CASABLANCA CENTER
OF I-B MAIL DELAY
  The current mail delay from the Theater is due to a bottleneck at Casablanca, where an estimated 12 tons are being held, Lt. Col. A. E. Adamson, Theater Postal Officer, said this week.
  It is not known when this situation will be cleared up, Adamson said.
  The mail tie-up is due to the number of former POW's, internees, and hospital patients being flown to the States.
  Mail has second priority at Casablanca.



 IBT Roundup



Vol. IV  No. 6    Delhi, Thursday,   Oct. 18, 1945    Reg. No. L5015
CASUALTIES AT HOME GREATER THAN WAR'S
  CHICAGO - (ANS) - Total U.S. war casualties, including killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners, were 1,070,524, but the home front accident toll during the war reached 36,355,000, the National Safety Council reported this week.
  Of the total war casualties, the Council listed 261,608 killed; 65,911 wounded; 32,811 missing and 124,194 prisoners. On the home front 355,000 were killed in accidents and 36,000,000 were injured, including 1,255,000 permanently disabled.

SO LITTLE TIME
The gal staring at you above with the big brown eyes is glamorous Jessica Rogers, who now wears the title (and very little else) of Number One Burlesque Queen. She also makes her own costumes, a task for which she apparently has very little time.
 November Redeployment
 Upped To 47,000 Men;
 More Vessels Promised
 By SGT. JOHN MCDOWELL
Roundup Staff Writer
  Four troopships formerly scheduled to arrive at Indian ports during December have been moved up to the November departure list, accelerating the movement of India-Burma and China Theater personnel toward the United States from the anticipated 35,000 November figure to 47,000, it was announced by Theater Headquarters in Delhi this week.
  This speed-up in the arrival of allotted shipping does not mean an increase in the estimated November-December departure quotas announced several weeks ago, it was emphasized. However, the speed-up of ship departures will effect a more rapid discharge of personnel from the two Theaters than had previously been planned.
  Although the November shipping quota will show a 15,000 gain through the diversion of the December-scheduled shipping space, the December quota will show a resultant drop to 32,000 departures unless additional ships are allotted this Theater for troop redeployment during that month.

ONE SHIP DIVERTED
  One ship - the Breckenridge - with 5,175 capacity was called off the India-Burma-China redeployment run this week by the War Department. Scheduled to depart Karachi Nov. 17, this ship has been replaced by two smaller troopships of combined capacity approximately equivalent to the Breckenridge.
  Asked if the Breckenridge had been diverted to the European redeployment run following the removal of Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Aquitania from duty as troopships, Theater officials declared the War Department had not advised them of the reason for the substitution of this shipping.
  Officials pointing out that the cutdown of ETO's shipping space through the loss of the two one-time luxury liners appears unlikely to affect India-Burma-China shipping quotas for November and December.

AAF IN GEAR
  meanwhile, the Air Force continued in high gear the job of bringing China Theater personnel over the Hump to India for shipment home.
  During September approximately 13,000 men were moved over the Hump. This schedule has been stepped up this month, with a goal of 26,000 for the month. During this gigantic airlift, daily evacuation rates from China will rise to a high of 1,200 troops.
  This added flow of men into India-Burma will not be dumped into already overcrowded staging areas at Calcutta or Karachi. Provisions have been made for China Theater personnel to be quartered at former B-29 fields in India, with billeting and messing facilities supplied by Air Corps units.

THREE SHIPS SAIL
  Some of the China Theater personnel may be held at three bases from four to six weeks before moving on to staging areas to prepare for embarkation. This program of bringing China Theater personnel to India some weeks ahead of scheduled sailing eases the job of supplying China considerably, officials declared.
  Reports from Karachi and Calcutta covering troop movements during the week Oct. 8 to Oct. 15 reveal that

THE 'GREEK' GOES HOME
Known to the Japs as "Colonel Greek," a man to be greatly feared, Capt. Charles Coussoule arrives back in the States aboard the General Greeley after many months chasing - and killing - Japs in Burma.  Coussoule was a leader of the American-Kachin Rangers, an Office of Strategic Service organization, kept in close secrecy until the war's end.
three troopships - the Gen. Brooke, Ballou and Squier departed, carrying approximately 9,800 troops.
  The backlog in the Karachi Depot No. 1, after reaching an all-time high of 16,303 troops on Oct. 1, totaled 13,551 on Oct. 12. Backlog at Calcutta Depot No. 3 totaled 9,130 as of Oct. 12.
  During October, five more ships are scheduled to sail from Karachi and two are slated to leave Calcutta.


