DECEMBER1967

NATIVE musician relaxes along a New Delhi street. The instrument he uses is one of a num-ber of stringed instruments played by Indian musieians. Photo by Stan Paszkewicz.t__ ~

2 EX-CBI ROUNDUP

Letter FROM The Editor.

Please Report Change of Address Immediately!Direct All Correspondence to

Ex-CBI ROUNDUP, established ]946, is a reminiscing magazinepublished monthly except AUGUST and SEPTEMBER at 117South Third Street, Laurens, Iowa, by and for former membersof U. S, Units stationed in the China-Burma-India Theater dur-ing World War II. Ex-CBI Roundup is the official publicationof the China-Burma-India Veterans Association.

SECONDCLASS postage paid at Laurens, Iowa.

Robert Fabian• Robert Fabian, 54, ofMiddletown, Conn., a vet.eran of the CBI Theater inWorld War II, died unex.pectedly November 6, 1967.Survivors include his wifeand two daughters. Mr.Fabian was a member ofAdath Israel Synagogueand B'nai B'rith Lodge. Formore than 20 years he hadowned and operated theEconomy Market.

(From a newspaper clip.ping submitted by AlbertC. H 0 0 v e r, Middletown,,Conn.)

James E. Cottrell• Dr. James E. Cottrell,who served in CBI duringWorld War II, died July 16,1967, of pneumonia after anillness of five years.M. ELIZABETH COTTRELL,Medford Lakes, N.J.

Editor

December, 1967

Ex-CBI RoundupLaurens, Iowa 50554

SUBSCRIPTION RATEForeign $5.00 per Year

$9.00 Two Years

Vol. 22, No. 10

Neil L. Maurer _

P. O. Box 125

$4.00 per Year$7.50 Two Years

• Another era in the history of Indo-British associa-tions seems to have come to an end. Lord Mountbat-ten revealed in a recent syndicated article that thelast widow of an officer of the East India Companydied in June 1967, and only a few weeks ago thelast Englishman in the Indian Civil Service (lCS)was reported to have left India preparatory to reotirement.

• Remember the genuine Burmese pagoda in theEden Gardens at Calcutta? Many Americans posedbefore it in World War II ... we saw it again whenwe visited Calcutta in 1964. Its delicately carved wood-work had been rotting and crumbling, so it was re-moved from the premises in 1965. A replacement wasapproved, but little work has been done on it. "Itwould be a delight to have a pagoda reflected in theboating pool once again," Desmond Doig wrote in arecent issue of The Statesman. "Even a fake Bur.mese one."

• Cover picture shows a blending of the old and thenew at Karachi airport. The modern administrationbuilding furnishes a strange background for the don.key-drawn native cart. U.S. Air Force Photo.

• Members of the Iowa Basha, China. Burma. IndiaVeterans Association, are making big plans for the1968 CBI reunion to be held in Des Moines nextAugust. If you've never attended one of these familyreunions, don't put it off any longer. Plan your vaca-tion now to include a trip to Des Moines.

• Don't forget to tell your friends about Roundup.New subscribers are always welcome!

WATER carrier at Delhi, In-dia, uses goatskin bag for hissupply. Photo by Stan Pasz-kewicz.

DECEMBER, 1967 3

To the Editors,------------------------

RAY KIRKPATRICK,San Francisco, Calif.

Chinese New Year• Chine,se New Year willbe the "Year of the Mon-key" 4666 and will be cele-brated February 3 to 10,1968.

GRAND HOTEL opposite the Maidan in Calcutta, India.Photo by Frank Amelia.

Col. Paul R. Slater• My brother, Col. Paul R.Slater, AUS-Ret. MC, diedOct 0 b e r 13, 1967. Paulserved as a medical mis-

Expo '67• Wonder how many ex-CBIers were able to visitExpo '67 in Montreal, Can-ada, at some time this year.The Republic of China(Formosa), Burma and In-dia were all represented bypavilions showing their de-velopment in the fields ofindustry, agriculture,_ com-munications, etc. Th~y allhad beautiful and fascinat-ing exhibits of their pro-ducts, their crafts, their art.Many of these were muse-

sionary in China 1931-1941,and in medical intelligenceservice in CBI in WWIl. Hehad 26 years active and re-serve duty, having servedin the Veterans Hospital inWichita, Kans., the last 21years. He received severalbattle stars including aBronze Star with Oak LeafClusters. Paul graduated atEureka College in 1925 andWashington Un i v e r sit yMedical School in 1929;earned a Master in PublicHealth degree at JohnsHopkins University and didpost-graduate work in trop-ical medicine. Paul alwaysenjoyed Ex-CEI Roundup.I served almost three years

RE~UL~S OF Japanese bom~ing on ~he outskirts of Kweilin, in the CEI myself and weChma, m 1943. Photo by Milton Klem. . managed to get togetherMahoning Valley urn pieces. It was a won- sev~ral times. ~n Kunmi?g• James DeChristefero of derful experience and a ~urm~ our milItary serviceNiles has been reelected means of renewing many m Chma.commander of the Mahon- of the more pleasant mem- ROLAND A. SLATER,ing Valley Basha, CElVA, ories. The next World's Col. .MC, USAR, Ret.,at Youngstown, Ohio. Dick Fair of this caliber will be Peona, Ill.Baker of Youngstown is in Osaka, Japan, in 1970.senior vic e commander, JOHN A. MONETTE,Ken Wilson of Youngstown Newport, Vt.is j u d g e advocate andGeorge Tabak of Struthersis provost marshal. Com-mander DeChristefero hasappointed Kenneth Shimpof Canton as junior vicecommander; Carl Beck ofYoungstown, service officer;Joseph Nivert of Austin-town, finance officer; EthelYavorsky of Poland, his-torian and recording secre-tary; and Amelio Catalinoof New Castle, chaplain.

ETHEL YAVORSKY,Poland, Ohio

4 EX-CBI ROUNDUP

------------------------To the Editors

hingbwiyang hospital in 1944. Photo by Russ

years, it was very heart-warming to see the plea-sure and happiness thateverybody derived from thismeeting.

EDWARD H. CLARK,San Francisco, Calif. Project 8 to CBI

• Wonder if you or anyof your readers could tellme if any of the back is-sues cont,ain any articlesabout Misamari, India, orKunming, China, or any-thing about "Project S" thatwent to the CEI in Sept.-Oct. of 1943? I am particu-1ar~y interested in articleswith pictures, if such exist.

RICHARD W. MORRISON,S. Plainfield, N.J.

humble letter to the Gen-eral George Sliney Basha,requesting the privilege ofserving in the color guardso he could personally pro-tect the United States flagon parade, was a master-piece. Each Chinese NewYear he drove 50 milesday or night, rain or shine,to fulfill that obligation. Hewas a leader in his Philip-pino community and vete-ran affairs. A secret prideand envy of the ladies washis artistry with a crochethook, for year after year hewas champion at the coun-ty fair. Survived by hisgracious wife Trudy andtwo-year-old daughter, hedeparted from our ranks'October 3D, 1967, in Salinas,Calif. Vale Pete, vale.

RAY KIRKPATRICK,San Francisco, Calif.

Pete Queturas• A native of the Philip-pine Islands, he enlisted inthe U.S. Army to helpavenge the defeat of hispeople in his homeland. HisCBI service was 41 monthswith the Engineers, and ac-cording to his buddies thebest cook and barber alongthe Ledo Road. In 1961 his

WEDDING PARTY at Darjeeling, India, in 1944. Photo byJulius L. Rosenfeld.

