Laurel outlook., 1945-01-31
Yanks Convert
Burma Jungles
els Transplant Spirit of
Homeland Into Remote
Corner of World.
EXCLUSIVE WNU SERVICE

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:, From it's terminus at the tiny
, dingy bazaar of Ledo, Assam, ia
, into the matted jungles of Burn;
the road is an anachronism-a sin
gle minute thread of modern Amer
lea almost lost in the vast greer
tapestry of a dim primordial worlc
which for centuries has afforded the
elephant and tiger and devil-tor
mented aborigine a refuge from the
~encroaching tides of civilization.
But, despite the dank, dense vege.
tation of the jungle, the steep, I'm.
charted mountains and low, steam
ing swamplands - despite month
long monsoon downpours, mud and
disease-the American soldier has
transplanted the spirit of his home
land in this remote corner of the
world.
Months ago the Ledo road was
little more than a rough trace. It's
course through the p~recipitous Pat
kai mountains of Burma was high
lighted by hundreds of breath-taking
hairpin curves and narrow wooden
bridges over turbulent mountain
streams.
But today great changes have
been made. The Ledo road, day by
day, is becoming a modern Amer
lean highway.
Predominant as the spirit of
America is in the engineering feats
being accomplished in the jungles of
Burma, it is even more apparent
in the men who are working on the
road.
American Sports.
Alan evacuation hospital tucked
away among a grove of hollong trees
at the foot of the purple Patkai
mountains a baseball game is
played on a diamond which the hos
pital personnel had cleared and lev
eled from virgin jungle territory. A
rabid crowd of fans, including nu-
merous Chinese patients, hurl insults
at the umpire in the best-approved
Flatbush fashion.
Everywhere along the road the
G.I.s have provided for athletic ac-
tivity. Basketball and volleyball
courts are the most numerous.
At Shingbwiyang, on the edge of
the Hukawng valley, is the Metz
Undetermined after a soldier killed
in northern Burma.
American girls, putting on a USO
show for the troops, staged a Utter
bug contest, with contestants select
ed from the audience. The crowd
a small, nimble chap with a
conspicuous bald pate as the win
ner. His award was a kiss-and the
crowd roared its approval.
Life for the CT. pushing the point
the jungles of Burma is a
transient affair. The men set up
camp, work for a few days in one
area, then break camp-usually at
night after finishing work and
move forward again. This goes on
week after week during the dry sea-
ION when the road moves forward
approximately two miles a day.
Retain Home Niceties.
But still the men manage to re-
ain a vestige of the niceties of the
they have left behind.
)ne outfit has made portable wood
hunks with rubber springs fash
oned from worn-out inner tubes. An
Their has a portable washing ma
hine. In one camp, near the point
f the road, a sign reads, "Joe's
'onsorial Palace" Inside the tent
5 a BARRIERS chair made from a
heterogeneous collection of odds and
nds. The outfit had carried the
hair from one camp to another for
yer a year.
Another unit has a portable kitch-
n, mounted on a 6 by 6 truck, en-
bling the men to have warm meals
when the outfit is on the move.
md one enterprising CT. has set up
dice table in his quarters, supple
tented by an Anticipated slot ma
hine which can be played with one
uarter rupee coins. At present, the
ice table is gathering cobwebs, for
the house" was taken for 1890 ru-
aes one night in a big game which
as become legendary up and down
Ledo road.
And thirsty G.I.s with parched
alates have devised sundry ingen-
stills which turn out such potent
ices as "raisinjack" and "cher-
.'-squeezins."
As one G.I. remarked as we
atched a coolie leaning on a SHOW
beside the road, humming his In
an version of "Pistol Packin'
ANNA" which some American SOL
er had taught him:
'People back home worry about
G.I.s in the jungle going native.
I'll, it's just the opposite. The ma
res are going Americana"