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My Father's Experience in SACO A Navy Convoy on the Burma Road (August 1945)
After laying over for a few days in Perth, Australia, Don reboarded the crowded troop ship, E. T. Collins. The ship resumed its journey, zig-zagging its way across the Indian Ocean and arriving in Calcutta, India in late July 1945. As Don disembarked in Calcutta (today, Kolkata), I'm sure he couldn't imagine the life-changing adventure that lay ahead of him.
Don reported to the U.S. Navy's base at Camp Knox, located near today's Kolkata International Airport, where he learned that the navy was assembling a large convoy of trucks and jeeps there to carry supplies into China. The huge convoy was going to resupply SACO camps throughout China and would travel on the newly-reopened Burma Road.
The vital lifeline called the Burma Road, over 1,000 miles long, was built by the Chinese in the late 1930s after the invading Japanese had seized most of China's seaports in an attempt to starve China into submission. The Burma Road linked India and the outside world with Kunming, China and was used to transport much-needed supplies into China during the early years of World War II.
The Burma Road was closed by the advancing Japanese army in 1942, however, shutting off overland supplies into China. That had forced the Allies to supply China "over the hump," with airlifts from Calcutta to Kunming over the Himalaya Mountains, a dangerous and costly alternative. The Allies desperately wanted to reopen the road, so in late 1942 they started construction of the so-called Ledo Road, in eastern India, which was designed to link up with the Burma Road in areas that hadn't been occupied by the Japanese. The Ledo extension opened late in the war and the first Allied convoy traveled across it into China in January 1945. The Burma Road, or portions of it, had a number of names late in the war. It was also known as the Burma-Stilwell road in honor of the top American Army general in the CBI (China-Burma-India) theatre, "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell. It was also known as the Burma-Ledo Road.
Although the Burma Road had reopened by the time Don arrived in Calcutta in July 1945, it was still very rough. Even worse, many Japanese snipers lurked in the jungles nearby. There was safety in numbers, however, so SACO was organizing a large truck convoy to carry much-needed supplies into China to resupply their bases there and to help prepare for the planned, upcoming invasion of Japan.
Above: This map shows the Navy's SACO bases in China during World War II. I've shown the route of the Navy's 300-vehicle SACO convoy in August 1945 that my father drove in, from Calcutta, India to Chungking, China carrying in food, fuel and military supplies. The route included the treacherous Burma Road, also known as the Burma-Ledo Road, which extended hundreds of twisting miles from Ledo, India to Kunming, China. (Source of basemap: Milton Miles' 1967 book, "A Different Kind of War.")
The SACO convoy – the U.S. Navy's first convoy on the Burma Road since it had reopened in early 1945 – included about 300 vehicles, mostly trucks but also dozens of jeeps. The Navy needed drivers though, so my father, who always sought out adventure, volunteered and was trained to drive a "6 by 6" as he called it (a six-wheel drive truck). About 200 SACO officers and enlisted men in Calcutta, supplemented by other U.S. military men, drove in the convoy. The drivers received a few days of training, then they were evaluated and paired up based on their driving abilities. Two persons were assigned to each truck, with the better drivers paired with poorer drivers.
The massive convoy left Calcutta in early August. To reduce wear-and-tear, the vehicles were shipped on flatbed train cars several hundred miles east to the Brahmaputra River in far eastern India, where they were off-loaded onto ferries that carried them across the river. After reaching the other side, they began their long and perilous journey, through the flatlands of eastern India, up through the hilly jungles of northern Burma, and into the treacherous mountains of southern China.
Don figured that, with his special amphibious assault training and now heading into China, he would help spearhead the upcoming invasion of Japan, and he assumed that he would be overseas for at least another year or two. He wasn't sure if he would ever return home. But, as he told me years later, he had a job to do, so he did it.
The long and winding Burma Road was muddy, steep and slippery, and many trucks slid off the treacherous jungle road, often killing and injuring those aboard. To make matters worse, even though the Burma Road had been reopened by Allied forces a few months earlier, Japanese snipers still infiltrated the area.
One evening at a truck convoy camp in the jungle, my father volunteered for nighttime sentry patrol and was told to be aware of Japanese snipers who were lurking in the area. Sure enough, that night in the moonlight he spotted the glint of a rifle and saw a Japanese soldier creep toward the American camp. My dad took careful aim, then shot and killed the sniper. My dad had nightmares for the rest of his life about his wartime experiences in Burma and China but he never talked about the bad memories. Indeed, he never told me (or anyone else in my family) about the incident with the Japanese sniper until the last month of his life, in October 2002.
My father had been diagnosed with cancer that fall and knew he was dying. One afternoon while we were out running errands, he and I stopped at a Denny's restaurant, where he told me about the sniper incident. During what felt almost like a confessional, he told me that he approached the dead sniper and searched through his pockets and found a locket. He opened the locket and inside was a photo of a young woman, who apparently was the Japanese soldier's sweetheart. It struck home with my dad because his own sweetheart (my mother) was waiting for him back in the U.S. and he, like the soldier he had killed, had carried a picture of her with him. Then my dad looked at me somberly across the table and said, "That's when I learned that war isn't fun."
After traveling for three weeks through India, Burma and southern China, the huge convoy finally arrived in Kunming, a large city on the high flatlands of southern China, where many of the trucks were unloaded. Several SACO navy men were planning to stay in Kunming for a while, waiting to be assigned to nearby camps. But a local Chinese warlord and some of his soldiers broke into the U.S. Navy armory here, killed two American guards and stole some of the supplies that had just been off-loaded. The navy, wanting to avoid an incident that could threaten the viability of the SACO agreement between China and the U.S., or even America's involvement in China, immediately ordered Ensign Walt Lowell (author of the diary above) to take several of the men and leave Kunming, then fly in a C-47 cargo plane back to Calcutta over the Himalayas.
