Vol. 1, No. 36 Published by India China Division, Air Transport Command September 20, 1945
1,300,000 Men by Christmas In Demobilization Speedup Point Score To Go Down When 90,000 Men Released The record set by the Fort Dix separation center last week - 3,000 soldiers handed their discharge papers in one day - makes the Army's plan to discharge an additional 1,300,000 men by Christmas and possibility of even faster demobilization speedup looks good. With about 700,000 men released since V-E Day, this will mean a reduction of 2,000,000 in the Army since Germany's defeat, according to an Army News Service report. Maj. Gen. S. G. Henry, assistant chief of staff, told the Senate military committee making an inquiry into the Army's demobilization now was running ahead of schedule, with an estimated 400,000 men to be released in September instead of the earlier anticipated 250,000. Score To Be Lowered By January, Gen. Henry estimated, the discharge rate will reach 672,000 monthly or 22,500 daily. Air and service forces are setting up 145 temporary separation centers to speed discharges, and approximately 258,000 men will be out of the Army within 45 days as a result of this increase. Some, like the Fort Dix center, are now working on a 24-hour schedule. As soon as 900,000 men are released, Henry told the committee, the discharge score, now at 80, will go down. He did not specify what the new score would be. Smaller Occupation Force? Maj. Gen. I. H. Edwards, also assistant chief of staff, hazarded the guess that the estimate of occupation troops needed in Japan may be scaled down. He said that the matter is now being discussed with Gen. MacArthur, that the supreme commander's estimates are "very fluid," and that any change probably would be downward. If so, this would permit a reduction below the Army's planned strength of 2,500,000 by next July. Plans for an army of this size, according to ANS, are based on division of troops in this manner - 900,000 in the Pacific, 500,000 in Europe and at Atlantic bases and 1,100,000 in the States. Reducing the Army to fit these needs calls for release of three out of every four men. |
No Date Set But Quick
‘Bas Feenesh’ Seen
For Hump
By T/Sgt. Gordon R. Lewis
Shanghai - China Theater's plan is to close out the ATC Hump operation "as soon as possible," Maj. Gen. Douglas L. Weart, Shanghai base commander, revealed here.
His assertion follows a similar announcement recently by Brig. Gen. Tunner.
The general made the statement at a press conference in which Brig. Gen. John C. Kennedy represented Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, China AAF commander, and Rear Adm. M. E. Miles spoke as commander of the Navy ashore in China.
Home by Christmas
In answer to a question as to whether a specific target date had been set for closing out the Hump operation, Gen. Weart replied:
"No specific date has been set, but our motto is 'Home by Christmas!' And we of the Shanghai command will be the last ones here. So you can figure that it should be sometime before that."
Shanghai Fort Opens
He said that all U.S. forces in China will be removed "at the earliest possible date" and the entire theater would be deactivated as quickly as it can be done. Although he indicated it might not be possible to carry out the "Home by Christmas" motto for all men in China, he declared it would be the aim.
At the time of the press conference, Gen. Weart said that the port of Shanghai would be open to navigation in a few days. He disclosed that at least five Liberty ships and a couple of LSTs had been waiting since Aug. 1.
Ships would begin immediately to bring in "housekeeping supplies for troops here and aviation gasoline to avoid the haul over the Hump." as soon as the port is operating smoothly, the Hump will be closed down, he said, Some troops will be flown back over the Hump. The remainder will leave the port at Shanghai.
Gen. Kennedy, here to co-ordinate air activities and rehabilitate the airfields, pointed out the air forces in China have two missions - the tactical, the demand for which is uncertain and depends upon "the enemy," and the transport, which consists of redeployment of the Chinese Army and U.S. tactical units. ATC's job here, he said, will be "reversal of the usual procedure - flying gasoline and petroleum products to the west and personnel to the east, just the reverse of the Hump operation since its inception."
Chinese Are Boss
Disarming of Japs, Weart said, would be done by Chinese troops under Gen. Tang En-Po, defender of Shanghai in 1937 and an eight-year, battle-hardened campaigner, flown in with his soldiers by ICD. Gen. Weart stated:
"Now that the official surrender is over, Gen. Tang En-Po is in a position to evict the Japanese from whatever areas he wishes evacuated. Americans will take no part in disarming the Japanese."
