Evening star., 1945-11-15
Gen. Woinwrieht's Own Story:
(Fortieth of a Series.)
BY GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT.

learned in Manchuria that the war
: was over, was to get away, to be
done with the years of living under
the Japs. We were still prisoners of
war, the foolish Jap interpreter
sharply warned us when our gales
OF laughter died down. But that
only increased the laughter that
had greeted his declaration that the
Emperor had "amicably" settled the
war.
The Sian camp commander called
me to his Office after breakfast on
that unforgettable morning of
August 10, 1945, and told me that
an American doctor would arrive at
the camp later in the day.
The doctor came on schedule, a
burly major named r. F. Lamar, ac-
companied by Corporal Leith. Both
were of Airborne troops, an arm Of
our services had never seen. What
is, more, they were connected with
the Office of Strategic Services,
equally mystifying.
But the important thing is that
they were the first free and unop-
pressed Americans I had seen since
May 6, 1912. They were nearly
mobbed. Maj. Lamar quickly filled
us in on the news for which we
hungered; hostilities had been ter
minated officially at $50 am.
August 1b and at noon he and an
other officer, along with Leith and
another enlisted man, had para
chuted to the airfield at Mukden to
begin the evacuation of senior pri-
soners of war.
Communications Cut.
Getting to Sian had been difficult
because the invading Russians had
cut communications. The radio was
damaged in the parachute landing,
so they had not been able to con-
tact 1t. Gen. Wedemeyer's head
quarters in Chungking. Gen. Wede-
meyer-whom I last remembered as
a young major-planned to send
planes from Chungking to Mukden
to pick us up. but their departure
was contingent upon the receipt of
radio word from Lamar.
Lamar stayed with us for "a
hours, trying to get word through to
Chungking by way of Mukden
But we could not raise even Muk-
den. so thoroughly had the Russians
destroyed all communications.
then suggested that Lamar
make his way back to Mukden pris-
on camp and contact Col. Tiger"
league, my Corregidor signal off,
Ger, who could make any kind of
radio work. He departed, leaving
Leith with me to serve as an inter-
prefer, for the corporal spoke both
Russian and Chinese perfectly.
Lamar left us with the hope of re-
turning to pick us up within two
days.
We began the happiest packing
OF our lives, free from all fear and
tension. We were finished in an
hour or two, and then the wait be-
gam We waited all through August
Il, then the 22d, the 23d and the
morning OF the 24th-by which time
we were in mood to hitch up our
belts and walk to Chungking.
Solitaire Score is Low.
We wandered about the place
restlessly. I went back to my soli-
taire, finally, and played up to my
$500 game, at which point-fan-
ciers of that comforting card game
may be interested to knoW-I had
Won just 6.8 per cent of the games
played. sHs a.
Eating took up some of the time,
too. The Japs, with a sudden turn
toward the Solicitous, dumped all
our remaining Red Cross packages
IN our laps and with the help of
Sergt, Hubert Carroll and other en-
listed men we began having fine,
wel-cooked meals, the first suff-
cient food we had had since the
outbreak of the war We smoked
American. cigarettes like chimneys.
At noon on August "a heard
commotion in the village and began
to catch sight of American jeeps
and trucks with Russian emblems.
I told Corpl. Leith to go to the
village for me and find the Russian
commander.
An hour later a Russian lieuten-
ant colonel, accompanied by about
30 officers and men armed with
tommy guns, strobe into the prison
inclosure. The Russian commander
was just about the toughest-look-
ing fighting man I have ever seen.
His men were dirty and disheveled,
but most vigorously healthy. Their
weapons looked filthy, but they
soon demonstrated to me that they
were In excellent working condi-
ton.
Met Red Commander.
Along with 1t. Gen. A. E. Percival
and Gov. Tjarda van Starkenbourgh
I went out to meet the Russian COM
mander. Through Corpl. Leith
introduced myself and the others,
explained Maj. Lamar's difficulties
and asked him to help us out.
He listened patiently to the whole
story without saying a word. then
through Leith he briskly said:
: I'm going to Mukden with. my
detachment and these jeeps. If you
can furnish your own transporta-
tion and be ready in three hours
I'll take you with me-"
That was all
I turned to 1t. Marui and told
him to round up two buses and a
truck, and that I would pay the
charges or see that the United
States Government paid them.
"Yes, sir" 1t Marui said. 1t was
. strange thing to hear, coming
from the mouth of Jap.
In two hours Marui dug up three
weird and ancient vehicles. We
piled in our luggage and waited,
half-fearful that the Russian COM
fnander would leave without us. But
In the meantime we had the pleas
tre of seeing other Russians dis
Il Wnr Eund Gn;ne