Vol. IV  No. 11      Delhi, Thursday,   November 22, 1945      Reg. No. L5015  POINT REQUIREMENTS  FOR DISCHARGE OF EM  REDUCED TO 55 BY WD By Army News Service       Reduction of point requirements for discharge of enlisted men to 55 effective December 1, was announced by the War Department in Washington this week.   The War Department also disclosed other changes which will make an additional 783,000 soldiers eligible for discharge. The Department for the first time introduced length of service as a sole factor by itself in discharges, announcing that men who have served four years and officers four years and three months are eligible.   G.I.'s with three or more children under 18 dependent on them for support will become eligible, also.   New point score for officer release was set at 73 and for enlisted WACs at 32. Married WACs, both enlisted and officer personnel, who enlisted prior to May 12, 1945, will be free to change to civilian clothes.   The new point scores are to be computed as of September 2, this year.   The Medical Department was excluded from the announcement, but the Army said that an announcement on this branch of the service will be forthcoming before mid-December.   Earlier, Maj. Gen. Willard S. Paul, assistant Army Chief of Staff, advised Congress that the Army was waiting until further study to recommend that all men with two years of service be declared eligible for discharge in March, 1946. The point system would be scrapped entirely at that time.   It was explained that the proposed action is dependent on how many men would be left for service overseas under the arrangement.   Spokesmen observed that the War Department had topped its original demobilization goals. The three millionth member of the Army was discharged and sent homeward during the current week, the spokesmen added. Present shipping capacity brings home an estimated 600,000 men per month from Europe and the Pacific.   Concurrently, the War Department announced that 19 of 89 Army divisions of this war have been inactivated and more than a dozen others are due for inactivation in the near future.   Those already inactivated - all from Europe - are the 63rd, 65th, 69th, 70th, 75th, 85th, 87th, 95th, 99th, 103rd and 106th Infantry and 67th, Ninth, 10th, 11, 14th, 16th, and 17th Armored.   Schedules already announced show 24 divisions are due for inactivation, which will probably be accomplished by the end of the year. MELLOWED CHEESE The years go by and cheesecake models pass from the scene, but lovely Jean Parker, above, is still in there posing. There's been no official vote, but we figure jean has been the most photographed "cheese" in all Hollywood, and it's easy to see why, isn't it?

Hump Fliers Carry 776,532 Tons In Three Years;  594 Craft Lost Roundup Staff Article       The long-secret achievements of the men who made history flying The Hump were disclosed this week when the India-China Division of the Air Transport Command announced 776,532 tons of war materiel were carried over the mountains into China between Dec. 1, 1942 and Nov. 1, 1945.
  The accomplishment was made at a cost of 594 aircraft lost, and 910 crew members and 130 passengers killed or listed as missing, in the saw-tooth Himalaya range or jungles where the aircraft crashed.
  Brig. Gen. William H. Tunner, commanding general of the India-China Division of the Air Transport Command, which operated The Hump flights, released the report.
  (According to a late Army News Service report from Shanghai, ATC will continue to fly The Hump with daily passenger service. Cargo hauling ended November 15.)
  The report showed the high daily tonnage record was reached last Aug. 1 when 5,327 tons were carried by air from India to China. The high peak in monthly operations came last July when the ICD, and Army Air Force tactical units under its operational control, moved 77,366 tons.
  At the time the war ended, the report said, a monthly target of 120,000 tons had been set for Jan. 1.
  During its maximum airlift, ICD delivered war materials to China at the rate of 3.7 tons a minute. Last Aug 1., on its record day, the division and aircraft under its control made 1,118 trips from India to China, involving approximately 2,000 crossings of The Hump. Some of the aircraft made three trips.

HEAVIEST TRAFFIC
  The net result, the report said, was that the heaviest sustained aerial traffic in the world went over The Hump routes.
  Flights over The Hump, famous for its bad weather, turbulent air, towering peaks and dense nearby jungles that are virtually impenetrable, were made by an assorted fleet of aircraft that included C-47's, C-46's, a few C-54's and C-109's.
  The report said tribute to the fact that whereas ICD's 35,000 military personnel including some airline

NISEI EXPLOITS   In addition to the exploits of the men who flew the Hump for three years, Roundup this week tells for the first time the full story of what the Nisei G.I. accomplished in China, Burma, and India. You will find it below. A message on the amount of U.S. property in the India-Burma Theater and its disposal - from Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Terry, Theater Commander, can also be found below. - The Editor.

specialists and Regular Army officers, the great bulk of the transport job fell upon ex-civilians in uniform: lawyers, bankers, school teachers, bus operators, newspapermen and businessmen from all fields. They planned operations, organized personnel - including 50,000 civilians - handled supplies, ran huge bases throughout India, Burma and China, and kept the aircraft in the air.
  The report showed how airlift tonnages increased tremendously as organization progressed and more equipment was added. Of the 776,532 tons airlifted over The Hump since Dec. 1, 1942, 551,223 tons were transported during the 12 months that extended from Sept. 1, 1944, to last Aug. 31. This was a 272 percent increase in tonnage over the preceding year.

EIGHT REASONS
  The steady increase in tonnage delivered to China during the past year, above increases in personnel and planes, was attributed by Gen. Tunner to:
  1. Pilot training and supervision to obtain the highest level of performance in operation over The Hump.
  2. Use of production-line maintenance on aircraft to obtain greater utilization per assigned airplane.
  3. Long-range utilization of C-54 type aircraft to deliver material direct from airports near India's docks.
  4. Improved "turn-around" time - the time required to unload, service and re-load an aircraft for another trip.
  5. Rigid adherence to flying safety regulations resulting in a steadily declining accident rate.
  6. Use of special air traffic control and airport approach systems for maximum safe operation over congested airways.
  7. Constant improvement in food, quarters and recreational facilities and careful safeguarding of health.
  8. A high level of morale among personnel, which resulted in the most efficient operations.
  He added that all operational activities of the division, training, maintenance, rapid turn-around at terminals, airways control, etc., were directed at one objective: to support the war effort by transporting as large an amount of supplies to China as possible. In order to accomplish this it was necessary to obtain the greatest utilization from every assigned aircraft within the bounds of safety. An airplane, he pointed out, on the ground is an expensive piece of machinery, as useless as an ox-cart.
  In referring to air losses, the report said hundreds of personnel forced down have been rescued by ICD's Search and Rescue Unit, which has a record of bringing 75 percent of crash survivors out of the mountains and jungles alive. This was achieved by crew briefing at special jungle survival camps, by the devising of emergency equipment for survival in unfavorable terrain, and by employment of highly trained, fully equipped, experienced search-rescue personnel who went into action instantly upon reporting of a crash or missing plane.

RESCUE UNITS
  "From the very start every effort was made to keep the cost in lives as low as it possibly could be," he said. "The major factors which caused crashes with their resultant loss of life included weather, lack of airway navigational facilities in the early days, and mechanical failure of aircraft, some of which were tested over The Hump run."
  In January, 1944, a major accident occurred over The Hump every 552 hours, whereas in August, 1945, every 5,423 hours. A crew member lost his life every 162 Hump trips in January, 1944, but only every 2,925 trips in August, 1945. Major accidents declined from 1.8 per 1,000 hours to 0.18 from January, 1944, to August, 1945.
  The decline in accidents was attributed by Gen. Tunner to a continuous flying safety program which, despite increasing traffic congestion over The Hump resulted in steadily decreasing accident rates. Pilot training, strict adherence to check-out requirements for pilots, close supervision through decentralization of flights, improved radio-navigation facilities, a pilot rotation policy to relieve strain, and safeguarding of health were safety factors initiated by ICD.

LARGEST DIVISION
  In supplying China, ICD, the largest of the nine overseas divisions operated by Air Transport Command, commanded by Lt. Gen. Harold L. George in Washington, at its operational peak flew 46 percent of all ATC overseas flying hours and cargo.
  Besides cargo airlift to China, ICD was engaged in many other major military missions - moving entire armies with their arms, equipment and supplies into battle position in China - transporting more than 1,000,000 passengers a year over 28,000 miles of airways in India, Burma and China and to the Philippines - and evacuating thousands of American personnel from forward airfields, hospitals and bases.
  In comparison with the Stilwell Road and the Myitkyina-Kunming pipeline to China, the division delivered 451,000 tons of cargo over The Hump from February 1, 1945 to September 30, 1945, against 187,000 tons delivered by the former, including weight of vehicles.
  Cargo never considered feasible for air transport before, was airlifted to China - jeeps, trucks, horses, bulldozers, tractors, bombs, steamrollers, mines and entire armies with their arms, equipment and supplies.
  Pilots were a cross-section of the United States - men from AAF training centers, former civilian pilots of all flying trades who had been trained by ATC, and others who had flown commercially for many years before the war.
  Gen. Tunner has been succeeded by Brig. Gen. Charles W. Lawrence, former commanding general of the Fifth Wing, 15th Air Force, who was deputy commanding general of ICD, and before that, commander of the division's Assam Wing.

