Joe

Here are the pictures I tried to email you ..........

Meeting the US Consul General at a 30 year anniversary of Nixon's visit to China.  It was in Guandzhou and

I gave him my card and an American Flag pin.  

My girlfriends at the Expo in Guandzhou ............ (suck in that belly gardner)

Being interviewed by a local Guandzhou CCTV station.  It was hotter than all get out and I was

sweating like a "you know what" .......... I didn't see the interview, but I was told by friends

that they saw it on CCTV - 7.

This was Gen. Stilwell's and Gen. Chennault's house in Kunming where they stayed.  I got to go inside

and look around.  I don't think anyone touched a thing in 65 years!   Someone was making sure it didn't

fall apart because I could tell there had been work done to the outside.  But it still had a tin roof and

bars on the windows.  It was in the middle of several high rise flats and people lived all around the area, but

you could tell this was a special place and it was being honored by the locals.

This man is Ge Shuya, a famous Kunming native who has written several books about the Burma Road.

He found the exact spot where the Burma Road ended, but it was not where everyone else thought.  The

jungle had reclaimed it, and Mr. Ge spent years looking for it.  This is the plaza where the Burma Road supposedly

met up with the Ledo Road, as I remember.  The large archway behind us had a golden horse on it,

and in front of us was an identical archway with a golden rooster.  There was special symbolism to that.  I think

they said Kunming had a population of 10 million now.    I enjoyed my stay there.

These were the jungles around Tengchong.  I think it was named Yungchang 65 years ago.  It was only

125 miles almost directly west to Myitkyina.  My guess is that Myitkyina looked a lot like this place.

This was at the top of a mountain and a large pagoda monument had been built to honor the Chinese

who were slaughtered here trying to regain control of Tengchong.  It was also called the Great Walled City and

it had beautiful temples that were destroyed by the japs.

This was at the same place.  I was soaking wet.  I also had been shown bomb craters and jap

machine gun bunkers that had been left in place.  I was told that 300,000 Chinese were killed trying to

regain control of the area.   And only 3,000 bodies were buried at a memorial I visited.  I wasn't feeling

too good just thinking about how Dad (and  you) must have been wet months on end, and I just had to

deal with it for one day.

The director was holding this long microphone and the photographer and sound man were getting ready

to have me do something over again.  I wasn't too happy.  Two of these fellows will meet you.  The director

and the videographer (in brown jacket).

Here was the site where 19 American Liaison Officers were memorialized.  They were killed

while fighting along side the Chinese during the battle for Tengchong.  The man standing next me (Mr. Li) is a

very famous historian and knows the area very well.  We layed flowers at the memorial.  You can see the

stones bearing the names of dead Americans behind us.   John Easterbrook came here and performed the

same "ritual"..... then I had to go up this long trail to the top where another shrine was built.  It was there

where I had to drink a sip of that gasoline and then raise it over my head and pour it out.  I made sure

no one lit a match.  Ha

I was asked to write a short note in their guestbook.  It wasn't hard to express my feelings after that day

of filming.

This was also emotional for me.  They had statues of Gen's Stilwell and Chennault in their open park

area.  I couldn't help but put my hand on the General's pipe.  They looked peaceful, and to tell you the

truth, this was the first time I cried during the trip.  

Here I am standing in front of the Sun Yat-Sen Library.  They had changed some of the driveway

areas, but the building looked just like my B/W photo, only beautiful in color.   They had let the front of

the building become overgrown with vegetation, but the archway in the center was kept open.

This was my VIP suite at Anren (Chengdu) which was connected to the Cluster Museum Jianchuan

where I donated a few of Dad's "relics" related to the surrender.  Stuff like the invitation from Gen Ho,

a scroll with an inscription of thanks from Gen. Liao and a certificate of thanks from Gen. Tu.   This was

just the bedroom.  I had a front room filled with Ming Dynasty vases, a private balcony, large bath.  I tried not

to wrinkle the sheets!!

Another view walking into the bedroom area.  It was really nice.

Here was the Plaza of Generals.  This area was huge.  All of the statues were at least 8ft tall.  Like I said

before, they had separated the KMT Generals from the PLA Generals and I spent all of my time on

the left side where the KMT Generals were.  There were a lot of tourists.  When some of them saw that

I was being filmed, they came up to me and asked to be photographed with me.  It was a fun time.

Here I am standing next to the statue of Lt. Gen. Liao.   The floor of the statuary area was

polished marble.  It was very impressive.

That's all for now.  I'll try and get more pictures to you before long.

Neal