IMPORTANT CARGO "MULES"

YEP!!! YOU READ CORRECTLY

"MULES" WAS LIKE GOLD STANDING ON FOUR LEGS

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Below is the "lead-in" to a subject that does not get alot of attention....and that subject is "Mules"...  "Yes" mules were an important factor in WW II....but this involved transporting those 'mules' from point A to point B.....so that is the basis of this article.

Between July 1941 and April 1945, then British ships were specially fitted to carry a total of 4,179 mules from the United States to India for use by British and Indian troops operating in Burma, and later on for American and Chinese forces operating in that country. From late 1943 a total of thirteen American-flagged Liberty ships were also converted to this purpose:William S. Halstead, Santiago Iglesias, Peter Sylvester, Zona Gale, Charles W. Wooster, Alcee Fortier, Henry Dearborn, Joshua Hendy, William J. Palmer, Cyrus W. Field, John J. Crittenden, Samuel H. Walker, and Jose Navarro.

Such was the importance of these animals in jungle warfare that their well-being during long sea voyages was a major concern. The British shipments from the States were at first accompanied by British Army veterinary officers and later by officers and men from the American Quartermaster and Veterinary Corps, and when that source dried up, Canadian officers were used. Among the British ships concerned in this traffic were the Richmond-built Ocean Vista and the Canadian-built Fort Crrevier. None of the British ships were lost while carrying mules, although the Edgefield, an old American freighter purchased by Britain in 1941 was sunk after her mule-carrying days were over. On 1 July 1943, and by then called the Empire Ibex, she sank after a collision in convoy with the British Empire MacAlpine.

Now to read the entire article....just fill up the coffee cup, grab another slice of that danish....and click on the title: IMPORTANT CARGO MULES  your in for an enlightening read.


[If anyone encounters a problem with any of the links to 'any' article ....never hesitate to let me know]
cshortridge@comcast.net

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