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CnAPTEB CDAPTER CHAPTER XXWhen XX XXWhen When stranger things tblngs would hap- hap hapI happen nappen - . I pen , . we talked about things of the thesort thisort sort . which had bad once been told In In.tory Is Isstory iiBtory I.ort Iort .tory tory story . books boob AU All of us agreed that thai thatwhen thaiwhen thawhen when this war waa was over there woul wouk woulbe would wouldhe woukbe < I be he nothing that bad had ever bappened happened bappenedIn happenedIn bappene bappenein < in action fiction detlon that wouldn't wouldnt ' ' have bave actually actuallybappened actuallyhappened actual actualhappened , happened bappened In 10 this battle of the unt tint tintverse milverse . . verse For Instance InstanceLiklang InstanceLikiang InstanceLikiang Liklang Likiang is a city in China tar far ul ulon up upon uon ] on the big northern loop of theYangtse the theI theYangtse thiYangtse , Yangtse Klang Kiang It 1 is . China , yea yes , . but bul butthat bulthat buthat that part of China is as aa wild as 811 Tibeand Tibet Tibetand Tibetand I and Arabia The be ' ! people are callec caUed called ' * Lolos Lobos ' . and they must be descend descendants descendants descendants ants of Oenghia Gengbls Gengbis Khan I bad had ftown flows ftownover flowsover flowlover over the place , for it was wa . just North Northof Northof Nortiof of the terry ferry route from trom Assam UKunming to toKunmlng Is IsKunming Kunmlng Kunming and I had seen the ftat flal ftatclearing flalclearing flaiclearing clearing South ot of the village that thai thatcould thaicould tbacould could have been an emergency land landIng landlug ing lug field fteld I noted that It was clos close close closeto closeto < to nine thou thousand uand = feet above sea lev leveI level eI el . , and therefore not a field fteld to use useunless useunless us < unless one bad toCapt toCapt to Capt . . Charlie Charlle Sawyer had bad crasb crash crasblanded crashlanded landed just South of 01 there closer to toTaUfu toTalifu tcTallfu TaUfu Talifu and had been unable to identiny Identity iden tity tiny himself himseU While the wild looking lookingLolo lookingLobo lookingLolo Lolo Lobo tribesmen were getting set ttexecute to toexecute toexecute execute him with ancle anciettt ancient-lookingflint ancient lookingflint t-looklng t looklng - - looking lookingflint flint lock muskets Sawyer said the theboles theholes ththoles boles holes in the barrels looked twice as asbig asbig atbig big as fifty calibre bores Just althe at atthe atthe the crucial moment however whenhis whenhis when bis his fate looked darkest some new newarrival newarrival newarrival arrival in the party saw the identification tdenti Identi flcation fication catlon card that Sawyer bad had beenpointing beenpointing been pointing to It Itwas was inscribed In varlous vari vanf various vanfous ous languages and with pictures picturesTbe picturesThe picturesThe Tbe The new arrival didn dldn t recognize theChinese tbt the theChinese Chinese flag Oag or any of the Ianguages languages lan Ian guages or the Generalissimo s a slg sig slgnature signature nature . ' chopbut chop -but but - but he saw a IItarAs starAs star IItar As it happened it was the star ol of ofIndIa ofIndta India Indta over the Imprint in m HindustaniThen HindustaniThen Hindustani Then the tribesman pointed to the thesame thesame same star on the wing of Sawyer a . ashipthe ship-the ship the ship - - the Insignia of the Army AirForce AirForce Air Force Sawyer was saved and laterhe laterhe later he was feasted on wild buffalo andrice and andrIce andrice rIce wIDeBut wineBut wine wIDe wineBut But why whyT ? Here in the wilds ofthe of ofthe ofthe the Lolo Lola country where very few fewwhite fewwhite white men bad had ever been the tribes tribesmen tribesmen tribesmen men were more familiar with the thewhite thewhite white star of the Air Force than withany withany with any written language We learnedthe learned learnedthe learnedthe the principal reason later laterA laterA A report had come in to GeneralChennault General GeneralChennault GeneralChennault Chennault s headquarters that a na native naLive nalive tive Live village in the Lolo Lobo country be between between tween Lake Tali TaJi Tall and Likiang Llkiang was wasunder wasunder wasunder under siege by the Burmese northern north northern northern ern tribesmen who had crossed the theSalween theSalween Salween perhaps under the dlrec direc