever that opened the bomb-bay doors and dumped every last can into the jungle!
For hours rage and dejection ruled the airstrip.
"But," says Del Masso, "I hatched a plan. It was obvious that we shouldn't go into those jungles to hunt the cans. Too dangerous. So I called one of the native big shots. 'We drop practice bombs long-long over there,' I told him. 'Those bombs bad. Explode. Go Boom. I give ten rupees if you bring bombs here. You fix?' The native chief said, 'Me fix. Me fix good.'"
Next day, sure enough, the chief arrived at the airstrip with 10 of his men each carrying an armful of beer cans.
The native chief proudly held out his palm to Del Masso. The Lieutenant had the 10 rupees ready, All right. "You fix very good."
"Sure," said the Indian. "No more go boom. Me fix. Me fix good."
Then, as the Indians marched past and set down the cans, the assembled GI's stared in horror.
Every last can had been opened and the "explosive" drained out.
The all seeing eye caught these two lucky white-ringed Beer Muggers for those cases of free suds each. Come ye to the
Tiger Rag office, men, for those cool bottles of warm beer.
The Refreshment Bar was the site this time for the poses of this weekly feature run in conjunction with Special Service
and the PX.
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Pvt. GI's Pappas back from three years of war, lost no time in getting to the objective of his dreams, a 10-year-old car he left behind. Before taking the car off the blocks, he put on the new tires he had stored away, installed a new battery, attached 1945 license plates, dusted it off, honked the horn and stepped on the starter. Firemen, looking over the ashes a short time later, blamed accumulated gas fumes for the fire which destroyed the machine.
Rajah's Rest Introduces New Tigress
Rajah's Rest has a new member on its staff. The lady's name is Eleanor Berry Ward and she hails from New York City.
Miss Ward was engaged in Red Cross Home Service work before the war and after hostilities began contributed her services at the Servicemen's Pier in Miami Beach, Fla.
Her training for Red Cross Club work was conducted at the Servicemen's Club in Washington, D.C. Upon arrival overseas Eleanor was assigned to the Burra Club from May to September of this year as assistant program director. In September she was assigned to the club at Bangalore and recently returned to Calcutta when the Bangalore club, "The Last Resort" closed.
Eleanor will take over the job of Rajah's Rest program director recently vacated by Laura "Pete" Peterson. Pete has set sail for Uncle Sugar and her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
T/Sgt. Janet Guyre, stationed at Halloran Hospital, N.Y., is going to enter this strange dog in the Popular Science
Magazine Handicraft contest for GIs. She made it herself but that ain't how she got her rating.
For those who want to know more about the contest (not the rating), see Lt. Bud Widom at SSO.
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Among the most frequently discussed problems of the present hour, as men press with urgency their quest for peace, is the
problem of the atomic bomb. Scientific research has finally succeeded in breaking matter down to its smallest component, and in the
process has helped bring about the release of a powerful force of energy which has already, in its initial stages, proved its
destructive might in the toll it has taken.
There will be continued research, the mind and resources of man will be explored to the full to perfect the process of disintegration, and to make even more powerful the might of the severed atom. Nation will vie with nation, man with his fellow man, in a desperate effort to achieve speed and quantity and devastating quality in the production of the atomic bomb.
The world has barely emerged from the terror of a great war. It has but recently seen an armistice to such terrible strife that it cost in human life, in the good and precious things of this earth are inestimable. And yet it seems to persist in the way of evil and darkness, at the very hour when it might concentrate its works toward goodness and light.
Instead of devoting study and research, energy and material to the effort to break matter down to its minutest atom, should it not occur to us that now is the time to strive to build up the atoms of the world into a greater whole, to strive to create out of the fragments of our existence a nobler unity and a more exalted structure.
Yes, the breaking down of the atom has created power - but power for death and desolation. And in its wake it has brought distrust and suspicion - has turned man against man and nation against nation. We are emerging from this dread war with the conviction that there must and will be another and yet another - and our very thoughts and words and deeds are paving the way for a holocaust in which our children will be engulfed and swallowed up.
But the building up - the drawing together of the world's components, atoms, men, nations, into a finer entity, all-inclusive, and all-embracing, will be even more productive of power. But it will be the power of love and cooperation, the incomparable might of the children of God living together in peace and laboring together for a more glorious existence in all the corners of the earth. Let each of us convince himself, through faith in the Word and the Law, that war must not be, that man need not destroy himself, and we shall all become partners in the greatest scientific invention of the human story - the creation of universal brotherhood and lasting peace. - Chaplain Abraham Simon
USA Not Going To The Dogs? Oh, Rats! This, at least, is the inference to be drawn from the current dispute between New York City and San Francisco, self-asserted rat centers of the nation. New York, on the one hand, reports its king size rodents are so big and mean they've been frightening the life out of cats employed to exterminate them. San Franciscans reply the New York claims are pink elephant exaggerations and even if they were true, the east coast rats are only featherweight copies of the scampering scourges that roam the Golden Gate city. Oddly enough, the respective Chambers of Commerce haven't thrown one word into the controversy. This may make the rat-race the first civic contest in history in which not a single superlative was fired by a C of C heavy weapons squad. The debate, however, is not without a stake. Benjamin Bufano, a sculptor (and a San Franciscan), has offered to award his big black granite rat, one of his own chiselings, to the city that comes up with the biggest resident rat. The rat's nest as stirred up when a report by the U.S. public Health service called attention to the rodents infesting New York. It said the rats had invaded Gotham from transports during the war. Verification came immediately from waterfront warehouses, where it was reported the rats forced one produce merchant to move out of the second floor of his building - without even an eviction notice from the OPA. Another dealer said his firm had lost three cats, killed by the rampant rats, in one month. Then John O'Neil, a dock watchman, came up with a story he had seen a six-pound rat "just a few hairs smaller than my terrier," only a few hours before being interviewed by the United Press. This was too much for loyal 'Frisco rat-reporters. Arturo Gutianno, who said his 20 years of driving a garbage truck qualified him as an expert, called O'Neil a "bragging Irishman." "He hasn't got the rat to prove it, has he?" asked Gutianno, referring to the dock watcher's six-pound claim. "Sure, there've been times when I've seen 'em that big too," he declared, "but not when I was on the wagon." Gutianno then pointed to a San Francisco exterminator, who keeps a "file" of rats for experimental purposes. His largest model, name of Mike, weighs 26 ounces, and is the biggest entry either city has offered on the hoof to date. But O'Neil is not a man to accept derision without comeback. He has promised to catch Stinky Joe, his six-pound prize - who scorns policemen and inventors of better mouse-traps - and mail him to San Francisco so the scoffers can see what a real rat looks like. "I've seen San Francisco rats," said O'Neil, "and I've seen ours. I'm goin' to catch Stinky - maybe in a bear trap - and send him out there. They'd better duck. Stinky and his mob probably would chew up that granite rat. They don't like outsiders, especially from California." |
VICKSBURG, MISS - Ordinary means of communication are not for Al Blauvelt, retired railroader. When business takes him away from home he carries a pair of homing pigeons with him. To communicate with his wife he merely sends a message by Lee and his mate, Leah.
PORTLAND, ORE - The angry customer at the Portland Oregonian's classified advertising counter had looked all over the want-ad section for his ad, and was certain it wasn't there. "If you can spot those two lines," he said to the clerk scanning the column, "tear 'em out and I'll eat 'em right here." The clerk did and he did.
BROOKLINE, MASS - Buster, who may have been the richest cat in the world, died here at the age of nine, his death attributed to old age. Last year his master, Woodbury Rand, died and left his entire estate valued at about $40,000, to Buster, with a provision that his housekeeper, Mrs. Margaret Thompson, be privileged to spend $5,000 a year keeping house for the cat. Buster left no will.
LOS ANGELES - Nick Redka should be in line for the neatest-trick-of-the-week award, if there is one. He announced he had driven his car to San Francisco and back, his worn-out tire casings filled not with air but with cement. He had no trouble, he said, except for one tire in which the cement wore through the casing and leveled off, giving a slight bumpy effect. However, not just anybody can do it, he insisted, because there's a secret to the technique and he's not giving it out.
PROVIDENCE, R I - Mrs. Ella Newsome of Providence hit a would-be pocketbook snatcher on the head with a book and forced him to flee. The book was titled "The Lady Means Business."
MILLER, NEB - Larry Taylor plunged seven stories from a Florida hotel room two years ago and suffered only minor bruises. He wasn't so fortunate in his latest plunge. The three-year-old toppled from is high chair and fractured his shoulder.
REXBURG, IDA - Dr. William L. Sutherland isn't talking much about his hunting trip. The doctor returned with an elk. His wife returned with an elk, a two-point buck deer and a 330-pound black bear.
DALLAS, TEX - A Dallas woman motorist told the judge she was thinking about her baby and didn't know she was speeding in her automobile. "How old is the baby?" asked the court. "Oh, I expect it tonight," was the reply.
KNOXVILLE, TENN - Tennessee's only woman sheriff, Mrs. Ella Mae Antrician, was elected sheriff in 1944 after her husband had served in the office for the limit of three terms - six years. Her husband, A. N. Antrician, as chief deputy, goes right ahead with the duties of sheriff. "I just do the cooking for the prisoners," Mrs. Antrician said.
GERING, NEB - An Angel married a Honey here recently. Country judge Ted R. Feidler performed the ceremony for CPO Carl Wilbur Honey, U.S. Navy, and Velda Lillian Angel. Both are from Fort Collins, Col.
CHEYENNE, WYO - Mrs. Carlos Silver, Cheyenne resident of Spanish descent, claims to be one of the few persons in the country with a diamond set into a tooth. The stone is better than one-fourth karat and is set into the left cuspid.
INDIANAPOLIS - Chet Harrison of Indianapolis investigated when the wrens vacated the birdhouse he built above his grape arbor. He found a fat toad had dispossessed them. Harrison could explain the toad's presence eight feet above the ground only by the conclusion that a bird must have carried it up there when it was small. It had grown twice as large as the opening of the birdhouse and was imprisoned inside.
DUQUESNE, PA - The judge didn't deliberate long before granting a divorce to Mrs. Christina Posa. She testified that she is 5 feet 1 inch tall; her husband, 6 feet 3½ inches. When they walked down the street, she said, people called Posa a "cradle-snatcher."
LUSK, WYO - Employees at Casey's drugstore here report that DDT also will work on bees. The store door was standing open one sunny afternoon when in buzzed a swarm of homeless bees. They settled in a display window. Clerks got out the DDT and the bees left in a hurry.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA - The war may be over, but the lingo lingers in the minds of Birmingham schoolchildren. Inquiring whether a child was ready to begin an examination, one teacher received a hearty "Roger!" as a reply. Asked in a written examination for the definition of a satyr, another pupil wrote - and correctly, too - "A god (j.g.)" Still another pupil used Gen. George S. Patton as a modern counterpart of Beowul, who fought and bragged and still won his battles.
PORTLAND, ORE - When his automobile ran out of gas, Wallace Morgan hailed what he thought was a taxi. It turned out to be a police car, but officers put the trip on the cuff. They got Mrs. Morgan to the maternity hospital in time.
