European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 30, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Indian riverboat while the fighting War ecu still going on in Burma and gis kept military supplies moving by tugboat along India by Jud Cook yank staff correspondent the Battle of even when there was Active War against the japs in Burma offid in was a Battle of a War of Supply and of waiting with occasionally an air raid and always the strangeness of the country to remind you that you were overseas because there was a world conflict the Story that follows record of part of that War of the a Lazy Progress of a i Barge towing the two diesel engines on River tug 810 churned just fast enough to keep her in place As she waited for a freighter to come through the locks at the Calcutta on her starboard Side she was towing a loaded Barge which the deck hands had just lashed this was 810s first voyage in Indian and this was to be her Maiden rip on duty along the Ganges River gasoline shed been used against the japs in the and the i manned her were Battle who had served of in Africa and or with merrills marauders in there were eight of these i men and ship were playing a new role i this serving behind the lines against the yet battling an enemy of their their enemy was the Ganges River with its Delta tributaries which rive men claim have the fastest running tides in the and swirling which have probably swallowed the bodies of More rive men than any other of the worlds great three of the Crew sat around the Galley up to that time their conversation was about the its the tug they were ship Ping the Load of High octane they were to deckhand t5 Paul Sallee of changed the subject into the familiar i he made some remarks about the women of India and then drifted into a narrative about How he finally succeeded in win Njg a wac the Presho Ingoff tension vanished As the men listened to him Tell of his courtship and finally of his they laughed when he came to the part about his a Ganges River in the Bow of Hie Indian gets ready to come aboard the it then i get cheated out of he she goes and gets herself restricted to the company a Sharp blast on the tugs Horn ended the redheaded deck hands the 810 was under and the men went out on deck to watch her pass through the they watched the Busy ship traffic in the Calcutta Basin slowly slip behind them As the 810 chugged then they settled Back to to face three Days of grinding travel up to their first Stop on the Hooghly the 810 was a pretty goo sized ship and nor Mally carried a Crew twice the size of the one now travelling her up the turgid the eight men aboard knew they were in for a grueling doing twice As much work As normally called for and pulling watches twice As it might not be so bad on the Lazy but after they passed Diamond in the Bay of then the Job would get the Hooghly could Cut up a when the Monsoon on the third night 810 tied and Early the next morning it was still dark when the oilers and deck hands rolled out of their sacks to hit the fuel for the tedious journey to the gasoline run had to be taken what should have been a Hal Days detail had run into the loaded Barge was left a few Miles Down and the 810 pulled up to a military jetty to get her Oil by mid morning about Gallons had been siphoned into the tugs after tanks and the fuel ing appeared to be progressing according to but the Bottom fell out of the schedule a half hour later when the Crew found itself embroiled in a ran pulling argument they was a common occurrence along India steam ship the it 810 tangled with a freighter which wanted to fuel up the freighter had the harbormaster aboard and won the argument Over the 90ton tug Oil was shut off temporarily from the 810 while the freighter the it 810 finished taking on fuel by the next morning through a makeshift Oil Hose tapped into the regular line and Strung the barges to which she was there was Little time for the Crew to catch up on sack and there was a Long list of Small but important things to be done on the the engines pumps had to be cleaned fender ropes needed the spotlight for night runs was out of after the the 810 went Back to pick up the Barge she had left and by that night she was running in the open Waters of Diamond her nose was headed across India Long fingers of parallel Rivers that wriggle their Way into the Bay of these were new ways for the 810 but not for her most of whom were old hands at push ing gasoline through these Waters with sea two gis had died in these on the Ganges itself no one could Ever be sure that a sea mule would bring its Tow Load of gasoline to the planes that carried some of the Gas Over the Hump into the men called it Success just to keep their ships and barges pointed in the right direction when the tide was running keeping a vessel and its Tow under control even though there is no headway was considered a Good Job of Sam minor of an Oiler on the had been one of the Crew members on a sea mule which was whipped ashore in route by wildly running stirred to a frenzy by High minor and the rest of the Crew were stranded for seven sealed off from Rescue by twisting whirlpools that would have spelled disaster for any Craft under the size of a the men lived on a Hal Case of creations be cause there was no Craft on hand Able to get in close enough to the bigger ships could approach Only just so far before being caught by the treacherous and smaller Craft were bobbed around like minor and his mates were picked up beaten and weak when the River finally calmed the threat of being stranded like this was Al ways those who took seriously ill on the Gas run faced heavy Odds at reaching a Cal Cutta they had to be carried Long Dis Tances along the River to a Railhead before get Ting better Long poor sleepless nights and the aching backs that come from Long tussles with rampaging Rivers crusted the men with a layer of ratings were off and on with traffic Light but the Job got company records show that the monthly aver age of gasoline pushed to its final destination never fell below a Perch up in the millions of on the it 810 the Holder of the highest civil Ian maritime rating held the army he was William Mcna uen of who had the papers of a chief Engineer for in land Waters and was licensed As a second assistant steam he was the 810s chief assistant in the engine the Crew of the 810 on this trip were about half divided in shipping Mcnallen and Kenneth Niemala of a deck were old Sallee had once worked on a pleasure while Simmons Fonzo of had had some experience on a River the first Leroy Alford of was strictly a landlubber before he joined his har Bercraft two civilians completed the the skipper was army transport service seek Brandon of the Indian River Pilot was Ahmed Ali there were several in Dian who relieved each other along the each with his own special knowledge of the immediate when Diamond Harbor was finally it threw the first curve at the the tide was running with the Barge she was towing instead of hugging to her Side As the 810  Muster enough strength to match the currents her engines ran at full Speed for four solid but the Best the 810 could do was to keep the tide from pushing her she didst move 10 Yards in All that she was stuck in a Lane of Ocean freighters that blew so Many warning signals it sounded like new years by Nightfall she was Able to make some headway but Only to emerge from one beating and head right into Indian men and women coolies haul tins of Oil to a Barge while a River tug Waits to take on