大象传媒

BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES:
SERVING IN THE FAR EAST -JANUARY 1943 to JULy 1946
BY THOMAS E. NuTT
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It was probably about April or May 1944 that we had a visit from the force's sweetheart, Vera Lynn. We were then stationed at Agartala, not far from the Burma border. This visit was very important. She spent the whole day in the camp, having a midday meal with us in the dining room. We had photographs taken with her afterwards and in the evening she sang the old songs we loved. The two favourites were "We'll meet Again" and "The White Cliffs of Dover". It was a great morale boost and as well as that many of us hadn't seen a white woman in months. I was lucky enough to see and hear her again. She was giving a concert for the Army when we were on one of our journeys to the North West Frontier Peshawar -but there were hundreds at the concert there and the personal touch was lost. At Agartala the visit was for our squadron alone -probably less than one hundred men.

We had another famous visitor, Frederic Mills -a light heavy weight-boxing champion who came to the camp and put on a boxing exhibition with a sparring partner, AI Robinson -a North of England champion. At that time Mills was probably the best-known boxer in Britain, if not the world. They stayed a couple of days and put on their shows in the evening. This type of entertainment was very much appreciated and broke the normal routine of Housie-Housie and such like.

Every year it was compulsory for all personnel to take a break for one week at one of the hill stations. This was on top of normal annual leave of two weeks. There was a rest camp at Darjeeling and it could be reached by train. The last leg of the journey was on a small narrow gauge railway which wound its way up and around the hills. About ten of us would go at anyone time. The town of Darjeeling is in West Bengal, close to the border of Sikkim. The weather was cold and bright and it was great to get away from the sticky heat of the lowlands. We were able to hire ponies for the week for just a few rupees. Every morning the ponies were saddled up and got ready for us and we were able to got out for long rides along the mountain paths. A favourite past-time was to ride down a path along the railway for about a mile and race the train into town. The ponies were fed by their owner when we were having our lunch and left ready for us to ride again in the afternoon. They were taken away in the evenings and brought back again in the morning. In the evenings we mostly stayed in playing cards, but occasionally went to the cinema. By rising early in the morning and walking to the top of a hill, known as Tiger Hill, on the outskirts of the town it was possible to get a clear view of the top of Mount Everest above

The climate being cool we had to wear heavier clothes than what we were used to. Khaki trousers and an Army type pullover were favoured by most. I didn't have any of these items so before I left Agartala I went to the stores to obtain them and a couple of heavy shirts. I was able to get the shirts and trousers, but the clothing store man -an airman called Adams from Northern Ireland -told me that he was completely out of pullovers. The only thing he had was a Canadian cardigan. I took it and worn it on all my leave from then on. I even wore it at home after I was demobbed.

Simla and Nani Tal were both hill stations north of Delhi and a long way from Assam. I didn't visit Simla but I went on leave with a friend to Nani Tal in 1945. There again the weather was glorious -cool and bright.

We stayed with a doctor and his wife in their bungalow. The food and the rooms were perfect and through the couple we were
.introduced to some of the local people. There was a lake and a rowing boat and we spent most of the holiday on the lake. Some people visited the Taj Mahal. At the time I did not know anything about it or its history -so because of ignorance and lack of knowledge I did not see it until I was seventy.

From about April 1944 the squadron was very busy. There was intense fighting resulting in big losses on both sides at Imphal and Kohima, and this meant that we were dropping supplies almost around the clock. When the planes were loaded the seats were folded up and the supplies, food, clothing, ammunition, money and so on were stacked along the I length of it. Two airmen pushed the various items up to the door and two pushed them out. Some of the items had parachutes attached, some had not. The two people at the I door had lines attached to a belt around their bodies and the line was attached to a wire which ran the full length of the plane. The men at the door had to be very close to the I door. On one trip one man fell out and dangled for some time below the plane until he was dragged back in again. He was off work with shock for a few weeks.

