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| K e n s m e n : 4 3 r d B o m b G r o u p (H), 5 t h A A F | ||
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The following pictures were sent
by Tom Redding, son of the late Floyd Redding.
The younger Mr. Redding's descriptions of the pictures follow, in quotes...  "The pic. at the Red Cross Bomb Dump has all their names on it. It was taken on Apr. 9, 1944 and in my Dad's diary he writes - ' They took our picture in the canteen today. When they asked us our names we all said we were Sgt.'s. Wonder what the folks at home will say about my demotion. Got some ice cream.' He also said on Apr. 7, 1944 - 'Rained last nite so we put up a tent today. They have a Red Cross Canteen here called the 'Bomb Dump' but only E.M. are allowed so took off our shirts and in we go. Played Ping Pong and read.' I think this was at Port Moresby, where the canteen was at. So, it looks like he was making do with what they had!"  "The next pic. is of one of his
R&R orders to Sydney. He said those excursions were something else.
Gathering up whatever they could get their hands on - booze, food,
cigs., etc. to bring back to camp for bargaining. It was a whole
'nother world."
 "Another pic. also shows a poem
that don't know where he got it, but plays up the role of the copilot."
 "]This] pic. shows the back of all
the photos he has that were all confiscated and inspected and stamped
on the back of ea. one showing they passed inspection. I always
wondered about that."
These are newpaper articles written while he was overseas as a copilot. The 1st article tells about where all he was during his military career. Then article 2, tells about a reporter that went on a bomb run with them and what all they encountered then. Then the last pic., is a followup to the previous article that they printed also. They give a good glimpse into the daily lives of the active soldier back then. Click these to enlarge.    |
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