Evening star., 1945-08-20

shouts of joy when the rescue teams
arrived, Gen. Wedemeyer said. Most
of them had been treated quite
WE'LL" and illness was not unusually
high" he added. The names of the
freed Americans have not yet been
made known.
The men who reached Gen. VAIN
wright's camp had flown loo miles
from Skiing (SianD in Shensi Prov
ince, early on August is. They knew
they we're risking death to bring
food. medical aid and encourage
ment to the internees, since they
had no idea of what the reaction
of the japanese would be. The
japanese had been informed ahead
of time by leaflets of the coming of
the parachutists.
Brig. Gen. George Olmstead of
Des Moines. Iowa, who planned and
directed the missions, had high
praise for the courage of the teams,
many of whose members never be-
fore had parachuted. The men, all
volunteers, dropped in nine places
from Mukden, Manchuria, to Saigon,
Indo-China. The japanese did not
molest them.
The contact team landing at
Weihsien in Shantung said the Jap
anese were sullen but offered no
resistance. At Peiping the contact
team found the japanese general
in command courteous but unwilling
to allow the medical men to free
the prisoners until he received per-
mission from his superiors at Nam
king.
Chungking Plans Celebration.
Gen. Wainwright was found in
camp at Hsian, along with "a other
prisoners - eight Americans, Is
Britons and 10 Dutch. The team
which landed there said the Japa-
nese officer m charge was very
cooperative"
Gen. Wainwright will be welcomed
in Chungking waiting eagerly for
the proclama of official VI day
the ancient city ever knew. :.
Asked if Gen. Wainwright would
be present at the formal surrender
ceremonies, Gen. Olmstead replied
Il think he would want to be there. u
1t has been three years, three and
a half months since Gen. VAIN
wright last was in the Philippines.
then under tragic circumstances. He
had taken over command in Bataan
when Gen. Macarthur was ordered
to leave to become supreme Allied
commander in the Southwest Pa
cific.
Liaison Will Be Speeded.
Bataan fell in April, 1912, and the
survivors crossed the 2-mile chan
mel to the rock that was Corregidor.
There, for narrowing month of all
out air and artillery assault they
held out, until May 6, when Cor
regidors defenders were forced to
give up.
just before the surrender, Presi-
dent Roosevelt had sent Gen. VAIN
wright a message, which said: "You
have given a shining example of pa
triotic fortitude and self-sacrifice
You and your devoted followers have
become the living symbols of our
war aims and the guarantee of VIC
tory"
One of the teams, this one dropped
on the Mukden area, was made up
OF Maj. ]. T. HennesSey. Maj. r. F.
Lamar, TIA Edward A. Starr, Corpl.
Harold B. Letter, .Corpl KIDD Fumio
(probably NiseD and Cheng Shi-
wha, Chinese who went along as
an interpreter.
United States headquarters as
serted every effort was being made
to, sped liaison with. prisoners and
internees in the camps before tax
ing the steps which will be required
to release them.
"As our resources permit, and in
high priority, forces of the Chinese
Central Government will be flown
to japanese prisoner camps in suf1i-
cient strength to effect their mis-
sion," an announcement said. Upon
their arrival at the camps they will
establish contact with liaison teams
already there"
The announcement said the first
consideration was to fill radioed re-
quests from the teams for any sup
Elemental food, medical or other
supplies required. Radio facilities
are limited, since there was only one
radio man in each team and conse-
quently 1t will not be possible for
some time to assemble and make
public the names and addresses Of
Circulation. July, lo45
average net paid
The Evening Star 2f,l A27