The Allied Resupply Effort in the China-Burma-India Theater During World War II

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 secured for Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist forces what no amount of pleading had been able to produce: an influx of U.S. supplies. This volume explores the strategies of the Allies in China, Burma and India in World War II and the politically charged campaign waged in that theater. After an overview of the Allied situation in early 1942, the work presents the personal accounts of six individuals who served as part of the resupply effort in the CBI theater: Captain Edward Goodman, Captain David C. Hall, Staff Sergeant Robert Boehm, Corporal Anthony R. Silva, Corporal Alexander McVean and Tech Sergeant Kenneth R. Quigley. The service of African Americans in the CBI theatre is also discussed in detail. Appendices contain information on the organization of a motor transport truck regiment in Persia during World War II and an extract from a December 1944 log of an Air Jungle Rescue Unit in Burma.

Leo J. Daugherty III is the Senior Command Historian for the United States Army Cadet Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Leo J. Daugherty III
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 284
Bibliographic Info: 55 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3137-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0753-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

1. “Feeding the Tiger”: Background to the War in China-Burma-India, 1941–1945      3

2. “Many Mountain Roads”: Platoon Sergeant Robert Boehm, U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps      24

3. Captain Edward M. Goodman, USAAF: “Flying the Aluminum Trail”      47

4. Captain David C. Hall, U.S. Army Air Forces, and the 4th Combat Cargo Command      63

5. “A Most Impressive Engineering Achievement in War”: Corporal Alexander McVean’s War Along the Burma Road, 1944–1945      105

6. “A Chemical Company to the Front”: Technical Sergeant Kenneth R. Quigley, 1943–1945      141

7. “Keep ’em Flying”: Corporal Anthony R. Silva, U.S. Army Air Forces, In-Flight & Ground Maintenance Support in China-Burma-India, 1944–1945      154

8. “Road Builders and Jungle Warriors”: African-American Soldiers and the War in China-Burma-India and the Southwest Pacific Area of Operations, 1941–1945      181

9. “The Forgotten Theater of World War II”: Reflections of Service in China-Burma-India, 1941–1945      198

Appendix 1: Table of Organization of the 516th Quartermaster Truck Regiment, Tehran, Iran, 1942–1944      243

Appendix 2: Observations of Ground Search Party Investigating Wrecks of C-47s #812 and #767      244

Chapter Notes      247

Bibliography      261

Index      267

Choice Outstanding Academic Title