Title: and some fell by the wayside. An Account of the North Burma Evacuation
Description: Author's note from the book  as described in https://www.koi-hai.com/Default.aspx?id=726013
AUTHOR'S NOTE 

“When the evacuation of North Burma was completed, the Indian Tea Association, which was largely responsible for the
rescue and evacuation of refugees, asked all those who had assisted in the work to record their personal experiences. 
The intention was to collate all these into an accurate and historical document;

 

The evacuation was divided into three distinct phases--------

1)   From 6th May to 18th July, 1942 – when 20,000 refugees reached Margherita over the Pangsau Pass Route

2)   From 19th July to 11th September, 1942 – when the Namyung River was in spate, forcing the refugees to wait throughout the monsoon in Tagup Ga and Shinbwiyang where they were fed by air-dropped supplies. During this period about two hundred refugees succeeded in reaching Margherita

3)   From 12th September to the end of November, 1942 – when floods had abated sufficiently to enable a fresh rescue expedition to set out. This party was organized by Mr Tommy Thomson, the Manager of Makum Tea Estate, Margherita.

My personal experiences, which I have recorded in diary form, cover only the first phase of the evacuation. It is entirely unembellished and, if rather brutal at times, I ask the reader’s indulgence – the conditions and events were brutal.

At the beginning of September 1942 I was invited to lead a new expedition up the Pangsau Pass Route, which rescued about 1,800 men, women and children who had remained in the Kachin villages throughout the monsoon. By this time we were all experienced and only two refugees died when under our care. In both cases they were elderly people suffering from a combination of disease, extreme malnutrition and exhaustion.