Yangkai (Yangjie) 羊街

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

On May 20, 1944 the B-24 bomber 'Puck' took off on a sea sweep mission under leadership of the lanky pilot, Donald Richardson. The plane (#42-73317) and crew disappeared. The crew were: 1st Lt. Donald G. Richardson, Pilot 1st Lt. Frank L. Munson, Co-pilot 1st Lt. James P. ‘Jim' Gilbert, Navigator 1st Lt. Linus J. Austin, Bombardier TSgt. Cecil L...

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

' Top image (above) is closeup of the original WWII compacted rock and gravel runway at the American Yangkai airbase, at the very south end of the runway, during our visit in February on 2016. Bottom image is an overgrown but original WWII taxi way to a still extant revetment, large enough for a heavy bomber. See other images from...

' The familiar mountains to the west of the base that are the backdrop for so many wartime American pictures taken on the Yangkai base. For example, in the top image, the dark gully going down the face of the mountain can be clearly seen in this image (between the two men), and in this image (above the B-25 cockpit...

' 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...

Local people in the Yangkai, Yunnan province, area. In the bottom image, Walter and another US serviceman can just be made out in back of the men who have risen from their meal in order to take the picture.

A women washes clothes near Yangkai, Yunnan province, China, during WWII.