Again amplifying his "get home soon" theme, Gen. Weart said that the Shanghai command was coordinating all matters pertaining to real estate, materials, services, labor and construction "with the idea of getting our men back home at the earliest
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Correspondents Concerned
Adm. Miles added that the Navy, too, was "tapering off" its activities to get its men home soon. He said some already had left India for the States.
It was apparent through the conference that many of the Shanghai correspondents had expected the U.S. to use stern measures in dealing with Jap collaborators in the Shanghai press. Some expressed open concern that they were allowed to sit around the table at this conference with the faithful Allied newsmen. Gen. Weart replied it was "up to the public relations officer" to see that the right correspondents are invited. All matters pertaining to internal policies will be left to the Chinese authorities, he said.
Shanghai GIs Find Friend In Rich Chinese Merchant
Shanghai - Americans here have found a friend in W. T. Cheng, wealthy textile mill owner.
When the U.S. military relief mission arrived here to assist Americans interned in camps in this vicinity for the past two and a half years, Cheng volunteered to help them, too.
Furnished Spending Money
Not only did he turn his Weida hotel over to 50 internees, but he handed each one 100,000 dollars, CRB. At the current rate of exchange, the handout didn't give each individual much gold-dollar value, but it did furnish cigaret money. In addition, some of the internees got new clothes to replace the tattered clothing they had been wearing till it fell off their backs in camp.
One of those who was taken care of was James S. Cassedy II, Cambridge, Mass., a professor of English at the University of Peking for 12 years prior to his internment on Feb. 15, 1942, and one of the owners of J. S. Cassedy, Inc., engineering and contracting firm in Cambridge.
Shoes for a GI
Cassedy told how Cheng had invited the 50 internees to his home - a mansion of about 40 rooms, Cassedy said - "and really put on a feast."
When more of the Army moved into Shanghai, they found inadequate housing accommodations available. So Cheng had another of his hotels, the Johnson, vacated and made ready for Yank occupancy, and he furnished the men all they wanted to eat - three times a day.
But his generosity didn't stop there. Cassedy related that a few days ago he was in the office of Miss Tsai, graduate of St. Johns University here who is handling arrangements for the Americans, when a poorly-shod GI walked past. Cassedy pointed out to Miss Tsai that the soldier had come down here with his old boots, thinking he was only to stay a few days. She asked what size boot he wore and Cassedy guessed "about nine." The next day a new pair of size nine boots awaited the GI.
‘Yust Heavenly’ To Talk To Americans in Shanghai!
Shanghai - A GI was sitting on a bar stool at the Mexicana Bar here when two civilians, middle-aged Europeans, entered and took the stools next to him. "Do you mind?" asked one with a Norwegian accent. "Please, talk to us, say something."
The GI, thinking someone was pulling his leg, asked: "What do you want me to say?"
"Anything," said the other European, whose Swedish origin was apparent when he added, "Yust say anything. We haven't talked to an American for four years, and it is heavenly to be able to talk to one now! Yust start talking and please don't stop."
Americans Top Dogs
The Norwegian and the Swede put in an excited phone call to their wives, to tell them they had found an American - "So don't wait up." For the first time in many long months they were thumbing their nose at the Shanghai manifesto which prohibits civilians from being out of their homes after 10 p.m.
Buys His Own Books
They seemed to be just a little ashamed of not having been stuck away in the internee camps. They had escaped because their nations were not at war with Japan. But neutral or not, technically, there was no mistaking how they felt about the beastly little squint-eyes who had made life miserable, almost unbearable, for these long years.
It wasn't so bad, physically, the Scandinavian agreed. But the constant fear that someone whose line led to long Jap ears was tapping their phone wires was maddening. Homes of nationals of countries at war with the Nips had been ransacked and looted. But even the libraries of neutrals did not escape. The Norwegian told of his books being confiscated - and of buying back one of his books at a secondhand Chinese bookstore a month or so later on. That's the way the ruthless Japs worked. They stole everything they could get their hands on - and sold it to the Chinese who resold it.
No Room for Japs
The civilians spoke in glowing terms of the recent American air raids over Shanghai, describing as "wonderful" the accuracy with which the planes smacked their targets. Asked about the air raid alert system, the Swede said they had a "very simple one," adding:
"When we heard one bomb, we knew your fellows were coming. Two bombs, they're here. Jap planes overhead, they're gone! And the Jap-controlled newspapers the next day would state, 'Six planes shot down.'"
