The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-06-01
CHAPTER XVIII

It looked as if we'd get the
chance very soon, too, for the helu
in western Yunnan had been select
ed by the newly formed Air Trans
port Command, which was suppressed
ing the Ferry Command, as the
Eastern terminus of the route to
China.
For the purpose of security IN
future operations, will not name
our base in western Yunnan. But
there was big turquoise-blue lake
less than ten miles away which the
General and l called Yeching. To
us that meant "good hunting" for
ducks and geese abounded. The
landmark for our base was just one
of the many lakes in Yunnan.
Next morning I went out on Lake
Yeching, and from the bow OF a
native sampan soon shot eighteen
of the biggest geese / had ever
seen. Even if we were remote from
the loved ones at home, we'd have
meat for Christmas dinner that was
filed with the vitamins we needed.
had hurried back to the field be-
fore taking off for Running with
my report on the efficiency of the
warming net, and was taking pic
lures of some little mongolappear-
ing Miaows who were holding my
geese aloft-when we had an air
raid alert. There was heavy en-
gine-noise from the reporting sta
lions over towards Burma. We
tossed the eighteen geese into the
baggage compartment, winding
their necks around among the con-
d,lits of the radio so that the cargo
wouldn't shift, and took off for Kun
ming Then as I heard more reports
from the Southwest, I turned South,
joined the other fighters on patrol,
and looked for the enemy. In about
forty-fve minutes we spread out to
cover more territory, and caught
sight of two enemy planes-Zeros l
thought, at first sight. called to
the others and attacked. Even as !
approached the Japs knew they
were too slow and too large for
Zeros. Then I saw that they were
single-engine reconnaissance-bomb-
ers. caught the rear one and
gave it a short burst, keeping my
eye on the other. The first one went
down with most of one wing gone.
The next I chased down every val
ley on the Mekong, getting in sew
eral good shots, but I never did see
him go down or crash. From the
evidence of the thin trail of smoke
that l last saw coming from it as I
dove and circled to look around
again, I claimed it as probable.
The first one had confirmed as
certain" The others in our patrol
engaged four other planes and prob
ably shot down two of them. The
General had been correct as usual
the Japs were keeping the end OF
the ferry route under close sllrveil-
lance.
Christmas night, while we were
enjoying the geese, George Hazelett
came in with his Squadron to report
that the Japs had bombed our base
near Lake Yeching with eighteen
ships on that afternoon of Christmas
Day, and the first warning the field
had was the sight of the enemy
bombers in the clear blue Yunnan
sky. Luckily the bombing had
missed the field and no ships were
damaged, but many Chinese in the
village had been killed. Definite
ly the warning net in western Yum
nan made the operation of the
Transport Command at Yeching
hazardous. I could tell by the Cen
erals face that he had some plans
he would tell me about in private.
The General had been sick with a
cold over Christmas and had a fe-
yer that night, when he told me
what he had to do at Yeching. At
dawn the next acknowledgements
18th in China, but actually Christ
mas Day in America took off with
full instructions. When I left. the
Doctor told me General Chennault
was running temperature of lO3.
All Of us were worried about him.
and knew that the defeats on Christ
mas Day hadn't helped his spirits.
AS I flew West towards Yechine
las miles away, in the half light /
saw the coolies carrying drums of
gasoline on wheelbarrows I'D the
Burma Road. Some of these knew
would go on through Running to
Chungking, 800 miles away by air.
Trundling these crude wooden
wheeled vehicles of the ages gone
by, these patient workers would re-
quire seventy days of constant ef-
fort, at their logged trot, to reach.
the capital at ChungSing. The two
wheeled Picking carts with three
drums would take a shorter time
A days. ] saw coolie boys blowing
in the rice paddles halfway up the
sides of the mountains paddles built
like steps from the top of the hill to
the valley, so that the irrigation wa
ter could be used over and over.
laughed as saw the ancient means