The midland journal., 1945-03-30
CHAPTER XXX

When strange things would hap
pen, we talked about things Of the.
sort which had once been told in
story books. All Of us agreed that
when this war was over, there would
be nothing that had ever happened
in fiction that wouldn't have actually
happened in this battle Of the uni
verse. For instance:
Likiang is city in China far up
on the big, northern loop Of the
Yangtse-Kiang. It is China, yes, but
that part of China is as wild as Tibet
and Arabia. The people are called
"Lolos," and they must be descend
ants Of Genghis Khan. I had flown
over the place, for it was just North
Of the ferry route from Assam to
Running, and / had seen the fiat
clearing South Of the village that
could have been an emergency land
ing field. I noted that 1t was close
to nine thousand feet above sea lev
el, and therefore not field to use
unless one had to.
Capt. Charlie Sawyer had crash
landed just South of there, closer to
Talifu, and had been unable to iden-
tify himself. While the wild-looking
Lolo tribesmen were getting set to
execute him with ancient-looking
flint-lock muskets, Sawyer said the
holes in the barrels looked twice as
big as fifty-calibre bores. Just at
the crucial moment, however, when
his fate looked darkest, some new
arrival in the party saw the identi-
fication card that Sawyer had been
pointing to. 1t was inscribed in vari-
Gus languages, and with pictures.
The new arrival didn't recognize the
Chinese flag, or any OF the Ian
guages, or the Generalissimo's sig
nature "chop''-but he saw star.
AS it happened, it was the star Of
India over the imprint in Hindustani.
Then the tribesman pointed to the
same star on the wing of Sawyer's
ship-the insignia Of the Army Air
Force. Sawyer was saved, and later
he was feasted on wild buffalo and
rice wine.
But why? Here in the wilds of
the Lolo country, where very few
white men had ever been, the tribes
men were more familiar with the
white star of the Air Force than with
any written language. We learned
the principal reason later.
A report had come in to General
Chennault's headquarters that ma
tive village in the Lolo country, be-
tween Lake Tall and Likiang, was
under siege by the Burmese north
ern tribesmen who had crossed the
Salween, perhaps under the direc-
ton of the Japanese. Two of us,
Holloway and I, were sent to look
the place over in two P-40's. We
were told by the General that we
could determine whether the town
was under siege by noting whether
or not the usual pedestrian traffic
was passing in and out Of the city
gate. All the cities are walled, and
are obviously very far from roads
or from civilization.
We made our observation and re-
turned with the report. The village
was besieged, and we had seen the
horsemen encamped a half mile
around the city wall. We loaded up
and went back with six eighteen
kilogram frags on the wing racks
and plenty of fifty-calibre ammuni-
ton. / also carried Very pistol
and all colors of shells.
As we circled the town, we could
see the villagers watching US; then
we dove on the besiegers and
bombed them from thousand feet.
The lines of prehistoric cavalry
broke and retreated towards the Sal
ween and Burma. We machine
gunned them until they spread in
panic. Then used the Very pistol,
shooting first green lights, then red.
Holloway said it was the best dis
play of fireworks he'd ever seen. We
checked up for several days, but the
raiders hadn't come back, and nor
NAL pedestrian traffic was passing
through the city wall. Holloway and
/, with two of the Generals P-40's,
had stopped war.
: The white star Of the Air Force
had been seen by those villagers,
and they had told the surrounding
country that we were friends. Per-
haps the constant sight of transports
from India to China and return had
made the big white star familiar
symbol. At any rate, the Lolos who
were about to execute Sawyer rec
ognized it, and to them it meant
more than written languages and
sealed orders. Such is the strange
ness of this global war.
More true fiction came out of the
Lolo country during the autumn. A
Ferry Command pilot, Lieutenant
Aronson, "lost an engine which
means that his engine failed-on his
trip from Assam to Running. He
barely made the big meadow that
was South of the town of Likiang,
in the hairpin loop Of the Yangtse.
After several days we went insthere
to look the innprovised landing g-field
over, in the hope that we could fly
another transport to him with good