The Norwegian left for a moment. As he did, a Japanese civilian sidled up to the bar, glass in hand. Lifting it to the GI, he said, "I am Japanese. We drink." Repressing the temptation to pitch the Nip headlong out the door, the Yank looked right through him, not seeing him at all. The Jap took the hint and left.
When the Norwegian returned, the Swede asked: "Did you see that little bas----? That couldn't happen anywhere but Shanghai. He ought to be shot. Here we sit with those damned Japs running the city. But did you see the way this American handled him? Never saw him at all. It was beautiful, beautiful. That's just what the Japs can't take. They can't stand to be ignored."
When the civilians got ready to go - long past 3 a.m., after urging the Yank to accompany them home for a drink - they asked for the GI's signature to use "as a pink ticket to show the wife."
Shortly they wobbled out, arm-in-arm, shouting happily about "you wonderful Americans," and cursing the Japanese dominators.
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America and China; Germany, Too - But What About France? Shanghai - Just to show how mixed up things can be in this city where everything seems backwards, take the case of the local broadcasting station, XGRS. Before the war the station was owned and operated by German interests. Upon the surrender of Germany, the Japanese assumed control of the place and continued to broadcast in German. About Aug. 15, when the Japanese first decided to call it quits, the place was taken over by puppet troops from Nanking who guarded the location. Still the announcements were made in German. A few days ago an American commentator was invited to make a few broadcasts over the station. All the news is censored by Chinese departments in Chungking for the station which is owned by the Germans, that was recently controlled by the Japanese who turned it over to the troops of the Nanking puppet army, where an American commentator is broadcasting news that has been passed by the Chinese censor. Somehow or other the French should get mixed up in it. They always seem to be everywhere else. |
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Warn Jap Women Against Flaunting Undies in Public Tokyo (ANS) - Japanese women were warned not to display their red underwear in public or go around with their bare toes showing in front of impressionable American soldiers. The warnings were distributed through Jap newspapers, which took a gloomier view of the fraternization problem than that held by American officers. The newspapers, preaching against wearing of "provocative colors," warned the women to avoid attracting low whistles and the sort of thing that low whistles stand for. |
Shanghai - Huge, cheering and waving throngs milled about each plane as it rolled to a stop on Tachang airdrome outside Shanghai.
Crews of the ships that brought in the occupation forces were swamped by sightseers, many of whom had never before seen an American plane on the ground.
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Loping Base
Is Evacuated
First Peacetime Departure
From ICD Base in China
1359 BU, Loping - First peacetime evacuation of a China wing base was taking place here last week. Operation of this airfield, which was activated about three months ago, was turned over to tactical units regrouping here on Sept. 2.
As ATC prepares to leave, it was announced by Maj. Walter D. Davis, commanding officer, that engineering, mess facilities and other sections of the base set-up have already been turned over to incoming units. Men assigned to this ICD installation are being transferred to other China bases. The greatest number will be sent to the 1340 and 1342 base units.
ATC fields at Yankai and Chengtu are next on the docket to fold, according to a China wing officer. Present plans call for the evacuation of the men and supplies by both truck convoy and airlift.
The move from 1359 had its humorous side, too. Sgt. Bob Breeger wailed long and loud as he prepared to transfer to another base.
"This gallivanting all over China is OK for you guys with no dependents, but what about me? He wanted to know. And his buddies admit that his family of five may tax the ingenuity of the men of China wing. For the sergeant is the proud godfather of Lady and her four black and white spotted puppies.
He brought Lady from another base here and since that time she has given birth to four junior models named Crash, Tanker, Tinker and Buster. Sgt. Breeger was busy this week making final arrangements to transport his motley crew through the hills and rice paddies to the new location.