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‘Road Project’ Cost 27,905 Casualties
  By SGT. JOHN MCDOWELL   Roundup Staff Writer

  The campaign to clear North Burma and parts of Central Burma so the Stilwell Road lifeline to China could be opened, resulted in the loss of 8,151 Chinese, British and American soldiers killed in battle, according to records compiled by the Theater Historical Section. Casualties totaled 27,905 men.
  The records, which covered a period extending from October, 1943, to June, 1945, showed the Chinese suffered 20,110 casualties, including 6,234 dead; the British 4,982 casualties, including 1,321 dead; and U.S. Armed Forces 2,813 casualties, including 596 dead.
  During the same period, the Historical Section reported, Allied Forces killed 35,473 Japanese.
  The U.S. forces involved were the 5307th Brigade, made up of the Old Galahad (Marauders) and the New Galahad forces, the 5332nd (Mars Task Force) Brigade, and the 209th and 236th Combat Engineers.
  The British forces, which included only those under the Northern Area Combat Command, comprised the Third Indian Division, the Haswell (Kachin Levies) Force, and the 36th Division.
  The Chinese troops were in the First provisional Tank Group, Animal Transport regiment, 10th and 12th Engineering Regiments, the First Chinese Regiment, and the 12th, 14th, 22nd, 30th, 38th and 50th Divisions.
  Scrub typhus was identified as the most dangerous jungle disease, accounting for 711 cases among U.S. troops between December, 1943, and April, 1945. Forty-eight of the patients died.

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CG Terry Outlines Disposal Problem Of 1,250,000 Tons Of Property

  Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Terry, Commanding General of the India-Burma Theater, this week issued a statement to

GEN. THOMAS A. TERRY

the troops of his command outlining the job which must be done in this theater before all American troops can be sent home. The statement follows:
  All of you are wondering when you'll get home and you hope that it will be soon. I share that hope and, in my capacity as theater commander, I am doing everything in my power to speed the day of departure. But we can't all go home immediately. We must face that fact squarely.
  Men are returning to the United States from all over the world. All available shipping space is being utilized and we must settle for our share - and no more. But I can assure you that every effort will be made to return you to the United States as quickly as you become eligible.
  Yes, we are all eager to go home, but we must not allow the eagerness to distort our perspective. For there is still a job to de done - a vital and mighty job. When V-J Day burst so suddenly upon us, there were 1,250,000 tons of United States property in our theater not including Air Corps technical supplies.
  This vast tonnage was a very fitting monument to the men who had built it, and you are the men. Yours were the patience and the sweat and the aching backs. America is proud of the soldierly part you have played, but we cannot stop now. We cannot simply go home and leave all this behind as children abandon toys at dinner times.

REVERSE GEAR
  V-J Day threw the gears of the India-Burma Theater solidly into reverse, instead of collecting supplies, we were faced with the task of disposing of them. We are all American taxpayers and these 1,250,000 tons represent an investment which we must protect. As taxpayers, and as representatives of Americans at home, we must see to it that nothing is wasted - that the very best prices are obtained.
  Our Government has established certain rules for the handling of this property and we must play the game according to these rules. The surpluses fall into two main categories - first, supplies and equipment; second, fixed installations such as air fields, pipelines, signal communications and buildings. The War Department could not immediately tell us what to do with each category and even today certain problems are unsettled.
  But the course is reasonably clear at this time - clear enough for us to peel back our sleeves and get to the job immediately. None of us knows how long this will take, for the time consumed will depend in large part upon the spirit and willingness of everyone involved.
  Some of this 1,250,000 tons will be consumed in the theater. A great deal (mainly civilian-type items) must be shipped home to meet a critical and long-lived demand. During the war years, the American public was forced to do without many commodities which this theater has in abundance.

BUSY 'TIL MARCH
  A survey shows that the port of Calcutta will be busy with such items until the end of March. During November, six ships are scheduled to carry general cargo to the United States while five more will take home ammunition. Fifteen ships, eight from Calcutta and seven from Karachi, will be placed at the disposal of homeward-bound personnel. Two will pack general cargo to Shanghai and four Liberty Ships are assigned the task of transporting dangerous and valueless ammunition out to sea where it will be dumped. Twenty-four ships are earmarked for December, 12 for personnel and 12 for cargo.
  It is unfortunate that a proportion of our supplies and equipment must be junked or destroyed. It is unfortunate, but there is no other course and victory is never cheaply bought. We have large dumps of ammunition of obsolete types. This is not wanted at home and we cannot leave it in India, so it must be destroyed or dumped at sea.
  None of this destruction will be the result of hasty decisions. Careful studies are made before an item is tossed aside or dispatched to the scrap pile. Values are dispassionately balanced and there is only one determining factor - the best value for the American people. Fortunately for us, a large part of these supplies will find a ready sale in India while they would be valueless in the United States. You can be sure that no possibility is overlooked.

SOME ABANDONED
  A certain amount of material must be abandoned. In Burma, for example, the unsettled condition of the country makes the sale of our goods extremely difficult. Therefore, I reluctantly gave orders to bring some 20,000 tons of valuable surplus out of Burma. This means additional work for all of us, but I could not allow these supplies to be abandoned. Such an action simply could not be justified to the American people.
  After a war which has been so costly in material as well as in men, it seems criminal to destroy anything which can be used by the people among whom we have served so long. When recovery or sale of such supplies is impossible, abandonment is certainly the only wise and humane course.
  The over-all supply picture is exceedingly complicated. However, I'd like to give you some idea as to how it shapes up. We had 1,250,000 tons of material in the theater as of V-J Day. Of this, 668,000 tons had been declared excess by Nov. 1, and 23,616 tons had been shipped back to the United States. Excess civilian-type items totaling 9,000 tons and military items running up to 15,000 tons await shipment. Supplies and equipment amounting to 84,000 tons, with a value of $30,243,558, had been declared surplus.
  In considering these figures, it should be understood that items declared excess are not considered surplus until a decision regarding their disposition has been reached. Further, the total figures vary from day to day because of the consumption of supplies and equipment by troops of this theater.

FIXED INSTALLATIONS
  Fixed installations present another pressing problem, for these must be guarded until the Foreign Liquidation Commission is able to obtain a cash return for our investments. Installations with values exceeding $100,000 each are reported to the War Department while lesser-valued properties are disposed of locally by the Army.
  Bids are solicited and sales negotiated for those installations which are turned over to the Liquidation Commission. In the meanwhile, we of the Army must continue in our role of caretaker.
  As of V-J Day, the United States had 198 fixed installations in this theater. Of these, 55 were valued at more than $100,000 each and all of these were reported to the War Department more than a month ago. Of the 198 total, 117 are scheduled for transfer to the British when they become surplus to American needs. Of these, 25 have already been relinquished. Fourteen other have been turned over to the Liquidation Commission.
  Yes, the war is over, but I want to impress this upon you and impress it again and again - a job still looms before us and it is a big one. There are no easy solutions - no short cuts. But this is a job worth doing and worth doing well.
  The India-Burma Theater has won a magnificent reputation for courage and devotion under truly frightful conditions. Since coming here, I have been amazed by the visible efforts of your accomplishments. But this is no time for a hang-fire - for a slackening of effort.
  Make the cap-stone worthy of the structure you have built. Maintain your high standard of performance right on to the completion of the job. Recognition of your duty to the American people allows no other course. When the job is done, you will go home. Let us all work and pull together to speed the approach of the happy day.

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U.S. SURPLUSES ON SALE IN INDIA
 By USIS

  More than 500,000 items of surplus property will be placed on sale to the Indian public almost immediately, the U.S. Foreign Liquidation Commission announced this week.
  Among the commodities to be released for sale are medical supplies, industrial machines, tools, tractors, clothing, foodstuffs, armor plate, aircraft and even shoe strings.
  Walter B. Schleiter, Foreign Liquidation Commissioner for India said branch offices of the Commission are being established in various Indian cities for the convenience of the public.

