OSS CBI Photobook 11, Part 2 - Calcutta, and Transition to Camp, continued

In the bottom half of this page, below, we examine the photos on the assumption that they are placed  in deliberate order, as I always do first.  Top row, left to right: B-24 bomber; cart in rural area drawn by a Chinese-style horse; big city.

But the B-24 and the big city are from one roll of film, I infer from the yellow tinge to the prints.  The other five are from another roll of film, with no yellow tinge.

So one hypothesis is that these big-deal OSS guys got a plane, instead of a train, from Calcutta to a rest camp to the northeast, in the direction of the hard-won trailhead of the Stillwell Road: Ledo.

Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber,
identified for us by kind friends.

This is to the northeast: high, rural Assam or Nagaland.

So where could this rest camp be?

          Nagaland: Kohima?

          Assam: Dibrugarh, on the Brahmaputra River?

          Nagaland: Ledo itself?

That's a big ol' camera
in his buddy's right hand.
Kind friends have helped identify
it as a Graflex Speed Graphic.

Note the dagger and the wristwatch,
both standard in the OSS kit.
This is Frenchie, Albert Robichaud.

Here's Dad with one of the cameras we saw
him using in Washington, D.C., in November 1944.
It is a Graflex Speed Graphic,
model "Anniversary."

Besides the dogtags and the bracelet,
we still have that wristwatch.

So, dear friends, if you know someone who has been through something big, talk with them and get the details while you can.

Z

OSS CBI Photobook 11, Part 1 - Calcutta, and Transition to Camp

Page 11 of the Photobook transitions from
further Calcutta scenes, to air transport,
to a base camp somewhere.

Page 11, top half.

Gene sits in the center of this trio.
Note the insignia on his left shoulder.

I'm sure he liked the reflected image on the shiny paint
on the side of the bus, plus the contrasting modes of transport.
Persuasive ad: "Be Tailored at Kamalalaya Ld."

Note the coconuts at the lower left.

Can someone identify this gate?
What is that critter on the top?

Pretty long snout for a lioness.

OSS CBI Photobook 10, Part 2 - Calcutta

Page 10, scan of bottom half

I can't see his face,
but judging solely from the posture
I would say that is Dad.
Besides, former Altar Boy Eugene Zdrojewski
would know precisely what to do
with an empty statuary niche.

Early 1945.

The cinema poster features a movie star who looks like
Bollywood's answer to Vivian Leigh.

Binota Bose is my guess.
This is off the internet, not in the Photobook.
Let me know if you have a better ID
of the movie star in the billboard above.

Coming up: transition from Calcutta to a base camp somewhere, or perhaps some time travel I have in mind.

Z

OSS CBI Photobook 10, Part 1 - Calcutta

Presumably they disembarked, rested some, and prepared for the train trip north to a staging area at the start of the Ledo Road.

Scan of Page 10, top half.

#1 at left, and #2, and #4 look familiar.
Have we seen them before,
at the LA train station
or on that speedboat to Catalina?
Our EJZ is #5.
Who is taking the photo?

The statue and steeple should be
identifiable landmarks,
but I have not verified them yet.

This image is in fact a continuation
of the top right corner of the image above it.

More next time - Z