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It's Rags to Riches For Emaciated Girl, Pin-Up of 1339 BU 1339 BU, Chengkung - Ceylon May, eight-year-old Chinese girl whom men here found living in a garbage dump, has become the mascot and miniature pin-up girl of this base. Little Ceylon was found eating a rotten bird near the dump, by one of the men of the camp. Her life in a slit trench plus a diet of garbage had caused acute malnutrition with the result that her stomach was swollen to an enormous size. However, s scrubbing and clean clothing and Army food soon returned her to a healthy condition. The child has been placed in the En Kuang school which is supported by the British Methodist missions. An effort is being made to have the men of the base finance her schooling. |
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17,500 Vehicles Roll Over Stilwell Road Since Its Inception Hq., SOS, Kunming - Recent reports of vehicle receipts to this base revealed that 17,500 motor vehicles were brought in over the Stilwell Road, during its past seven months of operation, to supplement China's motor transport system. Prior to the opening of the road, SOS had brought into China about 3,148 vehicles, mostly small units which were flown over the Hump. Large trucks and other heavy vehicles were sliced for airlift and welded together after their flight to Kunming. Approximately 10,500 of the vehicles carried over the Stilwell Road were 2½-ton cargo trucks. |
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‘Black Fan Society’ New Terror Group Batavia, Java (ANS) - United Press correspondent John B. Bower reports that nationalistic Indonesians and rebel Japanese have organized a terroristic secret "Black Fan" society to conduct guerilla resistance against Allied troops who are expected to begin Java's occupation before the end of September. Bower said a number of Europeans already have been stabbed and high-ranking Japanese army officers have been murdered in cars as they drove through the streets of Batavia at night. The society operates on an espionage system and propaganda campaigns. |
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Isolated GIs Get Flickers
Film Distributed to Forward Areas via Aircraft, Sampans
Hq., SOS, Kunming - More than 5,000 training films, 3,000 film strips and thousands of full-length features have been distributed - by army vehicles, sampans, mule pack and sometimes by human cargo carriers - throughout China and the China Theater Film Exchange, according to Lt. Donald J. Mendleton, New Bedford, Mass., officer in charge.
Personnel operating the exchange are a detachment of a signal photo service company, under the command of Lt. Col. John S. Clark, El Paso, Tex. Thirty-five "circuits" are in operation in the China Theater, each with a distributing officer and several trained projectionists.
Supplying movie entertainment to isolated units in China is a big feature of the theater exchange, but the unit also serves as a valuable aid to American liaison teams with its Chinese-dialogue training films. Several feature-length pictures, such as the story of the construction of the oil pipeline across the Hump, have been filmed with Chinese dialogue for military authorities and later released to the general public.
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Shanghai GIs Aid in Relief, Mercy Duties
Pick Up, Guard ’Chutes Used in Dropping of Food
Shanghai - The China wing advanced cadre at this base took time off from routine work of expediting the turn-around of Chinese troop-hauling C-54s to do a little relief work for the American mission. A few days ago the mercy planes, B-29s, were dropping rations into the internment camps in the Shanghai area. It was difficult work because of the high winds that were prevailing and also because of the crowded sites in which the camps are located. Many of the ration chutes fell wide of their mark and were grabbed by the local civilians before the internees could reach the places where they had landed. To prevent a recurrence of this, the B-29s decided to drop their rations on the part of the field that ATC was using for its operations. Here Chinese and American military men could guard the parcels until they could be carted off to the camps. On the first pass the 29 came over too low and many of the boxes of ten-in-one rations hit the ground before the chutes opened. Despite the fact that some of them were broken open, most of the contents were salvageable. The second run was perfect, every chute opened and the packages fell to earth suspended from the multi-colored chutes. In a few minutes the rations were loaded on cadre trucks and were on the way to camp. The cadre personnel went back to work, as C-54s kept coming in on the long concrete runways. Vinegar Joe’s Son Ignores Tradition, Enlists in U.S. Navy San Diego, Calif. - Gen. Joe Stilwell received a jolt directly under his battered old campaign hat this week when his 18-year-old son, Ben, shattered family traditions. Ben, according to Army News Service, joined the Navy. "I'm the first member of the family to wear a sailor suit," Ben said, "and I don't know how the Stilwells are going to like it." He admitted that neither his father nor his mother knew he planned to enter the Navy. "I've a pretty fair idea of Army life and I guess I just wanted to see how the other half lives," he explained. Ben added that since his Dad was "either in Okinawa or Japan, he would not hear about it for some time." He also said, "Mother no doubt knows about it already but when I left home for the induction center I didn't tell her I'd try to get into the Navy." Joseph Stilwell, Jr., Ben's brother, is a colonel in the infantry. Landslide Cuts Off Stilwell Road Sector Hq., SOS, Kunming - More than 30,000 tons of dirt broke loose from West Mountain recently to obliterate half a kilometer of the Stilwell Road near Kilo 15, where convoy traffic was held up for three days before a bypass could be opened. An engineer platoon, composed of a group of Ledo Road Negro veterans, newly-arrived in China, and 1,000 coolies were assigned to cut a new road into the mountainside. A horse trail was first expanded into a bypass for trucks stopped by the landslide. Undercurrents of water were reported in the earth, and the avalanche was believed to have been caused by heavy monsoon rains. |
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CRAZY CITY . . .
