Close Call Over Bangkok

Heroes Remember

Close Call Over Bangkok

Transcript

Interviewer: What was the most, closest call that you had? I would say the… over Bangkok. We really didn’t think we were going to make it back. It was quite a surprise, because we had to go over a mountain range. And we were kind of heading for the Karen country. Because at that time, the Karens were more or less on our side if we had enough money to offer them. Otherwise, you went… some of the other, in particular, I think, in Burmese, they tended to turn you in to the Japanese. But, I think that was the closest call. I mean, you’re young, you don’t think of that. You lose good friends, I mean, and that... I think that probably the hardest part. Interviewer: Did you lose many good friends? Oh, quite a few. One in particular, his daughter was here to the meetings, now. I saw her coming in with his widow, Phil MacMaster. They were shot down near Moulmein on a run. But, you know, these things hit you. I think, also, at the end of the, near the end of the war the, most of the crews, we were probably the senior crew there. And you look around the mess, and a lot of people come in new, you didn’t know. You suddenly realize that all the fellows that you knew, very few of them left, you know. You’re kind of [inaudible]. You begin to think then, well, this goes on, we’re probably not going to be out of here.

Description

Mr. Power talks about a dangerous time flying over a mountain range in Bangkok. He also discusses a lost camaraderie named Phil McMaster.

Robert Power

Robert Power was born in 1920, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He grew up in a small fishing village with a one-room schoolhouse. Before enlisting in 1942, Mr. Power studied biochemistry. He served as a pilot in the RAF and spent 26 years in the military. After the war, Mr. Power returned to medicine and became a doctor.

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