Standlee Sparks SOS In 14-6 Victory Over AAF Eleven
 By JIM FITZGERALD    Roundup Field Correspondent

  CHABUA, ASSAM - The "I" Formation invaded the Tea Bowl stadium of Assam this week-end when the Intermediate Section Dragons rolled to a thrilling 14-6 victory over the Army Air Force All-Stars in football's farewell appearance in this area.
  The first Dragon touchdown came midway in the third period when Norman Standlee, former Stanford All-American and Chicago Bear, dashed around his own left end for 12 yards into paydirt. He added the extra point.
  The All-Stars' score came early in the fourth period on a 25-yard pas from Johnny Gardini, 165-pound triple-threater from Pittsburgh University, to Dennie Hoggard, colored end from Penn State. The play precipitated an argument, the Dragons claiming without avail that Hoggard dropped the pigskin as he fell to the ground in the end-zone. Hoggard's conversion try was blocked.
  Leading 7-6, the Dragon eleven proceeded to clinch the game after the following kick-off, which Red Tilley carried back to midfield from the five-yard line. Standlee, running from the T, broke through for 18 yards to the AAF 33-yard line. On the next play, Bub Church, triple-threater from Birmingham, Ala., employed the T to race the remaining 33 yards to paydirt. Standlee converted.
  Twice in the closing minutes, the Air Forces threw desperate passes that were intercepted. As a result, the Dragons maneuvered to the two-yard line, where they prepared to try for a third touchdown when the final gun barked.



G.I. FINDS LEDO ROAD NOW LONESOME ROAD
 By SGT. JACK DEVLIN    Roundup Field Correspondent

  ALONG THE STILWELL ROAD - You can call this The Lonesome Road now, chums.
  It hasn't folded yet, but, after bouncing and sliding from Ledo to Wanting, on the China border, it looks as if all The Road needs is a bump to send it back into the embrace of the impatient jungle.
  Trucks still plow its length, but no longer for the purpose of supplying the Chinese Army, which helped to fight forward and clear The Road.

'THIRTY MONTHS OF HELL OVER'
  At Shingbwiyang and Warazup you discover small detachments operating many of the old company areas. The G.I.'s have a happy, casual look. Others are busy making truck posters with such messages as: "U.S.A. Here We Come" and "30 Months of Hell are Over."
  Heavy engineering equipment is being neatly parked away in storage depots. Time and again you will see long lines of road rollers, road scrapers, carry-alls, power shovels, dozers, vans, six-by-sixes, tractors, rock crushers, generators, compressors and trailers.
  The jungle crouches by the roadside like a waiting cat and you notice how the jungle vines and creepers, under the impact of the monsoon heat and rain, have inched across wide bare places beside The Road and come down some overhanging banks, up other ones, in a determined effort to shoot across the thoroughfare only to be nipped short by graders and passing vehicles.

OLD 'DEBBIL ROAD' NOW COW TRAIL
  You notice how the airstrips at Shing and Warazup look deserted, and you drive for miles without seeing another moving vehicle in either direction. After a while your cruising jeep comes upon a group of gaily-skirted Kachins ambling down the middle of The Road as if they didn't have to worry about traffic. Then you see cows and water buffalo doing the same thing.
  Banana trees, vines and creepers have sprung up around freight cars on the Myitkyina-Mogaung Railroad spur, where it crosses The Road.
  You see more and more homeward-bound truck convoys carrying QM, Engineer, fighter plane and anti-aircraft outfits. The C-47's and C-46's still sweep overhead at Myit - but not nearly in the numbers as formerly.
  Between Myitkyina and Bhamo, unless you are out early enough to see isolated convoys, you find the natives and cattle possessing The Road here, too. Then you come upon an India-bound convoy of Signal Corps communications men homeward bound from China.
  In Bhamo, the Burmese have started moving back in strength and rebuilding their shattered homes, temples and idols, and the same is true in serene little Namkham as the Army moves out and the Burmese settle down for keeps.
  A long China-bound convoy suddenly grinds by and the six-by-sixes are filled with old Chinese combat veterans going home now after hospital treatment and a long convalescence from their battle wounds.
  There are fewer MP's on The Road, too; but somehow the vehicles you do see just cruise along instead of speeding.
  Then you are in Wanting and talking to the border guard and you talk about points and the latest rumors. Then you think about pushing on another 500 miles to Kunming - going in the wrong direction when everybody is heading home.
  Somehow it seems like heading for a resort on the day after Labor Day back home when they are boarding up the places and getting ready to bog down.
  Then you really know it has become The Lonesome Road and it's getting more lonesome.




