 The story of the film that you are about to see is as follows. The film was photographed by Sergeant David Quaid during the march from Naboom to Missionore. A search of the National Archives revealed that no other combat film of the unit exists. Two cartons of exposed film were placed on the litter of one of the wounded being evacuated from the engagement at Tinkwa Con. The airstrip at Everang proved too short for takeoff. Twice liaison planes crashed. One carton of film was thrown into a flooded ditch. The other probably rests with a wreckage of an L5. Sergeant Dave Richardson of Yank Magazine landed at Arang, saw the carton, and redirected it to the chief signal officer in Nodeli. Some of the film was affected by immersion in the drainage ditch. Excerpts of this film have appeared in Victory at Sea, World at War, and World War II GI Diary. The 5307th composite unit provisional operated in North Burma during World War II for a period of approximately five months early in 1944. Its code name was Galahad, and was dubbed Merrill's Marauders by James Shepley, a correspondent for Life Magazine. The unit fought in five major battles in 30 minor engagements and never cracked before the enemy. Its shoulder patch incorporates a Chinese star signifying combined operations with units of the Chinese Army. The green field represents the jungle under which the marauders fought, but which also provided cover and surprise in their attacks on the enemy. The lightning bolt symbolizes a strategy of long-range penetration, operating behind enemy lines without the comfort of continuous supply lines. The five-pointed star is the star of Burma, the arena of combat. The blue field, the sky from whence all supplies, and ammunition arrived miraculously by parachute airdrop. 27th April 1944, Naboom Burma, Lieutenant General Joseph Stillwell arrives at the Naboom airstrip by L-5 liaison plane. This was to be the final briefing and marching orders to Brigadier General Frank Merrill regarding the attack on a main Japanese base at Missionore. The two generals observed the last supply drop before the operation was kicked off. The marching order for the attack was the three under-strength battalions of the 5307th reinforced by the 88th and 150th Chinese regiments. 300 Kachin ranges and three medical-surgical teams would follow a trail to Missionore over the 8,500-foot Kuman Mountains. The L-4 and L-5 liaison planes with the mules of the air transporting essential personnel to remote areas, then evacuating wounded. The radio section of Orange Combat Team, Third Battalion, kept Stillwell's headquarters apprised of progress. All communication was by key and always in code. Bernie Martin cranks the generator while Bill Smalley sends with the key. Bill contracted typhus on this march. He died in Hawaii on his way home. Incessant rain made the trail impassable. The epic crossing of the Kumans at the 6,100-foot Nora Hakiat Pass had never been attempted before during the monsoon season. With only the exception of an OSS Kachin patrol from a rang, the trail had been out of use for 10 years. The advance party and later every available man attempted to make the trail passable. The Third Battalion lost 20 mules and two tons of irreplaceable supplies. When a rifle fire commenced to put the mules which had fallen over the cliffs out of their misery, it sounded to those in the rear as though we had engaged the enemy. This mule just fell into some bamboo and could be hauled out. The Chinese soldiers or jungle beings were assigned to us as stretcher-bearers. Each of us had to carry laboriously recovered gear previously borne by the dead mules. I carried a 60-millimeter and an 81-millimeter mortar shell until they were expended in an engagement further on. No one who crossed this pass those several days would ever forget the difficulty. The mule skinners did everything in their power to help the mules with the climb. As can be seen, even the sure-footed mules could not negotiate the treacherous slopes. Each mule had to be unloaded and their burdens taken over by men. Bearded Major Petito helping to load a 125-pound saddle onto the back of a mule skinner. Men had to do that which the beast could not. When we finally arrived at the summit, we were assured that the rest of the march would be all downhill. When the mists cleared, we realized it was not exactly the case. Ahead of us lay some of the most forbidding terrain that any troops have ever traversed or fought on. If anything, the next ranges were far worse than the mountains we had just crossed. Orange Combat Team, commanded by Major Petito, moves forward to establish a trail block while the battalion takes a supply drop at Salawang Hackyang. Smiling Corporal Warner Katz killed Japanese by an American infantryman in Asia. The first and second troop carriers, C-47s and drop crews, were so good that they took pride in stacking the supplies for us. Shoots that fell into the tall jungle trees stayed there. The shoots were collected and with some silver rupees were left with the loyal Kachin villages in payment for damage to their basher huts. The dogs romping about were not pets, but were in fact in important food staple villages. After almost 500 miles of jungle trails and many battles, the worst Napunga Hill, the unit was showing signs of extreme debilitation. High on the ridges, it was almost impossible to locate drinking water. Down in