Granddad's War the CBI
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- Category: Feature Stories
- Created on Sunday, 25 March 2012 14:46
- Published on Sunday, 25 March 2012 14:46
- Written by Charles H. Megarity
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Grand Dad's War the CBI
This is the first installment from the world War II Diary of Charles H. Megarity 1906 to 1993 - Few people realize or fully understand just how important the CBI (Chine-Burma-India) World War II theater was or just how close the Japanese came to invading India. Had India fallen it could have changed the entire war in the Pacific.
Since Europe was to be the main show, according the President Roosevelt, once Germany was defeated then all attention would be turn towards the CBI and Pacific theaters. But until that time the CBI theater was to take a back seat of importance and was not always the area that received the best and newest equipment and/or supplies. It was jungle warfare at its cruelest.
My grandfather , Charles H. Megarity, served in the CBI under General Stillwell and kept a day-to-day diary from 1941 to 1946. This is his story.
Charles Hamilton Megarity was born in Navarro County Texas January 1, 1906 and died September 12, 1993 in Columbia Missouri. His father was Charles B. Megarity of Corsicana Texas. Charles B. Megarity’s father was Willis Cebron Megarity of Navarro County Texas. Willis’s father was Archibald Megarity who was the original Megarity who settled with his family in Navarro county Texas after the Civil war in 1872. The Megaritys original came from the Megarity families in an around Cobb County Georgia. 
Charles H. Megarity was my grandfather. A few months back, I received a typed copy of my grandfathers World War II Diary from my Aunt. I did not know this diary existed! I new my grandfather had served in WWII but he never let on what he actually did. Like many World War II veterans, they did not talk much about their experiences.
The diary is a day-to-day journal of what it was like to be in the service in 1940 and in a World War the likes of which no one had ever seen or could have fathomed. As I started reading this diary I could not put it down, as it was fascinating! It read like a movie!
The Diary starts in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, when my grandfather was one of the first 35 men drafted into the service in Beaumont, Texas. The diary covers his basic training, assignment to the engineers in the 36th Division, the Army Maneuvers with Patton in 1940, Pearl Harbor, Debarkation from New York, the convoys to North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Anzio, Egypt, Oran, India, Burma and China. Plus it offers narratives and insight into what it was like to come home and transition from a combat soldier who had been in the jungle fighting for two years back to peace time!
Chapters
Introduction to Overseas Duty
Atlantic Convoy
North African Interlude
Mediterranean Convoy - Oran to Bombay
Sojourn In India March 20 to June 8,1944
Duty in Assam and Burma (latest chapter)
Click on Cover to open eBook - If you do not already have Adobe Flash installed for your browser, You will need to have the latest version which you can download free from www.adobe.com.