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The United States Navy's ability to carry out consistent code-cracking and thus gain precise knowledge of Japanese sea dispositions and plans is disclosed as being a major factor in its successes against Jap Naval efforts in the Pacific. American Naval Intelligence officers cracked the Japanese naval cipher code just before the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The decoding operations were conducted at four main points. Chief of these were the Navy intelligence set-up at Pearl Harbor and General MacArthur's staff at Hollandia, while the British collaborated with check points and information-gathering posts at Colombo, Ceylon and Melbourne. These operations, apparently were suspected by the Japs because latterly they adopted the practice of sending
Gandhi leaving Sodepore for one of his series of talks with Governor Casey. |
The code crackers gave the Allies the key to victory at the turning point of the Pacific war at Midway, where the Navy had precise information about the constitution of the Japanese task force making the assault, its rendezvous and its likely course. As a result of this information, Admiral King was able to assemble all his available carriers, the Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown, with a covering force of eight heavy cruisers, to strike the Japs with the heaviest reverse their navy had suffered in 350 years. By this means the Navy also had warning of Japanese approach to the second battle of the Philippine Sea in which they came closest to inflicting a military disaster on our forces.
The terrific punishment inflicted on the enemy by our submarines was also traceable to the code penetration. Japan's supply routes and even the sailing times of some convoys became known to us. The ability to have our forces at the right place at the right time and in sufficient strength to beat the Japs was furnished largely by the code-crackers. - (ANS)
Previous to V-J Day, Bengal Air Depot was one of the largest Army Air Force Depots outside the continental limits of the United States.
Its mission was to assemble all Air Force supplies, and that of the arms and services shipped into the China, India and Burma Theaters from the various sources. This included this Theater, other overseas stations and the United States. Timed to meet obligations, commitments, and issues of supplies! To support and meet the tactical requirements of our fighting forces and those of our Allies to defeat the common enemy!
The inception of the Depot was conceived on 9 January 1943. At that time the Indian Jute Mills Association relinquished 80,000 sq ft of their property for storage of American supplies and 15,000 sq ft for aircraft engine overhaul. The spectacular growth in the ensuing 30 months to V-J Day reached its maximum with two and one quarter million (2,250,000) sq ft of indoor storage space, and five million (5,000,000) sq ft of outdoor storage, or an area covering 480 acres. The ever increasing demands on the Depot evolved the expansion of the military compliment from fourteen (14) officers and fifty-one (51) enlisted men in April 1943 to two hundred and ninety-six (296) officers and four thousand seven hundred and eighty-five (4,785) enlisted men in August 1945.
The technical skill and ability of our military personnel was augmented from the beginning by Indian civilians. As early as July '43, five hundred and twenty-four (524) civilians were trained, with patience and diligence, supervised and administered with outstanding success. In direct proportion to the growth of the Depot, civilian employees on V-J Day totaled twenty thousand (20,000).
From a skeleton organization of one military unit in April 1943, the Depot grew to thirty (30) organizations and forty (40) activities and Departments. The officers and enlisted men of these units and departments were responsible severally and independently for the shipment of supplies in 1944 equal to 103,065 short tons, 139,898 short tons in the first eleven months of 1945 was additionally shipped. This totaled 242,963 short tons. It should be stated that the record does not include tonnage shipped during the year 1943 as accurate statistical records are not available.
The number of short tons of equipment and supplies as of August 1945 to be disposed of in the closing operation of the Depot consisted of an estimated 89,165 short tons. The present estimated figure is 42,000 short tons. From the initial production figures of five (5) overhauled aircraft engines for the month of May 1943 to five hundred and fifty-five (555) aircraft engines overhauled during the month of August 1945, illustrates the increased output of the technical record during the development of the Depot.
Port congestion, transportation, personnel, and facilities for adequate warehousing reached gigantic proportions to be surmounted. To expedite, pursue, and dispatch supplies when and where demanded by tactical organizations in India, Burma and China Theaters, obstacles were surmounted regardless of overtaxed warehouses and facilities and insufficient personnel, and in spite of humid tropical weather.
Following V-J Day the mission of the Depot has been to return military personnel to the United States, and dispose Government property and installations as set forth by directives from higher headquarters. Towards this end, fifty percent of the military strength of the Depot since V-J Day have been returned to the United States. Fifty percent of stored property has been consumed, returned to the United States, or returned to Service of Supply for further disposition. Civilian employees at the Depot have been reduced forty percent.
While it may not seem evident from the surface that the closing out operation at this Depot is effective, the record speaks for itself - that we are jointly accomplishing our post war mission in the same outstanding manner that marked our war effort previous to V-J Day.
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THE SUPPLY DIVISION,
WAR OBJECTIVE ACCOMPLISHED
At the beginning of 1945, the consolidation of all Arms and Services at Bengal Air Depot under a Chief of Supply was accomplished. The consolidation led to a more efficient and better organized supply system at the Depot due to the coordination and liaison of the various supply activities through one Chief. The first Chief of Supply was Colonel Glenn C. Thompson, now the Depot Commander. He was followed by Lt. Col. Paul C. Uhlenhop. At present, Major Clyde A. Demmitt is in command.
The Chief, Supply Division, is responsible for all supplies and equipment at Bengal Air Depot; coordinates all supply plans and policies with all arms and services to insure complete harmony in the supply program, and handles all S-4 activities. All land procurement and release is directly under the control of the Supply Division. The Traffic Section of Bengal Air Depot and the Control Section is responsible for all supply reports necessary in the Supply Division. The S-4 and Control activities are under the supervision of the Assistant Chief, Supply Division, Major Bernard W. McGinnis.
The story of the Supply Division for the past year can be told more completely by the accomplishments and plans of the various Arms and Services the description of which appear below.
Signal Supply Section Upheld BAD's Tradition
F/SGT LOUIS J AYO
The Signal Corps activities of the Bengal Air Depot occupy a unique place throughout the entire Signal Corps.
The Signal Supply is the largest Signal Installation outside the continental United States. The Signal Engineering is the largest of the kind out of the United States and Signal Communications of the Depot are one of the largest. Together, the above functions constitute the largest single Signal setup in the world outside the continental United States.
Starting with a small Depot and one Signal Company Depot Aviation the Depot subsequently expanded until there were three Signal Companies, the 893rd Signal Company, 903rd Signal Company, and one of double strength which was the 923rd Signal Company. A number of civilians approximately equaling the military personnel, was necessary to carry on the Signal functions of the Depot. Were these organized on a T/O basis, they would constitute the equivalent of a single regiment.
The Depot has been fortunate in having the services of some Signal personnel trained in North Africa. The 903d Signal Company had many months of experience operating Signal Depots there. It was only because of this background of experience that the Companies were able to carry on the tremendous job which they found confronting them here.
On occasions when other Signal Supply installations have "bogged down," personnel from this Depot functions of Signal Supply can operate them until they could again carry on without assistance. This was particularly true during the fighting in Burma and many of our enlisted men and officers won Battle Stars while serving there.
The Supply Section has unquestionably performed untiring feats. Those who are familiar with the functions of Signal Supply can readily understand that each and every man performing his assigned duty played an important part in the vast function of supplying various depots, groups, units and installations in the entire circuit of the CBI Theater with necessary equipment.
Tons and tons of equipment have been flown by the ATC over the hump while tremendous quantities of materials have been shipped by rail, truck and water.
Activities of the Signal Supply Section have now reached a point where the big and final job is segregating various classes of Signal equipment, large quantities of which are stateside bound, some being stored in the Signal Hangars; and also large quantities of equipment being sent to Services of Supply.
Signal Supply has indeed been a show place in the Theater and their facilities both as they pertain to equipment and highly skilled personnel and unquestionable throughout the Theater. When difficult and unusual jobs were to be done, jobs that required the utmost in skill and ability, higher headquarters immediately looked to BAD for its specialists connected with the Signal Engineering and Supply.
So when the final chapters are written pertaining to the CBI Theater and the part it played in the World War II you can be assured of the fact that the mention of the word "Supply" will certainly be the one for each of us to take a bow, no matter how unimportant our job seemed at the time.
Memories Of The Engineer Supply Section
SGT ROBERT G WAGNER
Up until March 1, 1944 the rapidly expanding 5317th Air Depot (later destined to be named Bengal Air Depot) had no official Corps of Engineer Supply Section to handle engineering equipment in this area. However March 1st a second lieutenant and a buck sergeant, both from the Corps of Engineers, were assigned the task of setting up and administering an office to facilitate the supply of Engineer items in the theater. To do the job right, men had to be recruited.
Finally there were a total of fifteen men to handle Engineer Supplies for India, Burma and China. At that time Engineer Supply was handling requisitions from all units needing Engineer supplies as supply channels had not been set up for this theater. Shipment to all parts of the CBI by rail, water and air was by no means an easy job with the limited number of personnel under Lt. Knapp's jurisdiction. Packing and crating boxes for long trips was considerably difficult, for experienced civilian carpenters were hard to find and the facilities for making boxes were limited to a hand saw, hammers, and a bag of nails. By this time the good word had gotten around to many more units that the 5317th AD now had an Engineer Supply Office and more work began piling up. It wasn't uncommon for the men of the office to put in a seven day week. Along with the influx of requisitions came Air Corps Special Project supplies to be stored, reboxed, marked and shipped on up to Bengal which might include generators, photographic equipment, compasses, tool sets, heavy equipment, etc. These items would be stored, marked and shipped to the correct unit when the outfit landed this side of Uncle Sugar.
The men at Lansdowne where the Engineer Section is located were putting out supplies at a rate of seven tons per man per day. Enough men were then assigned to start another section of supply, spare parts for Corps of Engineer Property, ranging anywhere from propellers of Penn Yan Boats to the smallest screws in tractors, cranes , etc. Considering the Class II and IV supplies already handled this brought a total of approximately 10,000 different items handled by the section.
Depot CWS Factor In Reducing Jap Strong Points
M/SGT WILLIAM J MC GILL
The Chemical Section of Bengal Air Depot has been responsible for furnishing all the materials required for the manufacture of the belly tank fire bombs used by the Tenth Air Force and the Eastern Air Command that played such a big part in the reduction of many Japanese strong points in Burma.
In addition, all Chemical Warfare Section offensive and defensive supplies used by the Army Air Forces in China, Burma and India were furnished by this section.
The Chemical Supply Section is located at Victoria Jute Mills, on the west side of the Hooghly River, and approximately twelve miles from the main area of the Bengal Air Depot.
The section maintains its warehouse adjacent to the warehouses used by Base Section Chemical Warfare Supply. Working adjacent to the SOS Section has proven to be advantageous. Supplies from SOS to the Air Force can be handled more efficiently and with a minimum expenditure of time and equipment. Working and living with the Base General Depot section has also developed a spirit of cooperation which contributed greatly toward the successful completion of supply activities for the Air Force in the Theater.
The mission of the chemical supply section was to supply AAF organizations in the theater with all items of chemical warfare supplies and equipment except ammunition. The section was also responsible for maintenance of CW equipment in the BAD area.
The total number of personnel at Victoria Mills during the height of activities was eighteen enlisted men and one officer. Bengal Air Depot Base Chemical had one officer and eight enlisted men. It was Maj. Joe Lank, formerly in charge,
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From the first of the year up to V-J Day, the section was kept quite busy in maintaining units with full T/E allowance, and filling requisitions from all the depots and service groups serviced. A total of 742 shipments were completed from 1 January 45 up to V-J Day, a total of 390 shipments were received during the same time.