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Famous Flying Tiger 23rd To Quit China

  HANGCHOW, CHINA - (Special to the Roundup) - The famed 23rd Fighter Group, oldest fighter outfit of the 14th Air Force, is now stationed near this ancient Chinese city awaiting shipment home, it was announced this week.
  Under the command of Col. Edward F. Rector, one of the top aces of the old American Volunteer Group - the original Flying Tigers - the outfit leads all other units in China in enemy aircraft destroyed, Jap ground casualties inflicted, total missions, sorties and combat hours flown. Col. Robert L. Scott, author of God Is My Co-Pilot, was the first commanding officer of the 23rd when it was activated in Kunming on July 4, 1942.
  Today, the fighting is over for the 23rd. The men are quartered in the modern Lake View Hotel overlooking the clear blue waters of West Lake. Sightseeing, shopping and :sampaning" on the lake are their favorite diversions.
  The Hangchow Army Air Base where the 23rd is stationed is 10 miles outside the city. Before Jap occupation in 1937, the base was known as China's West Point of the Air, and it is once more being restored as headquarters of the Chinese Air Force and training school for future Chinese pilots.
  Hangchow, after eight years of Jap occupation, was one of the last major Chinese cities to be occupied by Central Government and United States forces. The P-51 Mustangs, jeeps, trucks and other equipment of the U.S. Army have proved a real curiosity to the local populace.
  Here, in the "Atlantic City" of China, the last of the Flying Tigers - or "Fei Lau Foo's," as they are known to the Chinese - are having their final contact with the country they defended for so many long months. Gone are the days of tattered tents on wind-swept mountainsides, skimpy rations and three-ball alerts.
  The men of the 23rd, who entered China through the back door - The Hump - will soon be leaving by the front door of Shanghai, 100 miles from Hangchow.

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472nd QM Awarded Third MSU Citation

  KARACHI - The 472nd Quartermaster Group, one of the first large Service units ever to arrive in India, was recently awarded the "Meritorious Service Unit Citation" for the third time, and is now "sweating it out" at Replacement Depot No. 1 as a Category IV unit after spending 29 months in the Assam Valley.
  The unit, under the command of Col. R. F. Ireland since its activation at Camp Sutton, N.C., in February, 1943, arrived in India in September, 1943. After spending four weeks at a British-Indian transit camp at Deolali, orders were finally received sending the Group to its permanent station at Chabua.
  Upon arriving at Chabua, the 472nd was handed its assignments which ranged from unloading freight cars, loading and unloading airplanes for the India-China Command and the China National Division of the Air Transport Airways Corporation, up to and including convoying U.S. vehicles from their trans-shipment point at Goalpara to Chabua where they were disassembled for shipment "over The Hump" to China.
  For their outstanding performance of duty, 20 members of the Group were awarded the Bronze Star Medal and six others received the "Chinese Flying Cloud," awarded them by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. - W/O A. R. KLEIN.

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While the tons of ammunition were being destroyed at the Kanchrapara Ammunition Area, a photographer was on hand to catch the billowing clouds of smoke from burning gun powder.

Ordnance G.I.’s Do ‘Bang-up Job’
In Disposal Of Excess Ammunition
  By PFC. ED ALEXANDER   Roundup Staff Writer

  KANCHRAPARA - The security lid's off. Now can be told the story of the Kanchrapara Ordnance Ammunition Area, operated by three Negro companies of the 49th Ordnance Battalion. Tokyo Rose used to talk about every installation around here, but she never knew about this ammunition dump. If she had, the Japs certainly would have tried to do something about it, because the 49th operates the single largest American ammunition area anywhere in the entire world. Every bit of stuff used in India, Burma and China went through this battalion. As the boys here put it, "We handled everything from .30-caliber rifled cartridges to 4,000-pound blockbusters - everything but the atomic bomb. And, if we stay here long enough, we'll probably handle that, too."
  During the war, ammunition ships came into the King George docks in Calcutta. Unloading was supervised by a detachment of eight enlisted men from the 49th Battalion, under Lt. N. D. McClain and M/Sgt. James J. Stavredes. It was their job to see that all the safety rules contained in a 71-page Coast Guard manual were observed by Indian longshoremen.
  The ammo was then loaded onto boxcars and river barges for the 40-mile trip up to Kanchrapara, here the battalion took over, unloading and moving the ammo to storage sheds in the area. As requisitions came in, the sheds were emptied and the ammo reloaded on boxcars for shipment to the forward areas.
  Old-timers remember the days when the forward areas couldn't wait. many's the time when the 49th loaded ammo straight out of a boxcar into a C-46 of the First Air Commandos; accompanied the plane to somewhere in Burma; and

FIRST OF TWO   One of the many big jobs ahead in clearing out the I-B Theater is the disposal of much excess ammunition. This task is being capably done by the 49th Ordnance Battalion at the Kanchrapara Ammunition Area, the largest American dump in the world. Part of that job - and the men who do it - is herewith presented by Roundup Staff Writer Pfc. Ed Alexander. This is the first in a series of two articles, the second of which will appear next week. - Editor.

helped unload directly into a waiting P-47.
  The process works in reverse now. Ammo comes down from depots farther up the line. Some is held in temporary storage awaiting disposition instructions from the War Department, some is dumped at sea, some shipped home. Deteriorated stock or stuff which would cost the government more to ship home than is practical either is blown up in safe isolated areas or is dumped at sea some 160 miles out of Calcutta.
  A meritorious service plaque was awarded to the 49th this year for the job it did in reaching a peak load of 53,000 long tons handled in one month and a total of 750,000 long tons in 21 months of operation. But things were not always thus. When the 591st Ordnance Ammunition Company first arrived in India in the fall of '43, later to be joined by the 1094th, snafu reigned supreme.
  To handle blockbusters, the battalion had but one beat-up crane and no forklifts. G.I.'s pushed blockbusters around with elbow grease until they eventually begged, borrowed or stole 11 more cranes. In those days the men at the railhead put in 10 hours and more a day, working far into the night under floodlights. For the first 20 months they pulled eight-hour guard reliefs after a 10-hour work day. Now, guard is down to four-hour reliefs. The first boys up drove a convoy of 15 trucks from Calcutta. They "borrowed" 14 of the vehicles for two months before anyone in Calcutta missed them!
  The early "settlers" found barracks built of cow dung and mud waiting for them in the midst of a swamp. A year later they were to get cement and build the snappy barracks of today - brick walls covered with freshly white-washed cement.
  Under these conditions, the battalion had troubles. For instance, if a boxcar is kept on a siding for more than nine daylight hours, the railroad charges demurrage. Uncle Sam formerly was paying as high as 25,000 rupees per month for demurrage at Kanchrapara. At one time, there were threats of an ammunition embargo against the Calcutta docks if too much of the dangerous stuff piled up. Then the 49th really swung into action, reorganizing the work on a "task force" system in the summer of '44. From that time on, the men handled 6,850 boxcars without costing the United States a single anna of demurrage.
  The "task force" idea is simple. Previously, the man had been putting in an eight or 10-hour day, regardless of how much or how little work there was. The idea of the "task force" is this: Give each crew a specific job for the day. When the men finish the job, they've finished for the day - whether it takes two hours or 12.
  Here's what happens: At 5;30 a.m., T/Sgt. Clyde Pointer gives out work sheets, outlining each crew's job, to the detail sergeants at the operations office. At 6 a.m. the sergeants organize the crews at company formations. By 6:30 the motor pool is humming, as G.I.'s rush in for their trucks, and a steady stream of Indian coolies pour into the trucks from special trains. About 2,000 coolies were hired the day I watched, although it has reached as high as 3,000. By 7:30 the G.I.'s and coolies were out at their jobs, loading trucks at the storage sheds, unloading the trucks onto boxcars at two railheads or onto barges at jetties, and cutting the grass in the firebreaks around the sheds.
  The G.I.'s have the responsibility for supervising Indian labor. But I saw a crew loading fragmentation bomb clusters. The "supervisors" were right up on the truck, pushing the bombs around with the coolies, setting the pace.
  Maybe that's why some men like Cpl. Charles A. Johnson are usually through with a day's work by 9 a.m.
  At another shed I saw the men handling 75-armor-piercing shells. Indians pulled the projectile out of the shell casing in a special hand-operated device. The smokeless-powder propelling charge is collected and burned. The projectile is dumped at sea. After the primers in the casings are fired, the brass castings go to salvage. The shell casings with live primers hang in wooden racks, looking like a xylophone. A chico no more than 12 years old, squatted on top of the rack, merrily setting off the primers with a hammer and punch. He looked happy as a lark, although these primers go off with a bang about five times as loud as a rifle.
  G.I.'s seem to like the way the "task Force" system works under Lt. Maurice Flynn, operations officer.
  Pfc. Edward Kent, one of the new replacements down from the 93rd Engineers, said, "Most of the boys seem to like this way better. They are fair about it. If you are through early, they don't stick you on another detail." Pfc. Roosevelt Brown, just in from China with the 60th Co., agreed.
  S/Sgt. John Washington, one of the old timers, felt "as long as the boys see on the work sheets what work has to be done, they don't mind pitching in even when it means 10 hours instead of the more usual four. It's 'putting in time' when there's nothing to do that gets men disgusted, not working. During the war, we knew the boys farther up the line needed the stuff badly. Now we feel that the sooner we get it done, the quicker we'll get home. This system makes for a lot more efficient use of trucks and heavy lift equipment, of which we've never had enough."

