Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1945-06-09
|Neqro Service Units Behind Success
of. Burma Campaign BoIden DscIoses
Skill And Cuts
Combined !,
To Clear Path !
Worked In A
Living He'll
To Win Success

q WIFI AJoA\CCS
By FRANK E. BOLDEN
NNPA War Correspondent
ALONG THE STILLWELL ROAD
BURMA-Oelayed) ct claim we
got a hell of a beating. We got run
out of Burma and it is humiliating
as hell. I think we ought to find
out what caused it, 60 back and re-
take it,"
The speaker was Maj Gen. Joseph
w. Vinegar joe Stillwell, now LIT,
Gen. in command of the Army
Ground forces. who was then the
Commanding General of the Allied
Forces in the China -Burma-India
theatre. 1t was he who had led the
bitter and humiliating retreat out
of Burma into India after trying to
stop the japanese in the fighting
from Rangoon to Mandalay.
Gen. Stilwell did return to avenge
this abasing withdrawal. And it was
down road, now considered the
greatest engineering feat ever un-
dertaken and accomplished by the
u. S. Army during wartime, which
was primarily built by American
personnel, $50 of whom were Ne
groes. and with the aid of Chinese
combat troops and Maj. Gen. Frank
Merrill's famed Marauders march,
ed to start their now legendary as
sault on the Nipponese vincibility
myth.
OUR MEN BUILT TT
To see this road upon which ]
am now travelling is to see a pro-
iect combining both the engineer
ing skill and sheer CUTS of Ameri-
can S G d i e S, who were just
plain ordinary guys from all walks
of life. 1t was your sons who hack
ed a highway through dense, vir-
gin jungles never before traversed
by white men and on which only
meagre goedetical statistics were
available an effort which the Bril-
fish had tried and branded as Sim
possible" that ma de possible
the current successful campaign
against the japanese and also be-
gan the much needed assistance
overland to valiant China.
This is the second time that l
have seen the results of the efforts
of our men which helped to accom-
plish task which had previously
been declared impossible The first
time was back in Iran where they
played such an important role in
the establishment of the vital over
land supply route through the ITO
degree heat of the Persian desert
to Russia.
DESERVE CREDIT
Perhaps there are those among
you who fail to give the same token
of recognition and praise to Service
troops which you bestow upon COM
bat troops. AS one-man commit
tee I'm bent on bringing and asking
for this recognition and am against
anyone who doesn' fully appreciate
the efforts and sacrifices of the
Lines soldiers. The sue
cessful efforts of any combat troops
resulting in victory can generally
be laid to the work performed by
their Service troop buddies. without
whose aid in combat units are pro-
ficient.
Here in this remote corner of the
world. which is typically Frank
Buck" country. our men together
with their white and Chinese COM
panions and under the command of
Mai Gen. Lewis A. Pick worked in
a virtual living hell" to make mil
itary history
Although the temperature in gen.
eral is moderate, the climate is
penetratingly cold during the win
ter and Exceptionally hot and hui
mid in the spring and summer.
During the monsoon season the
Jungle becomes a quamire and the
heat is intense.
The engineers underwent untold
hardships during the rains. Men
were wet all of the time and work.
ed on an around the-clock sche-
dule on the full twenty-h our-a day
routine. They slept in water logged
tents, bamboo lean-tos, and jungle
hammocks. The soggy jungles which
were infested with all of the deni-
IONS which I have previously men,
toned plus the annoying insect
bites, which often festered, added
to the general discomfort of those
who were doing the impossible"
Bulldozer, trucks, and men were
lost over the steep banks when
the rain saturated trace shelves col
lapsed. Such equipment and men
we're quite often buried in slides,
and stalled. in the seemingly bot
tomless mud Many are the tales of
heroism enacted by these stalwarts
rs they worked through the hi-deep
and sometimes chest-deep mud.
Supplies were dropped to the men
oy planes.
4 MILE A DAY
The 478-mile highway was built
1T the rate of about a mile a day. |
Some ITO acres of airstrips were
quilt at points near the Road, and |
$4,000 Gu. yards of earth. which |
would take a string of railroad cars |
ITO miles long to transport were |
removed. Also 1,303,OO Gu. yards Of |
gravel were spread upon the Road.
An average Of one bridge to every |