Jeremy White and Tom Gould

Jeremy White did not make the arduous road journey as his comrades had. In April of 1964 he flew from Singapore to Ubon and then made the seventy two mile trip by road to Ban Khok Talat, where the airfield was to being constructed. He lived in the hutted camp not having to suffer the inhospitable tents and worked operating the Euclid scrapers, bulldozers and graders constructing the runway.The picture left shows the landscape after the first batch of trees were stripped and the plant starting their work on the airfield.

The plant operators had to endure extremely hot and trying conditions as the dry rice paddi was transformed into a giant dustbowl. Another hazard was the wildlife being ejected from their homes as the trees were felled. Snakes, lizards and giant spiders were some of the inhabitants that saw the plant as a possible safe haven, causing the operators considerable concern. There were times when it was necessary for the men to use smaller tools to remove the trees from the area. The rollover shows Jeremy with his chainsaw.

Jeremy remembers there were 2 shifts, 6am to 12 noon and noon to 6pm. "We always tried to do the early shift so we could go to the village to play football with the kids. Here, Stuart Armson who we knew as Les, is on the left and I'm on the right. Les was a trac-op-mech as well and we travelled together to nearly every detachment in the 5 years we both served". The rollover shows a plant operator enlisting the help of two local boys in dealing with the threat from the disturbed wildlife.

Tom Gould memories are. "I was a plant operator driving a Euclid Motor Scraper on the runway construction.I remember dust and the shower only on for an hour in the evening. It was a long pipe with holes drilled in it and was source of much amusement to the locals. They used to come and watch us trying to wash the dust off our naked bodies.The NAAFI was a couple of planks on beer crates and could get lively at times. I remember moving from a tent into the luxury of a hut. It was primitive, but I have good memories".