Grandfather's Diary CBI

Aug 21 1944 Packed bags for shipment. Got mail. Left camp at 1400 Left Bombay by train at 2130.
Aug 22 1944 Made about 300 miles. British rations. Get 2 poor meals a day. Arrived Negapur at 1500
Aug 23 1944 Stopped at Dhamangoal at 9am for breakfast. Supper at Tunsar at 1845. Natives begging, many deformed.
Aug 24 1944 In hills. Stopped at Bilaspur. Passed many rice fields. Rainy. Engineer railroad gets 120 R's a month. Women coal carriers 4 annas a day.
Aug 25 1944 Land under water. Arrived Hourah Station Calcutta 1300. Red Cross served coffee. Went to camp about 2200. Got in bed at 3am. Rained all time.

 

Aug 26 1944 Around camp (Kanachapura) Records check and physical. Went to bed early. 25 years old today.
Aug 27 1944 Rain. Jackals keep us awake howling. Plenty of monkeys around.
Aug 28 1944 clothing issue in am. Went to movie in open air theatre.
Aug 29 1944 Around camp all day. No detail. Talked to James McGill
Aug 30 1944 Layed around camp. No mail. Rained all day. Pulled guard duty as cpl guard

 

Aug 31 1944 Got pass at 8am and went to Calcutta. Didn't buy anything. Went to movie and Red Cross Burro club
Sept 1 1944 Layed around camp all day. Very hot and sticky. In India there are 3 ways to take care of the dead, one by vultures, another by burning with amount of wood according to wealth throwing ashes in Hoagley and Ganges river (holy river) third by throwing body in river. People die on streets and are picked up in carts and trucks cost of burning 30 rupees ($10) it makes a person sick to watch them. Women bathe in water with ashes.
Sept 2 1944 Very hot. Layed around camp.
Sept 3 1944 Attended church. Hot.
Sept 4 1944 Pulled KP. still hot
Sept 5 1944 Layed around tent all day.

 

Sept 6 1944 Got august pay today. Sent $50 to Mabel. Hot and rainy. Still no mail.
Sept 7 1944 Went to Calcutta today to look for something for Mabel. Didn't find anything. Cost 12 annas for train fair 40 miles.
Sept 8 1944 Very hot. Worked at camp motor pool all day. Went to camp movie in evening.
Sept 9 1944 Hot worked at motor pool hauling steel mats for motor pool yard.
Sept 10 1944 Attended church. Went to Red Cross with McGill
Sept 11 1944 Went to Calcutta in truck. Wild ride. Didnt buy anything. Went to Red Cross Burro club
Sept 12 1944 Worked at motor pool. Still very hot
Sept 13 1944 Storm in afternoon. Worked at motor pool
Sept 14 1944 Storm in afternoon. Layed around tent all day
Sept 15 1944 Put up tent at motor pool for office. Hot and rainy. Saw movie
Sept 16 1944 worked with trucks all day. Hot and rainy. Still no mail from home.
Sept 17 1944 went to church. No mail from home.

 

Sept 18 1944 Left Kanchrapara for Calcutta at 9am on our way to APO 629. Stayed in rail yard all day.
Sept 19 1944 Left Calcutta at 10am and spent day in freight yards. Cloudy and hot.
Sept 20 1944 Rained all night. Train left in morning passed Kanachapara stop at siding in pm. Reached end of broad gauge railroad at night.
Sept 21 1944 Train in freight yards. Station name-Santahar. Stayed in box car all day.
Sept 22 1944 In charge of freight guards. Have 21 cars. stayed at Santhar all day
Sept 23 1944 Still at Santahar. British boy killed loading truck on flat car. Read most of day.

 

Sept 24 1944 Still at Santabar. Went to Indian hospital for ring worm. Got it bad on both legs.
Sept 25 1944 Still at Santahar. made friends with 2 British boys. Curley has no hair but he's still Curley.
Sept 26 1944 read all day. Paid Coolie to do my laundry.
Sept 27 1944 Still at Santahar. Waiting for freight to be put on narrow gauge railroad cars,
Sept 28 1944 Still at Santahar. Very hot and lot of mosquitos. Hindus have celebration watched them celebrate.
Sept 29 1944 Still at Santahar. Ate chips and eggs in Indian canteen. Drank lots of tea.
Sept 30 1944 Had bad storm in evening. Impatient to get moving. Read most of day. Wrote to Mabel.
Oct 1 1944 Equipment transferred. Saw Japs tanks going west. Our tanks going east. Left Santahar 2300. Glad to get moving.

