 Through the Bases Agreement signed by British PM, Sir Winston Churchill, and the US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Britain got 50 old American destroyers, and the US was granted the right to establish bases in the British Territories.Although the US Army had several bases on the island by 1941, the most important were Chaguaramas and the Air Base at Wallerfield, called Fort Read.The road communications between the Port of Spain (POS) and Fort Read near Cumuto was problematic as it consisted solely of the crowded Eastern Main Road, which slowed down the large convoys moving between the two bases.