Yanks Pouring Into China Port For Trip Home

  CHINA - The 10th USAAF has transferred about 3,000 troops by air from interior China bases and from India to the Shanghai area, eventual point of departure for the U.S., it was announced this week by Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, commanding general of the Air Force in China.
  In addition to moving more than 700 U.S. soldiers into Nanking, the 10th also flew 32,000 Chinese troops into that city from Chihkiang. More than 26,000 Chinese troops were flown into Shanghai by the India-China Division of ATC.
  One complete port battalion was flown into Shanghai and with personnel from interior China operating the Shanghai base command, it is expected that the air-lift into Shanghai will increase during October.

'LOUD NOISE'
  According to a Scripps-Howard story from Shanghai this week, the loudest noise there is the griping of G.I.'s. The story read as follows:
  "The favorite subject in Shanghai concerns the way the brass hats are taking over the most elaborate hotels and living quarters here, with fancy suites, plush curtains, and dozens of houseboys to run their errands.
  "Meanwhile, lower-ranking officers and enlisted men are assigned to second and third-rate hotels. They sleep in cots, two or three in a room originally designed for one.
  "The privileges of rank are being applied here with a wide flourish. Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, acting Theater Commander, arrived in town and promptly took over 13 floors of the Broadway Mansions, the most elaborate building in Shanghai, for the Air Corps.

'NOT POLICY'
  "All this is contrary to the policy laid down by Theater Commander, Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, who is now in the U.S. Wedemeyer recently said he intended to give the men and lower-rank officers a break after V-J Day, especially those who sweated out the war in the field without good quarters.
  "All the G.I.'s here gripe that promises to get them home as soon as possible are being broken. It is widely reported here that some hospital ships have left for the U.S. with as many as 200 empty bunks. The point discharge system is also getting its share of complaints.
  "The way it's working out," the G.I.'s say, "this Army will soon be like the Mexican Army. Everybody'll be a general."




CASUALTY
Capt. Joseph R. Coolidge, above, was seriously wounded recently when Annanite forces attacked U.S. Headquarters in Saigon, French Indo-China. He is a cousin of the late President Calvin Coolidge.
I-B Returnees Ain't Cold;  Just Feel That Way
Roundup Staff Article

  When you return to the States after months of service in this hell's half-acre of the globe, will your blood be so thinned that you won't be able to stand the cold?
  That is an old theory in the minds of India-Burma veterans returning home.
  Theater Surgeon, Col. K. R. Lundeberg, crisply dismissed the "old theory" this week as an "old fallacy." He said blood counts and assessment of blood values throughout the world show little difference.

FEEL COLD
  "However, most people will feel the cold after two or three years residence out here," he conceded. "It may take some time for readjustment. I know that I spent three years in Panama and I had to spend three months in the States before I ceased to feel the discomforts of the change of climate."
  He catalogued as "ridiculous" the idea that residence over here would cause a permanent change in an individual's health because of the climate. "Men are naturally going to feel for a time the effects of living in a debilitating climate like this," he said.
  "But the idea that anyone is going to become a wreck in the future because he was over here is ridiculous."
  This week there also came a United Press story from Honolulu in which Dr. Christopher J. Hamre of the University of Hawaii was quoted as saying that Pacific veterans who spent long, hot months in the tropics have little need of fearing cold weather when they return home.

SAME REACTION
  The Hawaiian doctor said substantially the same thing as the I-B Theater Surgeon, that the tropics do not thin the blood. However, from the wording of the story, Dr. Hamre makes no allowance for a change of climate at all. He seemingly feels that one can go ashore in the teeth of a New York blizzard after months in a hot climate and not even note the difference.
  Four members of the Roundup staff have been here more than 24 months. A poll revealed that all of them felt the second winter over here a lot more than they did the first winter. And when they get back to that Stateside winter, n one of them expects to have that warm, cozy feeling when he hits that first wintry blast. Not unless fortified with a quart of Lily Brand.