Although toxic chemical agents were not used during the war, other items of CW supply and equipment did find considerable uses. Some in purposes not that for which intended for, but which made them valuable nevertheless. The power driven decontaminating apparatus is about the best example. There were about 100 truck-mounted of these in the Theater, and about 66 mounted on skids. These units were used in firefighting, washing vehicles and airplanes, hauling of water for organizational messes, malaria control. Some were even used by troops in the field for showers.
The Supply Section also stored large quantities of napalm thickener. This is a light colored powder-like substance used in making the gasoline gel fire bombs that the Japs learned to fear so greatly. The largest shipment of napalm was made during the latter part of May and early June to the Assam Air Depot at Chabua. In early January the section also shipped large quantities to the British in Burma under lend-lease arrangements.
THE MIGHTY AIR CORPS SUPPLY AND TRAFFIC SECTION
Although the war is over and units throughout the Theater are closing down bases, the Air Corps Supply and Traffic Section of Bengal Air Depot continues still to be one of the busiest operating units at the Depot.
During the war, from a small beginning, the Air Corps Supply Section developed into one of the largest Air Force supply activities in the world, supplying Air Force activities in the India-Burma and China Theaters with over 110,000 different items ranging from the smallest rivets to complete B-29 engines and aircraft accessories. During the past year at the height of the offensive in Burma its storage capacity grew to cover 15 million cubic feet of indoor storage space. In June of this year, a record amount of over 22 million pounds of Air Corps technical supplies and equipment were received at Bengal Air Depot; property which had to be moved from the port of entry at Calcutta, segregated, inspected, stored or screened for immediate shipment to units needing it for the accomplishment of the missions. During that month, for instance, over 16 million pounds of the same supplies were shipped from Bengal Air Depot to using organizations.
To receive, and then to ship, those record amounts of supplies was the job of the Traffic section and the job accomplished by that section gave it the name of one of the busiest units at Bengal Air Depot. The Traffic Section handled most of the supplies and equipment at Bengal Air Depot twice; once in Central Receiving where incoming supplies are received from the docks and shipping organizations, and then again at Central Shipping, where supplies were processed for movement to the using organizations. To move supplies to using units, the Traffic Section used any and all available means of transportation: rail, truck, barge, and air. In May 1945, this section processed, loaded and shipped a record amount of over 1250 rail wagons of supplies alone!
To receive, process, store, and ship the supplies necessary in the completion of the mission, Air Corps Supply and the Traffic Section at its peak consisted of 33 officers, 630 enlisted men, and over 9000 civilian employees.
The important mission has been accomplished but there is still a job to be done by Air Corps Supply. Over 33,500 tons of Air Corps supplies here at Bengal Air Depot must be disposed of, as well as the supplies of the various Service Groups and Air Depots which are closed and are closing in the near future. For example: The Traffic Section received and unloaded over 950 rail wagons of supplies during November. These supplies were received from units in the process of disbandment, and from units shipping property to the United States using Bengal Air Depot as a transshipment point. During November, over 2½ million pounds of supplies were shipped to the United States and the amount will increase during December. The personnel strength of Air Corps Supply and the Traffic Section since V-J Day has dropped from approximately 500 EM to a little more than 300. Over 2000 civilian employees were released from duty with Air Corps Supply during the same period.
At the present time Air Corps Supply is busy on the job of disposing of property by salvage, shipment to the United States, shipment to China, and turning over to the Foreign Liquidation Commission for sale. The job of disposition of property was slow during the first two months after V-J Day, but during November has been accelerated. It is expected that in December and January a peak will be reached in the disposition of Air Corps technical supplies. The Traffic Section, at the present time is probably the busiest section handling the shipment and movement of critical property to the United States.
Quartermaster Describes Its Many Functions
CPL HAROLD ROBERTS
The Quartermaster has just passed its second anniversary on the Depot. In October, 1943, the 428th QM Platoon arrived and assumed the duties of the Depot Quartermaster. Since then, with an ever increasing volume of work, they, along with the 449th, 471st, as well as some men from Air Corps Supply have supplied the personnel of the Depot and outlying areas with food, clothing, transportation, and other services necessary to the men of the Depot.
The Quartermaster is subdivided into departments each attending to a specific phase of the overall supply picture. The present head of the Quartermaster Section is Maj. Martin J. Glenn. The Administrative section, which is concerned with all administrative affairs pertaining to the department, is ably staffed by Chief Clerk S/Sgt. Eddy P. Heorodt and T/5 Glenn J. Ritter. From the administrative branch, the next stop for the majority of Quartermaster business is the Property Office, where the records of all QM Property and transactions are found. In charge is Major Morris Zoogman, the property officer, with T/Sgt. Martin N. Peterson as NCO. From Sgt. Peterson all incoming requisitions are sent to Cpl. Charles W. Adcock for registering and then to Cpl. Harold Roberts to be vouchered and recorded. Cpl. Roberts also issues minor items on Tally-Outs. From there they go to the Stock records clerks for posting, and then to the warehouse to be issued. Certain property is issued only on M/Receipt, and the special processing of this property is done by Sgt. Herbert L. Kluge.
The Property Warehouse handles all Quartermaster items with the exception of food. The warehouse staff headed by Lt. Emerson M. Price, consists of T/3 William S. Grady, T/4's John W. Cosby and William D. Wilson and Cpl.'s George B. Powers and Robert D. Snyder. A sub-division of the property warehouse is the Officers Sales store, where T/4 Orie F. Miller and Cpl. Morton Tessler handle the thriving trade.
The Sustenance Section provides 11,000 officers and men with their daily bread. Lt. George T. Witenk is in charge, with T/4 Chris Collier doing the office work. The Sustenance Warehouse is handled by T/4 Geddings W. Nix, Sgt. V. Thoma, Cpl. George Parker, T/5 N. Degenhart, and S/Sgt. W. Frank.
The Class B clothing you sometimes draw in exchange for your worn-out GI togs, are processed for the Clothing and Equipage Classification section of the QM salvage yard. The personnel involved in the classification and replacement of salvageable items are: S/Sgt. Clifford W. Franklyn, S/Sgt. Hubert W. Taylor, Sgt. Paul Cilo, T/4 Kenneth L. Davis, Cpl. George Dominguez, Jr., Cpl. Walter S. Norden, T/5 Richard V. Fragoso, Pfc. Edwin Q. Briggs, Pfc. Alfonso M. Coronado, Pfc. Goldman Parks, Pfc. Lewis R. Reed and Joe J. Rogers, Jr. Lt. Walter R. Saks is the officer in charge of the Salvage Yard.
The Quartermaster Water Transportation division was very well covered by recent edition of the Tiger Rag, so there is no need to describe their duties. They are still functioning as in the past, having transported 22,140 passengers from the Depot to Hastings during the month of November 1945.
As some of the items handled by the Depot and organizations serviced by the Depot are not Government Issue, there is need for a Purchasing and Contracting Section. This department handles all local purchases and communicates with New Delhi on matters pertaining to open market purchases and Lend-Lease material. Lt. Witenko is also in charge of this section. T/4 William F. Lofink takes care of the necessary paper work on these transactions.
The Typewriter Repair Shop as its name implies, repairs all office machines for the Depot. Personnel of the shop are Sgt. Carl C. Smith and Sgt. William Vermillion.
T/5 Jimmy R. Collinge is responsible for the delivery of coal, wood, and fuel to Mess Halls and those shower rooms fortunate enough to have hot water.
The Quartermaster Ice Plant has the job of supplying the Depot with pure ice, something rare in India. The men responsible for this valuable commodity are T/4 John T. Massey, Pfc. Arthur I. Goldberg and Benjamin L. Rosenbloom.
The delicious ice cream served at Depot Mess Halls, another Quartermaster service, is made under the supervision of Sgt. Edward N. Stanley.
The Quartermaster Laundry, and newly inaugurated Dry Cleaning service is handled by Lt. Walter R. Saks, Cpl. Roy G. Shastid and Pvt. John Pappas.
With so many sub-divisions and branches of the Quartermaster, there is a chance that some may have been omitted from the report, which is, at best, a sketchy picture of Quartermaster activities. As a unit, the Quartermaster has done an admirable job on the Depot, and we think that when the orders come to fold up and go home, we will be able to break all previous records.
One of the Finest, The Provost Marshal Office
SGT LOUIS L DAVIS
On 20 October 1943, a company of 100 enlisted men and 4 officers arrived on the George Washington and landed in Bombay, India.
This particular company was then split up into five different detachments and a total of 25 enlisted men and 1 officers arrived at the Bengal Air Depot in November 1943 to take over the job of security and internal control. The one officer became Provost Marshal and the 25 enlisted men pulled duty from early morn' to late dusk, so began the first appearance of military policemen on this depot. That company was known as the 1212th Military Police Company and Capt. James H. McHenry was the Provost Marshal.
Two enlisted men rode patrol on the Barrackpore Trunk Road in an effort to eliminate the traffic hazards. One enlisted man
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From that small beginning, this office secured short wave radio sets to install in the vehicles, the various detachments were returned to this depot, except one which was left at the Airdrome for security reasons. Many more vehicles were secured. Men were placed on road patrol 24 hours a day. Today, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Edward B. Dixon, Security Officer and Capt. Bradford L. Burnside, Provost Marshal assisted by Lt. James J. Casey, Assistant Provost Marshal and S/G Charles F. Nichols, Provost Sergeant, this department has received many a commendation for fine work performed. The Air Provost Marshal, during one of his lectures to a combined group of military policemen attending security school once said, "If you want to observe how an efficient aviation military police company operates go out to the Bengal Air Depot."
Today, many of the old men namely M/Sgt. Almon A. Bonesteel, Provost Sergeant and Sgt. George R. Bauer, have left to return to the states after a long tour of duty on this depot. Only two men of that original group are left and will be returning to the states in the next few weeks, Charles Doscher, 1st Sergeant and S/Sgt. Phillip Rodman. Many new men have taken over in their place, but this department has and will continue to operate in an efficient manner 'til its mission is completed and the last American soldier has left Bengal Air Depot.
Medical Supply Section Deserves A Pat
S/SGT GEORGE FULTON
The entire personnel of the Medical Supply Section wishes to congratulate the Tiger Rag on their second and last anniversary.
The Medical Supply of this Depot was established to furnish AAF units in this theater with common usage medical supplies and was also the sole Depot in both the India-Burma and China Theaters for items peculiar to the AAF.
The personnel that have worked in the section during the past year were obtained from the different Medical Supply Platoons (Avn) which were assigned to Bengal Air Depot. Platoons responsible for furnishing personnel during the past year were the 25th, 18th, 52nd, 75th and 76th. Of these the 25th, 48th and 75th are still assigned to the Depot.
During the month of January, the Shipping Department broke all previous records and received commendation which was printed in the Tiger Rag. During this month a total of 111 tons of Medical Supplies were shipped out from this Depot, a 77% increase over the average month of 1944. Each month brought successive increases with a peak being reached last June of 150 tons per month of Medical Supplies shipped out.
Since V-J Day the section has been busy in receiving organizational equipment back from various AAF units of the Theater which were scheduled for inactivation or return to the states. This equipment was processed and returned to SCS for shipment home or to be disposed of here in India.
Effective the first of December this year, the Medical Supply Section of this Depot was discontinued and the entire stock, except items peculiar to the AAF, is being returned to SCS which will continue to supply the few remaining units in the Theater.