45th Truck Regiment• Officers and warrant of-ficers of the 45th TruckRegiment, and their wives,held their 25th anniversaryreunion Sept. S-10, 1967, atSan Francisco, Calif. Head-quarters were The Trave-lodge at Fisherman'sWharf. Highlight of themeeting was a dinner atthe St. Francis Yacht Club.Among tho s e attendingwere Francis R. Bordeaux,Sunland, Calif.; Albert S.Bowler, PIe a san tHill,Calif.; Dr. Francis Brink,Spokane, Wash.; John G.Buck, Haddon Heights, N.J.;Byron Caldwell, Greenbrae,Calif.; Edward H. Clark,San Francisco; Ansel L.Fent, Capitola, Calif.; Poi-saIl G. Herold, PanoramaCity, Calif.; Mas 0 n M.Jones, Carmichael, Calif.;William Livington, Mill-brae, Calif.; Clement L. Mc-Calla, San Mateo, Calif.;Edward A. Miratti, SantaBarbara, Calif.; L. G. Pierce,Lubbock, Tex.; M. W. Sie-men, B rid g e v i I I e, Pa.;George E. Upton, Manteca,Calif.; and Jam e s K.Vaughn, Albany, N.Y. Afterthe toil and sweat we hadall been through in CBI,and then the continuanceof a cbse and strong rela-tionship which has beencemented by four previous CHAPEL atif smaller reunions over the Kopplin.

DECEMBER, 1967 5

Strategic Hot Spot Picked by Wingate

Broadway, BurmaBy RUSSEL E. PRATHER

The Zeros came in strafing and every-body dove into the fox holes. There wereno casualties except Frank Cowan. Hewas taxiing an L.1 across the field thereat Broadway and the murdering zero at-tacker loosed a string of machine gunbullets.

Frank felt the blow as the single pieceof steel tore through the back seat ofthe plane, spending most of its strengthbefore entering Frank's back. The ser-geant knew he was hit but had the pres-ence of mind to cut the ignition on theplane before he struggled out and sturn.bled into the edge of the woods to cover.The medic rushed to him with first aidwhile friendly Spitfires chased the Zerosout of the area. This was about thefourth day after the glider invasion intoBroadway. Frank lived because of fastevacuation to the hospital and propercare.

Broadway, that famed landing area inthe middle of Burma for gliders, thatstragetic hot spot picked by GeneralWingate for a wedge of Allied troops inthe center of the Japanese occupationforces, that tangle of bamboo, teakwoodand mahogany surrounding rice fields,was the target for tonight, March 5th,1944.

Prior to this D day operation an ac-cumulation of some eighty G-4 gliderswere gathered together at Lalagahat.British Chindits, We<;t African fighters,Gurkha warriers, mules, guns, ammo, Krations, a bull.dozer, communication par.aphernalia, all ready to load and flyaway to Broadway. The gliders were to

The background of this storv by Rus-sel E. Prather, Dayton, Ohio, is ex-plained by the author, as follows:

"Lt. Col. Paul Bissell, USAF Ret., ofLake Mary, Fla., was kind enough tosend me a painting he had done of alone grave with a rough wooden crossand an inscribed slab surronnded bybarbed wire with the caption, BROAD-WAY, along with a n-wmber of photo-graphs he personally took and sometaken by the Air Force.

"[ selected those most applicable to myown remembrance and wrote this littlestory. The part about Tokyo Rose mayormay not have happened, but it couldhave. Anyhow, you will have to give PaulBissell the credit for most of it."

6

be towed by cargo C-47s, two to a tow.Bill Cherry said it could be done with abig saving in time. Time was of the es-sence now. Another landing area hadbeen picked out for half the gliders butafter a photo reconnaissance by Lieuten.ant Russo showed teak logs strewn overthe field a change was made in the plan,and Broadway was to receive the fulleighty G-4s.

"Hello boys." A disarming sultry fem-inine voice came through the ear phonesof the radio in the shack at Lalagahat.Sergeant Cramer, radio operator, switch-ed the voice over to the loud speaker."This is Tokyo Rose just letting youknow that we know all about your littleglider invasion into Burma." She cooed."Just want to let you know that ourcrack troops will be waiting to give youa welcome you will never forget. If youlive that is." She continued. "There willbe a few of you who come out alive.But they will be captured. Of course wedon't normally take prisoners except forquestioning and after that ... well theyeat too much. So why don't you call thewhole thing off and go back home? Youdon't want to fight, now do you?"

Colonel Cochran and General Wingatelistened intently. "I wonder how muchthose yellow bellies know?" Phil asked.

"I think they are guess'ng," said thegeneral. "If they knew, they would havebombed this place."

"But our P.51s would keep them away,"Phil countered. "We can't let this stop us

EX.CBI ROUNDUP

------------------------Broadway. Burma

now. But after seeing the pictures ofPiccadilly, I wonder just how much theydo know."

"It's our only chance to cut their sup.ply lines and now is the crucial time.They are off balance in several locationsas it is. We have the advantage withother columns coming in from the northof catching them in a pincer movement."

"If they don't catch us first," ColonelCochran worried.

The radio continued with soft back-ground music and the tender invitingvoice of Tokyo Rose giving the new:;about other battles that she had predic~-ed and how they came true. This Ameri.can born of Japanese parents was agraduate of U.C.L.A. and had gone tovisit an aunt in Tokyo after her gradua-tion in 1941. Come Pearl Harbor bombingshe was detained by Japanese police asa possiVe spy and questioned. She wasinvited to renounce her American citizen-ship and become a Japanese but she reoplied that her father brought her up asan American and an American she wouldbe. They insisted but she remainedsteadfast. After m;ssing the la'St boarfor the United States befcre Pe:lrl Har',o"

attack she knew she was stranded inJapan and since her aunt couldn't affordto keep her, she had to find somethingto do. The opportunity presented itselfto be a radio voice over the Tokyo sta.tion. Her broadcasts were prepared forher and she never knew what they wereto be until she was on the air. Her paywas meager but it was enough. TokyoRose afforded many pleasurable hoursof listening for our American boys. Theyat once identified her with a most rav.ishing creature conjured out of thei.rimagination-sweet, innocent, and desir.able. What she said didn't matter; itwas how she said it. Unlike Axis Sallyof Berl!n who was stage struck, alwayslooking for admirers, always trylng tobe the center of attraction, Rose cn'ydid what she was told to do, and saidwhat she was told to say. Her voicequality was what made it seem that shewas being treasonable.

Colonel Cochran and General Wingatepondered the situation.

"Do you think that female knows whatshe is talking about?" querried Phil.

"1 doubt it, but the information is

paInting by Lt. Col. Paul Bi AF Re!., was the author's inspiration forthis little story. Other pictures used with the story, taken during the Broadway operation andpublished without captions, are from Colonel Bi ell's collection.

DECEMBER, 1967 7

Those had to land somewhere they didn'tknow. It was dark and the moon wasunder clouds part of the time. A hazeblanketed the earth above two thousandfeet. What was below? Only God knew.

The pilots sweated out the missionsearching for that little spot in the mid-dle of Burma called Broadway. The leadplane found it and signaled the gliders.They in tum cut away and expertlylanded at the far end of the clearing.The engineers scrambled out not know-ing what they would find. Would theyface the Japs at once as Tokyo Rose saidor would they be safe for a while atleast until the enemy found them. Theystopped and listened for many minutes.Not a sound except the repeatej cries ofthe night birds or were they Jap signalsto attack. Throwing caution aside theyset out the landing lights for the othergliders to see and the cut-away flare ahalf mile from the field.

The next glider had the bull-dozer andas it landed the machine broke loose andstarted forward. The pilot and copilotin the cockpit were directly in its path.That earth moving monster would havecrushed them but the designer of theglider forsaw just such a situation andhad designed the front end to open likethe maw of a g'gantic fish carrying thetwo men up and out of the path of thecrushed just as the dozer was spewed,

Broadway. Burma _

pretty close to the truth. But 1 still thinkthey are guessing."

