Mules, Vets of Burma, China Bound

Additional background information from CBI Veteran Bill Maytum

  In May of 1945, I was in a U.S. Army Field Hospital in Burma when my outfit, the 612th Field Artillery (Pack) was transferred to Kunming, China.  Upon discharge from the hospital I was assigned to a special group of G.I.'s (about 30) assigned to herd about 400 American mules (of the 612th and 613th FA's) from Myitkyina along the Ledo and Burma Roads to Kunming.
  It was a laborious task in the monsoon season - a number of mules lost their footing and disappeared into valleys at the edge of the road.  We were about 40 miles west of Kunming when the war ended.  These mules never got to the Chinese Army in Kunming.  Not sure they could have handled these mules that would have replaced their donkeys (which were 1/2 to 1/3 the size of our Molly).
  There are a number of stories I can recall about that trip of almost 3 months.  The final one took place before we covered those last forty miles.  Because the mules' diet had been changed from their usual American oats and hay to a local hard green bean during that trip, they lost weight and became so weak that we took them to the edge of a cliff, shot each one, pushed them over the cliff and then detonated the side of the cliff to cover the carcasses.   - William James Maytum



AUGUST  9,  1945    



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