Imphal, The Hump and Beyond 
Imphal, The Hump and Beyond
U.S.A.A.F. Combat Cargo Groups of the Second World War
3rd Combat Cargo Group, 12th Combat Cargo Squadron
Unofficial 12th Combat Cargo Squadron Patch
| John Basarab, Jr. 3rd Combat Cargo
Group, 12th Combat Cargo Squadron Sept. 17, 1998 Dear Bill, The 53rd HPA Reunion is over, and its back to business as usual which involves getting my reunion promises and commitments cleaned up as soon as possible. First among them is the 12th Combat Cargo Squadron Patch which you requested, and I promised to send you, I'll give you the story behind this patch once again since you got the story at the reunion in competition with a lot of background noise and interruptions. At the Scottsdale, AZ, reunion back in Sept. 1987, the guys from the 12th were all gathered in my hotel room following one of the HPA dinners. We were all sipping drinks and "chewing the fat" when Al Gardner said, "Do you know why our squadron members at the HPA reunions aren't as high-spirited and cohesive as some of the members of the other Combat Cargo Squadrons? It's because our squadron never had an official insignia." There were several different insignias that a few of the guys had made up and sewed onto their flight jackets when they were in town, but none was official. So At Gardner suggested that we individually work up a candidate insignia during the following year and send it to Harold Crackel who volunteered to collect them all and present them at the following year's reunion at Niagara Falls. My son Doug and I worked up the enclosed patch and submitted it to Harold during the year. The theme behind the patch was to try to depict in some way the various tasks that we performed. The patch shows a parachute carrying down a bundle of supplies, and it represents the supply drops that we made to Gen. Slim's British 14th Army in Burma, our initial primary mission. Later we flew over the Hump carrying supplies (mainly fuel and ammunition through all kinds of bad weather, and hence the mountains and clouds over the top of the propeller and the fuel drum and ammunition to either side of it. When we met at Niagara Falls, and held a meeting among the members of the 12th, it turned out that the patch which you now have was the only one submitted, and everyone present voted on its acceptance as the unofficial patch for the 12th Combat Cargo Squadron. Most of the members who were not present at that particular reunion and saw the patch later accepted it. But a few griped that we should have solicited the entire group of members from the 12th, including the inactive ones who never attend the reunions. Had we done that, we stilt would not have had a patch today. That's the story behind the patch. Hope that you can successfully scan it and download it onto your website. We enjoyed seeing you at the reunion and look forward to seeing you at future ones. Warmest regards, John Basarab |
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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 Imphal, the Hump and Beyond Copyright © 1999 Bill Bielauskas All rights reserved. Notice to all Viewers: All stories and images within "Imphal, The Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F Combat Cargo Units of the Second World War", are Copyright ©1999, to the Veteran who submitted the text and/or photographs and to Bill Bielauskas, Webmaster at "Imphal, the Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F. Combat Cargo Units of the Second World War". All rights reserved. No part of this page, or those connected via links, either text, or images may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Storage, reproduction, modification on a retrieval system or transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Copyright © holder(s) is prohibited. This includes storage on another Internet Website other than "Imphal, the Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F. Combat Cargo Groups of the Second World War" Bill Bielauskas 10 Cayuga Trail, Wayne, NJ. 07470-4406 |