"Piccadilly seems to indicate that theywant all their forces somewhere else.Broadway was still open wasn't it?" Philasked.

"As far as we can tell from the latestpictures from recon."

"1 say go.""Agreed."The CG-4 glider was a ponderous ship.

A ship without engines. As big as a C-47cargo two-engine plane and a capac:tygreater than the powered ship. It seem-ed there was no end to the men, mulesand freight that could be packed in.They started packing, getting ready forthe great flight, the new first in largeinvasion tactics.

Now there was briefing of the pilotsof the tow planes, briefing of the navi-gators, the radio men, the engineers whowere to take charge after the landing,the patrol soldiers, all but the cooks.They knew what to do.

These men loading into the gliderswere our men, our buddies, our allies inthis crazy war. What were they tryingto find at the other end? If they got tothe other end, Broadway. Many nevergot there when the tow lines parted be-tween the plane and the gliders. Twogliders to one C-47 proved to be too muchto control. Lines went slack and snapped.

8 EX-CBI ROUNDUP

--------------------------Broadway, Burma

forth like Jonah from the whale's mouth.Another glider loaded with men andequipment overshot the field and byquick thinking the pilot squeezed be.tween trees thus shearing off the wingsbut saved the men. Pandemonium reign.ed as the gliders continued to land ever.which way, on top of each other, crash.ing into each other, men running andscreaming both with warning as well asfear.

"Change the landing lights!" someoneyelled and they were moved to a newarea. Now things were a little more un-der control as the British, the Gurkhas,and the Americans assembled into atightly knit unit. Ready to fight fortheir lives but most of all to carry cutthe mission as planned.

Paul L. Bissell, Lt. Col CRt.), U.S.A.A.F.,flew into Broadway in April, 1945, andwrote this beautiful elegy: "It's just afield covered with buffalo grass, in themidst of a jungle where it has s!ept forcountless years under the Burmese sun.Marked on no map, it was unknown andnameless until the necess:ties of wargave it sudden importance.

"Then one night many men in glidersslipped like mammoth eagles downthrough the hazy moonlight, makinghistory in aerial warfare and giving toit the name of 'Broadway Burma.'

"For many of these men this spot wasthe end of the road; but now there islittle to suggest the madness of that firstnight or the horror of succeeding nightsand days.

"A mass of twisted metal, rusting and

DECEMBER, 1967

half covered by the jungle growth, doesnot adequately tell the story of seventee!1dying horribly. And a deep hole, nowpartly healed with buffalo grass, marksaccurately the spot where many Gurkhasdied, but does not even suggest theghastly sight of men ~lown to bits-of

9

even if we mow away the grass, andslash the jungle growth and on a slab ofgranite deeply grave the names of thosewho died here, it will again slip into ob-livion under the hot Burmese sun. Fornot by the impress:ve monuments withbrave inscriptions but in our heartsand in the hearts of all men, we mustkeep alive the cause for which thesemen died-Freedom for all men every.where."

Was Tokyo Rose guessing when shesaid, "Just want to let you know thatour crack troops will be waiting to giveyou a welcome you will never forget. Ifyou live, that is?" 0

Broadway, Burma _

bodies picked up in little pieces afterthe raid was over.

"No, there is little left now to showthat rr:.C:1 once fought fer this bit ofworthless land. It bakes in the hot Bur-mese sun. All is peaceful and quiet.Hardly a sound is heard except when atlong intervals the noisy crows disturbthe silence.

"But off at the jungle's edge is a smallplot, fenced by barbed w re--a memorialimpressive by its very simplicity. Awooden cross made by small trees cutfrom the jungle and roughly nailed to-gether, supports a pancl of teakwoodcarved with this message:

"'In memory of all ranks ofthe British Army and the U.S.A.A.F. who gave their lives atThora Lwinn in the glider land-ings on the night cf the 5th ofMarch, 1944.

" 'I bore them on Eagle's wingsand brought them unto myself' ".

"It's sacred now, this once worthlessground like many other 'Broadways'with other names-Tarawa, Salerno, Ok.inawa, and the Beaches of Normandy.But the buffalo grass will grow, andthe jungle will creep in and cover thecarved panel, and the woe den cross willrot. And slowly it will be again worth-less ground-unless we remember. And

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10

P.O. Box 125 laurens. Iowa

EX.CBI ROUNDUP

CBI Veteran, Paralyzed, Types with TeethBy GENE LINDBERG

Denver Post Staff Writer

For the first time in six years, Capt.James Proper 50, of 115 Ingalls St.,Lakewood, onetime member of Merrill'sMarauders, wrote a letter to his motherSaturday.

He typed it on his electr:c machine.For Proper, that's an achievement, be.

cause he's paralyzed from the neckdown.

So how could he type? With histeeth firmly gripping the mouthp:eceof his new typing wand.

Proper, a victim of multiple sclerosis,is a resident of the Garden Manor Nur.sing home. When no longer able towalk, he was confined to his wheelchair in 1960. Now, both arms and legsare powerless. Only his neck and throatmuscles still respond to command.

But that's enough, he says, if a fellowreally wants to do something. And hedoes. He wants to write a book.

"Surely," his friends try to argue,"you could dictate to somebody whatyou want to say-the way hundreds ofable. bodied writers do every day?"

"Not me," Proper tells them. "I liketo think between words and it bugs meto keep somebody waiting while I do it."

Reading, too, is a problem when you'reunable to turn pages, but he has that onelicked. Mrs. Sue Lindgren, activities di-rector at Garden Manor, slips paperclips on the pages making it possiblefor him to turn them on his book rack,using a rubber-tipped stick in his teeth.

That's how he got the typing notion.He recalled that electric typewritersneed only the faintest touch to set thekeys in motion. So he got one and triedit out with his page-turning wand-a16-inch length of wooden dowel rod, Itworked, but the stick was heavy, hardto manipulate, Proper told Mrs. VirginiaGossert, occupational therapist with theColorado Public Health Department.

Mrs. Gossert put the problem to Dr.Roy H. Reger, chief of dental servicesin the State Health Department. Afterall, it was a tooth problem and Dr.Reger is handy with tools of all sorts.

Acting on his own time, Reger foundthe answer. He presented it to ProperFriday-a two-ounce length of alumi.num alloy tube from the shaft of oneof his old hunting arrows.

The mouthpiece is molded of thesame tough plastic used for makingdentures. The typing end is just a wedgeof red rubber-the slip-on type whichgives any pencil an eraser tip.

Now Proper can type without undue

DECEMBER, 1967

neck fatigue-and turn pages more eas-ily, too.

Proper is studying basic English, pre.paring to write his book-the story ofh's jungle fighting adventures in theChina-Burma-India theatre during WorldWar II.

That includes the time a 14.year-oldhill tribe boy named Joe, whom thecaptain had befriended, saved his lifewith a shove in the back. The pushprevented Proper from stepping on anoversized king cobra.

He was born Aug. 26, 1917, in Geyser,Mont. His father, Frank Proper, was kill.ed in an oil field accident when the sonwas 14. His mother now is Mrs. RexDeverill of Billings, Mont.

Proper grew up in southwe3t Wyo-ming. When he was 19, in 1936, he en.listed and became an Army career man.He was stationed in Anchorage, Alas-ka, when World War II started, and wascommissioned soon after that.

