CBI Roundup
VOL. II        NO. 47        REG NO. L5015        DELHI,  THURSDAY                                           AUGUST  3,  1944.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE
In emulating the sun-worshipping statue, Tony Seven achieves the acme of something or other. Miss Seven, christened June Millarde 21 years ago, was recently granted permission from the Superior Court of California to change her name to the numerical title. Why? Don't ask.
Fourth Star For Stilwell
   Roundup Staff Article

    Subject to Senate confirmation, it is now GEN. Joseph W. Stilwell.
  According to a late bulletin by Reuters, President Roosevelt has nominated Uncle Joe for a
Gen. Stilwell
fourth star, which high estate belongs to only four other U.S. military leaders on active duty - Gens. MacArthur, Marshall, Arnold, and Eisenhower.
  And so another chapter has been written in the Horatio Alger-ish CBI career of Stilwell, which started on something less than even a shoestring when he entered Burma in the black spring of 1942.
  Things are vastly different than those first dark days. Now the military pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction. Stilwell's American-trained Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions, aided later by Merrill's fabulous Marauders and the Chindits, started the Allies on the road back when they initiated their push last fall to open a land route to blockaded China.
  That road through Northern Burma is close now to being a reality, instead of Stilwell's "wild" dream. Jap opposition at Myitkyina is token, suicidal and must soon collapse. At the eastern anchor of the supply artery, other Chinese forces are assaulting Tengchung and Lungling to effect a juncture with the eastward-driving Stilwell forces.
  It is fitting that the heart and soul and guts of the offensive that many defeatists said could not succeed, will soon wear his fourth star.




OLD CRACKERKEG WHIPS NO. 13 JINX

  By SGT. PHIL BERSHAD    China Roundup Correspondent

    CHINA - Three 13's is a sizeable omen to carry along as extra cargo, but Old Crackerkeg, Manchuria-bopping B-29, returned to her base after Saturday's raid without even her paint scratched.
  The train of hoodoos started when the crew, from Maj. Peter Koenig down, counted noses and, with that sinking feeling, noted that they totaled 13.
  Next, the jinx-numbered crew was assigned to Barracks No. 13. Sgt. Lovelock, first to recognize the growing portent, took a firm clutch on his wife's photograph as butterflies danced madly in the pit of his stomach.
  Apprehension, already neck-deep, finally flooded over the heads of the unhappy crew of Old Crackerkeg when she was assigned to Takeoff Position No. 13.
  Crew chief T/Sgt. John Sabsfsh gave the Super-Fort a meticulous grooming, despite the fact she had already been checked and re-checked and pronounced ship-shape.
  But, as events proved, the triple 13 jinx worked on no one but the Japs. Old Crackerkeg's rhythmic props never missed a beat, and she safely eluded the long fingers of flak that probed skyward.
  When the B-29 reached her objective, Lt. Harry Polansky pinned the already-blazing target in his bombsight. The explosives were swallowed up in the center of the pyre. "It was a bombardier's dream," he declared.
  According to Sgt. Bob Beaty, senior gunner, there was plenty of flak - "more than 13 pieces."
  On only one member of the crew - tail gunner Joe Yagos - did the jinx work. He had been fighting a case of G.I.'s for a week, and, oh, unhappy day, it finally caught up to him a short distance from the home base.




Vignette
 PROVING CRIME WILL OUT

  Another touching vignette that piques the Roundup -
  This CBI-anchored laddie earned a 20-day leave.
  Normally, one hits the trail for an idyllic retreat in the Himalayas as soon as his CO hands him his orders.
  But our hero had a far more ambitious plan.
  He would spend his leave in Shangri-La with his wife.
  To start with, he wired her to meet him in Miami. ("Don't say a word to a soul, honey.")
  Then, after a heart-to-heart talk with the pilot, he boarded a plane.
  Came the end of his blissful vacation in Shangri-La, and our hero tenderly kissed his helpmate goodbye. ("Don't say a word to a soul, honey.")
  Fortune continued to smile benignly. He successfully made his way back to this neck of the war.
  The days passed without incident and he became satisfied that no one was going to be the wiser.
  But crime will out.
  Friend wife is pregnant.
  A confession was in order.

LA SHERIDAN 'KIDNAPPED'
AT WEST INDIA AIRPORT

Ann Sheridan
"Shanghaied"
    Majs. John Nixon and Paul Zimmerman, big brass of Theater Special Service, welcomed Ann Sheridan and party to New Delhi late this week.
  For the occasion, they wore Chamber of Commerce smiles as they bore the USO troupe in triumph to one of the Big City's choice hostelries and busied themselves mapping out a CBI itinerary for the Oomph Girl, Ben Blue, Jackie Miles, Ruth Denas and Mary Landa.
  Two days before, they were considerably less happy. One passing the Special Service Office could hear displeasure being voiced with indelicate fervor.
  This was because Miss Sheridan was ungallantly "shortstopped" at the West India base where her plane first touched down on CBI soil. Here an Air Corps Special Service officer billed the troupe for three shows, contrary to previous orders from the two majors.
  "It's not Miss Sheridan's fault, of course," Zimmerman hastened to declare. "But when entertainment figures come to CBI, we think it fair that the most advanced troops see them first."
  A kidnapping, no less.




THE MAJOR OVERWHELMED BY STARS... SEVEN OF 'EM

    AIR SERVICE COMMAND HQ. - The Battle (Non-combatant) of India is fashioned of a variety of incidents. The story that follows is an example of what can - and did - happen.
  The phone rang in a certain major's office. He learned that a plane with "heavy brass" was landing soon. His mission: To gather all the available transportation and proceed to the airport. Which, dutifully, he did. His convoy consisted of a shiny new Buick station wagon and four vehicles of doubtful vintage, battered and in sharp contrast to the swank Buick.
  Just as the major arrived at the operations shed, a plane hit the runway. He walked solicitously to
the passenger apron and greeted Maj. Gen. "A" and party. They required two vehicles to proceed to "X." The general G-2'd the transportation and, satisfied, proceeded to the snack bar for coffee.
  Two minutes later, a second plane arrived. This one disgorged (who said "it can't happen here?") Maj. Gen. "B" and party. The second two-starred gentleman looked over the same convoy, beamed happily at the sight of the station wagon and, like Maj. Gen. "A", moved toward the snack bar.
  The phone conversation had given no names. The major was hoisted upon the uncomfortable horns of a dilemma. There was no doubt in his mind that each two-star was confident that the station wagon was his chariot-to-be. Should the generals toss a coin? No, that wouldn't do. In lieu of an answer to the problem, the major visioned some remote base in China where an Officers' Club is just wishful thinking and the comforts of home are best described as "missing." He remembered nothing being said in the Officer's Guide except yielding to seniority. But he hadn't the temerity to ask each general his date of rank. There it was, and no Mr. Anthony in sight to solve the problem for him.
  But it is always the darkest before the dawn.
  A Kindly Providence now took compassion upon the major.
  There was a stir of interest on the field as a third transport landed. He hustled out to the apron again and a familiar figure, wearing a familiar campaign hat, alighted from the plane.
  "Stilwell's the name," he said. "Have you any transportation?"
  With perfect aplomb, the thankful major ordered the station wagon wheeled up, front and center, and the Theater Commander and his party jounced off toward "X."
  Two minutes later, the major was explaining to two major generals the disappearance of the Buick.
  "Sirs, you were outranked."
  The motors of the battered vehicles coughed - and the generals and their parties rattled off.
  The major, thumbing his way back to camp, whistled an airy tune.
  As far as he was concerned, God was in his Heaven and all right with the world.




