Flying “Over the Hump” with Charles Carmona

Guided by a tattered leather-bound U.S. Armed Forces-issued diary, Charles Carmona (#1136)
will follow the course of his father’s service in the U.S. Army Air Force as a radio operator in B-29 bombers from April of 1944 to March of 1945. When he departed the U.S. for his posting in India, Tech. Sgt. Albert Carmona was 25 years old.

Back and forth between the diary and historical internet sites, as well as black and white photographs, an incredible history of military service, and adventure, will be retold. The crew of 12 airmen were quartered at a British air base near Calcutta in eastern India. Their frequent missions flown “over the hump” during the nearly 12-month period were supply and bombing raids against Japanese forces into China, Korea, Japan, Siam (Thailand), French Indo-China (Vietnam), Singapore and Indonesia.

Come along on this extraordinary multigenerational adventure that provides not just a historical military narrative, but also a poignant voyage of self-discovery and family legacy.

Charles Carmona, ACLA member #1136, is an amateur historian, geographer and raconteur, in between his duties as president and founder of Guild Laboratories, a gemstone and jewelry testing and appraisal business located in downtown Los Angeles, with offices in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuji (China), and Bangkok (Thailand) and Beruwala (Sri Lanka).

This program was organized by Phoebe Piper #1244.