1944

Party at Governor Lung's of Yunnan Province on December 16, 1944. Gen. Lu Han, Maj. Gen. Wedemeyer, and Gen. Kwan. Photo by Pfc. Thomas F. Melvin. Passed by censor William E. Whitten.

Shown working on D7 Bulldozer at Tengchong BRE Camp, after it was brought over the Hump, are L to R, Pvt. William Guthrie, and T/4 Curtiss R. Greenwood. Photo by T/Sgt. Greenberg. Passed by censor Emanuel Goldberg.

Celebrities visit China during WWII: General Claire L. Chennault with USO entertainers in Kunming, China, October 26, 1944, including Jinx Falkenburg, Betty Yeaton, and Jimmy Dodd.

American hostels at the base burn during the American and Chinese retreat before the Japanese arrive during the Ichigo push in the fall of 1944. Guangxi province, Liuzhou air base.

Funeral of 16th CCU cameraman Richard Dille “Dick” Arbogast in Kunming on June 2, 1944. The full crew died when their B-24 crashed into a mountain between Lingling and Kweilin in August of 1944. (It is possible most of the flag-draped boxes shown in the images here are from this same crash.) Sgt. Dick Arbogast, whom Hal Geer called "my...

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.

The bridge at Luliang with high water after the rain. During WWI, 1944. "Luliang (China), vendors on a stone bridge spanning the high water of Nanpan river: A river near Luliang, where in the spring of the year, it became quite high. The arch of this stone constructed bridge forms an almost perfect semi-circle reflection of the river water. [Vendors]...

Cpl. Elmer Eugene Zobb, a crew chief in the 396th Air Service Squadron, 12th Air Service Group, was lost upon crash of a B-24, #41-23889 (which had been converted to transport configuration), after departure at around noon January 25, 1944, from Barrackpore, India, for a flight to Chabua, India, when the weather closed at Chabua, despite final contact with the...

Elmer Bukey posing alongside a salvaged P-40 in the service area at Guilin. During WWII.

"This is a picture of one of the eight P-40's that was built from our salvage yard at Kwelin (Guilin) China. The planes had new engines installed and were tested and turned over to the fighter groups for combat service.To our knowledge all planes performed to everyone's satisfaction." Caption courtesy of Elmer Bukey.