GRAND OLD B-25 RETIRED FROM RIGORS OF COMBAT

CAPT. G. E. CHELIUS,  T/SGT. B. J. MOPSIK,  LT. BERT FRAME
Pilot, Crew Chief and Co-Pilot


    EAC HEADQUARTERS - Shutterbug is a B-25 who has flown long past her prime, thanks to the tender ministrations of several excellent ground crews.
  Legends have grown up around the venerable Mitchell medium bomber. According to hangar talk, she first flew for the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies, and came north to India early in the war via Sumatra and Burma.
  Her history, however, did not begin to be recorded on black and white until she began flying for a hard-riding U.S. bomb squadron in India. She flew 70 missions, hammering Jap garrisons, railroads, supply dumps, bridges and airfields in enemy-held Burma.
  Three times she was forced to make belly landings, but on each occasion got off the floor well before the count of 10.
  Later, she was converted into a camera ship. She added another 328 hours of combat time in 78 trips with the Photographic Reconnaissance Force of Maj. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer's Eastern Air Command.
  Shutterbug is now being retired from combat flying. Her bombing and photo recon days are over. But her admirers contend that with a little servicing the grand old lady will probably add tens of thousands of miles to the 150,000 she's already logged over India and Burma.




Negro Truck Drivers Win Bet From Stilwell For Pick

    LEDO ROAD - (Delayed) - Two Negro G.I.'s tell this story of a bet between Uncle Joe Stilwell and Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, which evolved around whether a 6x6 or a C-47 would first get to the Hukawng Valley last December.
Brig. Gen. Pick

  The two G.I.'s are Cpls. Adis Crawford and Percy Lewis. They drove the historic 6x6 on which Pick had placed his rupees.
  While one group of Engineers cleared an airfield on the first flat stretch of the valley, another group pushed the lead bulldozer across the last lap of the Patwoi Mountains.
  Came Christmas Day and Pick could stand inactivity no longer. Crawford and Lewis were selected to drive the 6x6 in what promised to be a rugged trip. That night they set off, with Pick leading the way by jeep.
  Through mud, mountains and Jap snipers, the two-car caravan ground on. They roared into the airfield at exactly 11:21 hours.
  A half hour later, the first C-47 ever to land in the Hukawng Valley came skimming over the horizon. But it was too late. The Old Man with the Stick had won his bet and the Army Service Forces had done it again.



Beware
CLEVER, THOSE CHINESE

    BURMA - (UP) - American soldiers were warned this week to beware of the clever Chinese.
  It was announced that one Chinese division was conducting a souvenir factory in its spare time, making phony Japanese battle flags from red, white and blue parachute silks.
  The lettering thereon in Chinese characters was equivalent (although, more vulgar) to, "Nuts to you, Joe."

CBI-USAF INSTITUTE
OPENED AT APO 465


    A CBI branch of the U.S. Armed Forces' Institute is now operating at APO 465, offering a limited number of correspondence and self-teaching courses to officers and enlisted men in the Theater.
  Information can be obtained by writing Commandant, CBI "A" Branch, USAF Institute, APO 465.




FAREWELL - WELCOME PARTY
AS NEYLAND SUCCEEDS JORDAN IN CHINA

    SOUTHWEST CHINA - This cozy headquarters was recently the scene of a combined farewell and welcome party for the outgoing and incoming area supply officers.
  Departing after 28 months overseas, was Col. Lewis P. Jordan; succeeding him as supply officer for the Chinese and Americans in China and North Burma is Col. Robert R. Neyland, Jr., erstwhile football coach at the University of Tennessee.
  Among the guests were Maj. Gen. C. L. Chennault; Brig. Gen. Edgar Glenn, 14th A.F. Chief of Staff; Col. John W. Middleton, of Y-Force HQ; and Col. Norman MacNeill, ranking American officer at the Y-Force Infantry Training School.
  Jordan spoke briefly, declaring that "the officers and enlisted men have given me the finest loyalty, devotion to duty, consecration to the effort to do the job, and, in spite of understrength, the showing has been marvelous."




Y-FORCE  G.I.'S  PUT  SHOW  ON  THE  ROAD  
    Operations Staff Headquarters of Brig. Gen. Frank (Pinky) Dorn's Y-Force, liaison unit with the Chinese in the Salween campaign, decided the other day that a dance would be a shot in the arm for their morale.
  Not deterred by the fact that they were on the shady side of The Hump, where everything from combustibles to toothpicks must come by aircraft or not come at all, an Enlisted Men's Committee, headed by M/Sgt. Henry F. Meitz, first set itself a date, determined by the availability of the only G.I. dance band in China, Lt. Addison Bailey's 14th Air Force jug-blowers.
  An old Chinese warehouse was converted into a pleasure dome and, with a nod to the commanding officer, the remodeled shed became "Pinky's Palace."
  Then, of course, the little matter of ladies. The aid of the American Red Cross was enlisted. Red Cross workers Dorothy Wilson and Peggy Pfening made contact with the Women's Volunteer Committee to the U.S. Forces and Madam Chiang Monlin, chairwoman of the committee, crashed through with a list of available girls. Invitations were prepared and, jibing with Chinese customs of courtesy, delivered by hand.
  With the aid of Mess Sgt. Martin J. Lurie, Mess Officer Lt. E. M. Tenny, Jr., and Lt. Chester T. McGraw, Special Service Officer, the problems of chow, decorations and transport were ironed out.
  Came the great night, and jeeps, weapons carriers and staff cars from which the mud of the Salween battlefront had been carefully scrubbed were rounded up by Transportation Officer Lt. Peter hay and dispatched to fetch the belles.
  Below are scenes giving a general view of what took place between 2000 hours and 2345, when the party broke up.


Dorothy Wilson, Red Cross worker from Los Angeles, takes off for town in search of food and femmes for the Y-Force dance.
Cpl. Lloyd A. Russell, S/Sgt. Lawrence E. DeVall, T/4 Clifford Hall, T/5 John W. Davis, Sgt. Anton Kristo and T/5 Frank Pietras about to get their dates.

The band arrives. Sgts. W. T. Fellows and W. Zarnoida, Cpls. L. E. Park, A. D. Dickey, E. Davis and H. G. Shipman.
Chow in care of Miss Wilson, the hostel mess cook, and Sgt. Martin J. Lurie.
Flowers yet! Helping Peggy Pfening are Pfc. Johnny Noetzel, T/3 Ted Schneider and Cpl. Joe J. Halwakx.