Captain Charles V. Bennett, the present Medical Supply Officer, is the old timer of the section having worked in Medical Supply here for the past 24 months. The Captain claims Duluth, Minn. as his home town. Working as Medical Property
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S/Sgt. Geo. A. Fulton of Washington, Penna., is the Chief Clerk of the Section. Other personnel working in the Medical Supply Office are Sgt. J. Wayne Mason and Tec5 Raymond D. Martin - Stock Records, Sgt. Willis R. Wolf - Control Section, and Tec5 Oscar C. Nixon - File Clerk.
S/Sgt. Alfonso J. D'Addio, from Williamsport, Penna., is NCO in charge of receiving at the Bally Warehouse. Working in the Shipping section are S/Sgt. Ray Sanford, Sgt. Donald N. Wood is the Warehouse Clerk.
Working as Stock Clerk are Tec5's Oscar A. Robinson, Roy E. Bishop, Grover Caloway, Michael Jakubow and Louis C. Rueckert. Tec5's Sydney W. Derrick and Albin F. Freeberg are the packers working in the Shipping Section, while Tec5's Oliver H. Wick, Raymond O. Olson and Nicholas J. Palmer, Jr., work as checkers in the same section. Sgt. Thomas L. Tinnin and Tec4 Alvin M. Ott, Jr., comprised the Inventory team.
S/Sgt. Marshal T. Snyder and Cpl. John R. Reardon worked in the Pharmacy and were responsible for that good tasting cough medicine that you received when you went on sick call.
Drivers working for the Medical Supply Section included Sgt. Alton H. Green and Tec5's Dwayne B. Gallentine, Michael E. Nebbia, William E. Owen and Walter Hawes.
Medical Supply has been one of the most important jobs of the war. These men realized this and though it was their fervent hope that few supplies would be needed they were always ready to handle any amount as their record proves.
MAINTENANCE DIVISION STILL “CARRIES ON”
S/SGT EUGENE MUNNS
Looking at the activities of the Maintenance Division of Bengal Air Depot at the present time, shows quite a contrasting picture to those days when the Shops thundered with the noises of war time production.
The increased demand and the schedules were set up by Headquarters for production of V-1710, R-3350, R-2800 and R-1830 Engines, their accessories, carburetors, magnetos, electrical harnesses, etc., plus producing accessories for the rest of the IB Theater and China were met, and the work accomplished efficiently.
During those turbulent months, the production lines hummed, sometimes both day and night, and the intense work of the EM did not go unnoticed. A highly praising letter of commendation from Maj. Gen. T. J. Hanley, Jr., CG AAF IBT was received and made both officers and enlisted men feel proud of the work that they were doing and gave them an intense desire to top the high production figures that had been set for their goal.
From a purely statistical angle, the following figures, since occupying its new and enlarged facilities in July of 1944, give a true word picture of the work accomplished: 4500 aircraft engines, 55,000 serviceable and repairable engines packed for shipment or long time storage, 165,000 parachutes, 2,800,000 spark plugs, 8,225 carburetors and 35,235 aircraft instruments of all types were repaired.
Lt. Col. Harry S. Myhres, successor to Col. Wilfred Douglass, past Chief of Maintenance, carries on the work of the Maintenance Division and although the demands are in no way comparable to that of war time production, the present types of work demands, pickling of repairable engines, approximately 300 a month; pickling and preparing for long time storage of serviceable engines, approximately 1800 a month.
The inspection and classification of Air Corps, Signal and Ordnance Property and Equipment, before being turned over to the Army-Navy Liquidation Committee for disposal, are still great. But all questions and problems are being solved quickly and efficiently, as is the custom of the Maintenance Division. Its mission is being accomplished with the necessary speed and accuracy which will bring to a close this Depot and this Theater of Operations as quickly as possible.
Ordnance Department Proved It Could Be Done
M/SGT BURL P WAGNER
The Bengal Ordnance Section has proven by its activities that it deserves mention of what it has achieved. Although hostilities have ceased it is still functioning as a source of supply to a large part of the IB Theater.
At one time the section numbered 500 enlisted men and officers. The co-operation of all members of the section and their resourcefulness overcame many seemingly impossible tasks. Many jobs labeled "It Can't Be Done" were soon changed to "It Can Be Done."
The Ordnance section is made up of men from 1953rd Ordnance Depot Co.; 2005th Ord. Maint. Co.; Hq. & Hq. Sq. 28th Air Depot Group and Hq. Sq. 83rd Air Depot Group.
It is an organization that handles many thousands of Ordnance items including some two thousand items of Air Corps property. Those Air Corps items are now transferred to Air Corps Accountability but during hostilities they were just another responsibility of the Bengal Ordnance men.
The Ordnance section is divided into different departments that specialize in a certain task. The shipping and receiving section handles the job of getting in all supplies and shipping the supplies to various bases and organizations. They handled a tremendous amount of equipment for this theater. In one ten day period alone they received over three and one quarter million pounds of freight and shipped out three hundred thousand pounds of material. In another ten day period they shipped out over 500 thousand pounds of supplies while in the same period the received over 1¼ million pounds.
The motor pool section handled incoming and outgoing motor vehicles from the versatile jeep to halftracks. They handled them to the tune of over 1 million pounds of vehicles shipped for the month of January 1945. For the year of 1945 they have handled over 4,800 tons of outgoing vehicles and 4,200 tons of incoming vehicles. That is a lot of vehicles in any man's language.
The 4th Echelon Automotive section did their bit too. For the month of July they hit a peak load of 43 vehicles rebuilt. Fourth Echelon is where they take the vehicle that looks like a piece of crumpled paper and put it back on the road hauling needed material. They keep the vehicles running and in the month of July completed 425 work orders completed to further the war effort.
The machine shop section with the motto of "if you haven't got it, make it," completed 425 work orders making everything from small screw to large parts for vehicles, in one month. Many a job was completed because the machine shop had made a part for some machine that was not to be gotten any place. It was a shop that the delight of any machinist.
Watch need fixing? Camera have a broken birdie? You know the kind you were always told to watch when you were younger and more gullible. Well all those little things were taken care of by the Instrument Repair Section. Watches were put ticking again, cameras went back to the job of taking good pictures, binoculars were put in good shape again, and sighting and aiming equipment was repaired.
When you think of Ordnance you cannot forget their business of supplying the fighting man with the weapons that kill. The Small Arms Repair Section always came to the rescue when someone complained that their gun would not work. Many weapons were reconditioned and put back in service. Everything from replacing a lost screw to reblueing a gun was taken care of by this section. They built a test fire range indoors to proof fire the guns before returning them to stock or organizations. The proof firing chamber was good enough to rate a picture and write-up in the Ordnance Sergeant, a monthly publication by the Ordnance Department at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
Now the ranks of the Ordnance Section are depleted by the return of point men to Uncle Sugar. But the section of 123 enlisted men and 7 officers under Major Myers, Base Ordnance Officer, are completing the job of disposing of the Ordnance material at Bengal. After that - it's Uncle Sugar for us.
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SGT GEORGE PRIVATEER
The Information and Education Office of Bengal Air Depot has two main functions, the Army Orientation program and the Non-Military Education program. The mission of the office is now, with the cessation of hostilities, to assist in transforming soldiers into good American citizens and to bridge the gap between military and civilian life.
The Information section of the office, primarily concerned with Army Orientation, has recently instituted a change in the procedure of conducting orientation meetings. Previously, Orientation was conducted on a squadron or organization level, with each unit having its own Orientation meeting. Now, a plan for consolidating Orientation has been effected. Permanent instructors have been assigned to the Information and Education office and each week themselves present Orientation programs to all military personnel. A schedule has been setup under which Orientation is presented on a "school" basis, men reporting to "classes" at hourly periods throughout each day from Monday through Saturday. It is anticipated that, in the future, the program thus centralized will bring to the Depot personnel better and more interesting Orientation material. All men are urged to participate in the programs themselves by "sounding off" at discussion periods.
Enlisted Men at present acting as Orientation leaders are S/Sgt. Guy H. Purdy, Sgt. Manuel Blumenkopf, Sgt. George Privateer, T/4 Claffin, and T/4 Leonard B. Feder.
The Education section of the Information and Education Office is concerned with enabling Army personnel to continue their civilian education through courses offered by the United States Armed Forces Institute. In addition it encourages personnel to apply to civilian schools for academic credit which may be obtained as a result of educational experiences while in the service. The medium used is USAFI Form No. 47, "Application for Credit for Educational Achievement during Military Service."
"Off Duty" classes are sponsored by the Education section of the Information and education Office which may be voluntarily attended without cost to military personnel. Courses now being offered are Algebra, American History and Government, Blue Print Reading, Bookkeeping and Accounting, French, Beginners Radio, Spanish and Trigonometry. Classes are at present being held each evening except Saturday and Sunday.
Pfc. William L. Markrich directs the Education section, assisted by Pfc. Raymond G. Boyce.
The "Tiger Times," news information sheet, is published daily except Sundays and holidays by Pfc. Boyce. There is also a weekly summary published by "Tiger Times."
The Art Department completes the facilities of the Information and Education office. T/Sgt. Samuel Berger comprises the entire personnel of the section and is charged with producing posters of varied nature, in the main advertising the advantages of enrolling with the United States Armed Forces Institute.
Capt. Holland W. Wallace, Jr. is Depot Information and Education Officer. His assistant is 1st Lt. Ronald M. Evans.
RAJAH'S REST TELLS ALL
MARION DONOVAN
Running through our files for data on the establishment and subsequent history of Rajah's Rest, one of the two Red Cross installations on the base, we decided that since the program had varied little in the past two years, and the personnel to such an extent that it would be pointless to record the various comings and goings. The most important event in RR's brief existence was its removal from the old location behind the PX to its present site near the Post chapel.
Most of you can recall the first Rajah's Rest. Opened November 4, 1943 under Mary Jim Barnes, club director, it involved two bashas with connecting arcade, a pavement patio which doubled as an outdoor dance floor, and smaller quantities of substantially the same equipment now in use. Above the canteen bar extended a mural painted by Tiger Rag's then staff artist, Cpl. Layton Vicksten.
The new club, formally opened August 5, 1944, followed the physical pattern of the predecessor. U-shaped, it consisted of two mess halls (now the canteen and lounge), an arcade and court. The latter contains grass, banks of native flowers and an outdoor dance floor which currently is serving as a shuffleboard court. Arrangement of the mess hall was the special province of Club Director Helen Pyle who received invaluable aid from interested GIs. Among other things, the latter built and painted the canteen booths. Evelyn Slor, staff assistant, supervised decoration and furnishing of the lounge proper, which, like the canteen, is approximately four times as large as its predecessor. Innovations include a separate card room and neon-lighted board in the rear.
Today Rajah's Rest is quietly thriving in its new quarters, personnel consisting of Dorothy Greeley, club director, Eleanor Berry Ward, program director, and Evelyn Slor, Mary Sue Bennett, Mabel Wong and Marion Donovan, staff assistants.
Finance Tells How To Put, Not Take
T/SGT R H STEELE
While awaiting the sampan to cart you back to good old Uncle Sugar Able, the Special Service Branch has offered the personnel of Bengal Air Depot recreation.
USTFI offers book learning Finance steps forward and urges one and all to take part in the most profitable of all past times, "Saving Money."