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Humorous G.I. Provides Map Of Malir Depot
  By SGT. CHARLES W. CLARK   Roundup Staff Writer

  Quite a few of the fortunate who have reached Replacement Depot No. 1 at Malir have written the Roundup that the general layout of streets at that staging area is more confusing than a Coney Island mirror mystery-house.
  "Two weeks ago," wrote one G.I., "I went to the PX and I ain't found my barracks yet. Won't you please help me?"
  Unfortunately, we couldn't. Not then.
  But there was one G.I. who could and did. he drew a map of the entire depot, naming each street and locating all the important points the stagee should know. A copy of this map has just reached the Roundup, and it's really great.
  The map, which was re-printed and is now being distributed to new arrivals at Malir by the Information and Education Section, is similar, in a way, to the United States. It is divided into four quadrants, appropriately named Yankee, Cotton Country, Cow Country and Corn Country.
  In the Yankee quadrant the streets bear such names as Buffalo, Boston, Albany, Pennsylvania and such. Farther south, in the Cotton Country quadrant, you find Atlanta Street, Birmingham Street and Ol' River Road. In the Cow Country quadrant are Texas Avenue, Houston Street, Arizona Avenue and Los Angeles and San Francisco Streets. Then in the upper left-hand, or Corn Country quadrant, are found Billings Street, Des Moines Street, St. Paul Street, and two side lanes called Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
  With one of these maps even the most jungle-jolly couldn't get lost, unless he were dodging K.P.
  The name of our map-making friend is not known and apparently he has since gone home. The only two clues to his identification are found in the lower right-hand corner of the map, where he has penned, "These streets were named, and the map delineated, in the interest of aching feet by one who one night walked in many circles." And below this he wrote: "The war's over, honey, and my feet are tired."

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Lift Secrecy On Exploits Of Nisei G.I.’s In I-B Theater

One of the courageous Nisei who participated in the Burma Campaign was T/3 Kenny Yasui, known as "Baby York" and holder of the Silver Star for gallantry in action.  Here, Yasui, a Japanese-American from Los Angeles, Calif., broadcasts to the Japs at a front line position near Bhamo.

‘Every Man Equal To Company Of Infantry’

 Roundup Staff Article

  Secrecy's veil, behind which the Nisei have served in the India-Burma Theater, was lifted this week. Now the world can be told some of the exploits of the American-born Japanese and the important role they performed in the re-conquest of Burma. That story has long been known and appreciated by Allied military personnel in the Far East. Its much-merited publication was, until today, withheld to protect relatives of the Nisei in Japan from retaliation.
  When Uncle Joe Stilwell declared to the Roundup the other day that Nisei G.I.'s had earned the right to expect tolerance from Americans, a share of his authority sprang from an intimate knowledge of the accomplishments of the olive-skinned second-American-generation Japanese in enemy-infested Burma.
  The saga of the Nisei in Burma varies from that of the courageous Nisei combat Infantrymen in Italy. Their's was a different mission in the far East - that of interrogation of Jap prisoners and translation of enemy documents. But while Nisei G.I.'s in our neck of the war weren't employed in direct assault, most of them - the exceptions being physically unfit - were attached to front line units, British, American and Chinese. Capture, ever a haunting spectre, meant at the best death and at the worst cruel torture before death for these volunteers, recruited from Relocation Centers in the United States.

‘WORTH A COMPANY’
  In releasing the story of the Nisei in the India-Burma Theater, Col. G. F. Blunda, commanding officer, South East Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC), underlined the importance of their activities with the unequivocal statement:
  "Each Nisei was as valuable as a company of Infantry in Burma, despite the fact they weren't combat troops. Many Allied soldiers are returning safely to their homes because the Nisei lighted the darkness in front of them by interrogating prisoners and translating documents.
  "The value of the Nisei was that they supplied the missing link - understanding of the shades of meaning of the Japanese language, written and spoken - between the enemy and the British and U.S. Intelligence officers responsible for evaluation of information gathered from various sources."
  Blunda hastened to point out that the jigsaw puzzle of intelligence was composed of many interrelated segments: Aerial photographs, reports from agents of British and American clandestine organizations and evaluation of information by Allied Intelligence officers.
  "While the role played by the Nisei in the overall picture was admittedly important,' he cautioned, "it must be held in mind it was only a portion of the whole."

WINS PURPLE HEART
  Despite the fact that 150 Nisei G.I.'s at one time or another were attached to Allied troops, none was captured or killed and only one was awarded the Purple heart. This was by no means, however, a true measure of their courage but a tribute to lady Luck. Because they were so valuable, the Nisei were restrained from endangering their lives - but, even so, they were involved in precarious combat situations on numerous occasions.
  T/3 Paul Miwa, attached to the 475th Infantry, Mars Task Force, hit the ground behind a log at Namhpakka on the Burma Road and was nicked by machine gun bullets to earn the Purple Heart.
  The only "captured" Nisei was T/5 Tony Ueomoto, who was seized by the Chinese south of Tonkwa. Only the most delicate persuasion saved him from being shot. He was forced to take off his shoes so he couldn't "escape" and was forced to march in as a "prisoner."
  Silver Stars for gallantry in action were awarded T/3 Eichi Sakauye and S/Sgt. Kenny Yasui.
  Sakauye rescued a British officer of an Indian Division under fire at the Mawlu Road block in April, 1944. The officer, buried by a shell burst, was in a desperate predicament when the Nisei G.I. came to his rescue.
  Nisei chuckle when they recall one of Sakauye's experiences with an Indian Division 150 miles behind Jap lines. T/3 Henry Kuwaba, Salt lake City, who served variously with the 36th British Division, the Chinese 22nd Division, the OSS and the OWI, recalled the story:
  "Eichi had tapped a Jap telephone line," related Kuwaba. "Burmese agents, however, reported the incident to the enemy. Damned if the Jap commander didn't address Eichi personally over the phone. He didn't reply, of course."

STAGES HOAX
  Yasui is the legendary figure known as "Baby York" who once impersonated a Jap colonel, made eight enemy enlisted men perform close order drill, by the numbers, and then marched them into Allied lines.
  Maj. William E. Cox was assistant G-2 and later G-2 of the Northern Combat Area Command in Burma. Interviewed by the Roundup, Cox praised the Nisei.
  "I hate to think of having had to do without them," he said. "Their interrogation of prisoners and translation of documents made it possible to identify units and thus know the enemy's order of battle. They were able to translate Japanese idiom into American idiom, vital information to us."
  The Americans with Mars Task Force, declared Cox, marveled at the way the plucky little Nisei marched long, grueling miles through the jungle with the same field equipment without a gripe.
  Nisei were model soldiers in the India-Burma Theater. There were nor records of disciplinary action, no instances of disaffection. Commendatory expressions reached SEATIC from leaders everywhere in the field, less than unstinted praise the exception rather than the rule. The Nisei served with the British in every major campaign from Imphal through Rangoon, with the American Marauders and Mars Task Force, the Chinese, the OSS and the OWI.

RESOURCES ARE POOLED
  The first group of Nisei, a 10-man language team, arrived in India in August, 1943, as members of the Joint Intelligence Collection Agency (JCIA). In May, 1944, SEATIC was established in order to pool the resources of British and U.S. linguists and thus have an efficient Allied organization for the exploitation of Jap documents and POW's in SEAC. The Director of Intelligence, SEAC, asked the Commanding General, India-Burma Theater, to appoint a U.S. officer to command SEATIC and Col. Alexander Swift was selected by Lt. Gen. Dan I. Sultan. Col. Blunda succeeded Col. Swift in February of this year.
  The Nisei, one part of the SEATIC mosaic, performed in two echelons, one at New Delhi Headquarters and the other in the field with combat units. Behind locked doors in New Delhi, they translated documents and interrogated prisoners, under British supervision, at the famous Red Fort. While stationed in India's capital, however, they chafed at being "Delhi Commandos" despite the importance of their work and argued to be assigned to Burma. Practically all spent at least six months in the field, many better than a year.
  Lt. Ken Tagami, Selma, Calif., one of the 14 Nisei awarded direct commissions in I-BT, was team leader of the 124th Cavalry, Mars Task Force, language team. He accompanied the 124th from training in Ramgarh through the capture of Lashio.