It's hard to describe Shanghai. It has gone crazy overnight. Crazy after long years of oppression and torture by the Japanese occupation forces.
To the men of the China Theater who have had so little for so long, this place isn't real - it just can't be. For there's no doubt about it, Shanghai is a wide-open place. All through the day flags of the United Nations slap in the breezes that fumble through this rambling city whose skyline rises in majestic aloofness above the common Orient. Brilliant "V" neon signs and contagious smiles light the wide, tree-lined streets at night.
It's a gay town, a happy town and a wonderful town.
Even the names have a romantic tang that sounds good in the ears. "Bubbling Well Road," "Avenue Villon," "Rue Jeffre," "French Village," International Settlement," "Cathay," "Piccadilly" all combining a touch of European, Chinese and American to make this place the "pearl of the Orient." Right now, for American servicemen, it's more than a pearl: It's the whole oyster.
GIs that walk the streets are mobbed by children and grownups who run along smiling, cheering. Some break through the lines and try to reach the Americans just to touch the khaki of the U.S. uniforms. Men cry. Cry good tears of happiness and relief. No more will they have to suffer the torture, the degradation and the cruelness of the Japanese. "It is so good to see you," they say and laugh.
Women stand and stare with that look that shows the joy of their hearts. No more will they have to undergo rigid discipline. Now they can walk the streets unmolested, free from fear. There was a time - during the dark years just passed - when they were often stopped along the streets by the Japanese and searched thoroughly.
OUT IN A RUSH . . .
Now the Japanese scurry around in their chocolate-brown trucks, their rattle-trap imitations of U.S.-built cars, looking straight ahead.
Everything that has been pent up in the hearts and minds of the people for the last three and a half years is out now in one big rush. Everything that has been hidden in the secret closets and cellars has come out in the open. French tricolors, Chinese flags, Russian banners with their red field and golden hammer and sickle. British Union Jacks, the Stars and Stripes, all fly high on the masts from which only a short time ago the rising sun cast its shadow.
Wherever the Americans go they are besieged with questions about "my husband on Bataan," "my son who is a marine," or "my family is in the United States, do you know them?"
Questions that are asked by people full of hope, by people who go on hoping despite the kind, but negative, answers. Hope has been their mainstay. Hope has flourished because it was all these people had.
OUT OF THIS WORLD . . .
But things will be different now. Already the Allied relief missions are beginning their work. Houses confiscated by the Japs are being returned to their rightful owners who have only recently been released from local internment camps. Food has been dropped off by mercy planes, B-29's; barricades are being torn down and Shanghai is returning to the bright and glorious way of living for which it has been famous.
Money is about the main inconvenience here. Not because of the lack of it but rather because of the abundance of it. Value has soared, gone out of sight. Not only is the Chinese National currency at a high rate of exchange - 1,000-to-one - but the local money, Central Reserve bank, is out of this world. The rate of exchange between CRB and U.S. money is now is now 110,000-to-one.
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A Tough War
It has been a tough war all over, and it was tough in various ways for the honest, hard-working, upstanding actors and actresses who rushed to the colors and defended the flag before improvised footlights in Army camps all the way from Gulfport to Kunming.
Hardly had the first bomb fallen on Pearl Harbor until Hollywood thespians and their brothers sisters elsewhere in the profession dropped their peacetime pursuits, grabbed an ATC top priority ticket in one hand and a press agent in the other and started on the rigorous rounds of out-of-the-way bases.
And what did they get for it? A voice of thanks? A bronze star? No, just kicks in their collective, if figurative, pants. The first jolt came from a well-known IB sheet - not the Hump Express - which caused a national furor by suggesting the stars visiting this theater stay the length of time for which they had agreed. It was just coincidence, no doubt, that the rag in question received a great deal of publicity in the U.S. press as a result.