Don, the only remaining navy officer in the convoy, was ordered to lead the remainder of the convoy on to Chungking, several hundred miles north. He took several SACO enlisted men with him and left volatile Kunming, then continued driving north.
Located in southeastern China and nearly a thousand miles from the coast, Chungking was the capital of the Chinese Nationalist government during World War II. China's capital before the war had been in Nanking, a large city near Shanghai. But after the Japanese invaded China and ransacked Nanking in 1937, wantonly killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians, the Chinese government moved their capital inland to Chungking, hoping to be safe from the Japanese. Though well behind the front lines, Chungking (which today is known as "Chongqing") was nevertheless bombed by Japanese planes throughout the war.
SACO's headquarters was located eight miles west of Chungking in a rural area called Happy Valley. It was an appropriate name because, after an arduous and tiring journey, I'm sure my dad was happy to get there.
Driving on the Burma Road into China Part 1: Getting Ready in Calcutta
 Above left: Navy men at Camp Knox cleaning up. Above right: A sampan near Camp Knox in Calcutta.
Above left: Assembling the Navy truck convoy at Camp Knox, near Calcutta. Above right: The trucks were transported by rail several hundred miles, from Calcutta to the Brahmaputra River, to reduce wear. Here they're being loaded in Calcutta for the long train ride.
Above left: The truck convoy riding the rails in eastern India. Above right: Road scene in India.
Part 2: Across the Brahmaputra River and into Burma
Above left: Ferrying the trucks across the Brahmaputra River in northeastern India. After crossing the river, and after the long train ride from Calcutta, the convoy began driving on the road to Ledo, India. Above right: The convoy in eastern India near Ledo.
Above left: The truck convoy in northern Burma.
Above left: Taking a break in the jungle. Above right: Building a cribbing to repair the road.
Part 3: On the Burma Road
Above left: Chinese laborers constantly repaired the road. Paid only a few cents a day, they often worked in the hot sun smashing rocks into gravel. Above right: Here's a more modern way of maintaining the road, by using a bulldozer. Bulldozers were also used to pull the trucks out of the mud.
Above left: The winding Burma Road. Above right: The convoy making its way up the muddy road.
Above left: Trucks grinding their way up the road. Above right: SACO men taking a barrel shower after a long, hot day on the Burma Road.
Above left: A truck crashed here killing several people. Dozens of sailors and soldiers are watching the aftermath. Above right: This Navy truck slid off the road and the driver was killed. The farmer who owned the land was quite upset – that his corn field had been damaged.
Above left: Getting a friendly wave from a Navy man. Two drivers were assigned to each truck based on their driving abilities, with better drivers paired with less-experienced drivers. Above right: Burmese women wearing ceremonial dress.
Above left: Squeezing through a muddy pass. Above right: And trying not to slip off the muddy road.
Part 4: Into Southeastern China
Above left: Stopping for the night at a supply camp. Above right: Serving lunch to the drivers.
Above left: Crossing the Salween River Bridge in southern China. Above right: The Salween River gorge. My dad wrote on the back, "The Japs were stopped here by the Chinese Army."
Above left: My dad, standing on the left, wrote on the back: "This was taken along the road just after we had some trouble with Chinese soldiers. They wanted to take our spare tires right off our trucks, but we convinced them otherwise." Above right: He wrote on the back: "Stopping for lunch along the road."
Part 5: On to Kunming
Above left: My dad wrote on the back: "This was two days out of Kunming. We stayed in the tents on the left. During the night, some Chinese snuck over from the village on the far left, slit the rear of the tents and stole us blind. We caught one and really worked him over but he wouldn't take us to where the gear was, as I guess he would've gotten a worse beating." Above right: Making camp after a long day's drive, outside of Kunming, China. Almost there!
Above left: My dad (without hat) with other Navy officers at the SACO base in Kunming. On the right is Ensign Walt Lowell. He and my dad became lifelong friends. Above right: At the SACO base in Kunming. My dad (left), Walt Lowell (center) and a SACO guard tower on the right.
Above left: The old town section of Kunming, China. Above right: The airport in Kunming, China. Don and Walt said goodbye here. Don continued with the truck convoy to Chungking while Walt and several dozen men flew back to Calcutta. The C-47 planes flew repeatedly "over the hump" (the Himalaya Mountains) to bring supplies into China. It was a dangerous route and many planes crashed.
Above left: Roster of the U.S. Navy's SACO officers who participated in the motor convoy from Calcutta, India to Kunming, China in August 1945. This roster was provided by one of the participants, Ensign Walt Lowell, a good friend of my dad's and the author of the Burma Road diary above. The handwritten comments are Walt's. Above center: Page 1 of the roster of the Navy SACO officers and enlisted men who drove the convoy. Additional U.S. military personnel, outside of SACO and not shown in this roster, also participated in the convoy. Above right: Page 2 of the SACO convoy roster.
Above left: Page 3 of the SACO convoy roster. Above center: Page 4 of the SACO convoy roster. Above right: Ensign Walt Lowell's travel orders to fly from Kunming, China back to Calcutta after the convoy had reached Kunming. In his handwritten note he describes why he was ordered to return to Calcutta.
Next Page > At Happy Valley Near Chungking, China
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