WORRIED WIFE PHONES CHINA CG

  LOS ANGELES - (UP) - Mrs. Naomi Epstein, 25, wife of S/Sgt. Frederick P. Epstein, couldn't stand not knowing how long it would be before her husband in the China Theater would be home, so she called Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, who was in San Francisco.
  The Commanding General wasn't in, she said, "but he called me at 6:15 the next morning and was very courteous. I asked him when my husband in China would be home. He said the men were discharged by the point system and he didn't want to make any promises and then disappoint me.
  "He did say he was doing everything possible to get the men home," the worried wife added.




FROM A MOTHER
  Dear Roundup: Who but American soldiers would answer the request of a mere mother with such promptness and dispatch?
  I received my copy of the Roundup with the copy of the poem, Conversation Piece, which I wanted so badly. No one can ever tell me again there is no "personal touch" in the Army and that every move is bound in red tape - because some thoughtful soldier took time to pencil a notation on the cover indicating where I might find the poem requested.
  Incidentally, this copy was dated June 15, 1944, just the day before my son was wounded in action in North Burma; so, in addition to the poem, it contained news of vital interest to me.
  Words cannot express my appreciation of your kindness and courtesy in sending me the paper. You may be sure I shall cherish it always and shall carry in my heart a warm feeling for the Army and especially that part of it responsible for this paper.
  With this letter go my best wishes for your safety and good luck, and the earnest hope you will all soon be back in the good old U.S.A. and to the homes and loved ones who are so anxiously awaiting you. - Mrs. Jack L. Shaffer, Kansas City, Mo.

'NEAT TRICK'
  Dear Roundup: If your correspondent, Sgt. Ray Howard, can steal the secret which will enable us to extend a crankshaft from the pipeliners, we will assure him that we will be paying income tax comparable to Henry Ford. (Roundup, Sept. 6 Pipeliners story).
  The operation described is second to the atomic bomb in being the neatest trick of the era. - Cpl. Malcolm L. Attans, Pfc. John K. O'Sullivan, 888th Ordnance Co., APO 689.






TUTU
A pert ballerina named Lulu
In Boston performed in a tutu;
But the cops were on hand,
And her dance quickly banned -
The froufrou of her tutu was too too.

- Capt. EUGENE B. VEST
  Ledo

A NIGHT IN CHINA
I sat by the window
And watched
The moon - pale, bright, lustrous
With the polish of antiquity
And eternal time
And down from the heavens
Roared another brightness
Daring to challenge the incandescence
Of Diana
Man-made, this winged monster
poured forth a beam
Searching for surface
On which to rub its rubberized wheels -
casting a ray to defy
The wonder
That had entranced man since time immemorial

For he, too, had returned from a trip
Across the sky
And he had returned.
Come back to the security of earth
Come back from a voyage of carnage
But he had gone because
He wanted a world
A world where man once more
Could look upward
Unafraid
Knowing that its calm serenity
Would never more be disturbed
By beasts
That would try to blot that light
From their eyes.

- S/Sgt. MORTON H. DORCHIN
  China Theater



Refugees Come To Bhamo For Peace Blowout
 By SGT. JACK DEVLIN    Roundup Field Correspondent

  BHAMO, BURMA - World War II has just ended officially in this once-embattled Jap stronghold with a three-day V-J Day jamboree cooked up by the local Chamber of Commerce.
  The celebration. a combination of a New London regatta, a native bazaar, a Stateside carnival, and a ballet thrown in for good measure, was staged by Shans, Chinese, Kachins, Burmese, and Indians on the site of Bhamo's old Chinatown on a high knoll overlooking the Irrawaddy River.
  The starting date for this little clambake apparently had to be delayed until the end of September until word could be sent out by jungle grapevine into the most-distant hills to war refugees, who then spent days coming to town by foot, canoe, riverboat, ox cart and over the tailgate of G.I. trucks.

