I wonder if that bridge is stil up?  It might be visible in a goggle earth pic if you knew where to look.

Great pictures.
 

My granddad flew the triangle as well.  He had some interesting stories, but he died when I was seven years old, in 1991.  He also spent a fair time in China, but wouldn't share the reason.  Even at that age, I knew I shouldn't ask. I kinda wish I had now, though.  None of my family knows.  

 

Update 8

What's you drinkin' Saturday ? Wonder what it was in 1944? Burma Hooch? My Dad told me stories of the guys drinking airplane fuel and medical alcohol or some suce brew.Of course it could be a soda.
I wonder.

TwoDogKnight, I have always liked your avatar, and I understand a lot more where it came from now. Thank you for this thread!

Hey 95thFoot, Thanks. Is that you son in your avatar?
What part of MA you from? I grew up in Somerville, and summers in Plymouth. My Dad retired in Plymouth. I was just up there this past weekend. I think I unpacked the heat and humidity from FL on ya'll.

OP, thanks for the photos.

The pictures of the US plane being recovered from the river are very interesting. It looks to be a PT-17 Stearman trainer. I have never seen a picture of a Stearman overseas in a combat zone. It was strictly a primary trainer used in the states. How did one make it to the CBI? Very interesting.

Thanks, I wondered if that what it was myself. I think your correct in the ID. It definitely has fabric ski on the fuselage
From what I read about the CBI theater, it was call the forgotten theater of operations, getting last dibs on anything. Their motto was 'make do' for that reason.

Good question.Let me see what I can find in the limited CBI sources I've found.

Thanks for shareing your family's story too. My Dad also talked little on his war experiences. Most of my memories are from when I was 4-10.yrs old. He talked a lot less as he got older about it. Some things he told my wife and not me. Other things he told my grandkids and I got to  eavesdrop. Alot I found on the links I posted and pieced together a more complete story.


P.S. Your grandfather my dad -contemporaries, That means I'm old enough to be your Dad, maybe even your grandpa?



Best Regards,

TDK

great pics! thanks for sharing!!

No guns in the nose.  No superchargers?

I'm 28.

 

Looks like a Type 95

TDK, thanks for posting these and rescuing a bit of history from being lost forever.

Update 9

Anyone translate Japanese? writting above opening center a good luck prayer? a curse? technical military warning?

posted pic

slight cropping for enlargement of japanese lettering.




original posted pic

 cropped and enhanced version of original pic above

Ledo Road sign close up to read writing. Love digital enhancements. I couldn't read this originally until tweeked some. what I think it says:
"        The first convoy over the Ledo Road
passed this point at 2:00 PM on 20 January (1944?)
thus establishing a land link with China p?/f? ??
          The capture of Lachio by the Japanese ?
severed China from land communications with (the)
outside world since May 1942. With the open(ing of)
this road America is implimenting her pro(tection of)
China in the dark days of retreat to give (them the)
means to Victory "




Are these the same type tanks? They seem to be.
previous posted pic:


new pic:


Moar tomorrow

Best Regards
TDK

wow, thank you for posting these.

Thanks for posting these.

My Daddy fought in WWII in the South Pacific Theater. A lot of which was in the China-Burma-India Campaign. He was a Combat Medic from late 1941 until August 1946 when his enlistment obligation was over. He didn't talk much about it, but has some good photos. Unfortunately I didn't ask a lot of questions. He died in Nov 94 so a lot of his history was lost. By the history of his patches he was with Merrill's Marauders:
original Issue Merrill's Marauders   Ledo Road Hand Made India

Tag...

My Grandfather and Grandmother served in the CBI theater....
I have a few pictures to post...

That 's great. thanks for posting.
Have you checked out the links I posted about the CBI theater , Ledo Road, Merrill's Mauraders, all there?
China-Burma-India Rememberig the Forgotten Theater of WWII Link
here's one of the links on that site about    Merrill's Mauraders
You need to post your Dad's pictures. Start a thread or post some here. either way I'd like to see them.

Mybe your Dad was a medic who treated my Dad when the 209th fought with the Mauraders at Myitkyina.
Plus check out the photo's on the site too, I found a picture of my Dad there but wasn't certain until I got his album back and found the same photo in it. You never know

And I'm certain all those who viewed and subscribed to this thread would too.



Best Regards,
TDK[img]http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_cool

Now I am expecting you to post some of these pics you know as you 'taged' the thread

Please do post some or start your own thread. I definately want to see them.

Best Regards,
TDK

Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Great pictures. If you have the time you could do a lot to restore those using Photoshop or Adobe Elements (costs less than photoshop with only a couple of features stripped off). The initial scan is the most important. I always take multiple scans using different settings to see what works best, but enabling "color restoration" usually does wonders, even B&W photos.

My grandfather fought in the Philipines but never really talked about it until he was dying of cancer. He gave me all his old pictures from the war but not as large a collection as yours. Lots of pictures of dead Japanese soldiers, he fought in the highlands on Luzon. I found a VA card he didn't want me to see in the box, turns out he had a VA disability for "shell shock", my aunt said he'd wake up screaming from nightmares when she was a kid. I also have his "Freedom Bird" lapel, I think you called it a "Ruptured Duck".

He went in the Reserves after he came home.....they had to go every week back then (Monday nights for him) instead of one weekend a month.