Lt. Chester T. McGraw helps the Misses Pfening and Wilson pretty up the joint before the prom.
Sgt. Leroy L. New and Miss Dora Chan came to the dance to dance. See above. Some fun, huh?
More dance customers. This time, Cpl. Frank Falls and Miss Ming Chen are the subjects.

M/Sgt. Henry F. Meitz, chairman of the dance committee, gets the glad hand from Red Cross Field Director R. O. Schnitzer.
Dispensers of the grub take a bow. Pvt. George Theaker, Cpl. Boris Pieshoff, Cook Peter Ching, Sgt. Martin J. Lurie, Pvt. Wesley Warfield and friends.



CALL IT 'JUST PLAIN GUTS'
 Life In The Raw On Salween River Front

    Capt. H. Donald Knight recently returned to Headquarters of the Y-Force Operations Staff, Southwest China, following a tour of duty with an American air support team in the precipitous mountains of the Kaoli Kung Range, west of the Salween River. It is in this area that American liaison officers, headed by Brig. Gen. Frank Dorn, are advising and aiding Chinese troops in their drive against the Japanese to break the two-year blockade of the Burma Road - The Editor.

  By CAPT. H. DONALD KNIGHT

    CHINA - Call it "intestinal fortitude" or "just plain guts," American officers and
Knight
enlisted men now serving with the Chinese armies in the Salween River area in western Yunnan Province, have it.
  It is almost impossible to describe the ruggedness of the mountain trails over which all progress must be made. Rising to height as much as 12,000 feet, they are frequently so precipitous that it is impossible for men and animals to ascend. Paths must zigzag dizzily in order to give any footing to the marching troops.
  Frequently, trails are beds of streams, with cobbles for footing, so that pack animals slip and slide and must be dragged over spots by the soldiers. When a monsoon rain floods the stream course, it is necessary to wade through the water.

TURNS TO GUMBO
  Some trails are covered with black soil which turns to gumbo in the rains, clinging to heavy G.I. shoes until they begin to appear like "wedgies" on a Jersey beach. Others are of a slick clay composition, which results in a two-steps-forward-one-step-back snail progress uphill and a sudden roller-coaster effect on the descent, a misstep throwing the walker forward, gyrating wildly in an attempt to regain balance before he misses a curve and goes over a cliff.
  Because of the sheerness of the trails and the altitude of this "highest battleground in the world," breathing becomes labored and there are times when the only way a man can reach a mountain crest is to sight a tree or stump 50 yards in advance and say to himself, "I'll get that far or die trying," and then pull himself to the goal by determination alone.
  Descent, curiously, is no easier. True, one does not have the sensation of lungs splitting the chest, but the descent is so difficult and long that calf muscles are knotted and knees lose all sensation.

NEW TO YANKS
  To most Americans out here, this is a new type of country - but they are taking it in stride. Much admired is Lt. Col. Oscar R. Zipf, 50-year-old commander of an air support team. In spite of his years the colonel arrives with his men and is ready to begin work even after a 10-hour marching day - no mean feat for even younger men.
  Few of the Americans on this campaign are expert horseman or mule packers. All transportation is of necessity by pack animal or Chinese coolie and there are not enough "ma fus" or grooms to go around, so every American is now a "ma fu."
  The first few days of packing the light wooden frames were heartbreaking. Loads were too heavy - a pack
53RD ARMY TROOPS CROSS NARROW SUN HUNG
animal will only carry from 80 to 120 pounds - and the animals refused to move. If packs were not perfectly balanced, the bouncing of the animal soon slid the frame from the saddle, sometimes to roll down into a deep ravine from which the load had to be packed up by hand, piecemeal.
  But the men learned, and now it is a rare occasion when a pack is lost or thrown. Perfect balance is achieved, if necessary, by the addition of a convenient rock on the light side of the load. Chinese rope ties have been mastered and it is seldom that part of the load now slips from its mooring to allow the pack to fall off.
  Americans are eating the Chinese staple - rice. A quarter of a can of C-rations per man - stew, meat and beans, or hash - is thinned by the addition of water and spread over the rice to relieve the dryness. Occasionally, when not-so-sweet brown sugar is available locally, it is melted and poured into wet rice in a canteen cup.
  Once in a while it is possible to shoot a wild pig or to buy a steer, which is then divided among the American personnel in the area and furnishes a dinner reminiscent of the Waldorf. But the diet is largely rice, two meals a day.
  Even American field officers stand guard at night - there is always the possibility of a small Jap patrol creeping through the lines. Jap artillery, fortunately, is scarce. Immediately after one Chinese unit crossed the Salween, however, the Japs began to drop a shell or two daily from the one 75 mm howitzer they possessed, into division headquarters area.

'WHISTLING MAMIE'
  The shell christened by the Americans as "Whistling Mamie," did little or no damage, although one landed in a stream just above an American radio team whose members were indulging in a bath. Another hit about 100 yards from a air support party.
  When the Chinese move forward the Americans move with them. The veterinary men take care of both Chinese and American horses, the artillerymen are on hand to advise the Chinese artillery crews, the medicos follow with their portable surgical hospitals.
  Several Americans have managed to kill Japs. One artillery sergeant has developed a system whereby he uses the Chinese to flush a Jap, whereupon he circles until he gets close enough to fire his rifle unerringly. So far he has five Japs to his credit.
  Almost every American has lost from 15 to 30 pounds in six weeks; almost all have had diarrhea or some other disorder. Those seriously ill have been flown back to headquarters by liaison planes for medical attention.
  Mail has been arriving with startling regularity, either flown in by liaison plane or brought in by pack train. Some curious incidents have occurred in this connection. One officer received a package containing over 25 bars of soap, after days of calculation on how to reduce the weight of his personal luggage. Another man received two cartons of cigarettes just as his entire party had exhausted their supply of cigarettes and pipe tobacco. Packages of food or candy are like manna from Heaven.

AIR SUPPORT
  Air support, although considerably hampered by weather, has been remarkably successful. P-40's have dropped 500 pound bombs in direct hits upon pillboxes and a considerable number of Japs have been found dead from .50 caliber airplane machine-gun "lead poisoning."
  Men who have seen fighting in all parts of the world concede that this terrain is as difficult as any - but it doesn't stop the Americans. Still - the most envied man on the northern Salween front was Sergeant Mac B. McLean, of Alexandria, Va., after five weeks of campaigning, he was flown out of the mountains to go to Officers' Candidate School in the States!




TEETH GO LOOSE TO AID CHINESE

    VENTURA, CALIF. - When Chungking radio sends out its daily news of the progress of the war against the Japanese invader, its bulletins and commentaries are reported back here is the U.S. by Dr. Charles E. Stuart, a dentist, who ships the results to the Chinese News Service and other press services.
  Stuart is a short-wave radio enthusiast, who has now made dentistry a sideline to devote most of his hours to filing the Chinese news. He became so well known as an amateur radio bug that the Chinese Ministry of Information called on him to establish communications between Chungking and Pacific Coast stations, when all other means had failed.
  He has closed his downtown office. But at his radio shack he keeps essential equipment and advises his clients to come only in emergencies.