GEM MERCHANTS
  Bamboo stalls were erected hastily in bazaar area and tenated quickly by gem merchants from Mogok, Chinese restaurateurs, gambling-house operators and merchants, and a miscellany of tribal people selling everything from safety pins to corn on the cob.
  The regatta-like touch came when a series of races was held on the Irrawaddy by tribesmen paddling racing "shells" which were a cross between dugout canoes and Whangpoo River sampans. Outboard motors were off limits.
  With the arrival of darkness, the merchants virtually had to fold up shop under the impact of two Grade A attractions - sedate Burmese dancing girls and G.I. movies, a sort of a 20th Century Aladdin's Lamp to some of the local people, who haven't been in town long enough yet to be in cafe society.
  The big "wow" was the film Objective, Burma! But it wasn't Errol Flynn who mowed 'em down. It was the sight of the Nips being chopped up by tommy guns and BAR's, and blown up by demolition charges, that sent the natives yelling, clapping their hands, jumping up and down, and yodeling with delight.

AMERICAN 'SEX LIFE'
  A couple of nights later the audience got an inside view of what a slap-happy, sexed-up sort of a pleasant Section Eight existence we lucky Americans are supposed to live back in the States. The vehicle for this introduction was the film, Something For The Boys, served up with skin-tight dresses and gowns by cute little chicks (in Technicolor) with betelnut-red lips, waxen coiffures, and a snappy forward manner that set the pop-eyed local gals back on their round little derrieres, as they are called in Paris and the slick beauty joints along Fifth Avenue.
  The one thing that didn't puzzle the girls here was the womanly wife employed by our American jailbait, who coyly retreat until they catch the hero with the hairy chest. Judging from the nods, giggles, nudges and winks of the local girls among themselves, the American technique is as hot as a bazooka.
  Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!



Standlee Stars As SOS Beats ASC In Assam Grid Battle, 6-0
AS STANDLEE CROSSES GOAL
Somewhere in this heap of humanity, Roundup has been told, is Norm Standlee, the all-America back from Stanford by way of the Chi Bears.  Standlee's fourth period score enabled the Assam Dragons of Intermediate Section to beat the Yellow Jackets of SOS, 6-0.  If you locate Standlee in the photo, let us know.
  By JIM FITZGERALD

  CHABUA, ASSAM - Norm Standlee, whose football exploits at Stanford made him an All-America and who thrilled thousands more when he starred for the Chicago Bears, filled a familiar role here Sunday, Oct. 7, when he led the Assam Dragons gridders of Intermediate Section to a last-quarter 6-0 triumph over the ASC Yellow Jackets before 10,000 yelling fans.
  A muddy field prevented spectacular plays, both teams suffering from bobbled passes and fumbles, and it was Standlee who ploughed through the mud for their margin of victory.
  Six minutes remained when the Dragons took over on their own 49 and marched 51 yards for the tilt's only score. Standlee picked up six and then broke through the ASC line to move to the 25, where he tossed an incomplete lateral to Ball. Two plays failed to gain and Red Tilley flipped an aerial to Nate Howard who was brought down on the 14.
  Standlee charged down to the three in two plays and then powered his way into the end zone. Church's attempted placekick was blocked, leaving the score at 6-0.
  Bothe teams had spent long hours of preparation for the first game of American football ever played in Assam and the 10,000 fans were not disappointed with what they saw. Under more favorable conditions, the standard of play would have been much higher for scattered throughout both clubs were many men who have made headlines from coast to coast in America.
  The show lacked nothing in color. There was plenty of beer, hot dogs, cokes and food for everyone. Music was furnished by the ATC 50-piece band and as an added feature a bugle and bagpipe corp. of Indian Engineers was present.


WIN CALCUTTA TANK MEET
Brig. Gen. R. R. Neyland presents the winning team trophy to Sgt. Roy Saari, captain of the Base Section Hq. team. Inset is Capt. Fred Worthen, individual high scorer of the two-day swim meet at Calcutta.