Yep, fellas, rupees ample in the pockets of your GI garments may be you in the Rajahs class over here, but rumors have it that the "self-rehabilitation program" stateside requires good old American greenbacks.
First on the list is the old, but reliable Soldier's Deposit. Any enlisted man may deposit his savings, in sums of not less than Five Dollars with any Army Finance officer, who will furnish him a deposit book, in which will be entered the name of the Disbursing Officer, and of the soldier and the amount, date, and place of deposit.
For any sums not less than Five Dollars deposited for the period of 6 months or longer, interest will be paid at the rate of 4 per cent per annum. Withdrawals of Soldier's Deposits may be made in case of emergency or upon final discharge from the Army. See your squadron clerk for further details.
The War Savings Bond is a wise investment. The Depot Finance Office will sell to you a $100.00 maturity value bond for $75.00; a $50.00 maturity value bond for $37.50; a $25.00 maturity value bond for $18.75 and a $10.00 maturity value GI Bond for $7.50. Where else can you get such good prices?
In order to minimize the risk of carrying currency stateside, a new type of Government check has been devised in the form of a Military Payment Order. The order, officially known as a United States Military Disbursing Officer's Payment Order, is made payable
HEADS . . . . . . . . . . |
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The Personal Transfer Account is still the most popular method for transmitting funds to the states. In PTA, Finance offers each individual an efficient, economical and practical way to putting money into that nest egg at home. Applications are accepted, accompanied by rupees of course, and we in turn transmit the information to the Finance Officer in New York City, who mails a Government Check to your home, bank or to your heart's desire.
So there it is fellas ... just a few ways to make that "dream furlo" a reality rather than an obsession.
BIRTH PANGS OF THE HOBBY SHOP
PAGE-YOUNG
Four months ago the 2485th QM Trucking and 1953d Ordnance Hobby Shop was mostly an idea in the mind of Tec. Sgt. Page of the 1953rd Ord. Co. Since the war had ended, most of the men would have lots of leisure time which they could spending making souvenirs out of salvage materials. Not many of us thought so much of the idea, but Sgt. Vernon M. Page still believed it was worth giving a trial, so he requisitioned the first tools to begin work.
The men casually dropped in to make rather small and simple projects. Some would start one and never finish it. They were not taking interest in the place like we expected them to. Sgt. Page could not spend full time in the shop on account of other duties he had to perform in his organization. To make the work much easier and simple, a man was chosen from each organization to spend full time in the Hobby Shop including the Day Room. These men were T/5 Howard Jenning of 1953rd Ord. and Cpl. Horace W. Young, Jr. of 2485th QM Trk. Co.
Shortly after this change T/5 Jenning had enough points and time overseas to return to the states. Then Cpl. Young was in complete charge of the shop. All M-R property was turned over to the 2485th QM Trk. Co. - This is when the ball really started to rolling.
With Cpl. Young's past experience of machine shop and craftsman work he stimulated the interest of the men by making the first picture frame out of plexiglass. Each time he would make a different design and then draw up the patterns so that they could be used for different designed picture frames, cigarette and match boxes, jewelry boxes, pipe racks, lamp bases and photo albums. At the present we have a collection of 18 different designed picture frames, 10 of the lamp bases, 3 of the jewelry boxes and 4 of cigarette boxes.
All sorts of lamps have been made out of the 32MM, .50 cal and .30 cal shells, cigarette lighters out of the .50 cal shells and hand grenades.
More tools and supplies have been requisitioned, 90% of the men bring in salvaged materials and different tools that can be whipped into shape for use in our shop with a few hours of repair work done.
The following men have contributed ideas, suggestions and labor toward the success of our hobby shop: 1st Sgt. Standford C. Jones, S/Sgt. Ed M. Brown, S/Sgt. Archie Terry, T/5 Clarence Hanley, T/5 Van York, T/5 William Thomas, T/5 Leroy Henderson, T/5 John A. Burrell, T/5 Ben Eberhardt, T/5 John B. Witherspoon, T/5 General Oliver, T/5 James Swinton, T/5 William T. Mitchell, T/5 Eugene Ayers, T/5 Marshall Green, T/5 James L. Davis, T/5 George Domingue, T/5 joseph Banks, T/5 Hubert Harris, Cpl. John H. Williams, Pfc. Prince Hayes, T/5 Fred Wood, Sgt. Charley Fowler, T/5 William K. Parks and others, all of 2485th QM Trk. Co. T/Sgt. Page, S/Sgt. Clark Martin and Sgt. Ruth of 1953rd Ord. Co. were others who aided.
Acknowledgements of appreciation to the Brass Hats for their cooperation: Capt. Tom Mercer, our CO, Col. Petersen, Lt. Grutz, Capt. Crosby and others I did not mention.
Our Hobby Shop has the name of being the best equipped in the whole Theater.
When I say the idea of the Hobby Shop has been a success I'm sure I voice the sentiment of every one at Bengal Air Depot.
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The 83rd takes this opportunity to doff its GI hat to the Co-Editors of the Tiger Rag on this the second anniversary edition.
We think that you and the entire staff have done a great job in bringing this paper to the men of the Depot despite production difficulties of which few are aware. Your efforts have not been in vain for the Rag has been in the past, and is now enjoyed and appreciated by all of us and has become one of our major morale factors. Frank, Goldberg, McCartny and Wicksten are all stateside now so we will thank them by proxy, but to the present staff of Gene Bernald, Red Leonard, Red Bingham and Fred Bohrman, we will merely say, "Come out, boys and take a bow."
We certainly have seen a lot of changes in our outfit in the past year. Let's, for history's sake and for the benefit of our many new men, run over a few of them. According to First Sergeant Roche's statistics we had 134 EM and 27 Officers in the 83d a year ago and now the indicator shows 109 EM and 23 Officers. So on an overall basis the change has not been too great. The turnover, has been rapid, especially during the last few months and our bosom friend, the point system, has sent more than a few of our buddies back to Shangri-La. Heavy stripers, Whitford, Goodwin, and Ambrose are among the missing, to say nothing of Bill Frank and "Mama" Hawkes, good-hearted "Tennessee" Myers and a host of other swell buddies too numerous to mention. Milo Borich and Charles Green, two of our best non-coms and athletes got away on TDY, and we learned only the other day that they had donned civvies. Cpl. Johnnie Fade says he got a letter from "Bugger" Bell who's back in the Texas Panhandle now for good. And so it goes. We hate to see them all go in a way, but we know our turn is coming and there are a lot of new boys drifting in to fill their shoes. A sound and hearty welcome to the newly assigned Ordnance men and Bomb Group boys from up country.
What's happened in our outfit in this last year? The answer to that is plenty, but here are a few of the highlights. We can't forget that terrific Squadron party last January that Major Stucky, Sgt. McCarthy, and M/Sgt. Histed put over with a bang at 3B Outram St. - Along came the softball season in the spring and the "Sad Sacks" came into glory by upsetting the mighty 47th Rebels in the finals and taking the Depot Championship. Dick Fedewa was the shining light with his big-time pitching and he had nine fighting 83rd boys behind him - Then we opened our new dayroom with a gala party. McCarty got his full stripes and oh, those festivities in front of G-4! In July, Major Stuckey went to the 9th and Capt. Holley took over as CO. Came September and our very good friend Lt. "Mac" departed for Assam leaving "babu" Aniceta J. Roche as acting First Sgt. Came Oct. 6, and we threw a gala dance at the Agarpara Club and everybody had a real farewell time for themselves. Our fall volley-ball teams started off fast but we lost most of our stars in mid-season, thus we beat a hasty retreat to the lower brackets. In Nov. Cieto Roche read those special orders and tossed cigars around with reckless abandon and lengthened his sleeves to make room for that full set of stripes and "Hank" Merrifield held open house on his barracks porch for so many glorious nights. Ah yes, we have had some gala old times in "ye old 83rd" and we won't forget them for many a day to come.
Must hurry now to catch that boat so let us take off for the nearest hot shower and get some of Mother India off our skins. - N.E.N.
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Among those who left in November was F/Sgt. Robert W. Fredrikson. Fred will be keenly missed by all his friends but we are glad to see him go. The above is probably the thought of those who were in his black book also. The squadron is exceedingly fortunate in securing F/Sgt. Allen M. Mulder as our new topkick. Al is well liked by the boys always willing to do what he could for them when he was Squadron Supply Sergeant. Besides being a well-liked character, Al is also an accomplished baseball and basketball player. His luck at cards isn't so good, but "Lucky in love unlucky at cards." If you don't take my word ask "Pat."
Thanksgiving came and went but while it was here it was a gala day for the squadron. The boys pitched in with the 48th, and decorated the mess hall so that it looked like home. Sgt. Fred Boger and Sgt. Alan Trego were responsible for the decorations and artificial turkeys which festooned the mess hall. The chow was sumptuous: turkey, stuffing, peas, asparagus, ice cream a la mode, cashew nuts, pickles, Parker House rolls ad infinitum. Even "Woody" Townsend had enough to eat for once. The food tasted better since it was served to us by the delicate hands of the Squadron Commander, Capt. E. E. Wisakowsky, and the rest of the squadron officers. KP looks good on them. In addition, with the cooperation of the PX Officer, the squadron was able to obtain fifty cases of beer. Each man in the outfit got ten bottles of beer and I can assure you that the beer was Hogiya by the end of the day. The boys had an impromptu party and no one could have missed the fun. It was really a day to remember, and in yours truly's opinion the best meal I have ever had in the Army. Many thanks to S/Sgt. Atwood of the 48th and Pfc. Jenkins of the 82d, two superlative mess sergeants, now en route home after having enlisted in the Regular Army. I wonder why? - Dulberg
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The Quartermaster today is a far cry from the first platoon that landed in India September 26, 1943. The 428th was the first of the three platoons to arrive in India to service the troops on this installation. With a strength of 23 enlisted men and 2 officers they helped to establish the well-knit organization the Quartermaster is today. Many of the first men of the 428th are spending their first Christmas home in many years. Today the Quartermaster functions with an approximate strength of 50 enlisted men and 10 officers.
The 449th QM Platoon arrived in India in June of 1944. Together with the 428th, until February of 1945 when the 471st QM Platoon arrived in India, the men and officers quickened the arrival of the days of Victory in May and September of 1945. The majority of the men of the 428th are home and in civilian status or pending discharge from the Army, and many of the men of the 449th are enroute to the United States hoping to arrive home in time to spend Christmas. As for the rest, mainly the members of the 471st QM Platoon, they must remain in India and help dispose of the equipment on hand. It is not a pleasant task, but we hope to accomplish it in the shortest time possible. It is a tremendous task when one considers the thousands of items on hand.
In November of 1943 the Quartermaster was servicing approximately 4000 men. Less than a year later the amount had leaped to approximately 14,000 men. During the fiscal year of 1944 more than 370 volumes of requisitions were processed and handled by the Quartermaster. Five thousand tons of metal have been handled by the Salvage Yard since the end of the war.
The water transportation department reached its peak in August 1945 carrying more than 5052 tons of Air Corps equipment and 41384 passengers between the depot and Hastings.