At the end of March 1944 General Wingate was killed while flying as a passenger in an American plane in very severe weather conditions. It was a great shock to everyone as he seemed so indestructible. He was the person who maintained that British and Indian troops could survive and fight in the jungle just as well as the Japanese. In February 1944 Wingate had landed well behind the enemy and destroyed railways etc cutting off enemy supplies. To his superiors at various times, generals Slim, Gillard, Auchinleck and Mountbatten he was arrogant, insufferable and untidy but he always had the backing of Churchill. To his juniors he was an inspired military leader.

Later in the year when the Japanese had been pushed back, it was decided that small detachments should be sent to other airfields closer to the Burma border as the British and American forces were fighting to clear the Japanese out of Burma. I went on one detachment to Silchar, a small place north of Agartala. It was much nearer to Imphal and we were able to make drops to forward troops in Burma. The facilities were very primitive. My only outstanding memory of this place was that most of us grew beards -we couldn't be bothered shaving. The weather was hot and humid and if you got a rest you just lay down and tried to sleep. As well as the heat we had frogs to contend with. Being damp and humid there was a massive undergrowth around the camp area. In the undergrowth there were thousands of frogs. After dark they would all start croaking and before we could even try and get some sleep we had to go out with long sticks and beat the undergrowth to drive off as many as possible -but very often it all started up again as soon as we went back in. On the other hand, however, the fireflies in the area came in very useful. Some people would catch a hundred or so, put them in a jar or a bottle and
they would give off enough light to read by after dark. They had to be released and fresh ones caught every night.

Later in the year two planes, and the usual air and ground crews that accompanied them, joined an American Squadron at Sylett, on the Indian Assam border. It was a marvellous camp. The huts were good, the food was far superior to what we had been used to. There was nightly entertainment, either live or the camp cinema. One Sunday morning some of us were working on the planes on the airfield when an American Padre approached in a Jeep complete with loud haler announcing that there would be a religious service in the canteen at 7 o'clock that evening and after the service there would be a can of beer for all those who attended. A few of us went -I don't remember whether any of us enjoyed the service but we did enjoy the beer!

After a few weeks we had to return to Agartala and leave the luxury of Sylett. On arriving back there was a rum our that the squadron would be moving to the North West Frontier for a rest period. Sure enough one evening the Char Wallah told us that he had it on good authority that we would be going to the North West Frontier in about one week's time and that he would be going with us. The Char Wallah always knew what was happening before anyone else. There was a joke that they knew more about what was going on that the CO. In due course we were officially informed that the squadron would be leaving for Rawalpindi in a few days time. The planes were got ready -it was a long journey. It did not take long to pack up our personal possessions. Everything we had was in a tin box, along with our charpoys and mosquito nets that was all we had. These were packed into the planes on the morning of departure. My only memory of that trip was a sudden commotion of someone shouting Fire! Fire! One man who had been smoking fell asleep and his cigarette set fire to his charpoy. Someone had the presence of mind to open the cabin door and throw it out.

We arrived at a small airstrip not far from Rawalpindi. The climate was vastly different to what we had been used to in Bengal and Assam -very warm, dry and dusty. Bush hats and goggles had to be worn here at all times. Our main flying duty here was training Ghurkha paratroopers. Some one had to travel in the plane with the parachutists. His duty was to open the plane door, confirm that each man's parachute was properly attached to the static line in the plane. There were two lights above the door, green and red. When the plane reached the drop area the pilot put on the green light. Then the soldiers all lined up facing the door. An army officer was in charge. When the red light came on he jumped and the rest followed one after the other at a few seconds interval. At first the jumps were from about 1000 feet and as they progressed this was reduced eventually to 500 feet. The lower the jump, the less likely they were to be shot on the way down. A story was told that one Ghurkha looked out of the plane at 500 feet and remarked that he didn't need a parachute to jump from that height!

Our duties here were not very demanding so we had plenty of free time. Some of my friends went to Srinagar in Kashmir. When they came back they told us about the house boats on the river. The place and the people were very different from India. Kashmir, like a few other states in South East Asia, remained neutral during the war.
While we were here it was decided to form a rugby team. As I played rugby at school I was on the team (I think anyone who had played at all was on the team). We played a few games at Rawalpindi which was about 60 miles away. We always travelled by plane- it was much handier than going by lorry on the dusty roads.

