Evening star., 1945-04-08
By JAMES BURKE,


North American Newspaper Alliance.
NEW DELHI, India-When Pvt
Herman Perry was hanged for muir
der at Ledo on March IS. there
ended a saga Of jungle crime and
escape which has enlivened bar
racks gossip of American troops in
the India Burma theater for more
than a year.
Perry was the first American SOL
dier to be executed in either the
India Burma or the China theaters
He was husky colored man from
Washington, D. c.
Perry was a member of an engi-
neering battalion which early last
year was working on the Ledo road
near Tagap, Burma. While trying
to escape arrest on an AWOL charge
on the morning of March S. 1914,
he shot and killed first lieutenant,
on the side of the road, then fed
into the steaming jungle.
Evidence at his court-martial
later showed that Perry was a mari
juana addict and had contrived to
find and smoke some native mari
juana and opium the night before
the crime.
Roamed Through Jungle.
Perry roamed southwark through
the thick jungle for several days,
getting hungry and weak, until he
ran into a British patrol. The Brit
ish accepted him in good faith as
lost American soldier Then he
left them and came upon a Naga
village called jun Kha.
The Naga tribesmen in this iso-
lated Burma jungle area are among
the most primitive people on earth,
given to headhunting and their own
weird brand of voodoo magic. They
were suspicious Of Perry and kept
him virtual prisoner for several
weeks.
But the Washington bred Perry
was more than able to hold his own.
He had acquired supply of atabrine
from the British patrol and soon
was treating all the malaria cases
in the village.
Very much liked now" he wrote
in sort of diary he kept. Trying
to learn language. Pretty girl Civ
ing me the glad eye. I'm afraid
to talk to her because she is head
mans daughter"
A few days later: Girl and
getting very chummy. Family likes
it and building hut for u.s." Then
I'VE are married. Family gives all
things. Women work, men hunt.
Not bad life"
Adds Farm to Property.
Perry added a small farm to his
property and hired people to work
it. He raised rice, opium. gonja
'native marijuana) and other seeds
I bought at market" He hunted
tigers and monkeys with his MI
rifle and in the hot jungle evenings
sat on the porch Of his hut smok-
ing gonja like some king OF the
Zombies.
Il never intended to return to the
Army nor did I intend to return to
the United States" he declared in
q oiSiASo StdCCHlClll Id JCl III
tended to pass the remaining years
OF my life in the jungles where
was apprehended, and live with the
Naga girl whom claim as my wife. "
But Perry apparently wasn't COM
pletely content with this jungle ex-
istence. He persuaded Naga to
go to Ledo and get American Army
rations, particularly cigarettes,
which he liked to smoke chain fash
ion. That led to his downfall.
American military police and in
vestigators, alert for any clue to
Perry's whereabouts, heard about
the rations going to the isolated
Naga village. A party of six MPs
and British agent set out for jun
kha and reached the village on the
night Of July 20, nearly five months
after Perry's escape. AS they crept
up on Perry's hut, the village dogs
began barking and Perry ran out the
rear door and kept running when
challenged. Carbines barked and
he went down with two bullets
through his chest.
Receivers From Wounds.
Perry showed remarkable vitality
by recovering completely from these
wounds by early September, when
he was tried by general court-mar-
tial and sentenced to hang. One OF
the men in the party which went
through the jungle to capture him
was hospitalized almost as long from
loss OF blood from leech bites.
While waiting execution of the
sentence, Perry escaped again, cut
ting his way out of a barbed-wire
lnclosed stockade at Ledo one morn
IT,o>he Il A.:.I.:.