The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-15

i Eyes, SIR Lieut.. Marui said.
was strange thing to hear, com
ing from the mouth of Jap.
In two hours Marui dug up three
weird and ancient vehicles. We pill
ed in our luggage and waited, half
fearful that the Russian command
er would leave without us. But il
the meantime we had the pleasure
OF seeing other Russians disarn
the Jap guards. 1t was mos
satisfying sight.
When it had been completed
went to Marui, now minus hi.
sword.
II will no longer allow mysel
or the other Americans here to be
considered prisoners of war" I tolt
him. I'VE will take no further or
ders from you or your men, ane
we will leave with the Russians. y
The methodical Jap nodded his
agreement but asked me to write
out a statement for the record
This I did. And when I put my
name to it 1 felt that here was
liberation, formal liberation
just three years, three months and
Is days after l became captive
The Russian commander showed
up at o'clock, conferred for an
! hour after that with Marui, and
then came out, got in his jeep and
gave the word to roll on. We
rumbled through the gate of Sian
prison at just 6 o'clock, taking
Marui along with us to report to
his colonel in Mukden.
The village of Sian had been
frigid and its streets deserted when
last I passed through it, December
/, 1914. But now, on this great Au-
gust "a, 1915, Sian hummed with
life. Thousands of Chinese lined the
streets, waving Chinese and Rus
sian flags and cheering us. Some
came up and offered us fruits and
cigarets and when some of us in
Dictated 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 a fair-siz-
ed town and I suggested to the Rus
sian that he pick up a Chi
nese guide. This took another hour,
and then we started off again. But
at 4 am. the road petered out
into a pig track. So we had to 60
back to the town.
ROADS JAR TEETH
We reached there about daylight
on August Is and drove all that
day over roads that Jared the new
Filings out of our teeth. We were
perpetually being stuck in the mud,
out of which the Russian jeeps
would pull our wheeling buses.
At noon that day I got lesson
in the hardy ingenuity of the Rus
sian soldier. Our convoy reached
a river as wide as the Missouri is
at Kansas City. It was deep and
fast flowing and the iron bridge
was down.
The Russian colonel stopped us,
turned his jeep around and drove
back to a place from which he
shot the jeep up on to the rough
approach 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 acro1S
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
isl
l 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 sidewise glance at the
groaning ties, our careening old
vehicles and water beneath us.
In the pouring rain of mid-after-
noon one of our BUSES got hope
lessly mired in the mud at the
foot of 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
corduroying the slippery rise in
front of our convoy. They took all
the baggage out of the truck and
carried 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
vehicles to the top of the grade.
When they were done I tried to
give their head man.$100 in Amer
lean currency, which would have
amounted to about $4,000 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.
''We are only too happy to do
this for Americans" he said
through Leith.
1t 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 lust as grateful for what