Get Enemy War Plans

JAPS TALK FREELY
  "The only difficulty in interrogation of Jap prisoners," he told the Roundup, "was overcoming the fear. But after medical attention, a hot meal, bath and cigarette, they realized they weren't going to be killed or tortured as their leaders had led them to believe. They then gave information freely. Their only reticence was in disclosing their names for they feared disgrace at home."
  Cox confirmed the Japs' verbosity, once they knew they would be humanely treated.
  "The enemy soldiers were often in possession of a great amount of information," he disclosed. "They were not security conscious, possibly because the Jap leaders didn't recognize the fact that some of their enlisted men would accept capture. They carried operations orders on their person and wrote everything they knew in their diaries. And talk - why, they'd talk their heads off."
  If this was puzzling to Cox, consider his amazement when a few of the captured Japanese applied for positions with the American Army in the same role as the Nisei.
  The only Legion of Merit presented a Nisei was awarded T/Sgt. Roy Masumoto, who gave long, distinguished service to Merrill's Marauders. On one occasion, Masumoto crawled to within hearing distance of a Jap command post and listened to verbal orders.

WITH MARAUDERS
  "Some of the other Nisei with the Marauders," related T/3 Tomochi Tsuruda, Santa Barbara, Calif., "translated verbal orders given by enemy commanders in combat. This enabled the Marauders to mow down the Japs, as you can well imagine. Of course, don't think this was an everyday occurrence - but it did happen on a few occasions."
  The award of bronze arrowheads by the OSS for parachute jumps brought to light the unique experiences of four Nisei. T/5s Hideo Imai and Robert Honda operated with the OSS Kachin Rangers in the Myitkyina-Ft. Hertz area for eight months, from March to November, 1944. Led and supplied by the OSS, the Kachins continually harassed the Japs with ambushes. Imai and Honda didn't participate in this grim game of jungle chess. Their principal task was to translate documents from dispatch cases taken from the dead and to interrogate the occasional prisoners captured.

AIR DROPS
  It was a rugged existence, admitted Imai to the Roundup. "We were supplied by air drops, food, books, clothes, equipment and even occasional Roundups. Because of Jap agents among the other native tribes such as the Shans, we were forced to shift our command post continually. I had malaria several times and always suffered from dysentery."
  Slight, quiet Imai disclosed that a sidelight of the Japanese penetration, which advanced a few miles north of Sumprabum, was hunting elephants to pull artillery.
  When Imai and Honda reached the limit of their physical endurance, T/3 Shigeto Mazawa and T/5 Charles Matsunaka volunteered on 24-hour notice to parachute into the Sinlum Kaba Hills as replacements. Nazawa on several occasions took an active part in ambushes as commander of the Kachins, but for the most part translated and interrogated.
  Although loath to single out individuals for praise - "They all performed so loyally and capably" - Blunda took occasion to designate 1st lt. Eddie Mitsukado, one of seven Nisei awarded the Bronze Star Medal, as the outstanding Japanese-American G.I. in the India-Burma Theater.
  "Mitsukado, born in the Hawaiian Islands, was the best language man and team leader in the group," said the colonel. "He received high commendation from the British with whom he worked for some time."
  Another member of the SEATIC whose contribution was valuable, according to Blunda, was Maj. John D. McLaughlin, chief of the U.S. component of SEATIC. McLaughlin served first at Myitkyina and later at New Delhi Headquarters and, Blunda told the Roundup, "was topnotch at handling the Nisei and integrating their efforts with the British. The Nisei loved him." McLaughlin was recently awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
  One of the latest assignments of the Nisei was at Singapore, shepherded by Capt. Barton Lloyd, Chief of the SEATIC Language Section, (Nisei took part in practically all the surrender activities in the Far East.) At Singapore, they met four Nisei captains assigned to the China Theater who had been line officers with the famed 442nd Infantry in Italy.

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BASKETBALL BY-PASS - Burch of the Panagarh Ramblers tries to scoot past Bennett, Camp Tollygunge Staters star, during the finals of the Calcutta area basket tourney.  The Ramblers won 36-32, at Monsoon Square Garden.  (Photo by Cpl. John Dolan).

Panagarh Takes Cage Tourney

  CALCUTTA - The up-country Panagarh Ramblers won the Calcutta area basketball tourney by defeating the Camp Tollygunge Staters, 36-32, in the finale before an SRO crowd at Monsoon Square Garden.
  Featuring a well-balanced club, the Ramblers had little difficulty until the final game. They won that with a scoring spurt in the last half-minute which left the spectators limp.
  The ten outstanding men of the tourney were determined as follows: Mosley, Tolly Staters; Furrow, Panagarh Ramblers; Conley, Tolly Staters; Hughes, Panagarh Ramblers; Brislow, Tolly Staters; Nally, 1007th catskinners; Collins, Delta Air Depot; Pendergrass, Howrah Mullets; Hertman, 142nd General Hospital; Van Ness, Barrackpore Flyers.
  Between games, trophies were awarded to winners in the Monsoon Square Garden League, the Camp Howrah Mullets, and to the Camp Tollygung Snafus, American League champs. S/Sgt. Joe Eggelston received the trophy for the Mullets, while Lt. Hopewell accepted on behalf of the Snafus. Presentations were made by Col. Ralph Eberlin.
  Music was provided for the occasion by the 474th A.S.F. Band and the Syncopators.

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PAGE’S HOMER WINS AT LEDO

  LEDO - Slugger Joe Page of Johnstown, Pa., slammed a homer with the bags bulging in the sixth inning to give Headquarters Co. a 7-4 win over the 1875th Aviation Engineer Bn. team before 1,000 baseball nuts here.
  The win rated Headquarters co. the Ledo Area Command title. Page's deciding wallop was a 380-foot line drive to right field and it also brought the typewriter commandoes their fourth win in six days. They also had anchlussed the Assam National League pennant during their spree, which qualified them for the titular playoff against the 1875th, American League champs.
  Mainstay of the four-game drive was right-hander Maurice Luccier, Norwood, Mass., who received win credit for every single one. He pitched the route for the first three tussles and two innings of the final game.
  A fast 3-0 lead was snatched by the 1875th in the finals, when Paul Witt, of Fulton, Ill., and formerly of the Cardinal chain-gang, slammed a long triple to score Ray Wise of Maspeth, N.Y. Witt stole home a moment later. Al Rodag, of Camden, Ohio, singled, moved to third on an error and scored on Al Simon's single.
  Headquarters came back in the last of the second for two. John Zeiss, of St. Paul, Minn., tripled and scored on Banusevich's infield tap. Luccier and Emmanuele singled to bring Banusevich home.
  In the third, Page walked, was sacrificed to second and tallied on an error at third. That tied the game at 3-all, but the Engineers came back in the fourth as DeMarco doubled and Rodag singled. Came the sixth, Page's clout, and Headquarters Co. had it.

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MYITKYINA NINE SHADE MP'S, 4-3   MYITKYINA - In a story-book thriller, the Fourth Combat Cargo Group staged a tenth inning rally to nose out the Calcutta MP ball club 4-3, before 2,000 fans here.   The game was an impressive mound duel between Bob Juvaza of the losers, who fanned 21, and the Cargo Group's Bob Heinz, who set down 16.   In the last of the tenth, and trailing 3-2, the Com-Car outfit provided the hysterical conclusion. Mike Taddeo singled with one away and went to third on Ed Martin's blow. Peanuts Pena went in to run for Martin.   Pinch-hitter Johnny Holmes dumped a squeeze bunt to first and beat it out as Taddeo scored. Then with two away, Buzz Goodbar unloaded a pinch-hit single to bring Pena in and end the game.

Kayo Features Chabua Fights

  CHABUA - Bill Harmon, 135-pounder from Baltimore, registered a second round knockout over Sumural Baiden, of the African Gold Coast, to feature the opening Punch Bowl fight card before a full house at Replacement Depot No. 5.
  Giving away five pounds, Harmon still managed to dispose of Baiden in impressive fashion. Harmon is a product of the 51st Service Group.
  Light-heavy Jimmy Beck, of the 1333rd A.B.U. and Ruston, W. Va., won on a technical kayo in the second round from Johnny Naylor, of the 1332nd A.B.U. and Chicago. Naylor had to retire after sustaining a cut eye.
  Other results:
  Phil Jones, 152, of 4282nd QM Depot and Louisville, Ky., decisioned Tommy Colo, 155, of England.
  Charles Olssen, 120, of the Africa Gold Coast decisioned Morland Slanselo, 122, of the 51st Service Group and San Diego, Calif.
  Red Clayton, 133, of Rock Island, Ill. and 1333rd A.B.U. took the verdict from Morman Gatek, 51st Service group and Chicago.
  Bob Trambley, 146, of the 236th Signal Service Bn. and El Paso, Tx., decisioned Frederick Qucercoo, 143, of the Africa Gold Coast. Qucercoo hit the canvas for a nine-count in the third.
  Prior to the boxing, Indian wrestling matches were staged, climaxed with a free-for-all. Red Cross lassies of the depot supplied the finishing touch by serving coffee and doughnuts after the card.