He joined the Marauders, forerunnersof the present Special Forces, and train-ed in India under Maj. Gen. O. C. Win.gate, British Commando expert. Properhad charge of 10,000 troops 75 miles be-hind the lines in Central Burma justbefore returning to the United States inFebruary 1945. When the war ended hewas in' command of ,infantry trainingat Camp Roberts, Calif. He was dis.charged April 28, 1948.

His ailment first was diagnosed vague.ly as "astigmatism." It was recognizedas sclerosis in 1953. 0

Tell All Your

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Ex-CBIRoundup

11

More Than 5,000 Are Waiting for Him

Father of the epersFrom MINUTES, the magazine

of Nationwide Insurance

BY LYNNE BAGNER

In the jungle of the Kengtung Provinceof Burma, more than 5,000 people arewaiting for one man to return to them.He is the man who received them whenall others cast them out; he is the manwho created a place of hope and lifewhere there had been only isolated des-pair and death.

The man is Father Cesare Colombo, anItalian missionary priest and doctor.Those who wait for him are lepers.

The separation did not occur throughchoice. As part of its efforts to maintaininternational neutrality, the Burmesegovernment asked all foreigners to leavethe country. Father Colombo was one ofthe thousands who departed in Decem-ber, 1966. Burmese political problemsmay keep him from returning. But nei-ther Father Colombo nor the lepers willrelinquish hope of being reunited.

"I must go back to my people," hesaid. "I will never stop trying." His in-

tense eyes give assurance that this istrue. •

Father Colombo who came to Americathis spring to plead his case before theUnited States, is not a large man, buteverything about him commands atten-tion. He walks with a patient and deter-mined step. His eyes change frequently,lighting gaily when he recalls happytimes, glowing darkly when he speaks ofsorrows and the plight of his people.His handshake is firm, warm, and gen-tle. At first glance his grizzled beardmakes him look older than his 56 years,but a few moments in his presence dis.pels the illusion. Youthfully vital, heseems to have great reserves of strength.

St. Paul once wrote that a missionarymust be "all things to all men." For Fa-ther Colombo the statement has been analmost literal truth. During the years inBurma he became a doctor, architect,carpenter, brick maker, engineer, farmer,mechanic, teacher-even psychiatrist.

"Even as a young boy in Italy, I al.ways knew I would ,be a missionary, Ialso wanted to be a doctor then, but

MOLDING bricks in wooden forms, Father Colombo works with men building an addition tothe colony.

12 EX.CBI ROUNDUP

----------------------Father :0£ the Lepers

I1

IN SURGERY, Father Colombo finds an op-portunity to bring relief to many of his pa-tients.

the two studies did not mix, and I gaveup medicine," he related. W~e.n he w1l;sordained in 1935 at the PontIfIcal InstI-tute for Foreign Missions (PIME) inRome, the young missionary was assign-ed to Burma, where he was supposed towork for the rest of his life.

Father Colombo journeyed by steamer,train, truck, boat, and pony to reach theDiocese headquarters in Kengtung .. Hefound a primitive land of poverty, SIck-ness fear and confusion. Many tribeswith' diff~ring customs, religions, andlanguages inhibited the dense junglewhere suspicion and animosity flared in-to sporadic battles. "I thought then, thereis much to do, and I will do what I can,"he recalled.

After World War II, conditions in rav.aged Burma were at a new low. Manyfamilies had lost all their meager pos-sessions. Food was in critical shortage.Everywhere people wer.e d~ing of tu~er-culosis, malaria, berIberI, starvatIOn,and leprosy. "How do you preach to aman who needs immediate amputationof a gangerous leg, or to a woman dyingof internal hemmorrhage because shelacks medical attention?" he asked.

With medical books obtained fromfriends in Italy, Father Colombo studiedby night and worked by day-treatingthe sick as best he could. But he hadlimited supplies and insufficient know-ledge. "I knew then," he said, "that Imust complete my medical studies."

Father Colombo returned to Italy in1951. In less than three years he had

DECEMBER, 1967

completed his studies, passed his medi-cal exams, and was back in Burma. Hetreated those who came to his newly-opened dispensary; he sought out othersin the villages.

The plight of the many lepers particu-larly distre::;~ed Father Colombo. Inten~ephysical pain was not the ~orst of. theIrfate. In Burma leprosy carnes a stIgma,and when symptoms of the disease arevisible, the leper and his family areforced to leave their village.

Father Colombo found lepers timidlybegging in the Kengtung market place,or hiding in the jungle, trying to stayalive on berries and roots and insects.He decided that he must help them.

If caught in time, leprosy is curable.But the treatment is long and requiresdaily supervision. The few Burmese hos-pitals reserved for lepers were crude a~dineffective. Families were separated; VIS-iting was forbidden. When the lepersgained strength, they often ran away-before they were cured-to join theirfamilies. Father Colombo reasoned thatif families could stay together while thelepers received treatment, many liveswould be saved.

One morning a young man with lepro-sy came to him for treatment. The leperhad left his wife and children hiddenin the jungle. Father Colombo recalled,"I said to him 'When you are strongenough, you will go and bring your fam-ily here. You will all live together,'. Hedid not believe me. But when the tImewas up I sent him out. I did not knowif he would come back.

"But I built him a house-a nicehouse off the ground instead of in thedirt. it had a guest room-it was thehouse of a respectable man. He cameback in ten days, very fast. I said to J:im'This is your house. Take your famIly,and live here.' I gave also two fowls, and

FILMS AVAILABLE

Two films about the work of Fa-ther Colombo and life in the lepercolony are available to interestedorganizations. Both are in color andhave received cinematic awards forexcellence. "The Touch of HisHand" runs 45 minutes, and "TheHappy City" 30 minutes.

A S5 rental fee is requested tocover the costs of the film replace.ment, mailing, handling, and in-surance. To order a film or makefurther inquiries, write PIME Mis-sionaries, Film Department, 9800Oakland Avenue, Detroit, Michigan4 211.

13

Father lof the Lepers _

WORKING with "the little ones" brings spec-ial pleasure to Father Colombo.

a bit of land for making a garden. Againhe did not belleve me at first, but hewent to live in the house, and he re-mained to be cured.

"When the other lepers saw this, theytoo wanted houses. They went out tobring wives, husbands, children. Manyfamilies came. And we built more houses.

The colony that began with 28 fami-lies now has over 5,000 residents. WhenFather Colombo left in December, 1966,there were 1,251 lepers living inside thecolony, and over 4,000 cured lepers re-siding in four adjacent villages.

Ironically, the Burmese call Father Col-ombo's colony "The Happy City." Leperswho live there are usually better off thanthey were in their native villages. Thecolony has substantial houses, food, san-itation, treatment-and no fear. It is ahaven where a leper can become wholeagain, and lead a useful, dignified life.Cnildren play and laugh freely. Amidsmiles and chatter, men and women goabout their daily tasks. When FatherColombo was there he visited the nurs-ery every afternoon. His beard was pull-ed, his cassock ransacked for ever-pres.ent treats. Every evening he spent a so-c:al hour with the villagers. Problems,jokes, hopes were shared and cherished."My people sing and dance," he said. "Imiss them very much."

It wasn't easy to build a comfortable,permanent colony. There was no one todo the work but the lepers themselves,and several Sisters of Charity-trained

14

and directed by Father Colombo. TheSisters became nurses and teachers. Nev-er sleeping more than four hours andstudying constantly, Father Colombolearned the skills necessary for the col-ony's survival.

He encouraged every leper who wasambulatory to work at trades or at farm-ing. With his help, they made bricksfrom crude forms, built kilns to bakethem and erected houses, a church, anda clinic. They cut trees, soaked the woodfor a year to make it termite resistant,and learned carpentry. "My people areintelligent, they learn quickly. And theylike to work-it means they are alive."

