1944

Photo of Elmer Bukey taken in Calcutta, India, in early 1944. Elmer Bukey was a member of the 396th Air Service Squadron, 12th Air Service Group, in the CBI during WWII, and spent much time in southwestern China, including very nervous and difficult days during the retreat in front of the Japanese Ichigo campaign during summer and fall of 1944...

P-51s in snow at the American base at Luliang in China during WWII.

The B-29 bomber "Mammy Yokum" in China during WWII. At one point this plane was piloted by Rolland Thomas Young, ASN #O684103, who was attached to 792nd Bombardment Squadron (H), 468th Bombardment Group, 58th Bombardment Wing, 20th Air Force on September 4, 1943, with rank of 2nd Lt. He was a captain in the Air National Guard (Indiana) after the...

"The Adopted One--This Is A Group Of The 396th Guys Having Their Picture Taken With A Small Chinese Boy That We Adopted As A Mascot. " Caption courtesy of Elmer Bukey.

A GI stands in a doorway of a building in China during WWII.

Burned American fighter, a P-51 or P-40, in Guangxi, China.

"Always The Clown--This is Jose Martinez getting a ride from a couple Chinese in their sedan chair." Caption courtesy of Elmer Bukey.

Keepsake (above)--a piece of the parachute used to bailout, signed by all the people who bailed out that day. Text below courtesy of Elmer Bukey. This is a story about my bail-out from an 11th Bomb plane named "Chicken Charlie". On the 30th of March 1944 I was told to preflight the B-25 in preparation for a test flight prior...

This is the Fourteenth Air Force base at Liuchow [Liuzhou] as Americans accompanying the Chinese Ground Forces found it ditched, pitterd, cratered, and mined upon their arrival after the Japanese had evacuated it. The air base at Liuchow was lost to the Japanese on 7 November 1944. Japanese were never able to capitalize it as Fourteenth Air Force bombers and...

Pfc Eugene Riede holds a large collection of Chinese currency, in China, during WWII.