The work of the Quartermaster has increased greatly since the end of the war, and will continue to increase in the coming month. The war wasn't won overnight; neither can the task of disposal be accomplished in that space of time. - Collier
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Though there have been many new men assigned to our Squadron there remains a number of us who have the warm memories of our stay at Stimson Field. The long hours of work and training; the many inspections in preparation for Overseas. But the part we like the best to remember are the swell times we had during our off duty hours at the Non-Coms Club, the steaks at Gunter Hotel and the long evenings of dancing under the stars in several of the popular patios about town. Remember fellas? At last in October 1943, we completed our training and passed our last inspection. We said good-bye to our many friends; and some of us said good-bye to our families at the little rail siding where we boarded our train that was to take us west to the great L.A. Port of Embarkation.
Arriving at the Embarkation point we were processed rapidly and on 10 November 1943 boarded our transport ship for destination unknown. After a weary crossing we arrived at Bombay the day after Xmas in 1943, and were transferred to a train which carried us across India, arriving at Howrah Station on the last day of the year 1943, where we were met by trucks that brought us to Bengal Air Depot, which has been home for the Squadron since that date.
It was a warm welcome we received upon arrival here for the men who had set up the depot were in the midst of celebrating the New Year. Most of us were introduced to the bottle with the Bengal Tiger on the green label and Cres Smoothe. The following day, upon recovering from the gala celebration we were assigned to duty in the various sections of the Depot. We found the depot was under a tremendous expansion program and general re-organization. Everyone went to work, doing a fine job and looking forward to the two year rotation.
The first few months we said goodbye to Pvt. Weathered, Cpl. Vittum and later to T/Sgt. Campbell who were all three returned to the States by the Medical Department. With the introduction of the point system we again said goodbye to a number of our boys. Since then the older men of the organization have been relieved in small groups from time to time - and they have been replaced by new men and new friends.
To our men returning home we say good-bye and best wishes. To the men who replace them we hope that you may all follow real soon. And when the Squadron has at last completed its mission and is finally de-activated we will all be pleased in returning to our homes and families. But the Squadron will never die for it will live on in the memories and the hearts of the men who have served in it. To our departing CO, Major Lemmason, we say God speed home, and best wishes and may we all join in that stream homeward in a very short while. - L.F.W.
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The 893d was activated February 1, 1943 at Reno, Nevada. On that date, sixty-seven of us - all privates - left Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the new company. We arrived at Reno on the 5th and started on the task of building a component unit. Officers and enlisted men passed through the unit in a continuous parade and started their schooling on the Base. Most of the men will remember Reno as the place where they had the time of their lives. Parties gave each man his opportunity. He took it.
The Company was transferred to Fresno in May 1943, for more advanced training. While there, we were sent to a camp in Yosemite National Park for a never-to-be-forgotten three weeks. Those of us fortunate to be there saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Then, in September, came Kelly Field, and the final step in our training. For the first time the men worked in real shops doing the actual work they would eventually do overseas. As for recreation - well, the City of San Antonio took care of that - quite adequately.
Overseas equipment came in and was packed. Final furloughs were issued. Final overseas inspections were held. The last adjustments in personnel were made. Everything pointed to the shipping orders which finally came through for December 9, 1943. As we boarded the train, it took only a glance at the girls lined up along the road to realize that the men had had other interests besides their work. Competition had been stiff, but the 893d had again more than held its own.
Casablanca followed with its Soldiers and Sailors of all nations. A short stay there and we were on our way again, this time in the famous - or infamous - French 40 and 8's. Thirty men were packed into each of these small freight cars and lived a nightmarish three days and nights.
After a short stay at Oran, we boarded another ship, finally bound for India and the Bengal Air Depot.
It has been my good fortune to have been with this Company from its inception to its dissolution. With few exceptions the men have shown a high degree of cooperation and Company loyalty. From griping to women and to the standards of their work, the men have shown outstanding ability. Good luck to all of you. - G.R.E.
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BARRACKPORE AIR BASE Outstanding in the social events held this past week was the 411th party held at the British and American Officers Club in Calcutta. The steak dinner, from soup to nuts, was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The mixed drinks, brandies and wines to be had were very palatable, and if the quantity wasn't all that was to be desired the quality was and no complaints were registered. A vote of thanks to LOU MONGIELLO who provided the feminine touch to the party by bringing fifteen members of the opposite sex. The girls were well chaperoned by mothers of some of the girls as JOE ZERR and JULIE SANDGARTEN found out when they gallantly offered to escort two of the girls home. It was all or none - Guess the chaperones had heard about GI wolves. RAY RETZLOFF, "the mad Russian," must have indulged in a few extra vodkas as it was five o'clock the next afternoon before he was able to lift his aching head off the pillow. ROBERT KEARSE, the Kenton, Ohio flash, ventured onto the dance floor amidst a maze of jitterbugs and it is still a matter of contention whether he was wrestling or dancing.
ED McCABE still claims that the only reason he spent all the next day after the party in a horizontal position was because good steak always tires his stomach and it requires very careful attention afterwards. A good story, and he sticks with it - or is stuck with it. "Gas" GAGE, on reaching the barracks area, had a little trouble keeping his equilibrium, and wound up lying on his back in a ditch directing a stream of words at P. D. JOHNSON, who claims he tripped him. A set of weights used by the physical culture class very mysteriously disappeared, and a drag-net was thrown out for the culprit. Sleuths MATKOWSKI and CASE tracked down the purloiner and forced him to retrieve the weights which he had thrown into a water hole at Kinnison after he had finished using them. No action was taken, and now that the weights are back, the class is once more functioning 100 per cent. "Shorty" BAKOR sporting an eye will all the colors of the rainbow surrounding it claims that he bumped into a screen door; but the way I hear it his raucous voice has been disturbing the late arisers in barracks T-2, and someone hung a hay-maker on him. BERNIE MABES has recently entered the lists as a Red Cross Commando, and didn't lose any time in "moving in." The merger of the 333rd and 411th squadrons under the heading of 411th and the attaching of all other units to the 411th sort of puts all the eggs in one basket which looks like a good idea. An excellent follow through now would be to ship the whole basket back to Uncle Sugar. Speaking of eggs, a phenomena has occurred in the mess hall recently. Every morning for the past two weeks, eggs sunny side up have been on the menu. Attendance at breakfast has noticeably increased and the change from pancakes and puff-balls certainly is appreciated. Most recent departures for home include CAPT. WOOLMAN, CWO SMITH, CAPT. BREWER, HERB NICKELSEN, GEORGE NEALE, and a few more happy GIs, and now the men between 50 and 55 are "sweating" it out. The Special Service feature of announcing over the loud speaker, twice daily, all coming events around the base is a very popular idea. Also the musical hour is enjoyed by all those not fortunate enough to sleep in a barrack that has a radio. - "Wally" Kilrea ACCS Did Their Share SGT WILLIAM DONOHO The Emergency Maintenance Center, 61st AACS Group, performs the function of supply for the 61st Group throughout India and Burma. This unit has in the past kept up the stream of supplies to the far flung AACS detachments throughout India, Burma and China keeping control towers, DF stations and other vital AACS installations in operation. Since January 1945, approximately 2365 tons of supplies have been received and 4520 tons have been shipped. Emergency calls for equipment have been answered quickly, not only for units of the Fourth Wing but also for installations at such far-off places as Okinawa, Casablanca and Paris. Initiative, of individuals and of the group, has overcome such obstacles as lack of warehouse space, transportation difficulties, and in the early days lack of operating equipment. The task of supply, though diminished, continues. At present, under the command of Capt. Norman L. Danforth, personnel are engaged in consolidating all warehouse activities at Kamarhati compound, with offices at Bengal Air Depot. Formerly equipment was warehoused in widely scattered areas at Wellington, Maidan, Dum Dum, Kamarhati and Tollygunge. There have been several administrative changes. At the first of the year the unit was operating as the 137th Station and was quartered at Hastings Mill. In February personnel of this unit were assigned to the 130th AACS Squadron and stationed at Bengal. In August the 130th Squadron became the Emergency Maintenance Center,
In off-duty hours there have been a wide variety of squadron activities ranging from parties to lounging in the well-equipped day room. There has been a lively program of organized sports, and recently the unit's basketball team walked off with the championship of the Hastings Mill league. |
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ORDNANCE |
As the United States Army Transport George Washington steamed into the Bombay Harbor on the 20th day of October 1943, the personnel of the 2005th got their first view of the so called "strange and mystic" land of India. After a two week respite in a British-American Rest Camp at Deolali, the Organization proceeded to Calcutta via rail transportation; arriving at Howrah Station in the early morning hours of a foggy November 10th.
The unceremonious arrival of the Company on the Depot, which was still in it's infancy, the initial view of the thatch roofed bashas; the slit trenches which promiscuously bedecked the domestic area; and the inevitable rope charpoy will long be remembered by the men who stepped from the rear of six by sixes which had transported them from Howrah Station. Those were the days when the beer ration was six cans per month and rotation was the incessant topic of conversation.
The mission of the 2005th was to establish and operate a Fourth Echelon Base Ordnance Shop. The manner in which the officers and men surmounted the obstacles of inadequacy of supply, lack of personnel, and climatic adversities in the accomplishment of this mission is a narrative of traditional American resourcefulness, inventiveness, and ingenuity. The undesirable working conditions that prevailed in the original shop, the dirt and the grease and the ever present heat rash were not sufficient to retard the initiative of these automotive and artillery mechanics, small arms and instrument repairmen, and machinists. The non-availability of special tools, and fixtures required for the achievement of mechanical perfection necessitated improvising unparalleled by many commercial firms in the States.
Originally the Base Ordnance Shop was housed in two godowns of the jute mill in which AAF Publications is presently located. The acute shortage of floor space made it necessary for several sections of the Company to operate in special purpose vehicles or outdoor sheds constructed from salvaged lumber by the organization's carpenters. For approximately eight months the shop was operated exclusively by military personnel; the only civilian employees being a few sweepers. In the latter part of July 1944 after weeks of planning the shop was moved into the spacious quarters of Kennison Jute Mill and thus was born one of the finest installations of its kind in the India-Burma Theater. Maximum efficiency was soon obtained and many of the unpleasant working conditions were alleviated by the ingenious contributions from men in all sections of the Organization.
The combined automotive, instrument, small arms, and artillery shops covered approximately 22,000 square feet of floor space. Six hundred skilled and semi-skilled civilians were employed to expedite the repair of Ordnance Material which was sent to the Depot from forward units in India and Burma. Under the supervision of the military personnel, these civilians soon became familiar with idiosyncrasies of a 6x6, .50 Cal. machine gun, 75mm cannon and a pair of binoculars. A preventative maintenance program was instituted to minimize the deficiencies that rendered many of the local vehicles in need of fourth echelon repairs. On numerous occasions men from all sections of the company would be sent up the line to inspect and repair equipment in the advanced areas.
Typical of the efficiency and ability of the personnel of the Ordnance maintenance Shop to meet an emergency is an event which occurred in March 1944. Sixteen two and one half ton trucks were urgently needed in China. The vehicles were sent to the Ordnance to be dis-assembled and cut with a torch in order that they could be air lifted to our forces on the other side of the "Hump." This assignment was consummated several days in advance of the dead line date.
In addition to the personnel who operated the Base Shop, the 2005th had representatives in several other entities on the Depot. Truck drivers went to Motor Transportation, electricians and painters to Utilities, administrative personnel to Headquarters to perform their assigned tasks in such an amiable manner that the Organization became an invaluable constituent in the group of Organizations which made Bengal Air Depot renowned throughout this corner of the world. The Company Mess Sergeant, the cooks and their helpers operated a mess in which the terms "improvise" and "substitute" were commonplace. The unique preparation of the Army Victuals for which the 2005th Mess was noted was an important contribution to the maintenance of a high standard of morale.
