OUR CORRESPONDENT
Itanagar: Officials and fellow men from 25th Fighter Squadron from US Air Force on Sunday visited the ‘Hump Museum’ in Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat and paid homage to fallen heroes.
Many Airmen of 25th Fighter Squadron nicknamed ‘Assam Draggins’ of the US Air Force lost their lives during World War-II, as many aircrafts crashed in the mountainous areas of present-day Arunachal Pradesh.
We are here to pay homage to airmen who lost their lives during World War-II, said Lt Col Justin ‘Riot’ Davis.
Aside from Lt Col Davis, captain Nivruth Maramreddy and a unit of the 25th Fighter Squadron is also here.
“We are delighted and touched by visiting this beautiful museum to pay homage to our fellow airmen, who lost their lives while flying for the allied forces from Assam to Yunnan province of China via Arunachal Pradesh,” an official said.
The Assam Draggins flew its first aerial combat mission over the Hump on September 25, 1942, flying a combat escort mission.
After the squadron moved to Dinjan in Assam, combat activity increased. It was here that the 25th picked up the name ‘Assam Draggins’.
The squadron’s military aircraft transported nearly 6,50,000 tonnes of supplies like fuel, food, and ammunition.
Some 650 aircraft crashed while negotiating the terrain and extreme weather conditions in their combat mission over ‘the Hump’ while flying for the allied forces from Assam to Yunnan in China.
The pilots of the Allied forces flying from airfields in Assam to those in Yunnan nicknamed the route ‘The Hump’ because their aircraft had to navigate deep gorges and mountains rising beyond 10,000 feet.
In 2016-17, the US Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA) deployed a team for 30 days in search of remains of unaccounted-for American airmen.
The remains of about 400 US airmen are believed to be located in the Himalayas in the northeast, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Hump air route passes over Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, Myanmar, and Yunnan (China).
‘The Hump’ World War-II museum (remembering the ‘Aluminium Trail’) here at Pasighat was opened for public after chief minister Pema Khandu and US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti inaugurated ‘The Hump WWII Museum’, the second museum in Asia on November 29, 2023.
It’s an honour to welcome Lt Col Davis and his unit to the Hump Museum, Pasighat, Hump Museum management team and Abor Country Travels & Expedition, who coordinated and facilitated the visit, John Tayeng said.
He said 81 years later, the Assam Draggins returned to Assam and to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh to pay homage to fallen heroes of the war.
The Hump museum director Oken Tayeng said that the museum is now gradually becoming a favoured tourist destination.
Many foreign and domestic tourists regularly visit the museum, the Mebo legislator said. EOM
Also Read: US ambassador to inaugurate ‘Hump World War II’ museum in Arunachal Pradesh (sentinelassam.com)
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