The lepers had never seen a western.style hospital, but they built one. FatherColombo drew all the plans and afteryears of slow, painful work, the hospitalgleams whitely in the jungle. Until itwas completed, operations had been per-formed in the open air. Now there is anoperating ".table, and a few instruments,but still no beds.

Although the lepers believe that Fa.ther Colombo worked miracles, he knowsthat the colony still has, and probablyalways will have, obvious problems. Thegreatest is food. Long rainy and dry sea-sons leave only three months for grow-ing crops. Vegetables grow well, but des-pite efforts to prevent rotting, seeds don'tkeep for the next year's plant;ng.

Rice and dried fish cakes are the sta-ple of the diet, but there is never enough.Cured residents of the villages are farm-

NATIVES bring their problems to the fath-er of the Lepers in Kengtung Province.

EX.CBI ROUNDUP

"A GOOD HELP"FROM AMERICA

. .Father Colombo's vigil has been]omed by American families whohave become his friends throughthe Foster Parents Mission Club avolunteer organization founded' toassist the work of PIME missionar.ies in Burma, Pakistan, and India.

Two hundred of the leper colony's600 children have been "adopted"by Foster Parents. For $5 a monthFoster Parents assure the basic ne-cessities for their children.

"It is a good help," Father Colom-bo said. "The money buys food andmedicine. But more gratify:ng isthe emotional help. When I cantell a child that he has love par-ents, people across the sea whocare about him, he is so happy.The feeling spreads-his brothersand sisters, his friends, feel adopt-ed, too. And when a letter comessuch excitement. You cannot knoirwhat it means to them to receive aletter from America. Sometime3there is a bit of ribbon, a balloon,a packet of seeds. It is happ~nessfor months."

Although Father Colombo is notin the colony, Foster Parents areassured that funds and letters arereceived by their children throughthe missionary in charge of Keng-tung Diocese.

Information about the Foster Par-ents ~1ission Club can be obtainedfrom • liss Dorothy Crayton, Secre-tary, Foster Parents Mission Club9800 Oakland Avenue, Detroit':\lichigan 48211. '

-----------------------Father :of the Lepers

towel, handkerchief, clothing. A bit ofleprous flesh can cling to it, and thusbe transferred to the next user.

l.:eprosy is a slow enervating diseasewhIch rots the flesh. Afflicted areas atro-p.hy and lese feeling. Maim'ng is con-Siderable. Burns and cuts become infect-ed, and limbs often must be amputatedto prevent death. Some lepers becomepermanent invalids.

There is now great hope that leprosyc~n be I?rev~nted by an anti-lepra vac-cme whIch IS still be'ng tested. WhenFather ~olombo obtained a supply ofth.e vaccme, he set up a research projectWith three control groups. The fOrst iscemposed of children who live with lep-rou~ parents, as in a normal village sit-uatlCn. In the second children are vac-cinated and remain w'th thelr parents.The third greup con~ists of babies who

EXAMINING a leper, Father Colombo checkson progress of the disease.

ers and attempt to be self-supporting,but they have too few tools, seeds andbuffal?s. Often, rice must be b~ught.Sometimes Father Colombo had to obtaincredit or beg food for his people.

ThE; continual growth of the colony it-self IS a problem. Lepers of all tribesand religions struggle to the safety of-fered there. No one is turned away"They come, and we make room fa;them," Father Colombo said. "The maintrouble is sending them out. I have to~ell them to go when they are we:!. ThatIS why the villages for the cured-sothey will have some place to g::>."Curedor not, lepers can never return to theirnative villages. The stigma, the cry of"unclean," cannot be removed among 0-people with a superstitious dread cf lep-rosy.

The incidence of leprosy in Burma isastonishing. The primitive conditionsthat bring illness to the people create 0-climate in which leprosy thrives.

.The disease can be contracted only bydirect, prolonged contact between lep-rous flesh and an open cut, or sore. Cutsand skin diseases are common in thejungle, and the Burmese have no can.cepts of hygiene. Families sleeping hud.dIed together communicate the disease.Bedding and clothing are shared indis.criminately. The head turban is used bveveryone, for everything-it is blanket,

DECEMBER, 1967 15

Father :of the Lepers _

WITH A NURSE, Father Colomb:> visits ba-b:es in the nursery.

are vaccinated and isolated from theirparents in the hospital nursery. The par-ents can visit every day.

Before he left, 27 of the 58 children inthe first group showed signs of leprosy,and were immediately placed under

treatment. Of 47 in the second group,only two are doubtlful cases. In the iso.lated third group, none of the babieshas developed any evidence of leprosy.

The experiment is being continued bythe nursing Sisters who remain in thecolony. Father Colombo receives regularreports by mail and sends back instruc-tions. "I am actually running things frommy exile," he confided. He hopes to com-plete this study when he returns, andexpand his research.

Whether Father Colombo's hopes willmaterialize soon depends upon the inter-nal politics of Burma. During his recentvisit to the United Nations, he was as-signed to the leprosy team of the WorldHealth Organization. The doctors arescheduled to work in Burma beginningnext month, but they may not be allow-ed to enter Kengtung Province, wherethe leper colony is located.

This is because there is trouble in theprovince. It is a protectorate, rather thanan integra:! part of Burma. Most of thepeople are loyal to the provincial king,who wanted to declare independencefrom Burma. But he is now in the custo-dy of the Burmese government, and hisfollowers have been declared rebels. Dueto frequent clashes between rebel troopsand government soldiers, Burmese offi-cials are reluctant to allow a United Na-tions medical team to enter the disputedarea. '

Father Colombo waits and prays. D

Urge Rat Curbs to Save India's GrainNEW DELHI-If India were able to

control the rats, squirrels, birds andmonkeys which currently are makingthemselves at home on her preciousgrain, she would be able to save an es.timated three to five million tons offood a year-the very amount which shenow has to import from abroad duringan average, non.drought year.

This is the finding of India's NationalRodent Control Committee in a study be.gun in January, 1966. The study wascompleted a year later, but is still to beapproved and released for publication.

India's rat population has been esti.mated at anywhere up to three to fivebillion. But the committee membersthemselves think all estimates are wildguesses.

American officials here are inclined tobelieve that even the estimates on sav.ing grain from rats are high.

The National Rodent Control commit.tee, in its field studies, found that con.trary to foreign impressions the religiousIndian is not so loathe to destroy animal

16

pests which threaten his food supply andincome.

In Kanpur, an industrial city near thiscapital, a three-year rodent control pro.gram actually has succeed in reducingthe number of rats, according to thecommittee's secretary, K. C. Patnaik, de-puty director general of the governmentHealth Ministry. And in the state ofPunjab, apparently more people areasking for help in controlling the ratsthan officials are able to provide.

Indian sewer rats grow large, weigh.ing up to several pounds. The committeefound that national attention until nowhas been focused on rats as a conveyorof bubonic plague and that this disease,in fact, was now negligible.

But the committee also reports thatrats continue to breed in great numbersat the usual two seasons of sowing andharvesting and join other rodents, birdsand monkeys in nibbling away on theunprotected crops in the fields as wellas in the indifferent village storage fa.cilities. D

EX.CBI ROUNDUP

From The Statesm,m

CALCUTTA-The death of Mr. SarojBose, 62, a veteran and popular sports of-ficial of Calcutta, followed a motor ac-cident. Mr. Bose, who came from a well.known Zamindar family of Dacca, hadhis education in the U.K. and the USA,was an army officer during World Warn and a tank engineer attached to theIndian Ordnance department.