"V-J Day" and the demobilization policies adopted by the War Dept. and the I-B Theater subsequent to that day constantly decreased the necessity for Fourth Echelon Maintenance Shop and in the early part of October, after weeks of repairing, salvaging, packing, and crating, the doors of the Shop at Kennison Mill were closed; the mission was completed; the old personnel were eligible for return to the States and were transferred to the 9th Engine Overhaul, but the 2005th did not die. The few officers and men who are currently assigned to the Organization are anxiously awaiting for it to be declared category IV in order that they may return to the States and inactivate the unit which was conceived at Dale Mabry Field, Tallahassee, Florida three years ago this month. - Williamson
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In civil life Lt. Casey claims Cleveland Heights, Ohio as his home. He entered the Army 27 March 1942, and was commissioned in the Corps of Military Police 30 June 1943. He attended the Provost Marshal General's School, Ft. Custer, Mich., after which he served with the 739th MP Battalion and the MP RTC before coming overseas.
A few weeks back the Provost Marshal had been chasing all over the post shooting stray dogs. In my opinion they must have missed one, and this one must be quite a character. At any rate there seems to have been some cross breeding somewhere along the line because there's quite a litter of "White dogs" running around the depot now - jeeps to those of us that don't understand radio language.
Barrack G-I has been christened the "Bull Pen." It is the desire of all the men that live there that visitors conduct themselves in the manner that the name suggests. (Be careful what you leave behind boys.)
The first sergeant is some animal trainer. Some people might call it "slave driver," but I hardly believe that it's that bad. However, it does seem that he has his men under control.
I passed by the Orderly room the other day just in time to see the Monkey act. Here's the dope, men. It seems that Chale (the first soldier) has instructed Pfc. Glenn Custer that whenever he enters the Orderly room, he is to do so on his hands and knees. Glenn took him seriously, and there he was waddling in on all four.
If the maker of these fine bunks we sleep in could get a statement for their next advertisement from Pfc. Dillard, they probably could boost their sales by 100%. When he's not working, one can always find him in his sack - asleep.
This may sound unusual, but there's several men running around with broad smiles. And why shouldn't they, they're going home. To them we wish a speedy trip home and trust they'll find the life they seek back in the good old USA. - Dum Dum
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1st Sgt. Stanford G. Jones, Tec5 Lewis Duncan, and Tec5 Lee W. Hamrick will leave for Uncle Sugarland soon; being four year men they are eligible for discharge. Also Tec5 John Olds, who is a 56 points man. The best of luck to you men. If the going is rough out there in that "Cruel World," just enlist and I am quite sure your Uncle Sam will welcome you as he did once before.
The "Truckin' Sluggers" won another well played baseball game from the 9th Engine Overhaul Sq. score 6-3. Tec5 Woodrow Jackson (known to his intimates as "Walkie-Talkie") pitched a swell game and had several strike-outs to his credit. Tec5 Walter Davis relieved Jackson to top off a good game.
Congratulations are extended to the following men on their promotion: Pfc's Dalton T. Cumberbatch, Roy S. Lewis, Freddie Mays, John Olds, Fred S. Wood, Nagosta Jackson, George May, John T. Minor and George Thurston to Tec5. Pvts. Hansel Aiken, William E. Nichols and L. Q. Payton to Pfc.
Pvt. Melvin W. White ran over Tec5 Eugene Ayers truck with a motorcycle. He said, "I didn't see the truck until I was under the wheel." He was assisted to the Paint Shop by S/Sgt. Jesse (Thin Man) Newton. Now, whenever White hears a motorcycle or some other vehicle he hides.
Fellows, it hurts me deeply to see no one heading toward the Recruiting Officer, come on take a bite out of the Old Apple.
The great Diplomat, Pfc. James Rockmore decided he would give the boys a break, so he started a "Lonely Hearts Club," so far he has done very well - believe me.
Most of the fellows left in the company have resigned themselves to the idea that they will never leave India. Don't give up fellows, maybe you have not been completely forgotten.
At press time there is no other news of world shaking proportions. - Eberhardt
The Depot personnel worked hard to bring about that final victory.
Here are scenes at the Motor Pool showing (top) the 1st Echelon Garage operating; (inset) a glimpse of the Dispatcher's Office;
and (bottom) the gas station being busy.
One of the many operations that won fame for the Depot was Signal Engineering that just couldn't be stopped when it came
to fixing anything radio or radar. The interior of the Radio Repair shop shown above operated 24 hours every day.
The Hindustani Chowkidars composed of Ghurkhas proved fit guardians of the Depot and provided the color that the busy GIs had no
time to give. Lt. Col. Edward B. Dixson, Deputy Security Officer, is shown inspecting the men just prior to the weekly Saturday review.
One of our own hush-hush stories could be told with the end of hostilities.
Civilian personnel came in for some well merited praise.
Shown above are the babus of this huge organization.
With censorship off, the GIs could finally tell of their proximity to Calcutta.
Tiger Rag ran a special edition showing some of the local sights of which the Jain Temple was one.
A Bond Lottery to promote the sale of War Bonds was successfully run by the Finance Office.
Shown above is one of the first GIs, S/Sgt. Gordon Holleran, to participate.
Lt. Bud Widom's SSO ran a photographic contest with T/5 James A. Langley taking most of the prizes.
Above is his Portrait Class entry.
We did not forget those who fell by the wayside while we kept the supplies flowing and the equipment up to par.
This was Memorial Day cermonies.
VJ Day was fittingly celebrated on the Depot with rejoicing unconfined.
Some of the men are shown here celebrating at the Rajah's Rest.
The old timers knew their tasks had been done and were counting the days like the above GI. Pfc. Ward Taylor,
to when they would leave for home.
And leave they did. By plane and by boat, the men who left because of age or by points were looking forward to their first look
of Shangri-la again.
There were many men who wanted to be the "Guardians of the Peace" now that the war was over.
Shown above is the first group sworn into Regular Army Service by Lt. Kenneth J. Colangelo, the Recruiting Officer.
Awards were being constantly made to the Depot men.
Above, three GIs are receiving from Lt. Col. Paul C. Uhlenhop the Bronze Star Medal for transporting needed locomotives to the
British 14th Army in Burma.
They are Sgts. Harold R. Cross, George E. DeBord and T/5 Frank D. Claypool.
Outstanding accomplishments by GIs in service groups brought the CBI Service Chief award. Cpl. Alex Palhegyi above is receiving
his from Col. Wilfred Douglass.
Under the excellent guidance of Capt. Charles Hemenway, the PX rose to new heights in supplying the Depot personnel with quantity
and quality of supplies.
With the war over, more supplies started coming in.
Most popular was the beer which is shown speedily disappearing.
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Major General Thomas A. Terry, CG USF IBT, like so many other prominent visitors before him, had nothing but praise for the
Depot after inspecting its many activities.
He is shown above leaving one of the installations followed by Col. Glenn C. Thompson, Depot CO.
There were no lack of enterprising GIs to gain their commissions from the ranks.
Lt. Earl Tews of the Legal Office was "broken" from a staff sergeant to get his.
The Headquarters Lake produced many surprises but this was the heaviest.
The fish was still quivering as the picture was snapped.
Many of the men were commended by their superior officers for their diligence and enterprise such as the then
Pfc. Gustave E. Malget pictured above who won the praise of the Assistant Motor Transportation Officer for his devotion to duty.
Red Cross gals came and went - always with a big grin such as Mabel is portraying.
Of course, there were the popular Rajah's Rest baby contests with the above two smiling their best for daddies and the judges.
Pin-Ups came into their own on popular request from the Depot personnel.
One of the Depot's outstanding athletes was S/Sgt. Earl J. Lawrence who had things pretty much his own way in the welterweight
class, winning ten straight before departing for Shangri-la.
Our home-town girls were featured also, such as this someone's sweetheart.
The Depot GIs put on their own shows as witness the burlesque on zoot suiters by three of them.
Lovers of the finer music were not forgotten by SSO.
Isle of Song presented at the Depot Theater won much acclaim with the singing of Isabella Wilson and Frank Murphy above.
The Depot had its mascots, such as Chico pictured above standing retreat with the members of the 316th Depot Supply Sq which
had adopted him.
The Emblem for Faithful Civilian Service has been awarded to 2559 civilian personnel to date for their excellent records while
working on the Depot. Col. Glenn C. Thompson, Depot CO, is shown pinning one of the first upon an employee of the Air Corps Supply.
Purple Heart awards were also made to the men of this Depot.
Sgt. Sydney E. Gross is having his pinned on by Col. Mario Cordero, previous commander of troops, while Capt. Jesse Crim, former Deputy
Adjutant, reads the citation.
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Another famous visitor was Archbishop Francis J. Spellman of New York who is shown shaking hands with those who participated in
the Mass he held here.
Thanks to Maj. Walter Gerdan's Utilities the Post Chapel became the scenic beauty as well as the spiritual home of the Depot.
The Depot GIs rose to every emergency such as the above three men of the Motor Pool Paint Shop who worked without rest day and
night during the recent Calcutta riots until they had every Depot vehicle properly painted.
They are T/5s Melvin White, Dalton Cumberbatch and Cpl. John H. Williams.
A different sort of recreation was to be found at Rajah's Rest.
Brig. Gen. Frank D. Hackett, former Depot Commanding General, aided in the house warming of the new ARC club by cutting a 45 lb.
layer cake while a bevy of ARC gals looked on.
One of the best Table Tennis teams on the Depot was the Globetrotters of the 1953rd Ordnance Co., the members of which are
shown above just after winning the Federal League Championship.
Baseball was chief inter-company and inter-squadron sport with plenty of excitement on hand for both participants and onlookers.
Tennis was another method of loosening up the stiff muscles in which many of the Depot personnel engaged.
Running baseball a close second for most popular sport activity was volley ball which always had its many players and followers
as depicted above.
Although the Depot is well on its way for "mission completed" status, there is plentiful work for all personnel as pictured by
this busy scene at Message Center in Headquarters.
The Tug-trailer still winds its way about the Depot saving time, leather and tempers.
The men did not permit time to lay heavy on their hands.
T/4 JohnVisich and T/5 Bert Miller had their own ideas on how to use their recreational periods for making this radio controlled
boat which they are shown above launching on Headquarters Lake.
With more time on their hands, the men built a Hobby Shop pictured above from which so many souvenirs have been fashioned.
The Welding Class was one of the most popular features organized by the Information and Education Section for far seeing men
who wanted to adapt themselves to civilian careers.
One affair the Depot always looked forward to were the popular weekly dances held at the old Rajah's Rest which brought out
such attendances that finally only ticket holders were admitted.
The Emblem for Meritorious Service was one way of showing our appreciation to our civilian employees who had helped us keep up
the renowned standard of our services.
James Wooley, Civilian Security Investigating Chief, has his pinned on by Lt. Col. Stuart Petersen while Lt. Col. Edward B. Dixson
reads the citation.
Elaborate wedding of the year was the nuptials of S/Sgt. Charles F. Leo and the erstwhile Miss Marjorie Chipun, surrounded
here by congratulating friends.