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Scribe Finds Replacement Depot At Chabua ‘Pleasant, Efficient’
 By SGT. RAY HOWARD   Roundup Field Correspondent

  CHABUA, ASSAM - If every stop you make on your journey home is like the one at Replacement Depot No. 5, you will probably leave the service with a better opinion of the Army, for here the emphasis is on getting you out with a minimum of delay, and making your stay as pleasant as possible.
  Staffed by combat veterans of the Mars Task Force and men who have had many months experience in sending replacements into combat in Burma. Number 5 Depot's personnel know the G.I. likes and dislikes, and are bending over backward to make the returning soldier happy.
  Under the command of Capt. Haley M. Jamerson, Martinsville, V., formerly with Northern Combat Area Command and at the depot since May, operations proceed smoothly and an average of 500 men per day are put on C-54's for the non-stop flight to Karachi.
  Jamerson is constantly battling for more planes, and largely through his efforts, a record of 1,336 men were once sent out in a single day. the transportation is never certain, but an attempt is made to keep a backlog of approximately 1,700 men just in case more planes are made available than are expected. The efficiency of the camp is best attested by the fact that for weeks now few transients have had to spend more than three days here.

ONLY 80 POUNDS
  If you are going from Intermediate Section by air, you arrive at Number 5 in a truck or semi-trailer, and the moment you dismount the brief processing starts. First your baggage is weighed and tagged, and if you have more than 80 pounds you are advised to lighten up. Most men are inclined to bring more than the allowed amount of clothing, possibly with the idea of discarding it as it gets soiled, but this is a mistake. There are no bahras here, and the more clothing you bring, the more you have to carry. After you are weighed in, you are assigned to Bombay tents in a built-up, clean area, with showers and latrines conveniently located nearby. All transients are restricted from the time they hit the depot, because shipments are constantly leaving, and if you are away when your ship leaves, it is just TS unless you have a good excuse - and it must be good.
  The permanent personnel of the camp consists of 120 men, and is set up to handle only 400 transients, but every day they have more than four times that many. Still they are doing a good job, and your chance as a transient of getting on detail is 15 in 1,700 of catching KP, and 1 in 170 of catching guard duty. Even if you do get on one of these details, you only serve as a KP, or pull a two-hour guard shift, and you get only one detail while in camp.

BEER RATIONED
  The PX at Number 5 has first priority over all PX's in Intermediate Section, and the shelves are bulging with articles which many jungle-weary G.I.'s haven't seen in a long while. It used to be that you could get a case of beer for the asking, but now beer is rationed two bottles to the man.
  Sgt. James T. Huckaba, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., PX NCO, explained the beer situation. "We had so many men going to sleep and missing their planes that we had to put in the rationing," he said. "Of course, most of the men working in the PX have conveniently short memories, and if a man comes through the beer line more than once we would probably have a hard time recognizing him."
  Plenty of diversion is offered by the energetic Special Service section headed by Lt. Abel Kessler, Sheffield, Pa. Every kind of sports equipment is available, and boxing matches, baseball, volleyball and football games are always in progress. Shows are scheduled for six nights per week, and chapel services are offered daily.
  At the Red Cross you can lounge in comfort, or participate in the many activities. Coffee, donuts, sandwiches and sometimes fresh eggs may be had at the snack bar, and there is a bevy of nice Red Cross girls around to help orientate you as to how to act around those long missed American women you will soon be so pleasantly seeing.
  And that is the attitude of all men who run the depot. Number 5 is not supposed to be concerned with your clothing shortages, but they have a large warehouse left from the days when they were outfitting combat men, and S/Sgt. Raymond S. McManus has been known to give a pair of sun tans, or socks, or other incidental items to men who convince him that they are actually short.
  Food at the camp isn't Stateside, but it is good, and there is plenty of it. About the only unpleasant situation in the entire camp is the long mess lines necessitated by feeding up to 2,000 men in the two mess halls. There is no remedy for this in sight, because it is impossible to determine from day to day how many men will be fed. S/Sgt. Arthur W. Morgan, mess sergeant from Philadelphia, and his men have on occasion fed 900 unexpected arrivals on one hour's notice.
  All planes leave Chabua by 4 p.m. so that they can clear the mountains with their 40 passengers in daylight. Final briefing takes only a few minutes. While the men are in camp, S/Sgt. Robert C. Eagan, Pacific Palisades, Calif., and his men have made individual tickets for each passenger and copies of their orders. Officers and men are checked onto a truck and hurried to the plane waiting at the airport.
  Kessler's Special Service department is the catch-all for recreation and information. Cpls. LeRoy E. Cheney, Hartford City, Ind., and Charles J. Waterman, Columbus, Ohio, publish a six=page daily newspaper, Top Kick, for permanent personnel and transients.
  An extensive orientation program is in constant progress. Several forums are held each week to explain to returning Servicemen what to expect in the States in the way of jobs, changes in the political and economic structure of the country, and answer questions which only men so far from home would ask.

ATTITUDE CHANGES
  The attitude of the average man changes the minute he enters the gate of the replacement depot, and he thoroughly realizes for the first time that he is almost a civilian. Kessler has had more men sign up for USAFI Institute courses at the camp in the past two months than he had during over a year of working up and down The Road in Intermediate Section.
  Most any question or gripe eventually gets to the Special Service officer. One man wanted to re-enlist, but had first to be assured that he could "stay in the Army and not have to go to the Air Corps." A Negro soldier wanted to know the procedure for staying with his "family" in Assam. Another wanted his immediate discharge while at the depot so that he could hitch-hike home. One soldier insisted that he wanted to convert his insurance to a 39-year endowment policy.
  Despite the many absurd questions, thousands ask questions which are of vital interest to them, and usually get the correct answer.
  if you are to be flown out, you must come through Depot No. 5. A couple of lieutenants thought that they could short cut the depot, so they caught a ride directly to Karachi, only to be returned to Chabua and forced to pay a rumored 1,500 rupees transportation costs for their excursion.

NO FAVORITISM
  Some G.I.'s will get satisfaction from the treatment of officers at the camp, for it is basically the same as for enlisted men. They go through the same line with the EM at weighing in, stand in line to eat at the officers mess, are briefed without regard to rank, and aren't provided with jeeps to get to the airport, but are loaded in a 6x6 with the EM. No favoritism is shown in shipment priorities.
  Schedules for units are maintained on a first come, first out basis, only consideration ever being given is for arrival-due dates in Karachi. Casuals are moved out as rapidly as possible, with top priority going to those being returned on emergency furlough.
  The officers and men who are handling the depot want as much as anyone to get home, and they know that the sooner they get the job finished, the sooner they may be eligible for the one way trip to Uncle Sugar - and from the way they are working you'd think that they might be home for Christmas. But they won't, and they know it, and still they are knocking themselves out for thousands of men who probably don't stop to realize that permanent personnel want to take a trip, too.

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LEDO  ‘20TH GENERAL’  ADMITS  LAST  PATIENT
 By SGT. PHIL RITTER   Roundup Field Correspondent

  LEDO, ASSAM - After two and a half years, the 20th General Hospital, one of the largest hospital units overseas, closed its doors to the last patient at midnight Nov. 9.
  Arriving at Advance Section on March 21, 1943, the Camp Claiborne-trained outfit began its struggle against all the ills inherent in fighting a war in the tropics - battle casualties, malaria, dysentery and infection.
  Besides these, doctors were brought face to face with an assortment of disorders peculiar to the geography, concerning which medical experience was relatively limited.
  Originally set up as a unit of the 1,000-bed class, the 20th General rapidly outstripped its capacity and was soon enlarged to the 2,000-bed category, thus becoming one of the largest overseas, single-unit hospitals in this or any theater.
  The peak load came in 1944 when the long-to-be-remembered monsoon of that year, coupled with the casualties of the bitter Myitkyina campaign, swelled admissions. High point in the number of patients came on Aug. 9, 1944, when 2,500 cases were being cared for - considerably over the theoretical 2,000-bed limit.
  In all, from March 21, 1943, the start of operations, through midnight of Nov. 9, 1945, 33,385 American patients had been admitted. Chinese casualties handled up to September, 1945, when the last one left, numbered 18,004 - eloquent testimony of the magnitude of the job done.
  Only a few hours before the sick book was closed for good, the last patient was admitted. He was T/5 Dewey Ruff, Negro, of Co. A., 45th Engineers. Ruff suffered minor bruises in a "six-by" accident.
  Patients in the 20th General when it closed were transferred to the records of the 25th Field Hospital, which took over service of personnel in the Ledo Area Command. Those in the 20th's Detachment of Patients will be transferred to the Detachment of Patients, 234the General Hospital, Chabua.
  Last week it was disclosed the 20th passed from the hands of the U.S. Army to the Governor of Assam as the result of a sale. Surgical instruments, microscopes and dental instruments will be sent to the U.S. All other equipment will be made available to the Assam Government.