But the India-Burma refugee-from-the-Texas-cattle-country, being from the country and all, failed to realize the great publicity possibilities in continued star-baiting, so after a few more very feeble attempts to revive national interest in their publication via the star-route, they gave up and went back to the humdrum existence of grinding out Osmosis Fink stories.
Not willing to be outdone, in a publicity way, by their country cousin in India, the ETO's Stars & Stripes soon came up with a blast at some stars who had criticized the USO, as their contribution to the GI newspaper-Hollywood feud. While the European daily's publicity bell-ringing failed to match the volume or clear tone attained by the local weekly, the results were still gratifying, so they immediately started filing notes on the stars in their cabinet marked :editorial scapegoat," and waiting to try again.
Then 12 girls, known as "actress technicians," arrived in the ETO to replace thespian GI female-impersonators for less hazardous duties - and the blow fell.
The gleam of righteous indignation, appearing at one time or another in the eyes of all crusading editors, blazed up in the eyes of Stars & Stripes. The poor little WACs, Red Cross girls and nurses were being discriminated against. The 12 actresses actually received civil service pay! Stars & Stripes put on their suffering-humanity face, sharpened their pens, delved deeper into their dictionary and thesaurus, tipped off the wire service boys and, like the knights of old, came to the defense of the underpaid army gals while bitterly denunciating the overpaid actresses.
Yeah, it has been a long, tough war, boys and girls, but it might have been a lot longer if the press of the world hadn't continually fought the evils of Nazism, Fascism, the Hitlers, Tojos - Ann Sheridan and the 12 actress technicians! So who's to begrudge a couple of army rags their bit of publicity?
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Time for Action
Those people in the nation's capital have been round and round so long on the questions of redeployment and discharge that an observer would think he was watching a few whirling dervishes.
Everyone realizes that the discharge issue is perhaps the hottest political potato that Capitol Hill has seen in its history. It is recognized, too, that the situation is constantly changing, as the needs for postwar military police work unfold.
But the time for decision has come. It's about time the guys who are running the show - or would like to - issue an unequivocal prospectus as to just what is in store for the GI, in the way of future service, and then proceed to carry out the plan.
Almost every politician realizes the vote-getting value of having his name in the public prints as an advocate of "get-the-boys-home-now" school of thought. But until a clearly thought out policy is established - and adhered to - their chatting is just so much prattle which does little except confuse and demoralize the troops who go on sweating it out in China, Burma or India - and the rest of the world.
Men don't like to hear one week that 85-pointers will get out, the next week, that 70-pointers "may be released;" the next, that everyone with two years' service will be discharged; then, that men over 35 will be sent home - and still sit around in an overseas theater with all those qualifications and no sign of immediate release.
In short, it's time the wheels stop merely talking and act. That's the kind of language vets with 24 or 26 months of overseas service will understand and appreciate.
The 19th Hole: After rounding the links golfers drop into the clubhouse to discuss the game.
Because of the shortage of golf balls, there is a small deposit for golf sets.
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Sport of Kings: GIs are inclined to snicker when the little ponies are led out but soon take up the betting and get into the spirit of the things.
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A Charge: Cavalry horses are furnished for riding. Not always docile, these horses are a challenge to a tenderfoot.
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No Strain Here: Miniature golf courses are just the thing that a not over-active GI might have thought of.
They are even next door to the billets for convenience.
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GI Robin Hoods: Archery is always popular. The range is set up by special service and everything is free.
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Warm-Up Circle: Jockeys exhibit their mounts before moving out to the starting pens.
Soldiers usually bet on anything that isn't lame.
Races are held every Saturday.
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Contentment: Here a very ambitious one sits in the shade and surveys the rest of the camp.
For the over-active, Shillong isn't the place.
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Social Side: There is always somebody who clamors for night life.
There isn't much at Shillong but there are dances downtown twice a week.
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Souvenir Hunting Starts Commerce Among Japs, GIs
Shanghai - Lt. Col. C. H. Blanchard, base commander of the recently occupied Kiangwan airfield here, was presented with a bill by a Jap officer. The charges against the U.S. government were for souvenirs stolen from the Japanese.
It seems that when the men of the advanced China wing detachment here moved some Zeros out of one of the hangars to make room for their work, they helped themselves to some of the gadgets and other accessories such as fabric from the wings, knobs from the controls, etc. A most serious blow to the (dis)honorable Japanese air force.
