The Air Force Academy ATC Memorial

At the Air Force Academy, there is what is known as a Memorial Wall with plaques honoring various Air Force groups and operations. Through the efforts of the ATC Hump Pilots, Ltd., there now exists a plaque on that wall honoring the pilots of the HUMP operation, and especially those who died on the "rock pile". The following is the text of the dedication speech delivered by Lt. Col. Arthur W. Sutton Jr., who also authored the "Short History of the HUMP" on one of the above pages.

Col. Sutton's address:

Colonel Burke, Chaplain Henry, Mr. Hanchey, Honored Friends and Guests, Members of the Air Transport Command Hump Pilots Ltd., and our Ladies;
Returning home from our reunion in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Wayne and Eva Poole stopped here at the Academy and saw the memorial wall and thought that we should have a plaque honoring the HUMP PILOT here. Today, we are gathered to dedicate that plaque.

The Burma Road was closed in April 1942, thus ending the last surface connection for supplies to China. America, however, was determined to keep China in the war. In February, 1942, even before the closing of the Burma Road, General Arnold had advised President Roosevelt that an Air Route to China must be developed. The President agreed and informed Chiang Kai-shek such a route would be developed and the Army Air Corp. started flying what became known as the HUMP. But it was a bumpy start as the various Theater commanders between the ZI and India, and in India, often diverted the meager resources allocated for the supply of China to other use. In December, 1942, the Air Transport Command, as directed by the President, took full command of the HUMP operation, reporting directly to Washington. Theater commanders no longer could divert, interfere with, or had any control of the Air Transport Command. The primary mission of the new India-China Wing of the Air Transport Command was the supply of China, with return loads of strategic material. Unfortunately, the air route between India and China was not over Kansas type terrain. Between India and China lay the spine of the Himalaya Mountains. Combined with that, this is a part of the world where three mighty air masses converged to make the worst flying conditions in the world. There is a contradiction here; we all remember when Colonel, later General, Hardin gave us the word that there was no weather on the HUMP, and we would fly 24 hours a day, every day. Unlike other Air Force operations, the HUMP pilot was a loner; he did not fly in vast formations guided by powerful radio and radar. After take off, he was alone with very few, very weak and very unreliable radio navigational aids to help him. Who remembers ever raising the beacon at Fort Hertz or Likyang? The HUMP pilot was forced to rely on his skill, intuition, and the Grace of God. He flew his missions in spite of the terrain, weather, and a determined enemy, in planes that were unarmed, overloaded, and woefully underpowered. At the Arcadia conference between Roosevelt, Churchill, and the Anglo-American Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CBI theater was given the rating, among all the theaters of operation, as being the least important. Because of this rating, the HUMP operation was on the tail end of the list to receive equipment or supplies. At his home Base, the HUMP pilot lived under conditions that can, at best, be described as marginal; primitive housing, constant heat and humidity, poor food, few or no recreational facilities, slow mail service; where the Kraite and Cobra were not uncommon, and Malaria, Dengue Fever, Cholera, and Dysentery were always a threat. Never the less, the Air Transport Command HUMP Pilot contributed inordinately to victory in the Pacific, but he was never accorded the recognition and credit he was truly due. Unglamorous as the flying of transports may have seemed, it was because of the materiel he delivered, both to the Chinese and to the 14th Air Force, that enabled them to tie down over a million of the enemy's troops that could have been well used elsewhere in the Pacific against our advancing forces. The denial of these troops to the enemy hastened the advance toward Japan itself and saved the lives of untold numbers, perhaps thousands, of American Soldiers and Marines.

At this time I ask Dave Dailey to come and remove the veil from our Plaque.

ON THE HUMP THE AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND HUMP PILOT ESTABLISHED A RECORD OF BRAVERY, PILOTING SKILL, AND DEVOTION TO DUTY THAT SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN. TO THAT END WE VERY PROUDLY DEDICATE THIS PLAQUE, HONORING THE AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND HUMP PILOT AND ESPECIALLY HONORING AND REMEMBERING THOSE PILOTS AND CREWS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN MILITARY HISTORY'S FIRST STRATEGIC AIR LIFT.

(Dave Daily's name was selected in a drawing among those present for the dedication, and was unknown to Col. Sutton until the time he was asked to come forward.)