July 7, 1943 – Base Icebox

There had been a fear that the Japanese would assault the base but as time passed without this happening most at the base wondered why. The reason was soon obvious, the Japanese felt that the weather and lack of supplies would kill them. And even if they survived they were not a threat. Why should they waste the men in the hostile environment? And after some time the men at Base Icebox weren’t really sure the Japanese weren’t right. It was bad enough now, and this was summer!

The afternoon radio message brought some news. They should expect a supply drop on July 9. They should be ready to move the supplies quickly. They were asked to provide a list of critical items, the planned lift had a little over 5000 pounds of extra space available. They were amazed at the amount that had been designated. They passed back the list of items that they needed and hoped. The last message before the drop notified them that four men would be dropped with the supplies. The commander was concerned about that news. This would mean four more mouths to feed. The four more men to house was not a problem. This would actually help because the men produced heat and they wouldn’t have to open another living space for just four of them, but they would need more fuel oil to melt snow for water. Fuel oil was probably the most critical commodity but they were already looking like they would be short on everything. This kind of help they did not need.

July 9, 1943 – Base Icebox.

They heard the engines then saw forty five C-54’s in a scattered formation coming in from the east. Nobody expected a force of this size. Everyone had expected a force of four to six planes. They overflew the base then turned and made another pass. Parachutes billowed and the packages came down. The men began picking them up and moving them to the storage areas. Over half of the parcels contained either food or fuel. Several contained aviation gasoline. Others contained arms, ammunition, new radios, radio spare parts, medicine, clothing, batteries and spare parts for the machinery. Two small gasoline and two diesel generators were included. The last plane made it’s drop then made a second pass and six parachutes blossomed out. The men were brought to the commander.