Biggest USO attraction at the Depot arranged by Lt. Bud Wilson, SSO, was the Jinx Falkenburg - Pat O'Brien show.
The troupe is being shown welcomed by Gen. Frank D. Hackett and Lt. Wilson.
It was not all work and no play to make Jack a dull boy.
For each six months of service the men went away to rest camps throughout India and some came back to tell Tiger Rag readers
their experiences. Cpl. Norman Kiell of Classification made sure he kept clean.
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A Gala Field Day was enjoyed by all the Depot personnel as confirmed by three of the above views. The winning BAD baseball team is shown in the lower right-hand corner. |
Volleyball came into its own this week at Barrackpore when a three game series between MASETT'S MAULERS and OKIE'S SIGNALLERS took over the spotlight.
It would have taken a Philadelphia lawyer to settle some of the arguments but somehow the games were completed without the aid of the MP's. The MAULERS took the series 2 games to 1. OAKIE was the "big noise" for the winners, even though he did make some passes at the empty air.
No Hit Game Climaxes
9th Engine's Career
Lefty Whittelsey, the pitcher of the 9th Engine Overhaul Sqdn team pitched a no hit no run game against the 48th Repair team by the score of 8 to 0 on the farewell day of the 9th Engine Overhaul Sqdn.
Whittelsey had the game well under control striking out 7, allowing only two balls hit in the outfield where Bobo Neimeyer, the right fielder of the 9th Engine Overhaul team caught them without any trouble. Whittelsey has a record of five wins without any loss. He has a fine pitching record comparing the hits and runs he has allowed. Lefty beat the Brkpore Flyers 1 to 0 allowing 4 hits; beat the 2485th 11 to 2 allowing 3 hits; beat the 48th Repair 6 to 0 allowing 5 hits; beat the 320th Supply 16 to 2 allowing 3 hits; and the last game was the no hit game. He has three shutouts to his credit.
Bender, the 48th pitcher, had the 9th Engine team baffled for four innings until the Overhaul team solved the offerings in the 5th, 6th and 7th. In the seventh he was relieved by Bruderer the third baseman.
Whittelsey never was in serious trouble. In the final inning he struck out the last three batters to earn him a shutout and a no hit no run game. Bobo Neimeyer was the heavy slugger of the day with two doubles, walk and was safe on an error. Lot of credit is due to Dickie Wellborn on a good job he did behind the plate.
Bab Flyers, Basketball Tourney Team, Eliminated
The BAB FLYERS ran into some tough opposition in the area basketball tournament held at Panagarh and were nosed out in both games played by very close scores.
The first game played against the PANAGARH RAMBLERS saw the FLYERS lead all the way through the game, up until the last four minutes of play before relinquishing their lead to score out on the short end of a 31-26 count.
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The second elimination game was played against ONDAL, with Bordas and Gudgel leading the attack for the FLYERS. But the accurate shooting of the ONDAL ALL-STARS was too much for the FLYERS who bowed out of the tournament by virtue of their 35-29 loss.
A tribute to the fine all round play of JOHN BORDAS, was later paid, in naming him for the tournament all-star team.
Barrackpore All Stars Bow To Chabua
A combination of Barrackpore ASC and ATC basketball players played their first, last, and only game in the IB tournament against a "Hot" outfit from Chabua, being eliminated by the score of 50-44.
The game was fast and close all the way, but the players were hampered by the slippery concrete flooring of the Hialea court. Most of the men resembled ballet dancers in their efforts to slow down under the baskets or to change direction under full speed. Stone was the star of the winners scoring half of his team's total. He was ably supported by his team0mates who made the most of their opportunities.
Kraemer, the fastest man on either club, looked good at guard for the losers. Lichter lead the forwards, with 15 points and got plenty of help from Bordas, Van Ness, Coffee, and Dominick.
The refereeing on both sides was a little sloppy and came in for plenty of criticism from the large gathering of spectators. The Barrackpore team was well backed by a delegation led by "Tex" Oliver, "Hook" Kerr and "Baboo" Sandgarten, who made their presence felt by alternately cheering their team and jeering the referee.
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After winning the Hastings League Championship, the AACS team once again displayed teamwork and smooth playing on the basketball court to defeat the 39th SCU 30 to 26 for their ninth straight victory.
The AACS team set the stage for the high scorers of the team, Bell and Rivera. Bell score four times and put two free throws in for 10 points, while Rivera came thru with eight goals and one free throw for his total of 17 points. Nowak netted one goal and a free throw to make a total score of 30 points for the AACS. The rest of the AACS team - Blewitt, manager Nowak, Cacy, Perins, Griffith, and Roebels played beautiful defensive ball and set the stage for the scoring of their stars.
Airdrome Golfers 'Take Over' Barrackpore Club
Divots are flying, balls are hooking and "Gooks" are ducking behind trees these afternoons at the Barrackpore Golf Club.
GIs from the Airdrome are matching their skill against old man par and usually coming out second best after nine holes of trying to pitch over water holes, drive over cows and outwit "shady" ball boys. There are nine holes available for play and altho' not in the Stateside class, nevertheless is a means to a little healthy recreation.
Work on the course is being carried on every day, and a definite improvement is being shown. Among those noticed out trying to improve their game were such heroic figures as Dorman, Anderson, Mace, Pessin, and Bordas.
A limited number of golf clubs are available at Special Service and the 411th Orderly Room for anyone desirous of getting a little healthful exercise. To play at the Barrackpore Club on Saturday afternoons or Sundays, four (4) days notice must be given the attendant. A starting time must be arranged, as the increasing number of member and non-member players makes for congestion. This system is used or required only on week-ends and holidays. All other days, tee-ing off time is catch-as-catch-can.
ENLARGE IMAGE |
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One of the most interesting educational and social work institutions in the world is Santiniketan, founded by the great Bangalee poet and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore. It is located near Bolpur, a 3½ hour train ride from Calcutta.
For those interested, arrangements have been made with the university authorities by which groups of four can make this trip, be called for and returned to the Bolpur station by bus, spend two days at Santiniketan and be guided through the academic portions, the museum of painting and sculpture, and the rural rehabilitation center (call Sriniketan). The cost, in addition to railroad and bus fare, is Rs. 8 per day while you are at Santiniketan.
You can leave Calcutta at 0735 hours on a Thursday, and leave Bolpur at 1614 hours on Friday or Saturday, arriving in Calcutta at about 2000 hours, or you can choose Monday morning to start, returning Tuesday or Wednesday.
A particularly good time to go to SANTNIKETAN will be between the Second and Twenty-fifth of December when the institution will be celebrating its anniversary. Those interested should make up a party of four or more then write to Miss Marjorie Sykes, Santiniketan, Birbhum, District Bengal. Miss Sykes is in charge of all arrangements for Santiniketan. At least ten days advance notice should be given before the date chosen for the trip.
In spite of all the movie-struck girls who dot Hollywood like pins on a population map of India, 20th Century-Fox studio hasn't been able to find enough females to upholster a harem in "Anna and the King of Siam."
This may be due to a shortage of harem-types on the casting lists, or perhaps King Chulalongkorn, proprietor of the girl-hive in the 1860's, was just a little too ambitious even for Hollywood. It seems the king had an inventory of some 10,000 women, whereas his movie counterpart will have to get along with two or three hundred.
Actually, only about 1,000 of the ladies were first-string wives, the others being only attendants, and for this information we have the word of Philip A. Huffman, "technical adviser" for the picture. And in case you're wondering just how a man who isn't a king ever got enough inside dope on a harem to become a technical adviser, it all came secondhand.
For 18 years Huffman was editor and publisher of two newspapers in Bangkok, Siam, and he got his information from the only two men who ever were inside the harem. The studio doesn't know where the two insiders are now, but it's a good bet they're off the harem circuit; the regal households are strictly closed corporations.
"One of the men who was permitted inside was an American electrician," Huffman recalls. "He got in under a heavy guard to install lights. The other was a balloon ascensionist who bailed out and fell into the harem. The king figured it was an accident and waived the usual death penalty."
In the picture, Linda Darnell plays the king's favorite spouse; No. 1 on his wife parade, so to speak. Huffman is counseling her on the part.
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HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH! ... Our heartiest congratulations and a deep salaam to the editors of the TIGER RAG on this second anniversary. We're all mighty proud of our little fishwrapper and we think the editors have done a splendid job!
EVERYONE SEEMED to enjoy the ball game between our boys and the BAB Flyers and we're all waiting to see the outcome when our ALLSTARS meet the panagarh GUY-TECS. Get out there on Sunday afternoon and root for our lads!
SGT. MERLO has gone to a great deal of time and effort in establishing a DEPOT HOBBY SHOP and as we believe in giving credit whre credit is due - Good job, Merlo! The shop is there for your use so make yourself acquainted with its homely portals and enjoy the pleasures of making something with your own liddle paws.
DON'T MISS THE USO Camp Show, "Racketeers" which will be presented at the Post Theater Wednesday nite, December 19th. It pro
Weekdays. Monday through Friday - Mass - 0700 Saturday Mass - 1830 Instruction Class - Tuesday - 1930 Chaplain T. F. Brosman Sunday Evening Service: 1830 hrs by Chaplain William C. Hart Sunday Evening: 1930 hours, Base Hq. 2 Room 204. Friday: Religious Service at Maghen David Synagogue at 1930 hours, transportaion leaves Motor Pool at 1830 hours. Chaplain Abraham Simon |
THE SSO LIBRARY is doing a rushing business and we're garnering new customers daily. C'mon in and check out a book... mysteries, westerns, novels, technical books... in fact anything you can possibly think of. Now's the time to catch up on your reading!
WE'RE GOING TO give away three.. count 'em.. THREE.. cameras to the winners of the Football Pool contest for the week of January 1st. The contest will include all the "Bowl" games so study up on your Stateside football lore!
TUES, DEC 18 - 7:00 pm - Bridge Lessons 8:30 pm - Christmas Carols - directed by Sgt Boger accompanist Cpl Lang WED, DEC 19 - 2:30 - 4:30 pm - Have your fortune told by Woody 8:00 pm - Pinochle Tournament 9:00 pm - Baksheesh Drawing - prize. 9:00 pm - Quiz Auction - Bid for prize. THURS, DEC 20 - 7 - 10 pm - Dart Tournament - prizes. 8:30 pm - Impromptu Theater 8 - 10 pm - Bridge Tournament FRI, DEC 21 - 7 - 10 pm - Sculpture by Trego 7 - 9:30 pm - Bingo |
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The Tiger Rage is a weekly publication edited and written by and for the Enlisted Personnel and Officers of APO 492, Air Service Command and is under the direction of the Commanding Officer, Colonel Glenn C. Thompson and the Public Relations Officer, Lt. Col. Edward D. Dixson. STAFF: EDITORS... Pfc. Eugene Bernald and Pfc. Johnnie Leonard; NEWS ... Cpl. George Bingham; ART... Sgt. Fred J. Bohrman; PHOTOGRAPHY... Cpl. "Tiny" Klein. Statements or policies reflected through the columns of this publication under no circumstances are to be considered those of the United States Army. Articles submitted by Officers and Enlisted Men represent personal opinions only.
DECEMBER 15, 1945
Adapted from the original issue of Tiger Rag
(Ten pages plus four Anniversary Pictorial Review pages numbered S1-S4.)
Copyright © 2019 Carl Warren Weidenburner
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