direction dlrectlOn lion tlOn tion of the Japanese Two of o1 us usHolloway usHolloway usHolloway Holloway and I were sent to lookthe look lookthe lookthe the place over In two lwo P-40 P 40 - - - s Wewere Wewere We were told by the General that wecould wecould we wecould could determine whether the townwas townwas town was under siege by noting notmg whetheri whetheror whether or not the usual pedestrian trafficwas traffic trafficwas trafficwas was passing In and out of the cIty cItygate citygate citygate gate All the cities are walled and andare andare andare are obviously very far from roadsor roads roadsor roadsor or from civilization civilizationWe We made our observation and re- re returned returned re returned - - turned with the report The village villagewas villagewas villagewas was besieged and we had seen the theborsemen thehorsemen thehorsemen borsemen horsemen encamped a halt hall half milearound mile milearound milearound around the city wall We loaded up upand upand upand and went back with six eIghteen eIghteenkilogram eighteenkilogram eighteenkilogram kilogram frags on the wing racks racksand racksand racksand and plenty of fttty tlfty fifty calibre ammunitlon ammunl ammunl110n ammunltion 110n tion I also carried a Very pistol pistoland pistoland pistoland and all colors of 01 shellsAs shellsAs shells shellsAs As we circled the town we could couldlIee couldsee couldsee lIee see the villagers vllJagers watching us thenwe then thenwe thenwe and andbombed andbombed andbombed we dove on the besiegers bombed them from trom a thousand leet feet feetThe leetThe feetThe The lines Jines of prehistoric cavalry cavalrybroke cavalrybroke cavalrybroke broke and retreated towards the Salween Sal Salween Salween ween and Burma We machine machinegunned machinegunned machinegunned gunned them until they spread In Inpanic inpanic inpanic panic Then I used the Very pistol pistolhooting pistolshooting pistolshooting , hooting shooting first green lights then redHolloway red redHolloway redHolloway Holloway said It was the best display dls die dlsplay dieplay play of fireworks Oreworks he d ever seen We Wechecked Wechecked Wechecked checked up for several days but the theraiders theraiders theraiders raiders hadn t come back and nor normal normat normal mal mat pedestrian traffic was passingthrough passing passingthrough passingthrough through the city wall Holloway and andI andI 1 I with two of the General s a P-40 P 40 P.40 P40 - - . s a shad ahad sbad had stopped a warThe warThe war warThe The white star of the Air Forcehad Force Forcehad Forcehad had been seen by those villagers villagersand villagersand villagersand and they had told the surroundingcountry surrounding surroundingcountry surroundingcountry Per Perhaps Perhags Perhaps country that we were friends haps hags the constant tight sight of o1 transportsfrom transports transportsfrom transportsfrom from Ind a to China and return had hadmade hadmade hadmade made the big white star a familiar familiarsymbol familiarsymbol familiarsymbol symbol At any rate the Lolos Lobos who whowere whowere whowere were about to execute Sawyer recognized rec recognlzed recognized ognlzed ognized it it . , , , and to them it meant morethan more morethan morethan than written languages and sealed sealedorders sealedrders sealedorders orders ) rders Such is the lhe strangeness of ofthis ofhis ofthis this his global war warMore warMore warMore More true fiction came carne out of theLolo the theLolo theL.olo A AI AFerry AGerry AFerry Lolo L.olo . country during the autumn Ferry Gerry Command pilot , . , Lieutenant LieutenantAronson Lieutenanttronson LieutenantAronson englOewhich enginewhich -which which - whichmeans whichmeans whichmeans I Aronson tronson lost an engine englOe means that his engine failed faled-on faled on failed-on failed ! - - on histrip his hisI histrip hisrip Assam to Kunming He Hebarely Hebarely trip rip from I barely > arely made the big meadow thatteas that thatI thatwas thatwas was teas South of the town of Likiang Likiangin Likiangn In n the hairpin loop of the YangtseAfter Yangtse YangtseAfter Yangtsetiter I After titer several days we went in there thereto thereC thereto field fieldlover fieldaver fieldover to C look the Improvised lmprovled , landing aver . , In the hope that we coul cold fly flyanother flymother flyanother lover another mother transport to him bim with a good &ood ood & engine , or 01 ' carry In the mcchani mechanics mechanic