local people

The men hanging out in Yangkai (Yangjie), Yunnan province, China. Walter S. Polchlopek is marked with an arrow. Walter S. Polchlopek, Corporal, was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a B-24 mission to strike Japanese shipping. See more about Walter S. Polchlopek here, and about the loss of the whole...

Three American servicemen strolling the countryside near Yangkai, Yunnan, China. A local boy rides a cow or oxen in front. Walter S. Polchlopek, Corporal, was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a B-24 mission to strike Japanese shipping. See more about the loss of the whole crew here.

Three US servicemen with a local civilian and with a Chinese soldier, most likely in Yangkai, Yunnan, China. Walter is sitting on the left in the front.

' Walter S. Polchlopek, Corporal, was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a B-24 mission to strike Japanese shipping. Above is a newspaper report in the Lowell Sun, from March 5, 1946, regarding this loss. See more about Walter S. Polchlopek here, and about the loss of the whole crew...

Walter Polchlopek with Chinese village kids in the area of Yangkai, Yunnan province, China, during WWII.

A wonderful image from the Walter S. Polchlopek collection--a local crowd, probably in the county seat not far from Yangkai (Yangjie) air base in Yunnan province, China, enjoying the entertainment of inscrutable foreigners doing funny things in public, that is, they are enjoying the public goofing around by the photographer who is standing raised above the crowd, maybe simply on...

A couple with their young baby boy, probably at Yangkai (Yangjie), in Yunnan province.

An image from the Walter S. Polchlopek collection--A man directs traffic in India (top), and a poor elderly woman sits in China. Walter S. Polchlopek, Corporal, was lost on May 20, 1944, over the sea near the south east coast of China, after a B-24 mission to strike Japanese shipping.

' Top image (above) is looking south from the northern end of the original WWII compacted rock and gravel runway at the American Yangkai airbase, during our visit in February on 2016. The whole extent of runway is intact today, and officially still the property of the People\'s Liberation Army, although it is in a practical sense not in use...