Evening star., 1945-07-01
On the Ledo Road
D. G. Soldier Describes Achievements
OF CoIored Units in iB Theoter

The follofDinp letter iUas 1d-
dressed to the editor OF The Star
from a Washington priudte luho
has been seruing oDerseGs for u
year and a half. Sergt. Couners
mas employed at q restaurant
here before entering the Army
/ In January, 1943. He 1Dears ttOo
battle stars on his campaign
1 ribbons and also has been
nDarded the good conduct rib
bon. His pife, Mrs. Angela
Conners, liues at 1904 Riggs
i street NV.
BY SERGT. WILLIAM r.
C0NNERS.
i Along the Ledo Road.
II I hasten to inform you and thu
readers of The Star that am ar
amateur at this writing game, but
will put forth my best effort ir
the succeeding paragraphs.
The majority Of all troops in thii
theater feel that their activities
have not been sufficiently publicized
but take 1t with little or no gripping
! We keep in mind the words OF Gen
Stilwell that we are serving in Q
theater which could very appropri.
ately be considered the end of the
line. Your correspondent was moi
within hearing distance Of the gen.
erals spoken word, but add my
Amen anyway.
I'd hate to be guilty of misquot-
ing the general: but If memory
serves me right, the statement was
credited to him in our theater news
paper, the Roundup. sometime prior
to his departure. He outlined the
overall Importance OF the opera
tions in the India Burma theater.
The completion OF the Ledo road
over which troops, supplies and
communications moved to wage q
successful campaign against the
Japanese in North and Central
Burma, was a task for the COM
bined efforts of all troops in the
theater and was anticipated with
interest.
will Help Beat Japs.
With the completion and formal
opening in January Of the over
land route to China from Ledo
Assam to Running, China, coupled
with the fall of Rangoon few
days ago, those of us who may have
listened to or read Gen. Stilwell's
statement with our tongue in oul
cheek. are now convinced that his
dream, which must have been
nightmare at times TO his subordi-
mates assigned to carry out the
many phases Of 1t, was the key te
the successful campaign against the
invaders, We also feel that with
the reopening of Rangoon to Allied
shipping. the Ledo road viii have
played no small part in the liberia
ton of all Chinese soil with the
ultimate decisive defeat of Japan.
My observations of colored troop,
In this theater are limited. How
| ever, I think I can adequately cover
their major activities over here
All colored troops with the excep-
ton of a few antiaircraft engineer
aviation units are a part Of or
attached to service troops, quarter
master, engineers. ordnance and
signal construction. Will insert here
that the Signal Corps had right
to feel little overlooked when q
letter Of commendation arrived
through theater headquarters from
Robert p. Patterson, Assistant
Secretary of War. The engineers
pipeline and quartermasters re-
ceived all the credit, but we signal
men failed to SHOW We we're also
| left out Of the United Nations
broadcast on the opening of the
San Francisco Conference a few
days ago. All other theaters were
heard.
Grave for Every Mile.
Signal Corps operations have been
extensive, and needless to relate
most important. Communications
| and supply are all important to
the men In combat. Supplies and
reinforcement movements are al
most negligible sans communica-
tions.
To my knowledge, the first col
ored engineer battalion arrived in
the then G. B. I. about the middle
of 1912 and I know that the first
colored signal battalion arrived
around July, 1943. This outfit was
the second colored signal battalion
in the theater.
The results of nearly three full
years of hard back-breaking and
sometimes discouraging efforts OF
all service organizations In these
parts is in evidence from Bombay
to Calcutta, at Karachi and the en-
| tire length of the Ledo-Stilwell
road. the road is 1,074 miles in
length, running from Ledo, Assam
to Running, China, and there's a
grave for every mile.
There may me more difficult ter
rain somewhere in the world to
build a road, pipeline, or tele-
phone lines, but we'd have to be
shown. During the monsoons, when
/ all rivers and too many streams to
count are overfiowing and mud is
everywhere, the task of all is made
100 per cent tougher. Slides and
bridge washouts kept the engineers
on the job all the time. The
swamps, leeches, mosquitoes and al
most impossible jungles, caused
the pipeline and our signal men the
most unfavorable working condi-
tions. A bridge washout and, on
another occasion, q swollen river
were the indirect cause of the deaths
/ of two of our men.
Colored Soldiers Active.
The Quartermaster trucking COM
panies deserve very large portion
of credit for their 24-hour, 7-day-a-
week conveying of troops, supplies