The squadron had a very good football team. It managed to get through to the final of the North West Frontier League. The final was held at Peshawar. On that day five planes took nearly everyone from our squadron to the match.

The natives of the North West Frontier were mainly Patans. They were hostile to British rule and had pre-war kept up attacks on the British Army. Many of the men rode small, hardy ponies and usually had guns strapped across their backs. They were not subservient like the natives of Bengal and other parts of India. We were advised not to leave the camp on our own. A solider who had served in the North West Frontier before the war told us that they had to carry "a gooly chit". He still had the one which had been issued to him in 1938 and showed it to us.

He explained that the natives didn't trust the soldiers, especially where women were concerned. Some soldiers had returned to camp (probably after a weekend drinking) castrated. To put an end to this "gooly chits" were issued to all the soldiers. If they were caught by the natives the chits had a monetary value which could be redeemed from the CO of the camp. It became a standard joke among us when someone went out in the evening to say "Don't forget to take your gooly chit".

We remained at Pindi for about a month and then it was back to the war theatre again. First we headed to our old station at Agartala and then for me it was another detachment to Shillong -north of Agartala and Tezpur not far from the Bramaputra -for a few weeks. It was the monsoon period, probably about August or September 1944. Everything and everywhere was hot and humid -the push was going on to clear the Japanese from Burma -which meant we had to fly no matter what the weather was like. Some of our flying time was taken up with transporting troops into Burma.

Occasionally there would be a VIP on board. One day during the monsoon season when flying was very difficult, we had a general on board. Over the hills we hit an airpocket and the plane plummeted suddenly.

I had been sitting on some luggage at the rear of the aircraft and was thrown forward -landing in the general's lap. I looked up to apologise, but he looked so pale that I got up and said nothing. Air pockets were very common and there was no warning for them. The engine would just make a thrashing sound, and the plane would drop -the whole experience lasted no more than half a minute.

Meanwhile back at Agartala one of our planes crashed on take off one morning. All seven on board, including one of my friends, were killed. They are all buried at a small service graveyard beside Agartala. I remember the funeral was a very sad occasion. Other members of the squadron are also buried there -ones that died of natural causes.

Outside Kohima where some of the fiercest fighting took place there is a simple tablet erected to the memory of those servicemen who were killed. On it is written:

When you go home
Tell them of us and say For your tomorrow
We gave our today.

Our only relief and relaxation at this period was an occasional weekend in Calcutta. It is a beautiful city -broad streets, palaces, memorials a university, two railway stations, a port and an airport. It had a teaming population of two and a half million and it seemed that they were all in the city centre at one time. It was impossible to see the city for the people. While the climate from the end of November to March is very pleasant -the monsoon season from July to October brought high temperatures and unbearable humidity. Many businessmen's families left the city at this time to live in the hill stations.

But for the poor, many were left to live literally on the pavements and as the temperature rose so did the number of deaths on the street. The local newspaper, the Calcutta Statesman, always gave the temperature and the number of corpses picked up daily. Usually the figure was similar -95 degrees Fahrenheit, ninety to one hundred corpses.

Despite the heat the highlight of our day was a visit to a cafe called Firpos in the main street Chowringee. It was always full of British servicemen on leave. Here we could get a splendid meal very cheaply. I usually had a mixed grill. I think without this occasional break we would all have gone mad. A number of the older married men did have nervous breakdowns. Some of these men had received letters telling them their wives were having an affair -they were mostly with American soldiers. This on top of the heat, the rain and the thunder -which started every afternoon in the monsoon season -was just too much for many men and it was too easy to lose control. Some were taken off to "Dulalli", where there was a mental hospital. At that stage I didn't even have a girlfriend so I kept reasonably sane.

Although we were continually being warned about the danger of sex with native women from a disease point of view, some men, usually the older married men would pay a visit to a brothel when on rest or on leave. This was frowned on by the officers and indeed by the men's friends as the risk of syphilis and gonorrhoea was very great. Early treatment satchels were put in convenient places where men went on rest or leave.

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