Lingling 零陵

S/Sgt Martin S. Waite (ASN 20323598) and 10 other men were lost on a 'routine' flight from Lingling Airbase (in Hunan province) for a short flight to a base at Guilin (in adjacent Guangxi province) on the late afternoon of 28 May 1944, departing during weather conditions 'overcast with thunderstorms.' The Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) lists the cause of...

Sgt Richard Dille “Dick” Arbogast, killed along with the rest of the B-24 crew during crash 28 May 1944, in China. (Photo courtesy of Vindicator I.) See background of crash here. Sgt. Arbogast was 23 years old. His family received a last letter from him dated April 10, 1944. See more of his personal story at USAAF Memoriam.

Our project purchased a collection of images and a large number of unknown negatives from a dealer who had found them at an auction, and was uncertain what they contained. In the end there were over 500 images from the CBI, most in China, many in Yunnan province, probably at the Luliang air base and some at Chanyi (Zhanyi), a...

GIs visiting US military graves at Kunming. In the background are markers for the deceased, including for one of 2nd Lt. George R. Barnes, #0-79770, 74th Fighter Squadron, deceased July 24, 1943 at Lingling, Hunan province. Photo from Warren C. Smith. George R. Barnes, entered the Service From: Pennsylvania, Cumberland County. "KIA"

In this fascinating photo--a virtual Norman Rockwell still-life of wartime life in China--Chinese troops, American troops, and Chinese civilians cross the Xiao river (潇水) via ferry near Lingling, China, during WWII. In the background, on the east bank of the river, is the Huilong Pagoda (零陵回龙塔), which remarkably still survives today, and has been restored.

Retreating by ferry near Lingling in the face of the Japanese advance in the fall of 1944, crossing a river by ferry.

Shipping bombs and fuel by boat and hard human labor, near Lingling. During WWII. From the collection of Hal Geer.

The railway bridge at Lingling, destroyed. WWII. Another angle:

Chinese retreat about 75-100 miles east of Lingling in the fall of 1944, crossing a river by ferry.

Chinese troops cross the river at Lingling by barge during retreat in the face of the Japanese Ichigo campaign advances in the summer/fall of 1944.