European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A puck train of gis and chinese follows a Mountain River bed on their Way to a Lolo Charles who was a veterinarian in civilian orse trader s looks in the horses Mouth before buying they Trade for horses with the who rather fight than eat by abbr v Lothail Nof tribal chief of the Lojo Village visited by the i horse tries out an my by Jud Cook yank staff correspondent Northern of us left in a Carrier that was loaded to the it carried extra Drums of fo9d enough to Lav i bedding a sack of mail and More important the second sack held several million Dol Lars in chinese jus part of a larger sum destined to do a special a vital phase of chivas War against the Jap was connected with our trip and with other trips like the millions were to be delivered to a group of gis in Tibet and in the unexplored part of China inhabited by the Black caped characters who consider it sport Rob and our party was bound for armed with two two and an but we would have Felt better with a Brace of machine that you nervous the Lolos and the tibetans have Good horses and the gis at our destination were there to buy them for China needs horses in girding herself for a squeeze play against the japs As the possibility of an invasion of chivas Eastern coast grows one look at China from a plane will answer any question about the need for there Are Only a few roads Good enough to handle the weight of trucks to carry supplies to the fighting especially if these fronts should move farther the Only feasible Way to get supplies through is to pack them by horse trading was our military out of we swung onto the newly opened Burma we stuck to it for three hours and then turned off to head straight the army Convoy trucks we left behind us on the Burma Road were the last american vehicles we were to see for Over a month except for another weapons Carrier and a jeep that were in use by gis at the horse trading we had three Days of rollercoaster Riding be fore we sighted the very Blue Waters of the Yel Low part of the chinese had never thought of u Navy so far us after More this time dotted with Flimsy wooden Many of the Bridges bore scars of fire and we knew we were nearing the Lolo we had heard that some of the Lolos had been on a ram Page not Long before and had burned Down a number of Bridges so that they could waylay any vehicle held up by one of the chinese Navy had told us that two Bridges were but that new ones were near their g2 was Correct for we found All finished Bridges and were reassured at evidence that communications were better than we had All that Money in these surroundings still Wor ried when we pulled into a Small town to stay overnight our Relief was almost Willard of the veterinary outfit which does the horse parked the weapons Carrier and we unloaded our stuff in a building erroneously called a upstairs it boasted Bare littered with egg shells that must have been there for Light came into the rooms from rat holes Large enough to accommodate a Foolhardy the windows were paper covered holes in the this was the Only available lodging in the so we parked our gear and our millions and left Earl Ritter to guard it while we hunted up a recommended we walked narrow streets and Halfway to the eating place in this blackness came upon a sight that dashed my appetite to hanging just above our Eye level were eight human Strung up on a Cord Between two our evidently wanted us to get the full effect for he said nothing until after we had seen then he told us the Story they were the Heads of Savage Lolos brought Back by Friendly Lolos As prizes of War from a Battle of the week he further explained that White and Black Lolos War periodically because of crimes committed by the we thanked we pulled out the next Day when the town was having its annual Buddha washing the citizens Wash the statue on a certain Day every year and the cleaning is done by a selected Man and the living the Lucky couple is carried up to the statues in a Long pro cession and they bring everything with them in the Way of Oil and trinkets except we found half the men on the horse buying when we arrived at the considering their Job in the Light of a rest Camp these Are gis who have been through the misery of the Salween Campaign which helped reopen the led Burma even this out of the Way spot looks Good to them the i who looked and talked More like a Cowboy than anyone else at the Camp was t4 Michael Brutcher of he was a steel worker but when he shipped to this theater he was put into a veterinary outfit Why he Doest know Brutcher had be longed to the outfit that was rounding buying and delivering horses to Ledo for use by Mer rills he was doing the same Job when we saw two westerners in the Wil Liam Hightower of and William Nealon of the Tough est Job in the whole they Are the pack leaders when the desired number of horses Are bought in the Hightower and Nealon with a string of chinese care takers Lead them to a collecting Point somewhere in Southern when the time comes for shoeing the Herd be fore it Heads South the Job will fall to t4 nor Man a i Blacksmith from the Crux of the the not so simple a matter As dipping into the millions of dollars and waving a fistful of Cash before the eyes of the horse horses and guns Are the most highly prize possessions of the Lolos and they wont give either of them up simply at the sight of a wad of the first step in buying is for the i traders to go into a town and get in touch with a Magis for a magistrate in this country has Power of life or death Over his they ask him to spread word that americans Are in the City to buy whatever horses Are for the owners then bring their horses into town and they bring with them a a professional horse All deals Are made through the never directly with the although the owners Are present most of the time to keep an Eye on the Progress of the if the bargaining is the broker Maua to the this Means sell if the owner the Mayadna drops the Halter on the horse and the Deal is you dont own a horse until the moment the broker lets Loose the both brokers and owners drive a hard Charles Ebertz of who has done most of the buying a practising vet in civilian reports Case after Case where he spent three to four hours buying one Occa Sellers will pull fast once a i buyer discovered too late that he had paid a Good Price for a club footed during the Sale the animal had been standing ankle deep in in some instances Money is no Good at almost All the Lolos would rather have Silver blocks than folding stuff and that poses another problem for the who have to go out and Hunt up sufficient Silver on the other will take Money if they have to but prefer barter goods and the things they ask for have caused Many an Issue head to be they Are moved by fads and the last tibetan fancy was for yellow Felt for such a hat a horse owner in Tibet would Trade his Best Daniel Mallan of har head of All the horse buying made a special plane trip to China and Back to procure yellow he  get any Felt but yellow painted helmet liners came close enough to buy a few horses before the fad melted a trip we made with one of the trading parties will give a rough idea of typical horse procure ment routine As practice by the army in we drove first far As we could by motor to a Small town to which our Saddle horses and mules had been driven the Day their arrival had spread the word of our Mission be fore when we arrived at the town at 0900 there were crowds of curious spectators who had been waiting for us for they mobbed our truck the hundreds and helped us Saddle our horses and Load our just As we were ready to shove half a dozen of them grabbed us by the arms and led us to a Hovel that looked like a Hollywood opium there they brought out a huge Black Jug and poured each of us a yowl of their very Best Rice stored away for special occasions like it was liquid As soon As we took a sip from our individual our hosts refilled dish after dish of food followed the wine and the meal was interrupted constantly by As soon As we finished one another party was on dragging us to its everyone wanted to everyone who had a Deli Cacy on his own dish wanted us to take a two hours went by before we could get our show on the we reached the Lolo Village we were seeking late in the evening although we were dog our eyes opened at the sights that greeted we had heard earlier that there was sickness among the Lolos and in the Village we saw four tribesmen stretched on the ground in the last stages of it want until the second Day that we found out the nature of the the four had been having a party on Rice wine 10 times stronger than that we had Sam pled Down the Road and were recovering from the inevitable attack of the youngest son of the tribal Loti came out to Greet he bowed gracefully and in very Good English repeated that favorite i expression about blowing it that was All he could say in English and it reminded us of the Story that a bomber had crashed up country and its Crew had never been heard we were nervous Wong immediately announced the reason for our he told the Lolos that we had Silver to buy horses and that we came bearing gifts and the tribesmen tied our horses and took us to a room in the mansion of the in a matter of minutes we were backed against the Wall by a Stream of Lolos who pushed into the room to get a look at the they stared at checking their own features against and mumbled among they Felt the texture of our skins and measured our Page 9 1