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CHRONICLES OF HEROIC ARIZONA CHINESE- AMERICAN SERVICEMEN OF WORLD WAR II (3)
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA “We got a hell of a beating”, Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell told the crowd of reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi. It was May 1942, and the American General, who had only recently arrived in the Far East to assume the position of chief of staff to Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, was chafing at failure in his first command in the field. Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the previous December, the Japanese had won victory after victory, extending their empire from Wake Island in the Pacific to Malaya and Singapore in Southeast Asia. When Stilwell arrived in the embattled Chinese capital of Chungking in March, the Japanese were already driving into Burma, capturing the capital of Rangoon on 6 March. The American General took command of two Chinese divisions and, in cooperation with the British and Indians, tried to stem the Japanese onslaught. Defeated, he and his staff endured a rugged. 140 mile hike over jungle covered mountains to India. By occupying Burma, the Japanese had not only gained access to vast resources of teak and rubber, but they had closed the Burma Road,700 miles of direct highway that represented China,last overland link to the outside world. The objective of restoring a land route to China originated specifically to keep China in the war to tie down Japanese troops and serve as a base for future operations against Japanese home islands. It also reflected an idealistic view of China as a great power, capable of a major contribution. The Americans soon found the situation to be much more complex than they had anticipated. The Chinese government and army were riddled with inefficiency and graft. Chiang Kai-shek preferred to leave the defeat of Japan to the other Allies and keep his resources for a postwar showdown with his mortal enemies, the Communists. The recovery of Burma would be the preoccupation of the American theater commander, Gen. “Vinegarjoc” Stilwell. He had served in China during the interwar years, knew the country, and could speak its language fluently. He served as chief of Chiang’s joint Allied Staff, and commanding officer of the China-Burma-India (CBI) theaters of operations. Its primary mission was to supply China. Cargoes entered at Karachi, Pakistan or Calcutta, India, then proceeded by rail, road, and ferry to Assam, the Indian province close to the Burma border. Assam was an incredible 67day journey by rail from Calcutta, but they were congested and inefficient. Once the goods reached Assam, C-46,C-47 transport planes had to fly them over the Himalayas to China. Pilots flying this route, call it the “Hump”, and had to contend with poor weather, 15,000 foot mountain peaks, and enemy fighters operating from a base at Myitkyina. The India Air Task Force, later the Tenth Air Forces, was responsible for the supervision and protection of the supply flights over the Hump and supported Allied ground efforts with close air support and operations against Japanese communications and supply installations in Burma. Far northeast of Calcutta, along the Indo-Burma border, American engineers in late 1942 began to construct a road meant to restore China’s land communications with the outside world. Taking over the project from the British in October 1942, they began construction from Ledo in December with the goal of arriving at the Burmese city of Shingbwiyang, about103 miles. The road was called the “Burma Road”. Early 1944, the Allies finally agreed to launch an offensive into Burma. While the Chinese Y Force advanced from Yunan into eastern Burma and the British IV Corps drove east into Burma from Manipur State,. Stilwell’s Chinese-American force would attack southeast from the Shinbwiyang area toward Myitkyina. Capture of that key North Burma city and its airfield would remove the threat of enemy fighters from harassing transports flying the Hump and also enable the Allies to connect the advancing Ledo Road. Capt. William Toy trained Chinese Armies in India and returned to Northern Burma to engage the Japanese Army. Capt Toy while in the field observed an American transport plane crash land near his area. He drove his jeep near the sight, but the aircrew, not knowing if he was friend or foe, started shooting at him. After he convinced them he was friendly, he rescued them. General Joseph “Vinegar” Stilwell, needed groups of Chinese Americans who could speak and write Chinese for assignment to Kunming, China for communication services. Sgt. Num J. “Jack” Yee was one of the 400 who were selected for that assignment.
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