Joe Minton Fun on The Irrawaddy

Does anyone recall who the ring leader was who thought up the scheme of using cut-down British assault boats with their big Evinrude outboards for water skiing on the Irrawaddy? Some ‘ex-Floridian dreamed' this one up in Myitkyina - probably Clark? All I remember was the brave..souls yelling "hit it" then disappear in a Niagara Falls-like plume of Irrawaddy; usually only the nose showed for 50 yards. Things went along pretty well until the Brits started tracking down the missing equipment.

And, speaking of the Irrawaddy, who remembers the red letter day some of our intrepid tent mates decided that they had to get a great tan before they returned Stateside? Simple right, NO. They had to do it the hard way. First they took their air mattresses and set them up in the shallows, then they tied them to the bank, or something on the bank and then they were going to let out enough line to get out from under the tree shadows. Simple, maybe. The complicated part was that they wanted a tan all over. No women around, no sweat. So, sans clothes, these guys were blissfully snoozing while rocking gently on the big river. Something (more likely someone?) went wrong -- and unbeknownst to them---the flotilla was headed South. The trip ended when they bumped into one of the pontoon bridges down toward the field hospital. Awakened to loud laughter and cat calls they were hauled in; great tans -- 2nd/3rd degree burns on some - and in the wrong places? Most embarrassing was the trip through the area to the hospital. I don't recall anyone trying that again? Great idea though.

From 'Bedtime Stories' Adapted by Joe Minton, from his memories of the old war stories of the 15th Combat Cargo Squadron Heroes March 2000

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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