1306 BU, Karachi - For three nights last week the "house was jammed" to see the hit play, "The Man Who Came to Dinner." The comedy was put on
by GIs and WACs who spent over two months in rehearsing, digging up the props and putting out publicity for their play. Left to right, in the above scene
from the play, are: Cpl. Jane Thayer, Detroit, Mich.; Sgt. Frederick George, San Francisco, Calif.; Cpl. Jeanne Reade, Philadelphia, Pa.; S.Sgt. Walt
Gieselman, Los Angeles, Calif.; Sgt. Sammie Rogers, Collinsville, Ill., and S/Sgt. Cora Jerrow, Bellaire, Ohio.
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Asp Fakirs
Puzzle GIs
And Medics
is Rewarded with Bites
1346 BU, Tezgaon, India - Snake-charmers are frequent visitors here, but regardless of how many come and go, the snake-charmer's flute continues to attract the attention of more than the deadly cobra.
From their observation of many demonstrations, GIs and officers alike have propounded various theories about the snake-charmer and his little pet. Some non-believers declare the whole performance a fake with a beaten-up, toothless snake used, and others argue that the dancer has fangs, but no poison sacs.
Bizarre Entertainer
A few cynics have been heard to assert that the reason the poor snake, writhing in agony to bad music, doesn't strike is because he's already so miserable he doesn't care to bang his head on a victim and add to the pain. A recent episode at this base only served to confuse personnel and instigate more opinions.
One of the bizarre entertainers caught the fancy of Capt. Warren A. Roth, a C-54 pilot, who decided to take a picture to support the yarn he'll tell when he returns to Minneapolis. The snake-charmer opened the cobra's mouth, and when the pilot was convinced the snake had no choppers of any description, he set his camera for a close-up.
Two minutes later the photographer's perfect focus had changed to a rapid blur and the focusing hand displayed three neat sets of fang marks.
Bit by a Cobra
Capt. Roth - who had heard both pros and cons about the "charmed" snake's authenticity - hastily questioned, "Is this snake poisonous or is he a fake?"
"The funny thing is how we happened to meet!"
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The snake-charmer's reply, spoken in Bengali, wasn't helpful, so the victim hurried to the dispensary.
"Doc," said Roth to the flight surgeon, "got any mercurochrome?" A slight pause, then, "A cobra just bit me."
The doctor's reaction was swift, and the pilot seemed to get a tourniquet, a minor operation and a shot of anti-snake venom at the same time.
Then the reaction set in - whether from snake venom or a sensitization reaction, the surgeon couldn't determine. The question of whether the snake-charmer's pet is poisonous or fake is still unanswered in these parts, and still a subject for heated discussions when the entertainer comes to visit.
Shanghai Declared Off Limits
to All American Troops
Shanghai - This city has been placed off limits to all U.S. military personnel without orders calling for urgent official business here.
In a "radio" to all commands in the IB and China theaters, Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, AAF CG in China, issued the order and added that air force crew members flying into Shanghai would be restricted to the airfield until their departure.
Overcrowded operating conditions at the base, where facilities are strained to the breaking point handling the large numbers of aircraft arriving daily, and lack of messing, billeting and transportation facilities forced the action.
Personnel with official business in Shanghai must receive China Theater clearance by name before entry will be granted.
HUMP EXPRESS is the official newspaper of the India-China Division, Air Transport Command, APO 192, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y., and is published by its Public Relations office. Camp Newspaper Service and Army Newspaper Service features are used, reproduction of which is prohibited without permission of CNS and ANS, 205 East 42nd St., New York, 17, N.Y. Other material is submitted by staff members, ICD-ATC base Public Relations sections and other soldier correspondents. Printed weekly by the Hindusthan Standard, 3 Burman St., Calcutta, India, and distributed each Thursday. Passed by U.S. Press Censor for mailing.
| Military transport schedules over India for cargo, personnel and mail ... maximum tonnage of essential war materials over the Hump ... movement of troops and supplies in support of tactical operations in China ... evacuation of the sick and wounded - these are the missions of ICD-ATC. |
SEPTEMBER 20, 1945
Original issue of HUMP EXPRESS shared by Barbara Skinner Lipiew
Copyright © 2018 Carl Warren Weidenburner
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