CALCUTTA-uNo sane man would ex-pect to leave his personal possessions onthe roadside and expect to find them in-tact on his return-no one, that is excepta sadhu. A stone's throw from the Nim-tollah Ghat, on the bank of the Hooghly,a sadhu's red banner flutters lazily inthe wind. A crude contraption holds two'chillams'-clay pipes used for smokingganja. The occupant, it was said, hadseen some kind of revelation and goneby foot to Hardwar, a place of pilgrim-age. Urchins of the neighbourhood dark.ly warn an intruder that what he seesare the belongings of the sadhu."

NEW DELHI-The finance minister,Mr. Morarji Desai, presented to Parlia.ment the country's first balanced bud.get in many years, but the balancingfeat was made possible only by a heavydose of fresh taxation, including a whop-ping increase in the excise duty on cig-arettes. Other items of common con.sumption include tea and coffee; shoesand sandals; and fine and superfinecloth. A substantial increase in the dutyof petroleum products, principally petroi,will hit car.owners as well as bus-users;and the cost of postal, telegraph andtelephone services will also go up.

CALCUTTA-An Indian engineer fromWest Germany, who returned to Indiaabout two months ago in sparch of asuitable job, left after the failure of hismission. He explained that Indian diplo.mats often coax Indian scientists and en-gineers abroad to return to India and ad-monish them, if they do not. And thenupon arrival the job seekers find thereis no opening for them.

GAUHATI-One of the dozen rhinocer-oses constituting the nucleus stock of theKaziranga sanctuary died. It was esti-mated to be between GO and 70 years old.He had already been born when the Kaz-iranga reserve was formed for the pro-tection of the species in 1908. He hadlived on the outside fringe of the sanctu-

DECEMBER, 1967

ary for only a week. When rhinos be.come very old they are pushed out ofthe sanctuary by younger animals, butunlike elephants and buffaloes theserhinos do not become rogues. The mostfamous of these castaways was theBoora Goonda who lived outside thesanctuary for 14 years until his death in1953.

CALCUTTA-Of the millions who havemourned the death of Vivien Leigh, notmany knew that the celebrated stageand screen actress was born in Darjeel.ing. On a flying visit to India in Decem.bel' 1964 she said that one of her fewlongings in life was an overwhelmingwish to go back to "Darjeeling on horse.back". The wish remains unfulfilled.

NEW DELHI-Dr. S. Chandrasekhar,Union Minister for Health and FamilyPlanning, proposes to present a radioset to every person who gets himself orherself sterilized. The Minister feels thatmass production can bring down theprice of a transistor radio to Rs 40, theamount his Ministry is willing to offerthose who accept sterilization. While thisproposal is only in the formulativestage, the Ministry is planning to extendthe use of the oral contraceptive pill.USAID is to give $2 million worth ofthese. A pilot project in family planningis also likely to be started with Swed.ish help.

BHUBANESWAR-When the country isundergoing food shortage on a big scale,every grain should count. A neglectedaspect of the food situation is the sub.stantial amount of rice wasted in mar-riage and religious ceremonies. Smallquantities of rice are given to those at.tending marriage functions to showerblessings on the bride and bridegroom.The rice so given is known as akshat.Besides using rice for akshat the food.grain is also used for play (talambralu)between the bride and bridegroom soonafter a marriage is solemnized. For tal.ambralu at least five kilos of rice arerequired. Though most of. the rice usedis retrieved at least half a kilo is lost.

NEW DELHI-The estimates commit-tee of the Lok Sabha has expressed itsconcern about the damage caused tosome rare and invaluable manuscriptsin the Indian Museum, Calcutta. About44 manuscripts need urgent protectionand 41 others require arrangements fornnservation. The committee also criti-cized the Victoria Memorial Hall Mu-seum authorities for collecting exhibitsrepresenting only the British side, evenafter 19 years of freedom. It asked themuseum authorities to project the In.dian side. too.

17

There Is Activity Throughout the Vale

Kashmir: A Place of TurmoilBy JOE McGOWAN, JR.

The Associated Press

A motley force of tribesmen and armyirregulars moved out of the arid plainsof Pakistan and into the beautiful valeof Kashmir on a fall day just 20 yearsago.

The "Kashmir Liberators" met littleopposition for a couple of days and soonwere threatening Srinagar, the state cap-ital situated in a valley surrounded bythe lofty Himalayas.

At this point, the Maharaja of Kashmirrequested Indian troops in an appeal toLord Mountbatten, who had been viceroyof India until August or that year, when

independence was granted to the now-partitioned subcontinent.

With that, the maharaja, who was aHindu, boarded a plane and fled southfrom the predominantly Moslem valleyto predominantly Hindu Jammu, the win-ter capital of Kashmir.

Fighting continued until the UnitedNations regotiated a cease-fire, effectiveJan. 1, 1949. The cease-fire line left Pak-istan in possession of about a third ofKashmir; India the remainder includingthe vale of Kashmir.

That was the first round in a runningdispute over custody of the 86,OOO-square-mile state.

It all started because of the imprecise

INDIA

Y,hchltfll •

• Simco.Cho"d'Qo,h

NEWOHHI•

CHINA

TI8ET

100,

18

MAP by the Associated Press shows cease-fire line, negotiatedby the United Nations in 1949, that divides Kashmir into twoareas-the north dominated by Pakistan and the southern por-tion by India. For two decades there have been varying degreesof hostilities between the two countries over Kashmir.

Ex-eBI ROUNDUP

----------------------A Place of Turmoilmanner in which the British partitionedthe subcontinent and left unsettled thematter of accession of some predomin.antly Moslem states to Pakistan.

India has claimed ever since that theHindu maharaja opted for accession toIndia.

Pakistan says he had no right to doso, and for 20 years has been demandinga plebiscite in Kashmir-something In-dia once agreed to but now says cannotbe done. India claims Kashmir's owner.ship of India is an established fact.

Never in the two decades has therebeen peace, only varying degrees of hos-tility ranging from name calling to theall-out war with tanks and jet fightersin September, 1965.

Thousands of lives have been lostmany thousands of persons have spent'an entire generation living in refugeecamps, large numbers of families whoonce lived in British India have no con.tact with segments of the family livingon the other side of what became theIndia.Pakistan border.

The two nations have spent millionson armament rather than to develop ag-riculture and industry.

A not unimportant result of the longfeud has been the disenchantment ofPakistaIL with the United States and thegradual swing of that country awayfrom it; membership in the SoutheastAsia Treaty Organization and CentralTreaty Organization and into closer re-lations with Communist China.

President Mohammed Ayub Khan has

CONTEST OVER JAPAN. By HerbertFeis. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. NewYork, N.Y. October 1967. $5.00.

This book is for serious students ofWorld War II and the development ofthe Cold War. It is an account of thestruggle between Russia and the UnitedStates afer World War II to determinethe right to direct the policies govern-ing Japan during the postwar period ofoccupation. The reader is provided witha glimpse of some of the leading figuresin the struggle.

A MAN IN THE MIDDLE. By M. E.Chaber. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.,

DECEMBER, 1967

never forgiven the United States for cut-ting off military aid and supplies duringthe war in 1965. His armed forces hadbeen American-oriented and without U.S.supplies, Pakistan agreed to cease. fireSept. 20, 1965.

The Soviet Union then tried its hand atpeacemaking and succeeeded in gettingAyub and the late Prime Minister J .alBahadur Shastri to sign a peace pact atTashkent in January, 1966.

It wasn't long, however, until the twowere at it again. There have been peri-odic border clashes and constant accu-sations by leaders in the two countriesthat the other side does not want tosettle the dispute.

In New Delhi, Indian leaders are fair-ly content to sit tight. They have pos-session of the most valuable portion ofKashmir and figure time is on their side.

There is a growing feeling that thegovernment eventually will grant the In-dian portion of Kashmir a degree of auto-nomy, in a move aimed at pacifying theMoslem majority there.

