| Original caption: “Cheering American veterans of the China-Burma-India campaigns arrive in New York aboard the Army transport General A. W. Greely [(AP-141)]. The men and women were members of the Flying Tigers, Merrill’s Marauders, and other heroic outfits.” The 10th Air Force conducted offensive strategic bombing operations in Burma and Thailand and supported Allied ground efforts with close air support and operations against Japanese communications and supply installations. The “Flying Tigers” of the 14th Air Force (who adopted the “Flying Tigers” designation from the American Volunteer Group) conducted highly effective fighter and bomber operations along a wide front that stretched from the bend of the Yellow River and Jinan in the north to Indochina in the south, from Chengdu and the Salween River in the west to both East and South China Seas and the island of Formosa in the east. They were also instrumental in supplying Chinese forces through the airlift of cargo across “The Hump” in the China-Burma-India theater. The 2nd Air Commando Group was assigned to 10th Air Force in India, whose elements operated in Burma flying a mixture of fighters, bombers, transports, military gliders and small planes performing operations behind the Japanese lines, and providing close air support for the British 14th Army in the Burma campaign. The earliest heavy bomber reinforcements sent to the United States Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific following the Japanese attack traveled over the route, prepared, briefed, and supported by the Air Transport Command (ATC), as were most of the aircraft and crews that would form the 9th Air Force in the Middle East and the 10th Air Force in India. Fighter aircraft for the 9th and 10th Air Forces and for the American Volunteer Group in China were shipped by water to the west coast of Africa where they were assembled and flown overland to their destinations. The Army Airways Communications System (AACS) built “Highways In The Sky” that provided routes for aircraft to follow. These highways consisted of radio beacons that gave aircraft a course to follow over their route. These highways, both stateside and overseas, were a tremendous help for aircraft to get from point to point and also aided bombers to find their way home after missions. Merrill’s Marauders, named after Frank Merrill (December 4, 1903 – December 11, 1955), or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), was a United States Army long range penetration special operations jungle warfare unit. On August 10, 1944, they were consolidated into the 475th Infantry, which continued service in northern Burma as a component of the brigade-sized MARS Task Force until February 1945. 8 battalions of Army engineers worked on the Ledo Road; 60 percent were African Americans. 1,100 Americans died during the construction in accidents and due to disease. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency. In the Far East, OSS training facilities were established in India, Ceylon, and then China. In late 1943, a representative from OSS visited the 442nd Infantry Regiment looking to recruit volunteers willing to undertake “extremely hazardous assignment.” All selected were Nisei. The recruits were assigned to OSS Detachments 101 and 202, in the China-Burma-India Theater. “Once deployed, they were to interrogate prisoners, translate documents, monitor radio communications, and conduct covert operations…Detachment 101 and 102’s clandestine operations were extremely successful.” The United States Army Services of Supply (SOS) handled many functions, including repair, logistics, finance, discipline, and medical, among others. Services of Supply, China, Burma and India was redesignated Services of Supply, India Burma Theater (SOS IBT) on November 2, 1944, when the theater was split in 2. On November 10, Advance Section Number 1, SOS IBT, was redesignated Supply, China Theater, with its headquarters at Kunming, China. A small number of Army nurses were stationed in Army hospitals in China, Burma, and India throughout 1943 and 1944, where they treated the American and Chinese troops who were pushing into southern China along the Ledo Road. At the time, the road was the sole overland lifeline for military supplies to the Chinese Nationalist Army, which was fighting a war of survival against Japan. For every Allied soldier wounded in the struggle for Burma in 1943, 120 fell sick. The malarial rate that year was a staggering 84 percent of total manpower. The Army sprayed dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) on mosquito infested areas and ordered all personnel to wear protective clothing after dusk regardless of the temperature. Troops were issued daily medication to protect them against malaria. Scrub typhus, a disease spread by mites, posed another problem. This disease demanded an extremely high level of nursing care and had a 30 percent fatality rate. Women can be seen next to the “combat cargo” and nurses-medics-A.R.C. (American Red Cross) signs. The Chicago Tribune reported on September 27, 1945: “2,800 Veterans From C-B-I [China-Burma-India] Area Arrive in East: Troops Reach United States After 13,000 Mile Trip.” “Nearly 2,800 cheering GIs from the China-Burma-India war theater were among approximately 7,000 troops who disembarked today from eight troop carrying ships at east coast ports.” “The C-B-I veterans, who stepped off the transport Gen. A. W. Greely at New York, included units of Major General [Claire] Chennault’s [(September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958)] ‘Flying Tigers,’ the Tenth Air Force, Merrill’s Marauders, the Mars Task Force, the Kachin Rangers, and service groups.” “The 352nd engineers, builders and operators of the Ledo Road, and the 61st railway operating company, which ran more than 700 miles of railroad in the wild Assam valley in northeast India, were among the Greely’s passengers. “Sent to United States to Study: Also on the ship were 182 Chinese and Indian civilians sent here to study by their governments.” “Among those on the Greely were: Private Henry S. Veach [(January 12, 1921 – July 9, 2005)], 21, of Springfield, Illinois, who flew a tiny cub plane behind the enemy lines and into the jungles to pick up wounded. He was assigned to the First Air Command Force and was trained as a liaison pilot.” “Sergeant Walter P. Martin [(1918 – ????)], 28, of 3854 Sixty-First Place, Chicago, Illinois, who returned after thirty-three months in the C-B-I theater. Most of that time he worked on the Ledo Road. Later he drove a truck on a twenty-three-day trip over the road from Myitkyina, Burma, to Kunming, China.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii2186.jpg |
| Image Size | 866.97 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2266 x 2820 |
| Photographer | International News Photos |
| Photographer Title | Office of War Information |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | September 27, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | New York |
| State or Province | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-208-AA-1H(3) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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