US seeks lost WWII pilots

Mail and Guardian Online ^ | 24 November 2004 17:05 | Sapa-AFP

[Ginifer]

A US official charged with finding missing service members spent two days with Indian officials discussing efforts to find about 416 World War II fliers lost over India, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW and Missing Personnel Affairs Jerry Jennings met Indian officials at the defence and foreign ministries in New Delhi.

"He discussed with Indian government officials joining Department of Defence operations in searching for and recovering remains of Americans who are missing from World War II," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon said it would like to find some 416 US service members who were lost flying supply missions to Asia over the Himalayas, called "the hump."

In all, at least 500 aircraft and 1 200 crew members are still missing from the China, Burma and India theatre in World War II, Jennings said in the statement.

Jennings is in charge of finding the remains of service members and returning them to their families.

[Garattler]

No matter how long or hard it is find them and all other MIA's abd POW's. We will never forget!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My dad was a civilian Hump pilot. He flew 25 missions in a C-46 over the Himalayas, was burned in a crash landing and treated at the Army's San Antonio burn center. He never got Vet's benefits because he was a civilian.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[tarawa]

"Hell hath no fury like flying the Hump."

[Texas Deb]

Absolutely.

Here is a link to more info.

http://www.cilhi.army.mil/

[Texas Deb]

Another related link:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/mia/

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Dad rarely talked about it but did mention how God-awful the storms were as they approached the high point. He mentioned that the Indians who ran the chow line liked nothing better than to give pilots a case of the sh*ts by adding soap to the overwhelming curry dishes they would serve. Enough curry would cover the taste of the soap and it wouldn't "kick in" until a couple hours after take off.

[VOA]

IIRC, Ernest Gann wrote about the terror of flying "The Hump".

I had a girlfriend whose father was a mechanic for planes flying that route in WWII,
based in Djaarling (sp?).
He only talked a little bit about the work...maybe becasue it was as bad for the
flight crews as Gann described.