Military Etiquette Out the Window

    APO 629 - With a complete disregard of military etiquette, Pvt. Maurice M. Kaplan burst unceremoniously into the orderly room, totally ignored Brig. Gen. Joseph Cranston, hastily gathered together some first aid material and moved purposefully toward the door.
  Over his shoulder, Kaplan flung the information to the general that a fellow G.I. had severed an artery in his arm.
  After Kaplan applied a tourniquet, he took the injured man to the dispensary.
  There he ran into Cranston again. The general had made a special trip to satisfy himself that the G.I. was all right.
  Commented Kaplan, "I think the rest of the fellows should know the interest the general takes in his men."




HOME AGAIN
T/3 Chang of the U.S. Army joined the Armed Forces of his adopted land after 22 years in the States.  But he never expected that it would lead to a reunion with his mother and a return to his ancestral home in China.  When he got off the ship, he discovered he was in Asia and eventually he found his mother again.  Here he is holding hands with her - for the first time in 22 years.
B-29'S HIT MANCHURIA
  Roundup Staff Story

    There was a sudden switch in attack. Instead of lashing at the Japanese mainland with right hand smashes as on the first two occasions, the Super-Forts of the 20th Bomber Command this time delivered a stinging left hook. The Jap parry was weak (declared communiqués: "Moderate enemy fighter and anti-aircraft opposition... our losses were light") as B-29 blows crashed tellingly into target areas at Anshan, Manchuria, and Taku and Chengshein, both in the northeast corner of occupied China.
  This was the first daylight raid for the Super-Forts, attacking from bases in western China. Clear weather, with good visibility, blessed the estimated 3,000-mile historic first Allied strike at Manchuria. Returning crews jubilantly announced that it was one of the "most beautiful" runs they have ever had.
  The principal blow was aimed at Anshan, 60 miles southwest of Mukden. Anshan, with a population of 200,000, is the site of the Showa Steel Works, second largest integrated iron and steel plant in the Jap system, and has been the key unit in Japan's industrial development of Manchuria. Other important plants produce synthetic oil, benzene, phenol. Here, flames and smoke leaped thousands of feet into the air and were visible 150 miles away. Declared a pilot: "We were in one of the earlier planes over the target, but when we arrived it was already covered with smoke and flames. We encountered little flak, and what there was of it was mostly inaccurate. We met no fighter opposition."
  Thrusts at Taku and Chengshein were described as diversionary. Taku, near the mouth of the Hai River, is a major port, which is a primary outlet for Japanese industrial goods and a military storage point. Chengshein is a bottle-neck on the Peiping-Hankow Railroad, which the Japs are laboriously rebuilding.
  The first planes reported flying over enemy fighter fields en route to the target but that the Jap did not attempt interception. Some of the later B-29's reported opposition but declared it was weak.
  Two enemy fighters were probably shot down and five damaged. Two Super-Forts are missing.
  Jap radio admitted the thrust at Anshan, omitted mention of Taku and Chengshein, but reported Penhishu and Darien attacked. Declared the broadcast: "No material damage was caused."




MYITKYINA GARRISON POUNDED BY 10TH AF

    EAC HQS. - Jap-held Myitkyina was the target this week for Maj. Gen. Howard Davidson's Tenth Air Force planes, as monsoon weather restricted operations by other units of Maj. Gen. George Stratemeyer's Eastern Air Command.
  B-25 Mitchells hammered the area six days out of seven, inflicting great damage, in the heaviest attacks yet delivered by them. P-40's and P-51's also kept Myitkyina under almost constant attack, concentrating on Jap rivercraft in the Irrawaddy and gun positions in the town. Ground forces who "spotted" targets for the fighters praised the results.

P-47's OPERATING
  Last week's EAC summary revealed for the first time that P-47 Thunderbolts are operating in this Theater. The big Republic fighters made sweeps over Northern Burma airfields, damaging hangars, revetments and buildings areas.
  In last week's operations, long-range twin-engine fighters of the Third Tactical Air Force wrecked a large gas tank at Yenangyaung with rockets. Troop carrier planes braved the foul weather to air-drop hundreds of tons of supplies to Allied troops fighting around Imphal and Myitkyina.

CLEARING SKIES
  Clearing skies this week gave Strategic Air Force bombers a chance. Wellingtons hit Mandalay two nights running, starting fires visible 30 miles distant, and Liberators hit numerous stations on the Mandalay-Indaw railway line.
  Throughout the period, fighters and fighter-bombers of Sir John Baldwin's Third TAF harassed Jap communications on the Tiddim Road and Chindwin River. Hurricanes and Beaufighters destroyed large numbers of trucks and rivercraft in their sweeps, and also damaged locomotives and rolling stock in Central Burma railroad stations.




Further Gains In Myitkyina

  Roundup Staff Story

    Crumbling of Japanese defenses on the Tamu Road, in which the Japanese abandoned two strategic villages, and further gains in Myitkyina were recorded this week.
  Chinese troops in an advance of 500 yards captured their objective in the southern sector of Myitkyina. In the southeast sector of the city other Chinese units gained 250 yards.
  Operations to dislodge the Japs from strongpoints in the Palel-Tamu road sector were held up by heavy rain and mist. An Indian regiment was re-establishing at Churachandpur, 40 miles from Imphal. Jap long-range guns are giving the Jap rear-guards some support in their desperate fight to cover the retreat of their broken forces.
  The cracking of Japanese resistance has enable British and Indian troops to make a 10-mile advance to within nine miles of Tamu. Despite the blowing up of ammunition dumps as they pulled out in their retreat, large quantities of equipment were captured, including five field guns.
  Late communiqués said that progress in all sectors of Myitkyina was made against the :last Japanese remnants." Water and mud was reported to be waist and shoulder deep in some places. American units made gains south from Mankrin, village adjoining Myitkyina.




FAME GAINED BY ROUNDUP

    If we should cease publication tomorrow, the name of Roundup would endure, at least for a dog's life. Fame is ours.
  Minerva, jungle-adopted mascot of five Burma boys in a combat Engineers outfit, recently rewarded her masters' care and affection by presenting each of them with a pup.
  Four of the new offspring were readily named "China," "Burma," "India" and "Shangri-La," but the G.I. godfathers, exhausted by their anxious, hushed period of sweating it out in their peaked canvas "maternity ward," were stuck for a fifth.
  Then inspiration, and the last doggy quintuplet in this homegrown K-9 detachment was christened Roundup, in honor of ye olde latrine fodder.
  Oh, yes, Minerva "ain't talkin'" about the pups' papa, but a lieutenant in the outfit who owns a little black "man-about-town" swears he is now a grandfather. - By T/5 ARTHUR A. VORHEES.




