Evening star., 1945-11-15


GEN. WAINWRIGHT.
--AP Photo.
flags and cheering US. Some came
up, and offered us fruits and cigar
cites and when some Of us. indicated
that we had no money they simply
pushed the wares into our buses.
The Russians came into Man.
| churia with poor maps. At least
| our Russians did. For the next five
hours we travelled on wrong roads.
At midnight We reached fair-sized
town and suggested to the Rus
sian that he pick up a Chinese
guide. This took another hour. and
then We started of again. But at
am. the road petered out into pig
track. So we had to 60 back to the
town.
Roads Jar Filings Out.
f We reached there about daylight
on August Is and drove all that day
over roads that Jared the new fill-
ings out of our teeth. We were per-
petually being stuck in the mud, out
Of which the Russian jeeps would
pull our wheeling buses.
At noon that day I got a lesson
in the hardy ingenuity of the Rus
sian soldier. Our convoy reached q
river as wide as the Missouri is at
Kansas City. 1t was deep and fast
flowing and the iron bridge was
down.
The Russian colonel stopped us,
turned his jeep around and drove
back to place from which he shot
the jeep up on to the rough. ap-
proach to a narrow railroad bridge
which spanned the river. With his
wheels straddling the rails and his
tires humping along the ties, he
drove straight across the long bridge,
turned around and drove back. He
called Leith and muttered some
Russian at him.
The colonel says that the whole
convoy will have to cross the river
as he just did-or stay where it Is"
I had some serious doubts, but by
that time we were all burningly
eager to get to Mukden. So we
rumbled across the river, with many
a sidewise glance at the groaning
ties, our careening old vehicles and
the water beneath us.
Chinese Give Aid.
In the pouring rain Of midafter-
noon one Of buses got hoplessly
mired in the mud at the foot of q
pass over steep divide. Chinese
in the area Immediately began to
assemble around us. Through
Leith they offered to help us.
Dozens Of them went to work cor
duroying the slippery rise in front
Of our convoy. They took all the
baggage out of the truck and car
ried it up the hill. Then they
helped us and the jeeps pull and
push the bus out of the mud and we
managed to get our numbering We
hicles to the top of the grade.
When they were done I tried to give
their head man 500 In American
currency, which would have amount
ed to about 250,000 Chinese dollars
at the then current rate Of exchange.
He discussed it with his men for a
time and then turned down the
money with thanks.
I'VE are only too happy to do this
for Americans" he said through
Leith.
It was quite touching. I stood by
the bus and spoke to these simple,
generous men, and told them that
the President Of the United States
would feel just as grateful for what
they had done as we now felt. They
liked that so much that they cheered
as I got in the bus and we pulled
away. @
Our lead bus got stuck so badly
just before dark that nothing could
pull it out, but fortunately we were
close to q narrow-gauge railroad.
From nearby Chinese we learned
that this tiny railroad connected
with the main railroad to Mukden
in about 20 miles. We therefore de-
cided that we would wait until q
train came along and attempt to
flag it.
Flag Down Train.
We had hardly reached this de-
cision when a little engine pulled
two or three cars into our view. I
got out on the tracks and held out
my arms and, fortunately, the en-
gineer stopped. The crew was Jap
anese. We found a Russian soldier
who understood both English and
Japanese and through him we
told the train crew that we wanted
to ride as far as the main line. The
Japs talked 1t over for a moment,
then answered the Russian soldier
interpreter.
They say no." he told us.
I looked at the Russian colonel.
He nodded TO three Of his fiercest
looking men, who came up to the
Japs with tommy guns bristling.
Then the colonel shouted for several
minutes at the Japs, ordering them
to clear out q car for us.
The Japs mumbled something.
They say yes" the Russian soldier
interpreter grinned.
We piled in with our baggage and
one Of the Sian drivers who would
be paid at Mukden and on we
started, waving good-by to our Rus
sian friends. We were on our way
at last.
We went 100 yards toward MukdenI
and then the engine jumped the
track. The Russian colonel saw the
accident and drove up to Us. After
inspecting the damage he said he
would drive down to the main line,
20 miles away, and attempt to send
m engine and car back to us.
Spend Night In Chr.
So We spent the night, and mis-
cradle one 1t was, In the little cal. ).
Riit at dawn the c0lnraAI ss,saAe unnsi