He was tough as nails though, stereotypical of so many from the era - son of alcoholic Irish immigrants, dropped out of school in 7th grade to help support his family, he started writing his life story when he was sick but never finished it. He wrote about waiting in soup lines during the depression and his parents sneaking him and bros. and sisters out of their apartment windows in the middle of the night because they couldn't pay rent. He met my grandmother when they were 15 and they spent the rest of their lives together. He became a Boston cop after the war, as was his uncle, and eventually his own two sons.

*** Enough of my long-winded story, I actually started typing to talk about your pictures. If you don't have time to restore them there are professionals who do it for a living, those pics are a big piece of history. Don't put them in new photo albums unless you purchase non-acidic storage containers or photo albums. I usually get mine from B&H Photo online or in Melrose, MA. at Hunt's Photo. If they're already in old albums, it might be best to just leave them attached and scan the page. Pulling them off could cause hundreds of tiny cracks.

You might already know all this.....I learned the hard way when my mother gave me some albums from the 1960's and I pulled some pictures out. I picked up a book on photo restoration and learned a lot. With so few WWII veterans left it's important we do what we can to preserve that piece of history.

One more thing, if you haven't already checked it out you might want to join ancestry.com. I found my grandfather's and great-grandfather's Draft Registration cards (though my grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor) and even found out my grandfather's first cousin died at Anzio. I was told nobody in the family died, though 13 family members served in the war. I found my great-grandfather served in both the Canadian Army and US Army......and records from the "Veterans Home" that indicate he had bad teeth. .Census records show a lot too. Google his unit and names of fellow soldiers he knew.....I found an obituary of someone in my grandfather's notebook that included a short history of what and where the unit did in the Philipines.

Good luck, keep posting pics.

Maybe this  will help, but according to Wekipedia may not be much original left.
Weki link ledo road




(79)  High above Salween River bridge  link:Walter Orey's CBI photo album

Another bridge that I posted my Dad's pics of

Shweli River Bridge link


Maps I found here with Lat and Long
. link: The Ledo Road

Very cool!

Thank you for your detailed post.
I just got the pics back after being 'lost' misplaced by my BIL or 6yrs. I guess they could have been in worse conditio.
I have been editing i photobucket somewhat. I 'scaned' by taking a close up pic with an IPAD II.

I haven't tried photshop or other programs yet, will do so and replace these( maybe ) Ive psted or I was thinking of posting to the CBI site directly and or maybe Wekipedia to further the preserving and memory of the pictural history my Dad left me .

Thanks, Best Regards,
TDK

Posted previously but enhanced for question about uniforms. old willis  and truck posed group Dad in dark clothing middle left, Are the other soldiers in American or British uniforms?









 train India


temple in Calcutta? Karachi palace ?



same picture

source :Link CBI pictures


another source calling it the palace

CBI source :   link CBI







city

Bridge over the Hooghly River in Calcutta
same picture but from different source:Link CBI pictures




camp tents


native cooking



2 ladies Indian garb


India graveyard?










one of Dad's buddies
carring a revolver?


mess kits


budda war trophy?


buddy by wrecker

WOW!!!   Thank you for sharing!

I found this very informative war time video narrated by Ronald Reagan even.

Link to my other post concerning my Dad's war stories
link to my post

AWESOME

THREAD

My grandfather was an artillery spotter in the CBI theater.  Here's a pic:



He flew L-4H & J Grasshoppers as an artillery spotter but I also have pics of him at the controls of C-46s flying over the hump.  This picture is funny because on the back it says, "This was when I almost shot a peacock.  Only missed it by ten yards."  I guess officers had all the fun.

ETA: Just noticed the Thompson is missing the fore end.

I appreciate your taking the time and relating a great family war story . I hope you can post moar pics I'd like to see them.

(I don't kow if you noticed but your pic didn't show,so I reposted

edit shows up fine now , must have been my browser .
Best Regards,
TDK

Wow!  Terrific pics.  Thank you for sharing.

Here are two of my grandfather.

He was a medical technician in Burma attached to the 155th Medical Battalion.  I was only able to get a partial service record due to the fire that occurred in the archives years ago.  I am hoping to be able to reconstruct more in addition to writing my senator about a possible Bronze Star.  

From the research I have conducted I believe that all medical technicians that served in combat int he CBI Theater are automatically entitled to a Bronze Star.   We will see where it takes me.

Thanks for posting pics of your grandfather.  I don't know about the CBI Bronze Star requirements but it's good that you take the time and effort to check into it. .

I did find this about CBI medical unit history, check the link below.

Main CBI medical unit history page


example
"CBI Medical Units Real Unsung Heroes

By Albert O. Wilkat

If you have viewed the Merrill's Marauders video tapes, you obviously were thoroughly moved by their actions under gawd awful conditions but you also have to be Impressed by the outstanding job that the US medical units did In CBI. Several of our readers have been kind enough to share their experiences which are representative of all other CBI Veterans who served In medical units. "

Here's the source to check out





Best Regards
TDK

Awesome pics - THANKS!

Bump to keepout of archies until my Dad;s birthday, Dec 22, he would have been 91 this year.  He pased away in 1998. I still miss him.

Bump for Veterans Day.

Very Cool...my uncle Robert Bougie was one of the original Merrill 's Mauraders..verified on the tribute website..nice to see these pics..

These are priceless.  Thanks for sharing.

Awesome.   Do  you have any pictures or or war stories  of your uncle you can share?




Best Regards
TDK

Arm full of grenades .