'First For CBI-Land'
ALL-AIR CORPS HOSPITAL IN CHINA

  By Sgt. PHIL BERSHAD    Roundup Correspondent in China

    CHINA - CBI-land is the home of the first all-Air Corps station hospital activated outside the continental limits of the United States.
  Located in the cultural heart of western China, this establishment was created and staffed by the Air Corps. It has performed a greatly-needed service in this area since it was opened the first week in May under the command of Lt. Col. J. C. McKissik, former flying officer and rated observer.
  The first patient was a corporal with an aggravating case of "Hong Kong Feet" - just plain athlete's foot on the other side of The Hump - and he liked the atmosphere so much he attempted to get transferred.
  Since then, thousands of pills have been downed, gallons of iodine daubed on wounds and miles of bandages wound 'round bodies of injured Air Corps G.I.'s.
  Several major operations have been successfully performed under the direction of Maj. Robert Whitington.
  There is a constant interchange of medical information between the Chinese and American doctors. Maj. Wachtell, Chief of Medical Service, and members of his staff have spoken before Chinese pre-medical students at the university, explaining the latest advances in American medical science and surgery. Chinese doctors have been guests of the Americans in the operating room during difficult cases. Chinese nurses have been allowed to assist during operations.
  Ninety percent of the enlisted men never previously worked in a hospital. They were drawn from casual and replacement pools. Pvts. John Watt and Harold Bigelow were formerly attached to an air rescue squadron in Assam. Watt piled up more than 120 missions, dropping food and supplies to British and American troops in the jungles of Burma. He has been recommended for the Air Medal and DFC. He now does all the electrical work for the hospital.
  Pvt. Bob Porter, of the orderly room staff, is probably the only G.I. in the Theater to have his wife with him. Porter had been in China for 10 years when the long arm of the draft board tapped him.
  Under the painstaking training of the surgical staff, many of the EM have become skilled technicians. Pvt. James Boone, an interior decorator "back when," today is a surgical technician in charge of the operating room and, according to McKissik, is now "one of the finest instrument men in the Army." Pvts. Brown and Camp, two other G.I.'s without previous medical experience, are now assisting the operating surgeon in the capacity of suture "nurses," and exacting job demanding utmost skill.
  During his recent visit to China, Vice-President Henry Wallace, accompanied by high-ranking Air Corps officers, inspected the hospital. Impressed by the latest equipment, immaculately clean, the large stock of penicillin recently arrived from the States, and the spirit of the staff, he was lavish in his praise.




A TICKET TO ANSHAN
  By HAROLD ISAACS    Newsweek Magazine Correspondent

    ABOARD SUPER-FORT OVER LIAOTUNG PENINSULA - Nineteen minutes ago, the bombardier waved his hand and turned his bald head around. "They're away," he said, smiling broadly. Craning my neck over the pilot's head a few seconds later, I saw a great sheet of flame and black smoke begin to billow skyward. Over the interphone from all corners of this great ship came congratulations for Capt. Louie Wedel, the bombardier. The gunners and others who had even a better vision of the target than we did up in the nose announced direct hits. "That was a swell lick," said one of them.
  Lt. Col. James Victor Edmundson, our pilot and leader of the squadron, ducked the big ship lightly away from the few bursts of flak that appeared on both sides of us. As we pulled away, we heard the rather pensive voice of S/Sgt. Jim Meehan, the left gunner: "looks like Pittsburgh, don't it?"
  We swung around and started home, passing other squadrons of B-29's on their way in.
  The group I rode with had been the first in, first to hit the industrial center at Anshan, southeast of Mukden, the first American planes to hit an enemy target in Manchuria, in the first daylight formation precision bombing raid by Super-Forts.

SIGHTED ONLY ONE ZERO
  We sighted only one fighter, a ship climbing vainly toward the upper sky, but it never got within the gunners' reach.
  We still have to cross half of Asia to get to our home base, most of it enemy-occupied territory dotted with airfields, but the atmosphere in this ship is not much different than that in a regular airliner just out of Kansas City. The whole operation was a smooth, easy-going job, carried out by experts.
  Behind a mission like this, however, are weeks of immensely laborious preparation and flying fantastic distances by combat crews and combat planes freighting every bomb, every gallon of gas over the highest mountain barrier in the world to the West China bases whence they strike at the enemy.
  The take-off this morning was in the face of a blood-red dawn. Col. Edmundson raced our ship over a runway built by hand by 500,000 Chinese men and women, most of whom probably never had seen a railroad, much less airplanes like these. He lifted it smoothly over rice paddies, started climbing toward the West China mountains. He flew for hours over the tired land of China.

BOMBS AWAY
  Not until late in the morning did Navigator Donald O'Brien announce briefly, "We are over enemy territory." From great altitude we began to see Jap-held cities and airfields, dotted with fighters, but there was no interception. Just before 11, the ship headed in over the target. "She is yours, Louie," Edmundson said. The interphone crackled with swift orders, quietly given, quietly acknowledged. The ship and all the men aboard her prepared to perform the function for which she was created and they were trained and both acted with mechanical precision. At 1105, the bombs were away.
  Men who fly B-29's are the most highly-specialized, carefully-selected crews in the Air Force. This was Edmundson's 81st mission. He flew 78 of them in the most grueling time at Guadalcanal, where he was credited among other items with two Jap cruisers. His co-pilot, Capt. Eddie Walker, is a veteran of four-engine instruction with 2,200 hours in his log. O'Brien, the navigator, is also a veteran of South Pacific missions, as is T/Sgt. Red Hefferman, who flew the lonely position in the tail turret. Possibly the most exacting job aboard, not allowing a single moment's relaxation throughout the mission, is that of flight engineer. On this ship he is Lt. Casimer (Casey) Stelmach who sits before his own panel of instruments nursing the flow of power through four 2,200 horsepower engines.
  These men are scornful of attempts to glamorize them. They simply doggedly are doing a rough job. Edmundson, who obviously loves flying said, "The only way to get it over is to get out and get it over. The happiest day of my life will be when nobody's shooting at me anymore."
  I flew with the same group and the same squadron that Bell Shenkel (Newsweek correspondent missing in the raid) flew with to Yawata six weeks ago. Chalked on one of the bombs I saw in the bomb bay before the takeoff were the words: "For the boys of Limber Dugan. That was the ship in which Bill rode. That bomb an hour ago tore a hole into a jutting blood vessel in the body of Japan's empire.




JEEP JOCKIES GET JAVA BAR

    Dusty drivers on the Ledo Road now have a coffee-and-sinkers joint in the best Stateside truckmen's tradition, with the opening last week of an American Red Cross roadside canteen.
  Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Pick presented the large, semi-pukka building, which includes a dining hall and snack bar, reading room and games and writing room, to ARC Field Director Earl Lewis on opening night.
  Smiling Julie Mueller served refreshments and an Evacuation Hospital orchestra, going under the name of "Corned Beef Indefinitely of CBI," furnished the music. A Merrill Marauder, red-bearded Stan Sorenson, played a shift guitar for the boys.