  CALCUTTA - Splashing away with 10 of the 26 trophies presented to winners in the Calcutta Regional Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend, two Army officers copped top honors before 6,000 fans at Victoria pool.
  Capt. Fred Worthen, former National AAU title-holder from Hartford, Conn., captured four freestyle events and was second in the 100-meter backstroke to lead all scorers with 45 points.
  Lt. Fred Feuchrenberger, Southern AAU diving champion and star member of North Carolina's championship tank team, gracefully achieved wins in both low and high board diving events.
  In the relay events, Headquarters Company of Base Section won the 400-meter relay race and the 300-meter medley relay, swishing the line in 3:53.4 and 3:55.1 respectively, to defeat Seventh Photo Tech Squadron. Base won the team trophy.
  Added attractions during the two-day water carnival included a featured fisherman performer, Earl Merritt, of the ARC, and an exhibition in diving by Helen Meany, former Olympic diving champion, now with the ARC in Calcutta and water polo contests each evening.
  The results:
  50-meter freestyle - Worthen; Sgt. Roy Saari, Los Angeles; Sgt. Ernest Selow, NYC. - Time 20.1
  100-meter freestyle - Worthen; Pvt. Don Miller, Detroit; Lt. E. M. Howes, Tom's River, N.J. - Time 1:03
  200-meter freestyle - Worthen; Cpl. G. Rudloff, Palo Alto, Calif.; Cpl. Jack Roberge, Philadelphia - Time 2:03.2
  400-meter freestyle - Worthen; Roberge; Sgt. E. Siehr, Milwaukee, Wis. - Time 6:49.4
  100-meter breast stroke - Rudloff; Saari; Roberge - Time 1:23
  100-meter back stroke - Miller; Worthen; Rudloff - Time 1:18
  Low board fancy diving - Feuchtenberger; T/Sgt. John Byrnes, Fort Worth; Sgt. Pete Lomax, Jackson, Miss.
  High board fancy diving - Feuchtenberger; Lomax; Byrnes



FIRST NEGRO G.I.'S RE-ENLIST IN ARMY

  LEDO, ASSAM - First Negro soldiers to re-enlist in the Regular Army from Advance Section were S/Sgt. James Catron, Somerville, Tenn., and T/5 Robert Black, Baberg, S.C.
  The men will leave within a week for a 90 day furlough before entering on their regular tour of duty.



Troop Moves From Assam Speeded Up
 By SGT. RAY HOWARD    Roundup Field Correspondent

  LEDO, ASSAM - Troop movements continued from Advance Section at accelerated speed this week and several thousand men already have departed the area for transportation to the States.
  Increased air-lift facilities from Chabua will step up the evacuation of both units and casuals from Advance Section this month, during which as many as 23,000 men may be evacuated.
  Departed Advance Section this week is the 352nd Engineer General Service Regiment, which spent approximately two years in Persia on construction before coming to India-Burma last November. It had been engaged since that time on construction and maintenance on the Stilwell Road.
  The 382nd Engineer Construction Battalion, which has been in the I-B for more than two years and has won outstanding commendation for extensive work in the Ledo area and at the B-29 base around Kharagpur, already has gone and its work has been taken over by the 330th Engineers.

CRACK UNITS
  The 39th QM Group Headquarters, the 108th QM Battalion, including the 3305th through 3312th QM Truck Companies, have gone. These units have devoted their entire time while assigned to Advance Section in supplying combat and service troops with sustenance, combat and construction materials. They have been considered crack units and are in a large manner responsible for the accomplishment of the main mission of the North Burma campaign and the Stilwell Road.
  The 108th has been stationed at Myitkyina, under the 21st Quartermaster Group. The 39th has been stationed in Ledo under the 468th Group, where it has been called upon to furnish a great part of the base transportation in addition to its part in supplying The Road.
  It is interesting to know that the 3307th Quartermaster Truck Company claims to be the oldest truck company in the Army. It was known as the 100th Quartermaster Truck Co. during World War I, after which it was disbanded but not inactivated.
  Also leaving is the 75th Engineer Light Ponton Co., which completed two years overseas this month. In addition to operating ferries and constructing and maintaining ponton bridges, the 75th has been engaged in all types of engineer construction in India and Burma. Men of the 75th constructed one of the first ponton bridges across the Irrawaddy. During the Central Burma campaign, they assisted ferry operation of British troops.
  Other units leaving have been the 378th Engineer Rock Crusher Detachment, the 386th Engineer Supply Detachment, the 3058th Engineer Refrigeration Detachment, and Hq., 36th Quartermaster Battalion.

PLENTY PX GOODS
  Units arriving in the Staging Area in Ledo are surprised to find that excellent accommodations have been prepared in such a short time. Usually two or three days is all that is necessary for processing an entire unit.
  At T/5 Robert Martin's Post Exchange they can get beer, cigarettes and many things which have not been available in the post exchanges prior to this time. Within the week the post exchange will be set up to serve unlimited quantities of ice cold beer and fruit juices.