Some highly placed officials have beenurging Prime Minister Indira Gandhi torelease Sheikh Abullah, the Kashmiriindependence leader, from his long-timeconfinement and make him chief minis-ter of Kashmir. They contend the sheikhas mellowed in recent' years and wouldbe content to have Kashmir remain inthe Indian union so long as it was givena degree of autonomy. 0

New York, N.Y. August, 1967. $3.95.A mystery and suspense story in

which Milo March, insurance investigat.or and sleuth, works on a case of smug.gling. Stolen business machines anddrugs are apparently being smuggledfrom the United States to China. Thescene shifts rapidly from Hong Kongto Los Angeles, San Francisco to LasVegas, to Arizona, and back to HongKong as Milo gets into rapid fire actionand danger.

THE FALL OF JAPAN. By WilliamCraig. The Di~l Pl'ess, New York, N.Y.September 1967. $6.50.

The last six weeks of World War IIin the Pacific, from both the Japaneseand the American sides, are coveredin this narrative by a Massachusettshistorian who has done considerable reosearch and held many interviews withpeople involved. The episodes retold hereinclude some from China, notably theBirchite story of John M. Birch, an AirForce captain and special agent of theOSS. sent to Suchow, China, and killedby Comrr.unist guerrillas.

19

A Cobra Flute Brings Strange Results

He Visited the laj MahalThis article, which appeared recently

in a St. Louis area newspaper and wa.ssent to Roundup by Ray Juenger, wa.swritten while its author wa.s visiting In-dia. ORIers, who have been there, willundoubtedly enjoy his comments and ob-servations.

The cobra incident furnishes an es-pecially interesting conclusion.

By JIM BISHOP

The Taj Mahal is 1~6 miles south ofNew Delhi in a city called Agra, andthe road is a torture of stones and holesand the poorest villages in the world.The dust is beige talcum and the carbounces endlessly, tossing loose rocksagainst the crankcase. Then of course,the same road is 126 miles back to NewDelhi.

We packed a dozen bottles of cola inan ice chest and took off in two cars.The Hindu drivers were young and in-scrutable. They drive by horn. The in-sistent beeps begin at the hotel and con-tinue throughout the trip, a matter ofof three-and-a-half hours.

They beep for busses; they toot forcamels; for white Brahma cows; for ablack elephant with a load of hay onits flanks; for children in rags who waituntil the car is close before de.ciding to cross the road; for vulturesfighting over a dead snake; for a herdof sheep that spread across the highway;for a clutch of old men who squatchatting on the pavement; and for no.thing at all.

In Agra, the silence was startling andwe were exhausted. At the hotel wepaused for lunch. The turbanned waitersmoved between the white tables noise-lessly. The only sound was the big-bladedfans in the ceiling flogging dead air.

The soup was called "puree of vege-table." It looked like a pot of billboardpaste. A whiff of steam assaulted ournostrils, and the soup went back to thekitchen. Next we had veal, spaghettiand a glob of so-nething hot and yellowcalled "pumpkin." The bread was great,so we ate it and asked for more.

My wife gets progressively sicker ineach country. She says that she hasn'tseen her own hipbones this clearly inyears. We have had steak twice, andnow they tell us that it is from a waterbuffalo. We thought it came from a steer.The Hindus who herd the cows will takemilk from them, but will not kill themor eat them when they die of old age:This is prompted by a religious feeling

20

that the cow could be a reincarnationof Uncle Julius.

The food is excellent, I am sure, forIndians. After all, there are 514,000,000of them here, and seven ot us. A fewmore days and there will be six of usand 515,000,000 of them. The one con-cession they have accorded us is to giveus a telephone in the bathroom.

We visited the Taj Mahal, the biggestvalentine in the world. There is a sweetsorrow in this enormous marble mauso.leum. The Shah Jehan built it whenhis wife died in childbirth. It was herfourteenth.

At night, the cars returned to NewDelhi, tooting and scaring the loinclothsoff vagrant pedestrians. David Haylock,one of our movie photographers, hadshot the Taj Mahal, but the puree ofvegetable had shot him. He sagged on afront seat all the way home.

The other photographer, Dick Winer,was in New Delhi shooting local settingswhen he was offered a cobra flute fora few rupees. He was thinking of bring-ing it back to the United States as agift for his lovely wife, Rita, but afterbuying it, he figured that she is not the

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EX-CBI ROUNDUP

___________________ He Visited the Taj Mahal

cobra flute type. She leans more towardemeralds.

Night closed in and he washed themouthpiece of the flute in alcohol, andtried to blow a little ricky.dicky-doothrough it. He was busy taping themusic on a small recorder when thefront desk phoned and asked him if sa.hib would mind closing the performanceat once because guests all over the hotelassociate the notes with ugly snakes.

Winer was petulant about it, so hetook his recorder and walked to agrove of trees b e h i n d the hotel.There, he started the recorder in thedarkness of night to see what kind ofmusic he had. It was good. Maybe toogood. The music was whining its way

through a minor key dirge when a Hin-du burst through the trees and beganto shout at Dick. Soon other nativeswere on the scene.

Winer, sitting with his back againsta tree, demanded to know what he haddone to offend anybody. Someone in thecrowd who could speak English told theAmerican that he was charged with try-ing to steal a snake charmer's cobras.

"Ha!" said Winer, pointing to the maochine. "This isn't real; it's just a record.er." The man pointed to a clump ofgrass in front of Dick. A cobra sat up,his fat neck weaving back and forth.It's strange, but Winer's hair was darkwhen we started this trip . . . 0

Dentists Don't Recommend Betel ChewingCBIers who recall the widespread ha.

bit of betel chewing in the Orient maybe interested in a recent "Ask the Den.tist" column in the Detroit Free Press.

The column is written by Alfred E.Seyler, DDS, for the Michigan State Den-tal Association. Here is the question sub-mitted, and the answer by Dr. Seyler:Q-My fiance who returned from Viet.nam recently, tells me the natives therechew something that makes their teethblack or dark brown. They chew it togive themselves a "lift", something likesmoking pot. Do you know what it is?Does it produce mouth cancer?

A.-I presume your friend is referringto the habit of betel chewing, which is acustom of natives to the north and north.west of Australia, including the Philip-pines, Formosa, Ceylon, New Guinea andSouthern China.

Betel chewing has been known forthousands of years and it is a popularhabit of some 200 million people.

The basic ingredients of betel chewing.according to a recent article in DentalAbstracts magazine, are the areca nut,the betel leaf or bean and slaked limewhich natives obtain from shells or coral.Chewers put the nut in a betel leafalong with a little lime or the nut isdipped into the lime before it is chewed.At any rate the mixture is put betweenthe teeth and the cheek, pressed withthe tongue and sucked. The mixture issomewhat rough, and the roughnessseems to add to the pleasure of thechewer.

One of the ingredients of the arecanut is arecoline, which acts somethinglike nicotine and gives the betel chewera sense of well. being and happiness. Abeginner, however, goes through thesame sensations as a child or individualhas when he first starts to smoke. They

DECEMBER, 19671

break out in. cold perspiration, dizzinessand nausea. 'When the habit is estab.lished, hunger, tiredness and irritabilitydisappear and the mind and the wholebody relax. One of the desirable sideeffects of betel chewing is the pleasantodor it gives the breath.

Authorities tell us that the betel mix-ture is a fairly harmless stimulant andtranquilizer. Certainly betel chewing isn'tany worse than cigaret smoking or drink-ing whisky and the psychiatrists of thecountries where the habit is popularhesitate to condemn it, for fear someworse habit may develop.