NO PARATROOPER VOLS FROM CBI

    Relax, you would-be paratroopers in CBI. Recently the Roundup naively ran a press release stating men from all branches could volunteer for paratroops.
  In response to plenty of inquiries for details, we hunted down WD Circular No. 262, 26 June 1944, which says in part "within the continental limits of the United States." That's all, brother.
  Also, personnel in Shangri-La replacement depots are barred.




A HAPPIER ENDING THAN MOST

    Perhaps, the G.I. of CBI should adopt the attitude of Cornelia, the Roman lady who said that her children were her jewels.
  For comes now another sad stone story of a glittering gem which would not glit. Although it brings a course of brine to the eye, it has a happy ending.
  But the chief character wants his experience published as an object lesson to gem-minded G.I.'s.
  T/4 Hugh K. Meyers didn't expect to get the Caaba cube for Rs. 70, but neither did he expect to pay 60 percent too much for his "sapphire" and then find it 45 percent under the represented weight.
  Here is the little drama by scenes:
  Scene I. An ivory and jewel mart on Connaught Circus, New Delhi. Enter our hero and two comrades. Merchants sing Jewel Song and our hero goes forth with a "7¼-carat white sapphire." And no bill of sale.
  Scene II. An undisclosed place. Enter our hero unto an appraiser of jewels. Appraiser: This stone is not only synthetic and worth 25 rupees at the most, but it is also 3½ carats underweight.
  Scene III. Same as Scene I. Our hero returns unto the place of his purchase under pretense of buying side stones and settings for his "sapphire," and thus the merchants acknowledge memory of the stone and its sale. Merchants are asked to check the weight of the jewel. It weighs 4 carats. Merchants: The stone was placed in the wrong envelope by mistake.
  Scene IV. The same. Our hero: I request that you take back the stone and make a total refund. Merchants: This we cannot do, but we shall be glad to give a refund for the weight difference. To this our hero consents, provided a bill of sale is issued. Our hero: I also will have this stone appraised, and if it is not genuine, it will be more than a question of a refund.
  Scene V. The same. Merchants: In view of the fact that our wholesaler will have to be contacted to settle the weight difference, we will have to keep the stone, so a total refund will be made. Flourish of rupees. Exit our hero.
  Scene VI. The Roundup office. Our hero: It is not impossible that the incident was unintentional, but any gem merchant who cannot recognize a wholesaler's misrepresentation of a stone and who is not familiar enough with weights to detect a 45 percent error, does not deserve the title and occupation of gem merchant. Spoken forthrightly. Exit our hero.
  Scene VII. The same. Desk of the Jewel Editor. Jewel Editor (aside): Next week somebody probably will come in with a dope diamond he thought was the Hope Diamond.
  Epilogue. Copy boys bear away story to composing room, singing as they go. Copy boys: Oh, all stone stories are sad and all are not gems that glitter. Exeunt copy boys.
  Curtain.




Naga Boss
BOASTS VARGA GIRL PINUPS

  By SGT. SMITH DAWLESS   Roundup Field Correspondent

    LEDO ROAD - Survey-wallah along this Road to Tokyo, soft-spoken, Mexican-born Sgt. Jose Lopez Rabinowicz's work often takes him deep into Assam's jungle. Last week he needed blood specimens from natives untouched by civilization. To the British Political Officer he went, arranged to visit a Naga village 15 miles from civilization's nearest outhouse.
  One morning at 0800 hours he started out. With him went an interpreter, two assistants, an awkward lot of glass laboratory equipment strapped to his back. For five seat-drenched hours they macheted their way through undergrowth, up precipitous slopes, across yawning gorges. At long last, the village, a squalid collection of disreputable huts, materialized.
  "Where Head Man?" panted the interpreter in his best Naga-nese.
  A gaping woman pointed. Into the largest shack they dragged blistered feet. In solitary splendor on the floor squatted the old chieftain, wreathed in wrinkled smiles. Before the visitors could offer greetings, a blaze of color leaped out of the hut's twilight gloom. They looked up. On the walls, making a more than suitable background for His Elegance, stretched 16 (repeat 16) glorious Varga girls.




Adopts Mouse
G.I. HAS 'BIG' PLANS

    AIR DEPOT, INDIA - According to the Tiger Rag, Cpl. Robert W. Bowers has made an adoption to end all adoptions.
  Bowers has become foster father and guardian of a mouse, which he kidnapped from his foot locker. The mouse is still in the infant stage. The Tiger Rag would have us believe that Bowers' ambition is to have his pet grow up and be the biggest mouse in the Theater.
  (If you think you can top this, send a letter to the Roundup. - Ye Ed.)




ATC WING RECEIVES KUDO FROM GEN. HO

    HEADQUARTERS, ICW - ATC - The hard-working India-China Wing of the Air Transport Command is in receipt of a plug from no less than General I. C. Ho, chief of staff of the Chinese National Military Council.
  In a letter to ATC commander, Brig. Gen. Thomas O. Hardin, Ho said:
  "During 1943, vast quantities of supplies were transported from India to China... We attribute its success to the efforts of every officer and enlisted man in the ICW, ATC, who participated in the air transport between India and China...
  "On behalf of His Excellency, the Generalissimo, I am writing this letter to express the appreciation of the efforts made by every man of the wing in this connection."
  End of plug.




AT RIVER'S BEND, BOMBERS' FURY FELT
Jap supply dumps at the river's bend blossom into smoke and flame after a visit from China-based Liberators. (Photo by John Schaefer.)

BARREL, LANDING STRIP, ALL
SAME TO FISH-SHOOTING G.I.'s


Tommyguns Used To Mow Down Buffalo

    BURMA - Add to the list of stories about Yank ingenuity this one about an AACS unit marooned at a Burma airstrip by the rains. When the Airways Communications men, who had remained behind to operate navigational aid instruments for tactical missions in the Myitkyina area, found themselves running out of food, T/Sgt. Gerald Johnson went out on the flooded landing strip and shot nine fish with his sub-machinegun.
  "The landing strip was a good place for hunting, too," reports Johnson, who was appointed "chief hunter, fisherman and forager" by his unit. "It was under a foot of water and at night animals would come down to it to drink. We would turn the tower light on them and start popping away.
  "Once we caught three water buffalos in the lights, but we had no guns in the tower. We shouted to some Signal Corps men who were still in the area at the time. They opened up with sub-machineguns, carbines, and everything else they had. They got all three of the buffalo, but the consequences were almost disastrous for us. Some Chinese who were bivouacked in the area began to shoot off their guns, too, and for a while that tower was an unpleasant place to be."
  The AACS men finally got out with the aid of Quartermaster Caterpillars. It took them eight days to travel 20 miles.




CHINESE INSIDE TENGCHUNG

    SALWEEN FRONT - Chinese troops of the 20th Route Army of the Salween Expeditionary Force were battling inside the city limits of Tengchung this week, as the garrison of 2,000 battle-weary Japs ringed the tall walls of the inner citadel.
  Headquarters of the Y Forces of Brig. Gen. Frank Dorn indicated the ancient city is doomed, and, with it, the Nip garrison that blocks the way to a final drive into North Burma and junction with the troops of Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell.
  Laifengshan, southwest of Tengchung, has fallen to the Chinese. Control of this strategic spot spells the end of the city as a Nip stronghold, according to Dorn's headquarters, which is advising the Chinese on strategy in a liaison role.