Chinese Soldiers Help Save Fifth AF Men

  CHIHKIANG, CHINA - Three men clad in ragged Chinese Army uniforms stepped off a plane at a 10th Air Force base here a few days ago to tell one of the strangest escape tales to come out of the China Theater.
  The men, three American fliers of the Fifth Air Force's 63rd Bomb Squadron, survived a crash on June 11 about 30 miles northwest of Shanghai while on a mission from Clark Field, Philippine Islands.
  The radio-equipped B-24 broke in three pieces when it crashed into the Yangtze River. Sgt. Albert L. Garnto, engineer, Dublin, Ga., and Sgt. Marvin K. Nester, radio operator, Jewell Ridge, Va., remained in the ship, while Lt. Daniel W. Redmon, navigator, Honolulu, Hawaii, was thrown clear.
  Nester stepped out unhurt onto the wing, Garnto following with a deep gash in his back. Redmon, suffering a broken nose and fractured jawbone, was bleeding from ears, nose and mouth, and covered with gashes from head to foot. Eight other crew members were killed in the crash.

RAFT DETACHED
  A rubber life raft, detached at the time of impact and inflated, was utilized by the three men to reach shore, about 100 yards distant.
  When they reached shore, they encountered friendly Chinese guerrillas who led them to the Chinese Communist Army lines. At one time they passed within 200 feet of a Jap outpost, reportedly unoccupied because of the high losses inflicted by the guerrillas.
  They traveled north in a junk, which was stranded on dry land many times during the three-day trip because of tidal levels which rose and fell five to six feet daily.
  Transferring to land, they headed west through areas of the Chinese Communist Fourth Army, progressing from a platoon to reach Fourth Army Headquarters. The airmen removed their uniforms, retaining only their G.I. shoes, and dressed themselves in Chinese clothes. The best of food and care was provided for them.

MODERN HOSPITAL
  Redmon was removed to a modern hospital, equipped with a large amount of technical equipment smuggled out of Shanghai before the Jap occupation. Of the 12 Chinese doctors attending Redmon, five were graduated from American medical schools including the University of Chicago and Harvard.
  The men were eager to get back, but were held up by weather and the meticulous Communists, who would take no risks in conveying them to safety.
  The middle of August found them at a division headquarters of the Fourth Army, where the news of the Japanese surrender was received; but because of the complex political situation, the war was still "on" officially for the Americans. The first official word of their existence was sent to the United States by an Office of Strategic Services radio station, which they reached Sept. 10 after the Communists turned them over to Nationalist troops.

FIRST AMERICANS
  With the Nationalists they met the first Americans they had seen in three and one-half months, three weather men and three radio operators. The rescued men said that at no time during their journey did they give up hope, their only worry being about their families. From the OSS station they were flown to Hankow by a weather plane, and thence here.
  Impressive proof of their comparative safety while in Japanese-occupied territory is found in the following incident:
  A Jap-held railway station, guarded by 30 Jap infantrymen, had to be passed in order to reach the Nationalist Army. At the time, Redmon and the two sergeants were in command of 40 Communist cavalrymen, but the Communists decided this was not enough of an advantage. The next day they were taken to another point adjacent to the railroad where 1,800 fully equipped infantrymen and 200 cavalrymen were assembled to provide adequate protection.

IN GOOD SHAPE
  The three Americans are now in good physical condition despite severe cases of dysentery brought on by polluted water and food. At some times while traveling, they were forced to eat sea squib, eels, sea weed, and to drink waiter so muddy the bottom of the cup couldn't be seen.
  Redmon reports that he and his men are now fully qualified in the use of chopsticks, and especially adept at separating bugs from rice.
  Redmon, a former Infantry sergeant, served in the Central Pacific before returning to the States for training and a commission as a radio navigator.
  The mission was the sixth for the crew. Their bombardment group is known as "Kenny's Fair-Haired Boys," having been awarded a unit citation for an impressive record.
  At the time of the crew's crash in June, the group had destroyed 835,000 tons of Jap shipping. The boys now wonder if the million mark ever was reached.