For the teeth, betel chewing is harm-ful, in that it produces a stain whichpenetrates the tooth and never can beremoved. There is a very great likelihoodthat mouth cancer can develop from thehabit, but so far that hasn't been proved.

Ed: Now we know why. 0

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21

Commander'sMessage

by

Alfred Frankel

National CommanderChina-Burma-Indla

Veterans Assn.

Salaams CBI Friends:The weekend of October 28th found us

in Milwaukee for the National ExecutiveBoard Meeting. After a swift flight fromP~iladelphia's International Airport to~Ilwaukee's Billy Mitchell Airport, thende to our hotel in the airport limousineseem.ed endless. The. tour given by ourcabbIe could be consIdered in the natureof a bonus. It was enlightening to dis-cover the town is an active metropolisafter dark. We went from hotel to hoteldepositing passengers. To our surprisewe discovered Milwaukee has almost asmany hotels as it has beer. Needless tosay, we were delivered to our hotel last.

We greeted, and were delighted to seeour friends once again at a get togetherhosted by the Milwaukee basha. Thiswas held at the War Memorial Centerfor the board members who had arrivedearly.

The meeting was held on Saturdaymorni~g ~ith good coast to coast repre.sentatIOn m attendance. Many items ofimportance were discussed and resolved.Tulsa, Oklahoma was granted a charterto become the newest basha in CBIVA.I hope to go there to present the charterin the near future. Discussion on waysand means to secure new members wasquite lengthy and many fine suggestionsca.me of this. I appointed a special com-mIttee to pursue this important matterduring the next few months: Joseph Niv.ert as Chairman, Irv Nilsen, Ray Juengerand Ray Kirkpatrick. They will reporttheir findings to Louis Gwin, NationalMembership Chairman.

A preliminary reunion report was giv-

This space is contributed to the CBlV A byEx-CBl Roundup as a service to the manyreaders who are members of the Assn., of whichRoundup is the official publication. It is im-portant !o remember that CBlV A and Roundupare entrrely separate organization!. Your sub-scription to Roundup does not entitle "')u tom~mb~rship in CBlT:'A, nor does your member-shIp In CBlV A enlllie you 10 a subscription to~oundup. You nee~ not be a member of CBLVAIn Elder to subSCribe to Roundup or vise versa.

22

en by Ray Alderson and Darwin Carlile~f the. Iowa basha. It sounds very excit.mg WIth many activities planned thatshould keep us busy and happy through-~ut our stay. My family and I are look-mg forward eagerly to this. Mark thison your calendar: Des Moines, Iowa-August 7th to 10th inclusive. Piestengel,here we come!

During the morning, Les Dencker pre-sented me to the officers of the UnitedVeterans Council of Wisconsin who werein session at the same time. It was ave~itable thrill for me when to my sur-pnse, th~se gentlemen gave me a stand-mg ovatIOn, and an invitation to addressthem with a few remarks.

The hospitality of the Milwaukee mem-bers and their wives was, as usual, ex-cellent. Irma and I enjoyed every min.ute of our stay. Our thanks for an idealweekend weatherwise and otherwise.

Just. as the. first robin is a harbingerof Sprmg, so IS the fall of leaves an in-vitation to an exciting and happy timeof year. Fall is crisp weather footballand holidays. We all look forw~rd to thefamily holidays this time of year. I can'tthink of anything that matches being to-gether with my loved ones at Thanks-giving. This is the one time of year thatI can shine with the carving knife whiletrimming a big bird. With the introduc-tion of electric knives, I have suddenlybecome very competent in this art andmuch in demand for this new found tal.ent. This is also an opportunity to reoflect upon the many blessings for whichto be thankful; good health, friendships,t!J.e good fortune to be an American, tolIve and worship as we see fit in thisgreat country.

We will try to combine Tulsa andHouston in one trip the early part ofDecember. The Houston basha has ex-tended an invitation to us to join themat their Christmas party on December2nd. At the moment I am trying to sched-ule both visits, as I'd like very much togo to that part of the country.

My family has convinced me that Ishould become an outdoor athlete withsome lessons in skiing, ice skating, etc.New Year's weekend this year will findus i.n the Pocono Mountains of Pennsyl-vama. They have been quite convincingin their appeals. If next month's messageis written with help, you may be surethat some aches have appeared due touse of muscles unaccustomed to this ac-tivity.

Our best wishes for a MHry Christmas,a Happy Chanukah and a Healthy andProsperous New Year. Mayall your wish-es, whatever they may be, come true inthe coming year. Let us pray for Peace.

ALFRED FRANKEL,120 Yellowstone Rd.Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

EX.eBI ROUNDUP

________________________ To the Editors

LARGEST ~Ioslem temple or mosque in India is this one atDelhi. Photo by tan Paszkewicz.

RAY ALDERSON,Dubuque, Iowa

1968 CBI Reunion• Iowa Basha officersmet with the 1968 reunioncommittee at the SaveryHotel in Des Moines Sat-urday, Oct. 7, and am hap-py to report that plans fornext year's CBIV A familyreunion in that Iowa cityare well under way. Thedates will be Wednesday,Aug. 7, throu~h Saturday,Aug. 10. The Iowa Bashawill be hosts on Wednesdayafternoon and evening,Aug. 7, with plenty of thewell known Amana refresh-ments on hand. A cornboil and a puja parade arealso slated. U.S. SenatorJack Miller of Iowa, ex-CBI vet of the 14th AirForce, is scheduled tospeak at Past Command-ers luncheon. There will bean Ex-CBI Roundup roomopen during any "freetime" of reunion to seeslides and photos. Prizeswill be given to the oldestand youngest CBI vets inattendance, CBI vet over-seas the longest, CBI vetmarried the longest, CBIvet having most childrenat reunion, and CBI vettraveling longest distanceto reunion. Set your 1968vacation dates now to in-clude the CBIV A reunionAug. 7-10 in Des Moines,Iowa.

475th Infantry• Enjoy the magazinevery much. I was in the I& R Platoon, 475th Infan-try. I don't see much writ-ten about the 475th. Wouldlike to hear from formerbuddies.

W. H. JENKINS2509 Ripley Ave.EI Dorado, Ark. 71730

George P. Lund• George P. Lund, 43,who served with the USArmy in the CBI Theaterduring World War II, diedof a heart attack atCharles City, Iowa, in Octo-ber. He received the BronzeStar while on duty in CBl.At the time of his deathhe was owner and opera-tor of the Norlin Hotel &Cafe in Charles City. He

NATIVE barber in New Delhi, India, sets up shop whereverhe can find a customer. Photo by Stan Paszkewicz.

Camp Kanchrapara was also a licensed em-• Read Jim Ashcraft's let- balmer.ter regarding Kanchrapara. (From an article in theHope he can come up with Waterloo Courier submit-an article about the old RD. ted by Ben Hopkins ofJust one correction for his Montezuma, Iowa, pastbenefit; I was never at- Iowa Basha commander).tached to the permanentparty; I was only there ashort while in November1945 prior to my return tothe states. We moved fromKanchrapara to Camp Hia-leah, Calcutta for an over-night stay prior to boardingthe USS General Hase atPrincip Ghat. Just thoughtit would be rather interest-ing if someone could comeup with an article and pho-tos to reminisce about. Irecall the times we sweatedout the PX line at Kan-chrapara just to get a fewbottles of warm beer, butit tasted good regardless.

HOWARD GORMAN,Sonora, Calif.

DECEMBER, 1967 23

IOWA INVITES YOUFOR '68 •••

•Des Moines

MEET YOUR FRIENDS AT THE21st ANNUAL CBI REUNION

to be held at Hotel Savery inDes Moines, Iowa

AUGUST 7-8-9-10, 1968