October 1942

Harold Jensen graduated of 1941. After graduation he went to Hill Air Force Base in Ogden. He and the others there, were some of the first employees at Hill Air Force Base. In June he decided to quit. Harold then went to military camp in Tooele. After a little while he decided to quit. He decided to go back to school, he went to the University of Utah in 1942. Around October of 1942 he was called to go into the Air Force as a navigator. They were not active until March 29, 1943. In Kearns they trained for two months. In those two months they had to wear civilian clothes, because they had no uniforms. On the May 22 they shipped out to Denver, Kansas. Then they went to St. Paul, Minnesota in September of 1943. When they left for California he got food poisoning. He was sick on the bus all the way to California. Two weeks after they arrived in California he got bronchial pneumonia. During his time with his sickness he got a hernia from the coughing. He was hospitalized for an operation. While he was in the hospital, some of the other navigators were sent to battle on the front lines. He was in the hospital through the Christmas of 1943. 

After he recovered they discontinued the flying officers. In February he went from California to Colorado to be a gunner for the big airplanes. To be a gunner you had to be 6 ft. or under, they would hit you in the stomach with a hammer and if you went over the 6 ft. mark you couldn't be a gunner. 

He came back to Gunnison for his Jr. Prom, he only missed one Jr. Prom in the 3 years he was in the war. He then was sent to a replacement depot in Florida around May,for preparation to be in war. In September he left Florida. He was sent to camp Byhon, which was also a replacement camp. 

He then boarded the USS General Anderson, it was a huge ship, it had 1,400 troops. They had to shower with home made soap, which wasn't very often. On the ship they sailed around in circles so the Japanese couldn't hit them. They went to Melbourne Australia. 

Harold had turned 21 that year. Then they went east to Bootagya India, it was a dirty old place they cleaned it up. They waited there to be placed for one to two months. Then some of them went to Dacca and then to Citagon on the east coast of India. They then repaired airplanes. He was assigned to a British combat group to supply them by air. He was in India in the prettiest beach but the water was full of sting ray and jelly fish. It only took a few guys going in for them to stay out of  the water. While in Cos Bazaar the British recaptured Raygoon. 

Harold and a friend were walking into town to get some dental work done. While in town they were playing  cards and some men walked up to them and asked them if they could finish that game on a plane and they said, "Why not?!" After they loaded the plane and landed they were unloading some metal forms. Some British wanted to know what they were doing, and wanted to know what group they were with. They told them they were with Abbits Rabbits. The British asked if they had to go back and they said, “No.” They went to Raygoon.  They were the first Americans in Raygoon. They were wandering around and a British man asked where they were staying and they said, “We don't have a place to say.” He invited them to stay the night at the British headquarters. They treated them very well.  They  gave them food and backpacks. 

They decided to start up a bar and they served liquor there. By the bar there were these really ugly palm trees they wanted some sap. They cut the trees to get some. The sap that is in these certain trees is called turpentine, some of the men drank it and it killed them.  Many people came to the bar, they kept it going for two years.  They left on the last plane out of India. The  bar was shipped to a new destination.  The war ended in August. Harold was in Chitigon. They were on a boat. They were catching crab, and he got scratched on the arm. The scratch wouldn't heal because of the moisture from the ocean.  They went to the information booth where two boys his age were working there. They got flight information, to fly from Calcuta to Tamsmaha. 

After the flight they got on the USS Martin, it was a large ship. There were 3,500 troops. They went back around the tip of India. They sailed into New York harbor because the ship was having trouble. They told them where to go.  Because of all the wreck ships it was hard to get in. They sailed into Manilla and it was filled with sunken ships. They were in the bay for three days to fix the ship. They went to the Martial islands to pick up stranded people. They were living on macaroni and Jell-O for ten days. They were the first ship to sail in the Golden Gate. They spent 36 hours in Arizona. They flew back to Utah. The war had been over for five months when they finally made it home.