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Upland vet awarded for World War II accomplishments

Without a navigation system, and often without the ability to see, 2nd Lt. Melvin Hodell spent nearly 553 hours flying supplies into China during World War II.

The 88-year-old Upland resident was served in the China-Burma-India Theater, or "The Forgotten Theater." It was the first long-range, 24-hour, all-weather aerial supply route that became China's primary source of supplies during World War II.

At the offices of Rep. David Dreier on Tuesday, Hodell received the Distinguished Flying Cross, a medal he earned six decades ago but never received.

Hodell earned the medal for his actions after coming under under perilous conditions after the Japanese took over Burma in 1942. All supply routes into China were cut off - except by air.

"In all that flying, we carried the supplies that kept China in the war," Hodell said.

Flying out of northeastern India, across parts of Burma and China, Hodell and his fellow pilots flew gasoline, metal pipe, ammunition, food and even Chinese soldiers into southwest China.

The 525-mile route over jungle and the Himalaya Mountains became known as "The Hump."

"The airplanes at that time would only go maybe 16,000, 18,000 feet. They couldn't go any higher," Hodell said. "They had a full load, and they went through terrible storms."

Thunderstorms, lightning, ice, snow, drafts and 125 mph winds were familiar flying conditions for the pilots.

"It didn't matter what the weather was because your plane was there, loaded, and you took off, period," Hodell said.

"Every flight had something happen. You lost hydrology ... thought you had a flat tire, engines went out - always something happened."

When the war ended, many of Hodell's colleagues were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the medal given for accomplishments made during flight.

However, documentation of Hodell's accomplishments was lost.

"I just never got it because of the rush of the conclusion of the war and the atomic bomb," Hodell said. "And I was busy going back to school and getting married, with kids and running a business."

Hodell was finally awarded the medal Tuesday in San Dimas. Dreier credited a member of his staff for putting in the time to get the medal to Hodell.

"He was able to put together the documents," Dreier said. "He found some of (Hodell's) colleagues from when he had served, and they were going to document what he had done and when they did that they had it all verified."

Inspired by the accomplishments of his grandfather, Evan Hodell joined the Navy eight years ago.

"What these guys did and the aviation experience, the way they operated over the Hump, it's such aggressive aviation," Evan Hodell said. "They're really incredible stories, things I can't even imagine."

When Melvin Hodell left the Air Corps, he completed his master's degree in journalism.

He settled in Upland in 1958 and purchased the Upland News, Cucamonga News and Montclair Tribune.

"I contributed a lot to Upland," Hodell said. "I always did a good job of investigative reporting. I demanded that government be good and clean and not corrupt and so they learned to respect my newspaper because I just wouldn't tolerate any of that stuff."

After selling the papers in 1967, Hodell was a newspaper broker before retiring about eight years ago.

To this day Hodell says his biggest accomplishment from his year flying over "The Hump" was surviving.

"It was a real struggle, it wasn't a play thing," Hodell said. "It was, well, it was a real job."

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