WWII - CHINA-BURMA-INDIA

Ed Crump,III (crumpe@PRIMENET.COM)
Tue, 15 Apr 1997 23:12:52 -0700

Tom,
        I read all the Project Memories postings with great interest, but
have refrained from contributing because I was a combatant in WWII, not a
civilian. I served in the CBI with many of your brave Brit soldiers, along
with Indian and Chinese troops, and even Naga headhunters from Burma, who
were wonderful allies, and tremendously feared by the Japanese.
        Mary Haas said, the U.S. "did supply much and did send troops into
some battles." Some battles indeed! Permit me to name a few from the Asian
theatre that certainly won the war in the Pacific: Myitkyina(Burma), Mid-
way(Naval), Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, Leyte, Okinawa and
Iwojima. And we were ready to invade the Japanese mainland if it had come
to that. I wish some of the civilians in those sites could give you some
idea of what life under the Japanese was like for them.
        Certainly America didn't win the war by itself. I have never seen
a text that makes that claim, but the war most certainly COULD NOT have
been won without her. The same holds for World War I, if anyone remembers
or cares. Few do, I'm afraid.

        Thank you, sir, for not letting us forget.

                                Ed Crump (Green Valley, AZ, USA)




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Ed Crump
crumpe@primenet.com                      /__)/__) / / / / /_  /\  / /_    /
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