380 JAP DEAD
  Laifengshan cost the Japs over 380 dead and 500 wounded in a two-day battle. The Nips sallied forth from the gates of Tengchung in a counter-attack in an attempt to retake the town, but were repulsed with over 60 dead, with 72 more being mopped up the next day after being left behind in the withdrawal.
  The 20th also won large quantities of enemy equipment with the fall of Laifengshan, including two howitzers, 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 26 machine guns, 132 rifles, a radio, two trench mortars, an anti-tank gun and other accessories.

GUNS SILENCED
  To the south, the 11th Army took several Jap positions southeast of Lungling and east and northeast of Mangshih, with the defenders being wiped out. Three enemy guns were silenced in an artillery duel around Mangshih, with over 80 Jap bodies being counted after a two-day encounter. The Chinese also stormed Tayakou, between Kunglungpoo and Sungshan, capturing a 75 mm howitzer, an ammunition dump, machineguns and rifles. At Kunglungpoo, the Chinese made slight advances.
  In this area, the Nips attempted to drop air supplies to the garrison. They succeeding in dropping their supplies, but one of their planes was knocked down and two others were hit as they took off towards the west, after a surprise greeting from American-manned ack-ack guns.




U.S. ARMY, NAVY AT TOP STRENGTH

    WASHINGTON - (UP-ANS) - The combined Armed Forces are now at full strength of 10,251,000, the House Military Affairs Committee was informed this week by Selective Service's liaison officer, Col. Francis V. Kessling.
  Kessling said future draft calls would be only to maintain total strength and that replacements would be largely met by induction of 18-to-26-year-olds.
  The Navy stated through Secretary James V. Forrestal that an additional 383,000 men would be needed above the present quota of 3,600,000.




JAPS IN HENGYANG

    CHUNGKING - Japanese assault troops have smashed into Hengyang proper after more than five weeks of fighting and street battles are being fought in that junction city on the Canton-Hankow railway.
  The Chinese report said that the inner defense circle at Hengyang remains intact and that other Chinese forces are continuing the fight north, east and south of the city.
  Japanese troops moved tanks down from Changsha in preparation for the major assault on the Chinese city and have renewed their drive toward Pingshiang to protect their flank and to seize the town for its coal mines, news reports declared.
  A Chinese major general estimated that the Japanese have thrown a quarter million troops into the Hunan battle, but he pointed out that the forces were so rotated that the number engaged at one time was much smaller.
  One news report said that the Japanese had 11 divisions available for the Hunan battle. American aircraft in East China continued active in striking airdromes around Hengyang and in harassing Jap supply lines to the north of the city.
  As well as smashing at enemy columns of men and horses, and dropping explosive and incendiary bombs on Japanese riverboat shipping, forward echelon American aircraft dropped food to the besieged defenders of Hengyang.




14th Hits
JAP SUPPLIES IN HUNAN

  Roundup Staff Story

    Supplies for the Jap armies in Hunan had a long and risky way to come this week, for 14th Air Force planes in China not only ravaged roads and rivers in the battle area, but reached out to strike also at coast-wise shipping and railroad yards in the enemy rear.
  Jap fighters regularly intercepted these new long-range thrusts, but P-38, P-40 and P-51 fighters, escorting our bombers, took a heavy toll of 40 destroyed, 29 probably destroyed and 20 damaged among the Nips. Of these totals 18-15-1 were accounted for on the ground at Pailuchi airdrome, where the Imperial Air Force was embarrassed for the third time in three weeks.

RIVERCRAFT SUFFER
  Throughout the period American fighter sweeps in the Hengyang-Siangtan-Changsha area destroyed increasing numbers of rivercraft. The enemy resorted to trucks for supply movement, which merely added to the dozens of burned and battered vehicles piling up beside the roads. It was another rough week for cavalry as well, P-40's killing 430 troops and 325 horses in three days of strafing missions.
  Railroad yards were pounded at Chuchow and Wuchang by B-24's, and all the way from Kaifeng in

STRICTLY G.I.

Northern Hunan, hit by B-25's, to Than Moi and Ban Ti in French Indo-China, targets of P-40 fighter-bombers.
  Two lone Liberators, in a couple of sea sweeps off Hong Kong, accounted for a small navy between them. The first sank a Jap naval vessel of 4,000 tons, a 1,700-ton freighter and another of 1,200 tons, and damaged a 2,700-tonner. Two days later a single B-24 sank three vessels, of 4,000, 2,700 and 750 tins respectively. B-25's also destroyed a 4,000-ton transport and beached one of 1,700 tons near Swatow on the East China coast.

BEST MISSION
  Outstanding mission of the week was the strike at Samah, big Jap base on Hainan island, by a large flight of B-24's with P-38 escort. Ninety percent of the bombs hit the target area, causing large fires and secondary explosions, while the Lightnings claimed seven confirmed and eight probables of 16 Jap interceptors.
  Other Liberators, in a sea sweep off the East China coast, bombed and probably sank a partially submerged Jap submarine.
  In all the week's operations, 11 of the 14th Air Force planes were lost.
  On the Salween front, B-25's twice breached the walls of Tengchung, enabling attacking Chinese forces at week's end to enter the city.




EXPLANATION OF G.I. BILL OF RIGHTS
 You Asked ... And Army News Service Obliges

    After the Roundup announced that President Roosevelt had signed the G.I. Bill of Rights, a Theater-wide flood of requests reached the editorial office requesting a more detailed explanation of the provisions of the measure. In answer, we rushed a wire to the Army News Service and the following article is the result. - The Editor.

    The G.I. Bill of Rights, officially designated the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, provides returning veterans of this war, under certain conditions, with education benefits ranging up to $500 a year tuition, plus sustenance pay, unemployment compensation of $20 a week for 52 weeks, and $2,000 loans for the purchase of homes, farms or businesses.
  The exceptions to and restrictions on these benefits are many and some provisions of the act are not

Interest Mounts
IN MEASURE

  WASHINGTON - Veterans of World War II are showing widespread interest in the G.I. Bill of rights, reports Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, Veterans Affairs Administrator.
  He discloses that within three weeks of the signing of the measure, more than 1,000 applications for the education provisions have been received and written inquiries have reached 4,000.
  Hines disclosed that this early, 43 applications for educational benefits have been approved.