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‘Tis A Sad, Thankless Job For Calcutta MP’s
 By SGT. JACK DEVLIN   Roundup Staff Writer

  CALCUTTA - The dear old India-Burma Theater may rapidly be becoming just a blurring memory for the tens of thousands of G.I.'s, but for Calcutta's MP's the job is just going into high gear.
  The main reason: The already-sizeable army of troops in the Calcutta area has become swollen by the addition of between 15,000 and 20,000 Joes who hit town each month on their way Stateside.
  Despite the impact of the new arrivals, many of whom have been up in the jungles or in China's hinterlands and are enjoying the sweets of civilization for the first time in a blue moon, life in town nevertheless continues to maintain a pretty even keel, made interesting, however, by occasional human episodes. For instance:
  Not so long ago a father, mother and daughter bustled into the MP station in Lindsay Street with a G.I. in tow. There was a lot of excitement, loud talk, and gesticulating until finally calm was restored and the problem was presented.
  It developed that the trouble was not what the MP's half expected. The girl wanted to marry the G.I. and the father wanted her to marry the G.I. The G.I. wanted to marry the girl. But, mamma? Nothing doing. The issue was argued back and forth until one of the MP's called the soldier aside and knowingly advised: "Why don't you try just getting the lady a nice present?" It must have worked because the family hasn't been back since.

Serpent Hater Provides Problem

  A couple of nights later the Merchant marine provided a problem, but not a typical one. Into the station came a frantic Indian, a Merchant Marine sailor and an MP. The Indian was holding a limp bag. Holding it up he exclaimed:
  "My snakes finish!"
  He pointed at the seaman who vigorously agreed.
  "I hate snakes," he said. "They are dangerous to people. So I'm walking down the street and I almost bump into this guy and he's got four snakes. I killed them. Every damn one. I jumped on 'em."
  A look into the bag disclosed one of the victims was a king cobra. The other three were unidentified. At the suggestion of the MP's the seaman finally agreed to pay the Indian 30 rupees for the dead snakes. Later he grudgingly admitted it was worth it.
  "I hate them," he concluded.
  The Calcutta MP's are members of the 160th Military Police Service Battalion. It comprises the 273rd Co., primary function of which is to furnish train guards for military goods shipped out of Calcutta and to furnish detachments for patrol work in Madras, Darjeeling, Lucknow, Parbatipur and Ramgarh; the 275th M.P. Co., which patrols Calcutta and vicinity; the 276th M.P. Co., which guards Calcutta's dock installations, and the 154th M.P. Service Battalion, which guards the Base Section No. 2 stockade.
  In addition to law enforcement and guarding, the MP's are required to provide details for special events, including boxing tournaments and track meets, dances and ceremonial firing squads. Many of the members of the units, before coming overseas, were in outfits which won wide recognition in the States for putting on highly realistic war shows for the public.
  The train guards are considered to have the roughest life because of their complete lack of comforts while rattling along in old and uncomfortable trains and eating rations they carry with them.
  The town patrol assignment requires typical police work and the handling of traffic. The traffic problem is complicated by the fact the roads in Calcutta have not been designed to carry the wartime traffic to which they are subjected. Jamming the thoroughfares are bicycles, gharries, rickshaws, bullock carts, hand-drawn carts, whose operators seldom know English, civilian and G.I. vehicles, and swarms of pedestrians. The MP's are concerned only with G.I.'s and accident prevention.
  Recovering stolen vehicles sometimes has its lighter moments. The MP's tell the story of one of their men who noticed a vehicle parked at the side of the road was stolen. He waited until a G.I. appeared and climbed in, and then he asked for a lift.
  "Sure," said the G.I., "Where you going?"
  "To the MP station - both of us."

Busier Than During War

  The MP's guarding the dock installations are busier than during war time because so many are require for duty at munitions ships. These ships, which came in during a long period during the war, are now being loaded up in concentrated numbers.
  The dock MP's, who have received two meritorious service awards, are proud of a commendation they received. A colonel went up to the gate at the King George Dock area and asked to be admitted. He was asked if his business was official and admitted that it was not. Admittance was consequently refused. The colonel argued and the guards were adamant. Finally the colonel stated flatly that if he was responsible enough to be a colonel in the U.S. Army, he was responsible enough to be admitted to the docks. That didn't work either.
  Then the colonel smiled and identified himself. He was the new provost marshal reporting for duty, after arriving from Washington. He said he wanted to see what kind of men he was getting and was happy to announce that they had well earned a commendation.
  The MP's stationed at the docks effected a big reduction in pilferage. In December, 1943, pilferage losses amounted to between two and three percent of cargoes. During the next year the effective work of the men reduced losses on American docks to 19/10,000ths of one percent.
  Most of the MP's had no police training before entering the Army.
  Sgt. Bert F. Callahan of the 275th, of Bristol, Tenn., was a textile machine operator before the war but likes the MP branch of service.
  "It's a good outfit and for every man it catches in trouble, it helps at least two out. If I were to come back in the Army I'd put in for the MP's. That's what I know best in the Army."
  Echoing his sentiments was Sgt. Lawrence T. Odom of Hattiesburg, Miss., who patrols Calcutta in a jeep with Callahan.
  "Sure, I'd want to come back into it," said Odom, a Sears-Roebuck sales clerk before the war. "It's okay."
  Like most MP's, however, he doesn't plan to go into police work in civilian life. He's going back to selling.

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Even Some Japs Threw A Banquet For This Guy As He Rode Out In China

  SHANGHAI - Although "walkouts" - the term applied by pilots to an excursion home by foot instead of air - are fairly common in China, a heroic eight-month odyssey was recently completed by Lt. Joseph L. Sherohman of Minneapolis, Minn., a member of the 528th Squadron of the 311th Fighter Group.
  Sherohman's long trek through the Ho-Pai and Shantung districts of North China was unique in several ways. It wasn't even a "walkout," strictly speaking, for most of his journey was accomplished by horse inasmuch as his own legs had been badly injured when he bailed out.
  The tale begins last March 7 when Sherohman, flying with other P-51's of the 311th, was engaged in strafing Jap trains near Peiping. After completing his mission, Sherohman started for his home base, then at Sian, but ran into trouble south of Tientsin, when an oil leak developed in his engine.
  Suddenly his power-plant quit altogether and Sherohman was forced to hit the silk at an altitude of 800 feet. His 'chute opened accidentally before he cleared the cockpit and he was snapped out of his seat and injured both his legs and knocking him unconscious.

DRAGGED ON GROUND
  When he regained consciousness he was being dragged along the ground by the 'chute only 100 feet from where his ship had crashed and was burning fiercely. Limping quickly away from the potential explosion, the dazed airman found shelter behind a Chinese grave, and after resting several minutes, started forward.
  In a few minutes he encountered a young Chinese woman to whom he displayed his American and Chinese flags. She immediately led him to a small village where several farmers took charge. He was fed eggs and tea and given a hiding place. While eating, his hosts were warned of the approach of a Jap searching party, and not having time to get him to his original haven in the barn, the Chinese placed him under a low table in their house.
  "It was the most dangerous part of the whole affair," Sherohman relates. "The Japs came hobnailing into the house and passed within a few feet of the table several times, but for some reason never looked under it."
  After a night and day, during which he acquired Chinese clothes and a large straw hat to shield his features, Sherohman started traveling astride a small jackass, as by this time he was unable to walk. He was accompanied by several Chinese who guided him to a guerilla band. They informed him by pantomime that the Japs had posted a large reward for his capture.

PLENTY BANQUETS
  The guerillas escorted him until they met a cavalry patrol of the Eighth Route Army which immediately "adopted" him, even going so far as to give him a uniform and a Jap pistol. After several days of riding - "It wasn't too much fun as I had never rode a horse before in my life and I kept falling off." - the lieutenant was brought to Litsing where he was presented to Gen. Yang Kuo-Fu, commanding general of the Po-Hai region.
  A period of several weeks followed during which the pilot was showered with gifts, including cigarettes, food, clothes and liquor, and called upon to make numerous speeches. He was even given a special cook, a Chinese who had worked as a coolie aboard an American freighter for eight years and knew American tastes well.
  Early in April, he began traveling again, this time toward Shantung Province, arriving at headquarters of the Eighth Army in the area on April 24. The festival atmosphere which had greeted him in Po-Hai was repeated here. One banquet in his honor consisted of 24 main courses and the banquet hall was decorated with signs which read "Welcome, American Flier. Down with Japanese Fascists!"
  In Shantung he received his first expert medical care from Dr. Jake Rosenfeld, a former Viennese and Shanghai surgeon who is serving as Surgeon General of the Fourth New Army. Also in Shantung he met several members of the Japanese Emancipation League, who, not to be outdone, threw another banquet in his honor. Members of the League were Japs who had surrendered to the North China forces.
  Sherohman reports the Japs always asked him these three questions: "How is life in an American prison camp? How do Americans feel toward the Japanese? What does the U.S. plan to do with Japan?"
  Forced to move again by a Jap attack on Shantung in mid-May, the pilot was able to see much action for the next several weeks although not participating in it. Much of the time he was carried on a litter by coolies as every horse was needed in the battle which raged for weeks.
  During all these weeks, Sherohman faithfully maintained a diary in which he wrote on June 18, "Hope to be home in six months." It was a well-forecast hope for he will be on his way to the U.S. in a matter of days.
  Late in June he finally started westward in the hopes of reaching his 311th comrades at Sian. His first aim was Shen shi, and then Yentsing and Fengku where again his plans were changed by fierce skirmishes late in August between the Eighth and the Japs, despite the fact the world then knew the Japs had surrendered.
  By September he managed to get word to U.S. evacuation officials of his whereabouts, but it wasn't until Oct. 21 that they managed to get an evacuation plane to move him up to Yenan from where he went to Sian, thus completing his "mission" after 229 days - a mission which would have taken him several hours if his oil line had held.

