The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-14
FROZEN FOODS
 WELCOMED BY N TROOPS IN CBI
nY JACK QUINN

fUmltsa Press staff Correspondens) calcutta, India, Sept, i4,-(Up)- After more than Q year of plan. ming, hard work and dlsappolnt tnerta, American troops In the China -Burma- -India theaetr are now beginning to receive Q better va. xlety ot food, frozen and flown to them even at the front lines and Including that only dreamed of American delicacy-good American leo cream.
 First major accomplishment in the long program of planning was Che delivery to the Americans at Myitkyina in North Burma of . plane load of frozen chicken and leo cream, sped to them from the freezing plants in Calcutta, nearly 1000 miles away. It was the first fresh chicken and ice cream the troops had eaten throughout their long campaign there.
 The idea of moving frozen foods by plane and by rail in the theater belongs to It. Col. A. M, o'Dell of Bellevue, Neb., commanding officer of General Depot No. 2 Ut Cal- cutta, who had been helped In most of his planning and work by Maj. M. c. Coop of Abilene, Tex, depot veterinarian.
 Army Runs Ice Plant
 Col. 0Dell and Maj, Coop have now spread out in their fields of food operations and have gone Into the hog and chicken business, plus the seemingly far-fetehed CT pros fession of large-seale salt water fishing. Besides that, they have inc stalled the first puffed rice plant in India's history.
 Very shortly, American troops In the theater will begin to receive, in rotation, ice cream and frozen chicken, ham, beef and fish, shiped ln planes under what Is called "in- herent refrieeration"-in which tho hy insulation only and by rail ln cars cooled with dry ice, for which the Army has tawken over three Idle dry ice plans in India
 Fatten own Pigs
 Under the program, as Colonel O'Deill explained it, the Army does not take a thing from the Indian population, The Army uses It's own garbage to fatten the scrawny raSors backed native Indian pigs which heretofore have manager to survive solely by their wits. The American Army increases the pro- duetion of hogs, thorugh itS CO., operative program and takes only thaht increase, The same principle Is applied to all projects. The Army takes only that amount by which it increases the Indian production,
 Everything Is utilized in the pro- gram to set up a more varied menu for the American troops most or whom have been away from home 50 long they can't remember just exactly what it was that mother used to cook, n tho production of ice cream, for instance, tho milk used for it's manufacture Is milk taken off ships ia containers which probably could not survive shipment to more distant parts of the theater' If this milk were not used to make ice cream, lt would be wasted en" tireiy, Mat. Coop said,
 AS for tho actual manufacture, an Indian plant Is used l2 hours Q day-the f2 hours q day 1t wasn't being used before. American troops supervise the m \iufaeture and turn out 1000 gallons q day
 Use 5 Fishing Boats
 Five fishing boats two of them Bb.foot motor launches, have been secured for the Army's fishing ven: tuFe, which Maj, Coop said will eventually net co tons c week Fresh fish frozen and flown to CTS deep in the jungle will be c wel- come addition to the jungle menu Heretofore, about the only fresh fish eaten by ungle fighters were those that were retrieved from c stream after somebody had tossed in q hand grenade,
 The amount of frozen beef that will be shipped out to the troops will depend on the amount that b 70 be shipped into fndiap Col oDeii said.
 There was long record of trial md error and experimenting in the Ilalpment of frozen foods by plane, Col, ODeil said, but it was finally discovered that foods could DC frozen, then packed in kapoklinod containers in c plane padded with kapok "blanketS" and shipped many hours away without thawing.
 The methods for getting better foods to American troops are now being polished up; the problems now, Col O'Dell said, are to ins crease production and increase the number Of times each American unit gets It's share,