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Show Stilwell Road-Land Route to China 685 l*. S. Army Signal Corps, Official Lead Jeep of Stilwell Road's First Convoy Crosses the Burma-China Border Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, builder of the Ledo section of the road, which his troops dubbed "Pick's Pike," sits beside the driver. When the convoy reached the border town of Wanting on January 28, 1945, T. V. Soong, brother of Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, cut a tape across the road and the trucks passed onto Chinese soil. I brought back with me several Chinese $100 bills-worth about fifty cents each when I arrived in the United States. The Ledo Road starts with the main street of the village of Ledo, a stretch of ten miles which the British improved with some asphalt covering. Before the Americans arrived, the highway beyond this section was little more than a foot trail snaking off into the Naga Hills. Now there is a wide graveled highway to take the heavy loads of military convoys. The colorful Naga head-hunters who live in the hills around Ledo bear a striking resemblance to our own American Indian. They have the same copper coloring, high cheekbones, and hooked noses, and they walk with a natural grace. Whether in the wilderness of the hill country or in town, they habitually move in single file. The men wear loincloths; the women, varicolored sarongs and shawls. It is almost a breach of etiquette for a Naga to be caught without his knife, a murderous- looking weapon with a 20-inch blade that curves toward the end and is even more formidable in appearance than the storied Gurkha knives which have slit many an Axis throat in this war. Some Nagas also carry quivers of blow darts. Although intended for hunting animals, Naga darts have been found in dead Japanese in the jungles of eastern Assam. Nagas Rescue American Airmen The Nagas like Americans. One reason may be the offer of one hundred rupees for every Allied flyer rescued from the jungle. With nice impartiality, the Nagas also are willing to supply Japanese for the same fee. While I was at Ledo I saw a group of Nagas bring in seven American airmen who were forced to parachute when their transport ran into difficulties over the high mountains. |