 

Oct 2 1944 On the move all day. See lots of Indian villages. Rode atop of freight cars.
Oct 3 1944 Arrived at Amingaon Crossed Bhramaputra Had supper at Pan Du in Mess Hall. Left late at night.
Oct 4 1944 Rode through mountains all day. Arrived at Lumding at 3pm Had good meal in mess hall. Saw movie there.
Oct 5 1944 Arrived at station. 20 miles from Chabua. Taken to camp in truck. Rained all the time. Arrived in Chabua camp 2am

 

more later

 

Oct 6 1944 Reported to Hdq in pm. Did nothing but write letters home. Got lots of mail.
Oct 7 1944 Drew rifle and 100 rounds. Assigned to Wt. and Bal. dept
Oct 8 1944 Went to work today for first time since left states. Moved to 13th area with Hut.
Oct 9 1944 Worked until 2300 Wrote letters at night. Fair and warm.
Oct 10 1944 Worked all night. Didn't sleep much.
Oct 11 1944 Hot and clear. Off work today. Air raid alert in pm. Bombers didn't get to field.
Oct 12 1944 Japs just a few miles away. Several of our ships chased over hump by zeros.
Oct 13 1944 Anti-aircraft fire over field. It looks like war to me.
Oct 14 1944 Storm during night. No alert today. Food is bad and very little of it.
Oct 15 1944 Went to church. Getting lots of mail each day.
Oct 16 1944 Went to Red Cross club with Hut in evening.
Oct 17 1944 C-46 came in with fuselage shot up. Hump dangerous

 

Oct 18 1944 Went to GI show in evening. Worked all day.
Here is a big empty place in the diary until Dec 31 1944. Everyone celebrated by firing their guns. I don't see much to celebrate about.
Jan 1 1945 Chicken for dinner and roast lamb for supper
Skip to Jan 14 1945 Got my mail from Chabua. Had alot of it. Layed around all day. Took walk into jungle, fell into river and got wet.
Jan 16 1945 Went to Pasighat in afternoon. Had wild ride in truck. Couldn't cross border into Tibet. British guards at mountain pass. Head hunters are wild.
Jan 17 1945 Arrived back at Chabua Ok at 1100. Got mail and read it in afternoon. Had to go to work at 2300. Sure was tired but had to work anyway.

All for now.....

 

Feb 26 1945 Started taking atabrine for malaria
March 6 1945 Chemical warfare and three tents burned. Poison gas was in the air.
March 17 1945 A tent caught fire but didnt burn down.
March 31 1945 C-46 No. 018 crashed near camp. Crew of 3 killed and burned up.
April 1 1945 Attended the Easter sunrise service at NASAC
April 7 1945 Water tower was blown up. No water to wash in.
April 8 1945 Went to Tunsuckia in afternoon. Saw drunken Indian girl.
April 11 1945 2330 Bad storm.Blew tents and buildings away. 5 ships lost. Our tent blew almost down.
April 12 1945 Put up new tent. President Roosevelt died at 4:30PM EWT
April 29 1945 Went to church this morning. Worked until 2300
April 30 1945 Took shots today. Picked up orders at HQ. My arm feels like it is about to fall off.
May 1 1945 Went to Calcutta on the flight 28. Arrived about 8:30pm Went to Red Cross for a bed. Got to bed about 11 that night.
May 2 1945 Went shopping in Calcutta. Didn't buy anything. The place stinks!
May 3 1945 Saw Victoria Memorale. The building was fixed to receive air attack. Saw large Church of England.
May 4 1945 Saw a Kali Temple this morning. The place was filthy. Blood all over the place from goats.

All for now...

 

Hello, been having alot of trouble with the virus warnings, so I switched back over to IE from Firefox to do some of the diary.