Peace Also Hell For Air Force G.I.'s In China

  HQ., 10TH AIR FORCE, CHINA - In Kunming during a recent and brief clash between the China National Army and Gen. Lung's Yunnan forces, headquarters personnel of the 10th Air Force awoke one morning to find their hostel was in the direct line of fire from both factions - a trifle too close to combat, especially since the war was supposed to be over.
  The Marines had landed at Tientsin, Eighth Army veterans were occupying Japan, but the 10th Air Force Headquarters was right smack in the middle of a first class fight. And although the men are not in any apparent danger, except from stray bullets, they wish they were somewhere else.
  Small arms, machine guns, howitzers and mortars broke the stillness of a peaceful Wednesday morning. Spent bullets entered windows of the hostel and interrupted G.I. dreams about docking in Los Angeles before Christmas. A siren summoned all to the parade ground at six a.m., where Col. J. F. Whisenand, chief of staff of the 10th, explained the situation and announced an alert existed.

PLATOONS FORMED
  Six platoons were formed, 24-hour guards manned the walls of the hostel and the men were given orders to fire only in the event of hostile action. American life and property were being defended by typists, clerks, communications men, and a squadron of M.P.'s.
  S/Sgt. Louis J. Dalphone, of Milwaukee, Wis., was in the Red Cross club with travel orders to the States in his pocket. The fighting being waged in the streets delayed his departure, but after 20 months in India and China he was willing to wait a few more days. Then a rifle bullet crashed through his chair, missing his arm by inches.
  "After I got over my fright," he admitted to friends later, "I tried to dig a foxhole in the floor. I'm not taking any chances now - got too much to lose."
  Shortly after midnight of the second day of shooting, sporadic firing broke out again. Officers dashed from their rooms to man their posts. As they descended the stairs, their Chinese Number One Boy was haranguing everything in general and the shooting in particular. A bullet had pierced his hot water boiler.

CLOSE CALL
  The closest call was experienced by Pfc. George L. Sherman of Lincolnville, Me., when a spent bullet grazed his thigh. He suffered only a bruise.
  Pfc. Hyman B. Packer, Queens Village, N.Y., thought when he left the States V-E Day that he would never see combat. Now he is guarding the north wall, listening to bullets whining over his head and grumbling about the lack of movies.
  "I've been running the movie projector here for months," he wailed, "going nuts from these Class B thrillers. Tonight we were going to show Lana Turner in Weekend at the Waldorf, but now we can't get the film through town. Why did this have to happen to Lana Turner?"



I-B AAF COMMANDER FLIES TO U.S. ON TD

  HQ., ARMY AIR FORCES, CALCUTTA - Maj. Gen. T. J. Hanley, Jr., commanding all U.S. Army Air Forces in India and Burma, departed by air this week for Washington, D.C., on temporary duty.
  In his absence, Brig. Gen. Thomas B. MacDonald, Chief of Maintenance of India-Burma Air Service Command, has assumed command.



Solon Asks Fast Removal In CBI

  WASHINGTON - (UP) - Rep. Mike Mansfield, who visited the Far East last year as the late President Roosevelt's "special representative," asked the House to call for immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops in India, Burma, Korea, and China.
  He explained that this step should form a part of the U.S. Far Eastern policy as a safeguard against involvement in hostilities in that area.
  Said Mansfield: "The best interests of the United States would well be served if we were to withdraw all of our Servicemen from these four areas at the first available opportunity. It is time we called for an explanation of our policy in the Far East."
  He added that America has no military business in the Far East, except Japan.
  Presence of U.S. troops in the China Theater, declared the Representative, threatens to involve the U.S. in the thorny internal China situation.
  Mansfield said he had hoped U.S. forces would quit China as soon as possible after the Jap surrender.
  "However, the opposite seems to be true because with the defeat of Japan we are strengthening our forces in China and funneling more troops into that country."



UNCLE JOE YEARNS FOR OLD CLOTHES

  TOKYO - (UP) - "I just want to put on my old pants and play with the dog," Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell replied here to the question as to what his next assignment might be.
  Looking plumper, Uncle Joe admitted he had gained weight on Okinawa.
  "I've still got that hat," he told reporters triumphantly.




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 Maj. 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.










OCTOBER  18,  1945  

Original issue of India-Burma Theater Roundup shared by Paul Shindelar

Copyright © 2009 Carl Warren Weidenburner






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