clearly defined in the text of the published version of the act. Here are the high points:
  (1)  Education - Up to $500 a year tuition and expenses for laboratory and books at any recognized private or public secondary business school or college, including religious schools. A subsidence allowance of $50 per month plus $25 a month for dependents. Education benefits are available to veterans who were under 25 when they joined the Armed Forces. Veterans who were 25 and over when they joined the Armed Forces are not eligible. Ninety days of service entitles a veteran to one year of schooling. The length of service after Sept. 17, 1940, when the Selective Service law became effective, determines the length of any additional schooling. The maximum schooling available is four years; part-time study is allowed, if desired. Time spent in Army or Navy college training programs which was a continuation of civilian courses and which was pursued to completion while in the service is to be deducted from such schooling time allowed to veterans.
  (2)  Unemployment Benefits - Up to 52 weeks of unemployment compensation at $20 per week during the first two years following discharge or following termination of the war, whichever is later.
  (3)  Loans - For homes, farms and businesses, loans at four percent interest from either private of Federal agencies, with the government guaranteeing up to 50 percent of the loan up to a $2,000 maximum.
  In general, benefits are available to veterans who were in the service after Selective Service began, who served at least 60 days and who were discharged under any condition other than dishonorable. An exception is made for disability incurred in the line of duty. These need not have served 90 days to be eligible for benefits.
  However, there is a provision that any benefits received under this act will be deducted from any future benefits that may be voted for veterans. In the case of a veteran who had obtained a loan under the provisions of the G.I. Bill of Rights, it is provided that in the event any future compensation is authorized under a new act, the new compensation would be used to first pay off the loan.
  The age limit of 25 was provided in the education benefits on the grounds that a person who was under that age at the time he entered the service was presumed to have had his education interrupted and a person over that age had not. The schooling must begin within two years after discharge or after the end of the war, whichever is later, and no such education will be provided beyond seven years after the end of the war.
  Provisions are made for part-time study and for refresher courses of less than one year's duration. The veteran student must make satisfactory grades throughout the course or he can be dropped. He need not necessarily enroll in a school in his own State. However, the Government will not send him to establishments that furnish apprentice training for a job, In cases where the school that the veteran wishes to attend has no tuition fee, the Veterans Administration is authorized to pay a "reasonable sum" anyhow as long as it does not exceed $500 a year. Veterans availing themselves of part time schooling are entitled to receive lesser sums of sustenance as the Administrator may determine. Books, supplies and equipment supplied to the student become his own property unless he fails to complete the course through his own fault.
  Twenty-four weeks of unemployment compensation is provided for veterans who served the required 90 days. Beyond 24 weeks, payments match the veteran's entire length of service up to 52 weeks. Thus, in order to

President Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill of Rights
qualify for the full 52 weeks a veteran need only have served 10 months to be eligible for compensation. A veteran need not be completely unemployed. He is eligible if he worked less than a full work week and his wages were less than the Government's allowance plus three dollars. While drawing such compensation, he must be registered with and continue to report to a Public Employment office. He also must be able to work and available for work. However, if he is unable to work because of illness or injury suffered after he began working, he is eligible to unemployment compensation.
  A veteran is disqualified for unemployment compensation if he quits his job voluntarily without good cause, if he is fired for misconduct, fails to apply for work to which he has been referred by a Public Employment office, or if he does not attend without good cause free training courses provided for a particular job. The veteran also is disqualified if his unemployment is due to a work stoppage caused by a labor dispute unless he can show that he is not participating in the dispute and does not belong to "a grade of class of workers" which is involved in the dispute, and which had members employed at the establishment prior to the dispute.
  In determining the veteran's eligibility for unemployment pay, he may not be offered a job vacant because of a labor dispute and he may not be compelled to take a job where the wages, hours and working conditions are below the standard of the locality.
  A feature of the unemployment compensation benefit is that it applies to a veteran who had his own business and is unsuccessful at it. He is eligible for unemployment pay if he can show that he is fully engaged in self-employment and that his net earnings from a trade, business, profession or other vocation are less than $100 a month. He will be reimbursed, subject to the limitations of the act, for the difference between $100 and what he earned for the month.
  Application for loan benefits are limited to two years after discharge or two years after the end of the war, whichever is later, and in no case more than five years after the war. The act provides that the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs will guarantee half the amount of the veteran's loan. The Government's guarantee is limited to $2,000. Interest on the part borrowed from the Government is free. The first year the Government requires no security for its loan except the right to be subrogated to the lien rights of the holder of the obligation, which is guaranteed. Loans guaranteed by the Government will bear a maximum of four percent interest and are payable in full not more than 20 years.
  In all cases of loans for homes, farms and businesses, the veteran himself must occupy or operate the home, farm or business. In the case of a loan for a home, the Veteran's Administration must determine that the property to be bought is suitable for a home, that its cost is not beyond the borrower's means and that the cost is reasonable as determined by a proper appraisal. The act provides that no first mortgage shall be ineligible for insurance under the National Housing Act as amended by reason of any loan guaranteed under this title or by reason of any secondary lien upon the property involved securing such loan.
  Loans also are available for purchasing land, buildings, livestock, equipment, machinery or implements, or in repairing, altering or improving any buildings or equipment to be used in farming operations conducted by the applicant. The veteran must be engaged in bona fide farming operations and must use the building or equipment himself. He must show ability and experience in farming and a reasonable likelihood of successful operation of the buildings or equipment to be bought and then must have an appraisal of the property he is to buy. Training as a vocational trainee may make a veteran eligible for a farm loan in lieu of farm tenancy.
  The same rules applying to farmer veterans also apply to those seeking loans for business. The borrower must operate the business himself, show that the property will be useful to him, that his past experience gives him promise of success in business and that he is not paying beyond the reasonable price for the business.
  The G.I. Bill also provides for a Veteran Placement Service Board to assist the United States Employment Service in counseling and locating jobs for veterans. The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs is chairman of the board, and both the Board and the Director of the National Selective Service system and the Administrator of the Federal Security Agency are members. The USES will assign to each state a veterans' unemployment representative who must himself be a veteran and resident of the state for two years, and who will supervise the registration of veterans in local employment. This officer is to gather information on the type of work available and maintain contact with employers. All Federal agencies must furnish the board with a record of the statistics and information available on employment situations.
  Another provision of the act is an authorization for $500,000,000 for the construction of additional veterans' hospital facilities. Many provisions of the act need clarification, which must await the framing of administrative regulations.




The C.B.I. Roundup is a weekly newspaper of the United States Army Forces, published by and for the men in China, Burma, and India, from news and pictures supplied by staff members, soldier correspondents, United Press, OWI, and Army News Service. The Roundup is published Thursday of each week and is printed by The Statesman in New Delhi India. Editorial matter should be sent directly to Capt. Floyd Walter, Headquarters., U.S.A.F., C.B.I., New Delhi, and should arrive not later than Sunday in order to be included in that week's issue. Pictures must arrive by Saturday and must be negatives or enlargements. Stories should contain full name and organization of sender.











AUGUST  3,  1944    

Original issue of C.B.I. Roundup shared by Ruth Canney, widow of CBI veteran John Canney.

Similar, better quality images of Gens. Stilwell and Pick, and Ann Sheridan substituted for the original photos published in Roundup.
Better quality image of "Shutterbug" provided by James Corbitt from his site dedicated to the 9th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron.
Image of President Roosevelt signing the G.I. Bill has been added to this recreation and did not appear in the original Roundup.


Copyright © 2007 Carl Warren Weidenburner



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