March 11, 2005
Oroville Mercury Register April 6, 1945
TURN OF THE HEAD SAVES LEONARD FROM JAPANESE BULLET ON BURMA
TRAIL
Hardships of Myitkyina Campaign Described by Major: He Praises
Mules
By Naome Caziee
Their mission was to harass the enemy south of Myitkyina (pronounced
Mich-i-naw) in Burma. They were to stalk the Japanese troops, blow
up supply installations and “raise hell in general.” And raise hell
they did, the men of the Mars Task Force, whose operations officer
was Major Raymond A Leonard of Oroville. Carrying packs weighing
between 50 and 72 pounds, they followed native trails and animal
trails, or cut their way through the jungle for 350 miles, of one
of the most grueling marches of the war. Living entirely on C and
K rations, walking out 46 days of the monsoon season, building airstrips
for planes to evacuate the sick and wounded, and constantly fighting
off enemy ambush, they slogged their way to Lashio, where the Chinese
army fought its way down the Burma Road, to relieve them after routed
Japanese troops had re-organized and attacked them.
No Black Market There
Leonard, who with his
family, arrived in Oroville Wednesday for a visit with his mother,
Mrs. R. A. Leonard Sr. of Quincy road, said he never wanted to see
rations again as long as he lived. "Oh, they are good," he added,
"but I got pretty tired of concentrated pork and eggs, biscuits
and cheese.” He said each meal unit also contained the makings for
a drink, coffee, bouillon or lemonade, plus three cigarettes and
a stick of chewing gum. The infantry major’s visit here came after
a reunion in Gridley with his wife and son and an introduction to
a new son, Leonard is on 30-day leave.
The Mars Task Force was made up of what was left of the famous Merrill’s
Marauders after the Myitkyina campaign in June, July and August
of 1944, and of replacements. Leonard had commanded a rifle team
with the Marauders.
The new force, 475th Infantrymen, trained for a few months
in the Myitkyina area. They started out on November 15. Their transportation
for ammunition and weapons consisted of the old Missouri mule. The
mules carried only light weapons. They could not transport heavy
equipment in the extremely mountainous country. Every once in a
while both men and mules would disappear over the side of a mountain.
The men wore jungle boots, something like tennis shoes except that
they came half way up to the calf of the leg. Few men dropped out
of the march other than those who got one of the jungle diseases.
Every few days the men would build a tiny airstrip. In constant
radio contact with head quarters, they would radio out when one
of the men got sick and soon an artillery liaison plane would land
on the hastily built strip. The plane could take several men out
at one time but one of them had to ride on the pilot’s shoulders.
That was how Leonard left the jungle when he was sent out for medical
treatment. He rode on the pilot’s shoulders. At the beginning of
the march the men traveled about 250 miles in 20 days. Japanese
at that time held the town of Bhamo. The Mars-men trekked around
in back of the Japanese and hit them from the rear at a place called
Tonkawa. Once when Leonard was leading a scout patrol he had one
of those close shaves. He said he knew there were Japanese out in
front but one camouflaged man in a foxhole about 20 feet ahead escaped
his roving glance. “ I was turning my head from side to side trying
not to miss any signs of danger,” Leonard related. “I got so close
to him I could have spit on him. He was at my right and he fired
his gun just as I turned my head to the left. His bullet tore open
the side of my helmet. They always shoot for your head. If I hadn’t
turned mine just when I did, I’d have been a goner.” (Continued
next week)
Stu’s Notes: It may seem like I devoted a lot of space to Iwo
Jima and I did, but it took such a big part of Butte County in those
4 weeks of fighting and most of my stories so far have been about
WWII. I guess because the survivors are getting old and their stories
must be told soon. The youngest is probably 77 or 78 now. Soon the
last WWI boy will pass on the youngest would be about 103 now. I
heard there might be one of these men in Redding. I can remember
when the last Civil War Soldier died, in the early 1950’s. I wrote
a little about Raymond A Leonard, Feb. 6, 2004 hoping to hear from
someone who knew him. I got no response. What a true HERO he was.