Burma Star Association - B.C. Chapter
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Jim`s trip to India was somewhat similar to that of Gordon Slark's although he preceded Gordon by some fifteen months. His route was different ‑‑ Dorval, Goose Bay, Reykjavik, Prestwick, Ras el Mal, Castel Benito, Cairo, Habaynya, and finally Karachi.
From Karachi he flew to Nagpur, arriving on August 30th.1943. From there he joined his squadron at Cuttack and started immediately into Operations. After finishing his tour at the end of September 1944 he was posted to Kolar where he stayed until mid January 1945.
While at Kolar, where Jim was instructing, one of the "white kneed" crews that came through included Gordon Slark. The next time their paths crossed was just a few years ago at a "Burma Bombers" reunion in North Vancouver where Jim spotted his name in Gordon’s log book which was on display.
January 1945 found Jim in Bombay and on February 2nd. he literally shipped out, by sea, to . the U.K. For a while there he served with an RAF transport squadron and ‑‑ wouldn't you know it? – his first trip landed him back in Karachi on May 7th.
Next he went to RCAF 426 Squadron, which was an air transport unit, and made several trips back to India. Later that year he joined RCAF 436 squadron flying "Dakotas" on milk runs to the Continent.
As a result of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, which Gordon mentioned in his own recent story, Jim managed to contact 43 members of his old squadron, holding a reunion with six of them in Sydney, Australia in March 1997. In May of that same year he met yet another nine ex-squadron members. Jim has been able to put together a complete picture of sixteen of the original members of 354 Squadron. These pictures and appropriate stories are now in the Trenton museum, but Jim has retained a copy for his own records.
Jim now lives in Westbank, British Columbia, and hopes to get down to see us this summer.