 

May 6 1945 Went to English Church this morning. Didn’t like the preacher. It seemed strange very dull. Germans
Surrender
May 7 1945 My three years is up in the army today. I’ll probably have to serve two more years.
May 8 1945 In Calcutta on VE day. Didn’t celebrate very much. A few sailors were drunk,
May 11 1945 Sent 3 photos of myself to Mabel. Mailed them first class.
May 13 1945 Today is our third wedding anniversary. I was at the base. Got my back mail. I miss my wife.
May 15 1945 Went to Calcutta at 0:30 in C-46 Bad storms and bad takeoff made me scared. Arrived at 3:25am. It was raining.
May 16 1945 Went shopping and saw movie “Since You Went Away” Saw Major Melvin Douglas at Red Cross
May 17 1945 Flew back from Calcutta with Capt. Smith. Waited 5hours for plane. Got back to base at 8;30 pm. Tired and hungry.
May 20 1945 A year ago today I left home. It has been a year since I last saw Diane. I don’t miss her like I do Mabel.
May 22 1945 It has been 11 months since I saw Mabel. I sure miss her and Diane. I love her very dearly.
May 24 1945 C-46 0966 crashed, crew killed.

 

May 25 1945 Diane is 17 months old today. She is growing so much that I won’t know her when I get home.
May 27 1945 C-46 #7139 crashed at the edge of camp killing four crew members. I knew the pilot;
May 31 1945 Payday. I stood in line for 1 1/2hours to get what little I had coming
June 3 1945 C-46 6594 crashed
June 5 1945 C-46 #6740 crashed crew killed
June 6 1945 Worked until 2300 met Lt Edmonson who use to be in the 36th Trg. Gp at JB
June 7 1945 Got a package in the mail today from Helen. It had this diary in it. It was mailed 12th of March. Worked until 2300
June 8 1945 Worked until 2300 Felt sick because of the heat. Worked hard and was awful tired.
June 9 1945 My work is getting harder. Got two letters. Worked until 2300 High wind almost blew tent down 137 degrees. HOT
June10 1945 Nothing new. Heat almost unbearable. No mail from Mabel. I go to work at 2300
June 11 1945 Got a sweet letter from Mabel today. It rained tonight but its still as hot as ever.
June 12 1945 It was cooler and I slept much better Last night we lost another ship, 1082, Don’t know about crew.
June 13 1945 Rained part of the day, Slept pretty good. Woke with a headache very tired. Got package from Mabel today

 

June 14 1945 Lost 2 c-46s due to bad weather. Building burned. Got film and 5 letters from home. Chinese executed for treason, heads cut off
June 15 1945 Got 2 letters and picture frames from Mabel. Rained most of the day. Very hot in afternoon.
June 16 1945 got no mail from Mabel. Slept almost all day. It rained as usual hot and sticky. Worked all night
June 17 1945 Just another day. Very hot. Slept until noon woke up with a headache.
June 18 1945 Lost 2 c-46s today. #6594 and 7200. Bad storm caused one to crash. Hut went to hospital. Crews ok but injured
June 19 1945 got one letter from Mabel. Went to movie. Went to see Hut in hospital. Worked hard in heat and sweat.
June 20 1945 No mail today. Hot and rainy. Nothing of importance happened.
June 21 1945 got one letter today. I won a radio tonight but it’ll cost me 120 rupees. I guess I’ll buy it.
June 22 1945 One year ago today was the last time I saw Mabel. I bought my radio. Its swell. Plane crashed about 10 miles from here.
June 23 1945 One letter from Mabel. Took my radio to work. Worked around tent during the day. Its still hot and rainy.

 

all for now....

 

Thanks for posting the diary, very interesting.

 

June 26 1945 I got 4 letters from Mabel. One was very good. Pretty hot, didn't rain. Worked until 1500. Saw movie "Objective Burma"
June 27 1945 C-46 #6608 Missing over hump. No mail from Mabel. Worked until 2300
June 28 1945 No mail today. Nothing new just another hot day. I sure am getting home sick.
June 29 1945 One year ago today was the last time I saw the good old USA. I got three beautiful letters from Mabel.
June 30 1945 Another hot day. Worked hard and sweated. No mail. The waiting is getting worse.
July 1 1945 Worked until 1500. Got one note from Mabel. Just another hot long day for me.
July 2 1945 Worked until 3200. I got three little notes from Mabel. Worked on my tent.
July 3 1945 No mail. Worked on tent. Worked all night. Couldn't sleep because of the heat. Crew found ok on #7235 in Burma
July 4 1945 Fine way to celebrate. C46 #7342 crashed on runway. Crew ok. Worked all night. No mail. Just another hot stinky day.

 

more later...

 

Sorry no new posts, very busy lately and no free time. Will add to this soon I promise.