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Rugged Battleground |
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One of the delightful, yet often harrowing customs of Old Cathay is the celebrated "Kan Pei Party,"
(pronounced phonetically as "gom bey"). At these reckless affairs, the host Chinese call out "Kan Pei," which is the
During the festivities, the American guests are called upon to sing. Having exhausted such oldies as Down by the Old Mill Stream, Sweet Adeline, and newcomers such as Mairzy Doats and San Fernando Valley, the three colonels - Ed miller, George McReynolds and H. M. Arthur - decided that out of courtesy to their hosts they should compose a song themselves. And so was dreamed up Song of Little Fort Benning, China. |
According to our informant, S/Sgt.
Charles L. Windim, it is sung to the tune of Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and goes like this:
FIRST VERSE On our chests, we wear a yellow ribbon. We wear it from Alaska to the shores of Bengal Bay. And when they ask us why the hell we do it, We wear it for our country, which is far, far away. CHORUS Gom Bey, Gom Bey. We drink it in an Oriental way. And when they ask us why the hell we do it, We do it for our country, which is far, far away. SECOND VERSE In our hands we hold a little goblet. We hold it from the evening to the early break of day. And when they ask us why the hell we do it, We do it for our country, which is far, far away. REPEAT CHORUS |
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Uncle Sam's Negro G.I. troops receive training in battle technique at a camp near an Indian seaport. |
When the China-Burma-India Theater was in its infancy, Negro troops were here to help the baby of overseas Theaters of Operations through its formative stages. Now these pioneering G.I.'s can look back with pride to the part of the job they helped achieve through the accomplishment of a wide variety of tasks, well performed. Some of these Negro soldiers have returned to Shangri-La under the provisions of the Rotation Policy, but their ranks in CBI-land have been swelled by later arrivals. These Roundup pictures show, within the limitation of nine Signal Corps photographs, some of the numerous jobs Uncle Sam's Negro G.I.'s are doing to help bring closer the day of Victory. When the final story is written about the China-Burma-India Theater, the chapters of their accomplishments will be many. The bright light of publicity is too seldom shed on soldiers doing the unglamorous, however vital, jobs. Thus it is that there are numerous unsung heroes, black and white, working in the jungles and mountains, and at airfields and seaports throughout the Theater. One of these projects is the Ledo Road, most fabulous of all U.S. Army Engineer undertakings. When The Road is completed a plaque could well be struck for the Negro G.I.'s who fought the terrain, weather, disease and heartbreak to help make it possible. Another one could be struck for the Negro G.I.'s with Port Battalion and Quartermaster outfits who are ensuring forward units a steady flow of supplies for the waging of their fight against the Japanese in the CBI Theater of war. |
T/5 Floyd Clark welds a piece of radiator frame together, to keep 'em rolling along the Ledo Road. |
Pfc. Reid James and Cpl. James L. Colman install a radiator in a 6x6 GMC truck. |
S/Sgt. Ernest Trotmon and Sgt. Leslie Cromatie spot check air pressure of truck tires. |
M/Sgt. Lemuel Anderson receives congratulations on his promotion from Maj. J. A. Jones. |
Pvt. Ludie Johnson, 6x6 driver, samples food prepared by his brother, S/Sgt. Ray Johnson. |
Clerical workers T/5 Guy A. Mulhern and Pvt. Oscar Matrey, keep administration affairs orderly.. |
At an infirmary, S/Sgt. R. L. Woland checks the pulse of a patient. This is one of many duties Negro G.I.'s are performing in CBI-land. |
It's the noon meal, and, thanks to the culinary capabilities of T/4 John L. Miller, his outfit will have a tasty dish of Irish stew. |
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Recent arrival in China of one of the largest consignments of PX supplies ever to cross The Hump makes the ration situation better than ever before on the China side of CBI-land. For the next two months at least, the cigarette ration will be four cartons a month - the same as the ration on the India side. No predictions are being made for the future. Priorities are the determining factors. But every effort is being made to get the maximum amount of supplies possible up to the boys who are "sweating it out" on the other end of the air supply route. |