Sally and Jim had married by this time and she was with Jim in Burma beginning September 2nd. They were living in a hotel in Rangoon and she recalls they were unable to safely leave the Rangoon area due to the civil war in the countryside. Jim's family was not aware that he had married so Sally, in an effort to provide his family with information of his status, wrote this letter and signed it E. McDonald - presumably a nurse or some other hospital staff member. It is also possible the name E. McDonald was borrowed from the real life personality Elizabeth McDonald - a journalist with OSS connections operating out of Chungking and Kunming China during WWII.

Jim and Sally did, in fact, spend the holidays with Syd de Kantzow and wife at their Shouson Hill home in Hong Kong.

The news of Jim's marriage to Sally would have come as a bit of a surprise to his folks at that time as it seems Jim was not actually divorced from Irene yet! This matter was attended to properly a bit later.

Just one of those minor little oversights that can happen every now and again.

Syd de Kantzow

A small newspaper clipping from The Portland Oregonian references Jim's involvement with Cathay -

This report coming from representatives of Cathay Pacific stated that Jim was one of theirs. Jim was in the employ of Cathay Pacific while flying for Air Burma. That de Kantzow would host a friend and an employee wounded while flying for the airline is consistent with the family stories.

Fellow pilot and Jim's boss, Charles 'Chic' Eather, describes flying in Burma where Cathay Pacific had a strong presence. Eather also flew for Union of Burma Airways (UBA) during the time of that nation's turbulent Karen uprising (the civil war Jim was present for). Eather wrote books called "We Flew in Burma" and "Syd's Last Pirate" where his synopsis of their work in Burma was -

"Within range of Karen insurgent artillery Cathay's planes operated from encircled Rangoon's Mingaladon Airport dodging shell blasts and sniper fire. [This book is about] the charter vultures who held a starving country to ransom and of how Cathay assisted in ridding Burma of these greedy lice through the government's charter company - Air Burma."

Chic Eather

A short history goes like this - de Kantzow and Farrell "incorporated in September 1946 under the name Cathay Pacific Airways (they originally wanted to call it Air Cathay from the comic strip "Terry and the Pirates," but Farrell discovered that name was already in use). The new airline started flying charters all over Southeast Asia, occasionally getting caught up in political intrigues and dangers such as shuttling Emperor Bao Dai out of Vietnam during the Viet Minh uprisings there and taking on assignments from Indonesian nationalists despite an air blockade imposed by their Dutch colonial rulers. Two aircraft went to Burma to carry men and materiel for the government in its battle against insurgents; one was captured by the rebels."

Jim flew DC-3's and C-47's while in Burma with registration #'s beginning with VR or XY. VR planes were a Hong Kong registry and XY planes were a Burmese registry. Jim often flew VR-HDI, a Cathay Pacific aircraft.

He also skippered VR-HDA - another Cathay plane - 'Nikki'.

And Jim often flew the original Cathay Pacific plane VR-HDB -'Betsy'

XY registered planes belonged to the Union of Burma Airways. XY-ACB was the plane Jim was flying when he was wounded.

In 1955, upon Jim's return to Douglas - Long Beach, he gave an interview to the internal Douglas employee newsletter - Airview News.

Jim stated that in 1949 he was associated with Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong and that he then became "chief pilot and operations manager" of the Burmese Air Force where he ferried food and ammunition to government forces. It was while doing this task that he was wounded.

Air Burma was Cathay Pacific. But, the connections between Cathay, the Burmese Air Force and the Union of Burma Airways seem involved and a bit confusing - if there were any connections. But, there was one thing that was sure - it was dangerous.

__________________________

Jim's friend, Syd de Kantzow, was killed in an automobile accident near Canberra, Australia, November 1957.

Chic Eather faulted Jim for the time he spent in Hong Kong with his buddy Syd. However, when Syd died Chic had this to say - "Regretfully I did not understand or became a close friend of Captain Sydney Hugh de Kantzow, and that is my loss. Yet, I respected him with the intensity of a callow hero worshipper. Syd went home at 06:00 hours on 21 November 1957 aged 43 years old."