mechanicand mechanicsand 9 and the tools took with which toepalr to . - repair -epalr epalr te tebad th thbad tl bad one oneIn oneIn In every everT orga organisation organization aUOD there la ( . . aI al always < I . way ways one person who holds up tit titmorale the themorale morale , aome some one who makes t4e t4edarker ttl ttldarker darker moments brighter and wL wh wb whcan can bring a little mUe sunshine tnto'th tntoth Into ' the thetense ( it ittense tense reality of war Out In thChina the theChIna th China theatre , and especially especlaU , In hi the the23rd th23rd th 23rd Fl Fighter hter Group , my most iost moat unfotgetable UJifor unfot . getable character cbara ter terII was \II II \ a Lleut Benr Hear Henry HenryElias , Ellas Elias This pilot was a Southemel Southerner Soutltemel Soutltemellike . like most moat of the other others * . in the ChIna ChInaakles Chin Chinskies skies akles When I first ftrst reached reacbed Henf Heng Henfyang Hengyang [ - . yang he was acting aa as assistant as.istant asistant . 01 oI op- op operations oIeratione . - . orations erations eratione officer oftlcer : to AJax BaumletHe Baumler Baumlet BaumlerHe BaumleiHe He had a re reply ly tor for every evel'7 evel7 ' person personand persorand , and a come-back come back - - to every evel'7 evel7 ' Joke He Hewas H Hwas Hwas was definitely deftnltely a morale builder , an and andyou anyou you can ask anyone if they're theyre ' ' not notas noas no as valuable at the front as ammunlLion ammunl . tlon Uon Lion LionElias Ellas Elias had been on several raids raidsand raid raidand and had shot down two Japanswhen Ja Japanes Japans anese anesewben when wben I heard beard the first Joke abouhim about abouthim abou him He'd Hed ' been on an attack to toN tNanchang t tNanchang ? Nanchang anchang N . , and as the ships shIp shlpa , turnefor turne turned turnedfor j for home in the fading light of lat let late lateafternoon letafternoon afternoon some aome one In the rear of ofthe o othe c the formation observed something somethtnl somethingpeculiar somethtnlpeculiar peculiar Up ahead there were ftve flyds4 fly flyThese . ds4 : | r WI WIS WIJ 3 s S WIThese J These pilots are tired out by aimost al ai almost almost most constant alert without relief rellel for foa foi21 ' 21 % 1 daysPto days daysP40 P-40 P 40 P-to to - - - s with their sleek silhouettes silhouettesshowing silhouettesshowing silhouettesshowing , showing wheels up and everything in inproper in inproper irproper proper order But off to the fiank flank fiankin flankin flankin in almost the position of 01 the numberthree number numberthree numberthree three man in a Vee Vel " formation was wasone wa waone . one ship shJp with its wheels extended extendedSome extendedSome extendedSome Some one called cal1ed on the radio Hey HeyElias HeyElias HeyEllas Elias who s that flying tlylng in formation formationWIth formationwith formationwith i WIth you with their wheels down ? As the words sank into the con consclousness consciousnesa consciousness sclousness sciousnesa of the flight fltght and of Elias Eliasespecially Eliasespecially Eliaaespecially ; especially their ominous signlfIcance signif signifIcance significance Icance became apparent Eliaajerked Elias Eliasjerked Eliasjerked jerked his head around and looked lookedat lookedat lookedat at his wing ' iran IT'an ITan men Even to an In Inexperienced inexperienced inexperienced experienced eye the silhouette was wasunmistakable wasunmistakable waaunmistakable unmistakable It was a Jap Model1 ModelI Model ModelI97 I I97 97 one of the old fixed landing landinggear landinggear landinggear gear types The entire enUre formationtried formation formationtried formationtried tried at once to get It as they finally finallyrealized finallyrealized finallyrealized realized what It was But they hadthe had hadthe hadthe the laugh on Ellas Elias Just as he rec recI recogmzed recognized recognized I ogmzed ognized the Jap the enemy pilot evidently evi evidently evidently dently recognized the P 40 s a In the thetwilight thetwilight thetwilight twilight before darkness darkness-perhaps darkness perhaps darknessperhapshe - perhapshe he saw the leering leermg sharks mouths mouthsFor mouthsFor mouthsFor For as Ellas ElIas shoved the nose of hisship his hisshIp hisship shIp straight down and dove for lor hIm hImthe himthe himthe the Jap pulled pulJed his ship straight upand up upand upand and climbed chmbed for tor the sky Laterwhen Later Laterwhen |