European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Shells Miles away and occasionally the sound of chinese the Drivers were wide eyed be cause this was the first time most of them had Ever been so close to the while everyone lolled about the next i went around and talked with some of the All were members of quartermaster trucking like who hails from Taylor most of them Are from Small places like Imlay Oakland Oconto and most of the Veteran i Drivers Here Are negroes who have been piloting trucks Over Twe Ledo Road for 18 to 24 in 90 percent of the conveying on the Ledo Road for More than a year was done by negro them Mon Soons was the toughest part of said Wilber Miller of last for there was several feet of water in some higher than our Hub the whole Road was sometimes just a sea of the rain seemed to Cave in a couple of tons of Earth on the Road in different places every and All we could do was set there waiting for a couple of Days till the engineers could shovel it and that aint fun on our fourth afternoon in pick got a message that american manned general Sherman tanks had spearheaded the final breakthrough along the Road to the Burma Road so next morning we were off within two hours the Convoy arrived in the Village of the last big Battle had taken a into the levelled town came troops of the chinese first army and men of the chinese expeditionary who had driven through from Burma and China Over the last six months to Clear the japs away from the Ledo and Burma the two armies were a strange soldiers of the first who had fought in wore i helmets and British and carried Enfield rifles and Tommy they looked plump and but the pings of the who had fought through from wore everything from ragged and patched Blue uniforms to clothes they had stripped from the bodies of Only one Man in every squad seemed to have a an ancient German Rifle or a Jao All of them looked the difference Between the two chinese armies was the difference Between the extensive american air and land Supply lines to Burma and the blockaded land route to China that made military Supply in Quantity looking at the some of us caught on to the significance of the from Myse the Convoy wound through Barren Hills to Mongyu and rolled into the Macadam Highway at right angles to the past a sign Post that had just been put up at the intersection just 20 hours tanks had cleared this Junction and now for the first time in three years a Convoy to China had arrived at the Burma but we didst the trucks swung passing More lagged single file columns of the Cef As we headed for the China on top of a Hill 10 Miles from the led Burma Road our vehicles halted and the Drivers were ordered to put chinese and american flags and  streamers Over their the Convoy started slowly downhill and halted near an open thousands of chinese and american soldiers were massed before a platform containing More american and chinese generals than had Ever been on any stage together in the previous three years of the Asiatic after the speeches and the band picks jeeps drove through an Arch decked with garlands of leaves and signs and behind the Arch was a Short wooden Bridge Over a Muddy this was the Bur Machina the vehicles crossed the Bridge and continued on through the Border town of wanting to bivouac near a tiny Village named for the next two Days the Convoy thundered through places that had been the battlegrounds of China during the last six the Road wound a thousand feet up into the a Olikong which Are part of the Hump on the air route Between India and after hours of threading our Way along the narrow Mountain ledges we came around a Bend and could see below us the Blue ribbon of the Salween which had been the chinese line of Western defense for two years until the Cef offensive began last that afternoon the con Voy came out of the Hills into a chinese army band blared As we rolled toward the City school children waved firecrackers crackled and signs were plastered every where welcoming com Mander pick and his Gal Lant men and More my munitions and All kinds of that night there was a big party in the confucius Temple for the whole there were More an elaborate chinese acrobats and except for the difficulty of trying to eat with chop Gombasy gave gis the most gom Bay is the chinese toasting word meaning Bottoms and three or four Gombasy with Small tumblers of Rice which tastes like Wood alcohol and is called Jing Bao or air raid juice by gis stationed in can be As powerful As a whole Case of nevertheless the chinese proposed toasts every 10 and the in their desire to be soon were feeling no pain at next despite we made the longest Days trip of the whole Miles through Rice paddies and up into the mountains at 1930 the Convoy halted in an open As we fumbled around with Flash lights to get our gasoline Cook stoves going and put Down our bedding a i started Why the hell is he that every time we for last night when we slept on a Concrete warehouse always have to do it in an open Field on the highest and wind Iest spot in Miles As it turned the next three nights were to be spent the same we had All brought Jungle hammocks but in the open Fields the Only place to string them was Between trucks or guns or most of us Laid our blankets on the this particular night it was so cold that when we awoke next morning there was Frost on the Lawless had to use our gasoline stove to melt the Frost off our the Convoy pushed through Yunn Unyi and another then camped As usual on a Windy spot about 20 Miles several gis were in the streets of Yunn Unyi to Greet and one held up an empty Beer Case and yelled wheres the Beer we Only got two cans this month and four in from then As far As we went into we heard the same question whenever we met american beyond wanting there were Stone blocks be Side the Road that announced the number of Kilometres to i watched them hour after Day after As they diminished from 960 to 812 to 668 to 449 to 303 and finally to less than we Learned a Kilometre is five eighths of a mile and we periodically figured out our mileage As we drove eleven Days after leaving shortly after passing our first chinese factory a Salt Plant at i Ping and Coal mines we found ourselves pull ing into bivouac at the 16kilometer it was above a Broad Lake named and across it we could see sprawl ing City of pick announced that next Day the Convoy would enter the that night was the worst one of the a heavy rain started around us and most of our personal in the morn ing we put away our dirty took our Wool uniforms from our Barracks bags and dressed for the last and the biggest Celebration of this Kunming must be a Chicken said we even gotta put on again we put the chinese and american flags and streamers on each pick called the gis in proud of you he youve brought every one of 113 vehicles through in going to see that each of you Drivers gets a letter of the chinese Drivers climbed behind the wheels for the first time and the Convoy moved to its we were our clothes still wet from the nights our lips chapped and our faces and necks red with we All knew what to crowds and signs and Arches and banners and speeches and beside Oscar Green was quieter than for one hed been feeling pretty so sick we had stopped our jeep the Day before at a Hospital along the Road for him to get some when he came out he said they wanted to keep him in bed there because his temperature was Over but he refused to let Lawless or me Tell anyone about it for fear he  be allowed to finish the the other reason he was so quiet was that hed been figuring out something in his they asked for volunteers among the Drivers to Fly Back to Ledo instead of hanging around Kunming for a few Days to he and i told pm i wanted to i wanta get behind the wheel of a Gumc and really Boot this Convoy was too much of a circus with All this i betcha we can make it in 8 Days next Tim instead of Happy i As the first truck Convoy to reach China in three years rolled slowly toward the 0kilometer