Tiger Crossing and Gin March
Late July of 1944 brought about significant changes the 3rd Bomb Squadron, when they received orders to move from Moran to Dergaon. The new base was closer to the route they used to fly their B-25s over the “Low Hump” to reach Japanese targets in Burma. As they were making the move, my father, then-Sgt. James H. (“Hank”) Mills, had an encounter that he never forgot. As he was driving along a dirt road in an open weapons carrier transporting equipment, supplies, and two Chinese officers, a full-grown Bengal tiger stepped out of the bamboo thicket ahead. After discouraging the pilots from taking pot shots at the big cat, he made his way to the new base. Soon afterward, the squadron’s enlisted men were required to take “the long drill” from their tents to the flight line, twice each day, in response to the reported theft of two bottles of gin from their commanding officer’s tent. The case soon “petered out” from lack of evidence, and the squadron was declared “ready for operations.”