VOCES Oral History Project

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I volunteered to go overseas, where I went it was all volunteers, the people that was flying what is called The Hump. The Hump is the Himalaya Mountains the tallest mountains in the world. It was in those days, it was just volunteer because not too many would come back. More than 1,000 airman and 600 transport planes were lost. It was nothing for a plane to, what they call air pockets, just drop 500 feet, it was terrible. We had three routes to fly, but, one you could go through the mountains but there was Japanese fighters so you had to put up with them so most the times we chose to fly over the mountain because the Japanese couldn’t go that high. But the problem was that the wings of the planes would get ice. All you could see was the snow and the mountains. It was scary. I've seen the pilot, many a time, the planes In those days, they were not pressurized you had to use an oxygen mask. So we had to use these oxygen masks for a long time. For hours. And, it was cold, very cold, but I have seen pilots, sweat, I mean sweat cold, being scared because many times they didn’t think we were going to make it because of the ice and conditions.Yeah, it was, it wasn't a pleasant [laughs] trip! (Interviewer: It wasn't a pleasant trip!) It was bad. And for those, that for what I did I was awarded for 150 combat hours flying hours, I was awarded the Air Medal, and then the second medal for 300 flying hours I was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which is one of the highest medals that you can get. And I’m very proud to have served my country.

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