SAC Graham Large

I sailed from Singapore on the Empire Gannet with a load of plant etc and most of the lads from RAF Seletar. It was a memorable voyage when one day just before lunch, the hooter went off as the boat turned broadside to the swell and listed at about 45 degrees. A lot of plant broke loose on and below deck. Ironically the same hooter was used in case we had to abandon ship. Pandemonium broke out as the lads who were below deck, came flying up the steps covered in foam from the fire extinguishers that had gone off thinking
it was the signal to "Abandon Ship". The low loader trailer had broke loose on the deck and about a dozen oxygen bottles disappeared over the side like 'Torpedoes'. Apart from that it was a pretty uneventful trip. The reason the boat had listed very badly was because someone had left the wheelhouse unattended. Oh dear!

The journey Graham and his colleagues were to undertake, would be a repeat of the arduous and dangerous drive made by the many convoy's from Bangkok to Crown Airfield, as it was to become. Graham and his pals look relaxed and dust free in this picture. The truck is parked on a tarmac road surface. This suggests it was taken at the start of the trip because it would all change as they travelled to Loeng Nok Tha. I won't record their journey on this page, as William Wyndham Lewis has recorded the drive from Bangkok to Crown HERE

After a few days and a journey of around five hundred miles, Graham and his party arrived at what was to become Crown Airfield. They were hot, been shaken about and thrown around for the whole of that journey and were covered in fine red dust. Their relief at the end of their ordeal, was short lived on discovering they were to live in tents. This situation would last for some months until the Royal Engineers built a permanent hutted camp. The image right shows Cpl George Brown stting on his rustic garden seating.

5001's plant operators started work on both the airfield and the camp. On the camp, Graham worked with his Michigan 75, in this case with a Sherman Backhoe digging out drains. He also worked off the camp where his Michigan was needed. In the background the building is nearing completion suggesting the move from the tents to the hutted camp was not far off. Graham spent most of his time working like this. The rollover shows the same machine in its RAF colours.

Graham poses outside the entrance of his tent. After a few months of living in it, a move to a permanent hutted camp was in the offing. The men of 5001 Airfield Construction Squadron would not be unhappy, moving to more hospitable living quarters and the better facilities that it provided. The area of the tented camp was one big dust bowl by this time and a move to a dust free area was welcome. In the rollover, Graham and a Sapper friend with glass in hand could easily be imagined toasting that move.