B Hardt Introduction

I was assigned to the 1^st Combat Cargo Group, 4^th Combat Cargo Squadron as a replacement. The 4^th CCS was stationed at Sylhet, India. I was a Radio Operator Airman. This area is now Bangladesh. From there, we went to Burma (now Myanmar) to supply the British Army with food, clothing, ammunition and other supplies.

We started the campaign in North Burma and ended with the capture of Rangoon. Then, we were sent to China for the same duties for the Chinese Nationalist Army.

When the advancing Japanese were advancing, we retreated to India. As the war progressed, we were reassigned back to Kunming, China. When the war ended, we were stationed in Chungking, the wartime capitol of China.

I accumulated about 4000 hours of combat time, survived two plane crashed without injuries. The first crash occurred when we became lost in bad weather on our way to Chengtu, China. We ran out of fuel and crashed. Ironically, we had on board 600 gallons of fuel designated for a B-29 base under construction.

The second crash, I was a passenger on an ATC (Air Transport Command) C-54, a four (4) engine aircraft. We left Kunming, China and had just cleared the Himalayans (The Hump) when we lost two engines due to fuel contamination. We crashed in an abandoned airstrip in Burma. We were evacuated later and flew to Calcutta prior to discharge in the States. We arrived 44 days later on a Victory Ship landing in Bremerton, Washington for the trip home.

William (Bill) Hardt, Radio Operator, 4^th Combat Cargo Squadron March 1999

I am looking for former members of the 3rd Combat Cargo Group, 1st, Combat Cargo Group, 2nd Combat Cargo Group and the 4th Combat Cargo Group. In fact I would like to hear from anyone who flew over the Hump during WW II, or flew any Combat Cargo Missions at any time (Berlin Air-Lift, Korea, etc.)

Please e-mail comment, suggestions, corrections,etc to: bill@comcar.org

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