By Tony Yang (a) Than Nyunt

Very recently Ms Khaing Tun a friend of mine in the States, led a tour group which was composed of two US WWII Veterans, Mr Veikko Raymond Kauppila, 80, and Mr Elmer Lynn Hauldren, 82. The former served in Namkham, Shan State, upper Myanmar, and the latter was a sergeant with a Ledo-based supply convoy. Both had served with American units of the famous the Ledo-Road during the WWII. The next member of the tour was Ms Joyce Markle, a professor at National-Louis University in Chicago.

The title of the tour was actually the Burma Road Tour Programme. Like the Ledo-Road, the Burma Road was the first road used for logistical purposes by the American troops to the then KMT soldiers in Kunming during the WWII. War supplies were sent from India to Yangon by vessels, whence to Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Lashio, Kyu Khok, Wanting, and Kunming by convoys. the Burma Road on China side (from Tengchong to Wanting part of the Burma Road) was built by old Chinese people including pregnant Chinese women with their blood and sweat, without any machinery. Some women did their work, even holding their two or three year old children, and some carrying their babies on their backs.

On March 16, 2005, my English speaking tour guides Ms Theingi and Ms Gloria waited for the guests at Jiegao. They met the guests there around 09:00 a.m. They were transferred by our guides to Namkham where Mr Kauppila had served during the WWII. They visited the then wartime airfield, and Mr Kauppila blew the bugle and read out a memorial letter for the fallen comrades-in-arms, praying for then to rest-in-peace. While reading he controlled his emotions but had tears in his eyes. All present felt the same. The same day they visited the tomb of Dr. Gordon Seagrave, the then medical doctor of a private hospital and the two graves of his son and daughter. They also went to greet Esther Po, an old nurse from Dr. Seagrave's hospital. The same day, they proceeded to Lashio, where they took a good rest, and continued to Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay, Bagan and Yangon. They arrived in Yangon by flight on March 22 and checked-in at Hotel Nikko Royal Lake, where the Myanmar Times interviewed the US WWII Veterans. The article was printed on the issue of April 04-10, 2005. During the interview Mr Kauppila said, "Had we known that Burma Road is still in good condition like this, we would have visited Myanmar earlier, 10 or 20 years before."

Ms Joyce Markle spoke at the farewell dinner. She said, "Tony, this Burma Road tour programme was really perfect and a great success. We were all extremely happy and satisfied with the tour route. We were more excited than we had expected. We had mixed feelings of both joy and sorrow especially in Namkham. We will never forget this trip to Burma. We will share our experiences of this great trip with our friends and other organizations in the States. Myanmar is really a nice country and the people are very friendly."

I replied to Ms Joyce Markle, " In my opinion, the success of this Burma Road tour programme is not only due to my effort, but also to the efforts of Ms Khaing Tun, and those of our tour guides, Ms Theingi and Ms Gloria, whom I'm pleased to extend my heartfelt thanks. At the same time, my great acknowledgements go to my most distinguished guests who gave me such a good chance of handling such a great tour. We also thank the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism of our government for its kind permission for this great tour."
 

Tony Yang

 

Dear Tony Yang,

I am writing to tell you what an excellent tour you arranged, in cooperation with our Burmese contact, Ms. Khine Tun. We were able to see the WWII sites that we were interested in, and the days were paced very comfortably. We got hundreds of absolutely excellent pictures, which we will treasure, and will be useful for a feature article I hope to write on the trip.

There were several things about the itinerary that pleased us very much:
1) We were not at common "tourist sites" but we felt we were seeing the real China
2) We were able to interact with people, and we got excellent pictures of ordinary people just leading their lives--caring for their children, shopping in markets, working their farm fields.
3) We did not feel rushed, or hurried from place to place. We felt we had time to appreciate where we were and what we were seeing.
4) The places we stayed and the food we ate were excellent. We returned healthy and happy. In fact, I am now trying to cook foods more like the ones I ate there--with lots of steamed vegetables and very little grease. My stomach never felt better!

It is also important that you realized that veterans of World War II are no longer young, and your guides were considerate and patient, and took their age into consideration.

The driver was an excellent driver, and although I am often nervous in a car (when I am not driving), I felt very safe and relaxed.

Thank you for making such successful plans.

--Joyce Markle


Dear Tony Yang -

I can't compliment you enough on your arrangements for our China/Burma tour last month. You left us nothing at all to complain about.


Guides - Excellent, under the direction of the very capable and personable Khine Tun.

Drivers - Absolutely first-rate. Careful, alert, polite.

Food - Real Chinese food - so different, and so much better than what they give us in the States.

Accommodations - First class, all the way. Good service, friendly people.

Itinerary - Couldn't have pleased us more. We got to see exactly what we came to see, at a very comfortable pace.

In short, we had a wonderful, unforgettable vacation.

Thank you again, and I hope we can do this again one day soon.

All the best to you and your staff,

Lynn Hauldren
 

Namkhan Hospital

Dr. Gordon Seagrave's,
 Son and daughter

WWII airfield at Namkhan

Gokteik Bridge

Interview by the Myanmar Times

A warm and fresh welcoming drink at Hotel Nikko

Exchanging presents after interview

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