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PARACHUTIST LEADS JUNGLE HUNT FOR JAP
 Roundup Staff Article

  One of the first of the "now-it-can-be-told" stories concerning activities of the Office of Strategic Services behind Jap lines in Burma was released in the United States recently by Douglas Larsen, NEA News Service staff correspondent.
  Larsen, in one of a series of articles on world-wide activities of OSS agents, related the story of the "tracking down" of Col. Mariana, a Jap notorious for his cunning, savage, jungle fighting, by Capt. Joseph E. Lazarsky.
  In the spring of 1944, with the Burma campaign in a temporary stalemate, Allied forces decided upon a daring move against the Japs. To strengthen their hand in North Burma, it was decided to organize Burmese resistance against the Japs.
  One of the men selected to unite resistance was Lazarsky, who had served with the OSS in China and Burma, parachuting supplies to scouting parties. With orders to get Mariana, Lazarsky was parachuted to a rice paddy south of the Jap-held Irrawaddy River port of Myitkyina. He had enough K rations for three days, a tommy-gun and a .45 pistol.
  Lazarsky was well-received by the Kachins in that area. He explained his mission to them, placed a price tag of 500 rupees on the Jap colonel's head.
  The next two months Lazarsky spent training his Kachin irregulars in the use of American arms. He also contacted other OSS men working in that area. Then came the combined American and Chinese surprise attack on Myitkyina. For 76 days, the town was besieged. But the Japs, commanded by Col. Mariana, fought tenaciously from deep pillboxes. The resistance made it more necessary than ever for the Allies to get Mariana, for a legend about his ability was growing among Burma's many tribes.
  On the 76th day of fighting, Myitkyina fell. But Mariana and 100 Japs escaped. They were reported fleeing to the next large Jap base at Bhamo. Through the Kachin grapevine, Lazarsky soon learned which trail Mariana was taking in his flight, and he started after him with a party of 60 Kachins.
  One day the chieftain of the tiny village of Wuhpru met Lazarsky in the jungle and told him a Jap party had just taken all the food and chased all the inhabitants from his village, which was about 85 miles north of Bhamo.
  Lazarsky had 25 men with him, the remainder of his party having been deployed along the trail on scouting missions. It was nearly noon when he saw the huts of the village, clustered tightly in a narrow jungle hollow. Japs were moving about in the village.
  Lazarsky set up one of his 60mm mortars about 300 yards from the target. The Kachins were about 150 yards away, ready to open up with small arms fire at almost point-blank range.
  When the shooting started, the Japs screamed in terror. Only light fire was returned. The shooting continued for about 10 minutes, and then the village was quiet. Lazarsky and his men rushed in to check the dead. After a short inspection, a Kachin ran to him with a Jap colonel's insignia in his hand.
  Mariana had been killed by one of Lazarsky's mortar shells. His body was found on a stretcher, indicating that he had been wounded before. Lazarsky took papers and identification, and the body was buried by the villagers. The Kachins were given the reward.

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‘Good Luck, Soldier,’  Says ‘An Old Brass Hat’     Known As ‘Uncle Joe’

  (The following message, published under the title of Good Luck, Soldier, appeared in a recent issue of This Week magazine.
  The article, by Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, former China-Burma-India Theater commander, is addressed to all soldiers, sailors and Marines leaving the Armed Forces today. - The Editor.)
    Now that you are on the way back to the farm, the shop, the desk, or the mine, or soon will be, listen to a few words from an old brass hat who has watched the generations pass by. You are not required to listen any more; nobody can call you to attention; you are free from red tape, discipline, censorship, and restrictions; the wraps are off you at last. But give me a chance to speak to you briefly with the wraps off me, too. Even brass hats are tied up in red tape, and sometimes they don't like it any better than you do.

‘YOU WILL SQUIRM’
  My great regret is that I can't expect to go along with your generation very much longer. I have seen how you respond in a crisis, and it is okay. I have heard you cuss and gripe, and that's normal and proper. You can take it on the nose, and you can dish it out, with interest. You have made the grade, as soldiers, sailors, and Marines, and you can have my shirt any time you need it.
  When you get home, they will make a fuss over you. They will be shouting, "Welcome home, heroes. The thanks of America," etc. How you will squirm and wish you could get down to Clancy's with the boys! All you can do is sweat it out, make your speech, and be thankful that it doesn't last very long.
  The home folks think a lot of you and they will only be trying to show their appreciation. You want your own people and your own community to feel that you made good, anyway. They never doubted that you would; it was only you who had any qualms about it. And here is where you cash in; you have been through the mill, you have stood the gaff, and you have the satisfaction of accomplishment that nothing can buy. That is the real reward of your service. From now on you can live with yourself, without regrets.

'GOT TOGETHER'
  But unless I read you wrong, you will not think your work as Americans is all done because the war is over. In the face of aggression we got together and submerged all our little differences. In the big issues, everybody came through. You did not hesitate to go forward and pull a buddy out of machine-gun fire at the risk of your own neck. And it didn't count that you were maybe a college graduate and he never got beyond the eighth grade, because you know he'd have done as much for you. You wouldn't know, except incidentally, who were Protestants, Catholics or Jews in your company, who were union men and who non-union. It wouldn't have made any difference anyway.
  The war has proved the essential cohesion of America. If the Germans and the Japs had looked us over carefully, and had had the brains to evaluate what they saw, they would never have been crazy enough to try to pull us down. If we can lick a great problem such as this war has been, are we going to let the comparatively minor problems of peace bother us? Why, if we put the same effort on solving our domestic problems that we have put on licking the Germans and the Japs, we could make over the U.S.A. the way we'd like to have it.

MAKE A MILLION
  It is too much to expect that we should continue the same rate when the urge is gone, but eleven million ex-servicemen can have a lot to say about what we will do. I am sure of one thing - you like the way America is headed, or you wouldn't have put up such a fight for it.
  Maybe in the near future your machine gunner will make a million dollars and you will run a filling station. What the hell! It may be that you will make the million and the gunner will run the filling station. That's America - everybody on his feet, and nobody on his knees.

ALARM FOR BUGLE
  One more thing before I stop talking. You have left your outfit and exchanged the bugle for the alarm clock, but you will never be alone again. There are eleven million men now who belong to the same club you do, who have had similar experiences. You have, all of you, seen a lot of the world and can better appreciate what we've got in the U.S.A. Because I have faith in the outlook and ideals of your generation, I should like to live long enough to see what you do with your opportunities. But though it's a fine day in the morning for you, it is getting late in the afternoon for me.
  Good luck, soldier. I am proud to have known you. - J. W. Stilwell, General, U.S. Army.

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The Roundup is a weekly newspaper of the United States Forces, published by and for the men in Burma and India, from news and pictures supplied by staff members, soldier correspondents, Army News Service and United Press. The Roundup is published Thursday of each week and is printed by The Statesman in New Delhi and Calcutta, India. Editorial matter should be sent directly to Major Floyd Walter, Hq., U.S.F., I.B.T., APO 885, New York, N.Y., and should arrive not later than Saturday in order to be included in that week's issue. Pictures must arrive by Friday and must be negatives or enlargements. Stories should contain full name and organization of sender. Complaints about circulation should be sent directly to Capt. Drexel Nixon, Base Section APO 465, New York, N.Y. Units on the mailing list should make notification of any major change in personnel strength or any change of APO.

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NOVEMBER 22, 1945  

Original issue of India-Burma Theater Roundup shared by CBI Veteran Douglas MacLeod

Better quality image of Jean Parker used in this re-creation.


Copyright © 2009 Carl Warren Weidenburner






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