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Our Correspondent
Mokokchung, Aug. 12 (EMN): The Molungkimong Village Council (MVC) held a memorial service to mark the 77th anniversary of the crash of a United States Army Air Forces plane on August 11. The service was held at the crash site where a memorial was erected and dedicated by the village council on December 22, 2020.
The plane, an F-7A Photo Reconnaissance Liberator with tail number 42-64189, crashed on August 11, 1944, during WWII while flying on a combat mission from Jorhat in India to Kunming in China. All the 12 persons on board were killed in the crash.
The plane belonged to the 24th Combat Mapping Squadron based in Gushkara in West Bengal and its role was to take aerial photography of uncharted enemy territories which would then be used to make detailed maps crucial to winning the war. On that fateful day, it was carrying three passengers along with cargoes comprising gasoline, bombs and ammunition.
China was completely surrounded by Japanese forces and the only way to keep the supplies flowing to Chinese and American forces stationed was through the 550 miles air route through the Himalayan Mountains from airfields in Assam to Kunming in China.
The altitude, extreme weather condition, icy wind and presence of Japanese fighters made the route perilous and American pilots have named it ‘The Hump.’ Chick Marrs Quin, in her book ‘The Aluminum Trail’ listed more than 700 planes that went down in the course of ‘The Hump’ operation costing some 1,200 lives. Many of them still remain untraced.
At the time of the crash, the hospitality shown to the American search party and the Christian burial accorded by the villagers was something unexpected of a people misconstrued as ‘head hunting savages.’
Details about the crash were unearthed through research in 2020 and efforts were made to inform the relatives in America. Although the relatives and countrymen could not attend the memorial service physically, they took part by sending audio and video messages and also by donating flowers to be placed at the memorial. The Americans expressed their gratitude to India in general and the Naga villagers in particular for the memorialisation efforts and bringing a closure to their fallen relatives, which remained unknown to them for 76 years.
The crew members were First Lieutenant James T Caraway (pilot), Second Lieutenant Raymond Kurzawski (navigator), Second Lieutenant Daniel S Longfellow (co-pilot), Captain Joseph E Haynes, Master Sergeant George B Abbott, Technical Sergeant Glenn B Carnes, Staff Sergeant Leon M Winslow, Staff Sergeant Walter H Jones, Staff Sergeant Alford H Gray, Sergeant AD Whaley, Sergeant Emery D Crouch and Corporal Jerome B Brenner.