the valleys, crossing the same stream 30 or more times a day, commonplace. Seventh of May, Ritpong, the first contact with the Japanese. One of our Japanese American interpreters, I believe Roy Matsumoto, conveying to the officers of the Third Battalion information gleaned from a map taken from one of the dead enemy. We found that the village was garrisoned by some 150 Japanese troops. As the Chinese 88th Regiment attacked Ritpong from the north, Kaki Combat Team put pressure on the Japanese from the south and took casualties. These wounded were recovered despite constant enemy fire. They did not abandon or dead or wounded. This airdrop parachute shelter was the Burma equivalent of a first-class medical facility. Here Captain Paul Armstrong, Third Battalion Orange Combat Team doctor, aided by Tony Colombo, Colonel Beech's runner minister to the wounded. The blonde kid was Private Page, Samson, Alabama. He died that night. After a successful conclusion at Ritpong, 90 killed by the Chinese, Third Battalion was sent on a faint toward the Japanese supply base at Nizapsup to enable First Battalion to make a dash for a mission or undetected. West of Tinkracong, Orange Colombe encountered fierce Japanese resistance. First estimate of enemy strength, one platoon, the reality, one battalion. The result, 8 dead, 20 wounded, heavy Chinese losses. Near the point were the 60, just over the rise and ground is the enemy. Fire and dig and keep down. Here is the very point of jungle combat. Lieutenant Colonel Beech, Commander of the Third Battalion, is a second man in frame. Japanese bullets can be seen zipping through the foliage behind him. A BAR man and a rifle grenadier fire targets of opportunity. The Japanese are only a few yards away. I said to Colonel Beech, what are you doing here? The Japanese are running this thing. In answer, Beech ran forward and unloaded a grenade on the enemy. The jungle obscures the result. When the firing led up, the packs of the dead japs were open for intelligence purposes. Sergeant Toomey, seeing us in an exposed position on a trail, yelled for us to take cover. At which point, a Nambu machine gun opened up. As we dove through the bullets to the safety of the jungle, the Nambu traversed with us and Toomey was hit. As can be seen, Captain Armstrong was right in there. Perhaps here is where he earned one of his two silver stars. Japanese bullets can be seen flying by. The burial of Sergeant Toomey. It is obvious, as Toomey is wrapped in his burial shroud, a poncho, that his comrades in a burial detail disapproved of the photography. Father Barrett, our chaplain, taking note, told me that it was important to continue to witness scenes like this with a camera, showing people what war is really like. Father Barrett reads the burial service at the small grave site for eight. Father Barrett died of Tutsugomushi Typhus at the 20th General Hospital, Lido, Assam. A dead jab just in front of our position. A GI can barely be seen through the undergrowth. After pinning down a Japanese for two days, Third Battalion was ordered to break off contact to follow the first to Missionore with all haste. Third Battalion artillery covers the withdrawal with their two pack howitzers. The Mogung Missionore Road. The wounded and the diseased walked. When malaria was contracted, a soldier was expected to, quotes, walk it out. Thirteen kilometers to Missionore. The horses and mules were dying on their feet from utter exhaustion. Even across Nam Kui Hakka, it was obvious that many of the troops marched in a trans-like state. Tutsugomushi Typhus, malaria, and malnutrition had done their work. 140 of these marauders would die in the coming weeks from Typhus alone. 17th of May, First Battalion and the Chinese 88th had taken the airstrip. The japs countered by a successful zero strafing and bombing attack. As the battle for Missionore settled into a siege, a war of attrition began. Neither the Americans, the 5307th, the 209th, and the 236th engineers, or the Chinese regiments were equipped for trench warfare against an incredibly dug in and fortified enemy. We had the 88th fighter squadron based on the airfield. They daily provided probably the closest dive bombing support of ground troops in World War II. Two miles to the enemy. They flew P-40Fs, obsolete even then. They furnished close and dedicated support to hard-pressed Chinese and American attackers. Those 250-pound demolition bombs can be handled in this cavalier manner, since no fuse or detonator has been attached as yet. This mini-factory is an example of Yankee ingenuity. The demolition bombs, because of their thick steel shell, did not carry enough TNT to blow away the jungle and expose the hidden enemy. The 275-pound naval depth charges were fitted with a homemade set of sheet metal fins. The thin steel casing of the depth charge enabled several times more TNT to be packed within. The concussion was enormous. The armorers of the 88th moved from factory to dive bomber. The hybrid bomb is placed on the bomb rack. Three of the plane's six 50-caliber machine guns are visible. A small counter-rotating propeller is screwed to a threaded rod on the detonator of the depth charge. A wire fastened to the wing is passed through a hole in a propeller. When the bomb is dropped, the wire is pulled free, allowing the propeller to spin, arming the bomb. At the mission briefing, the commanding officer checks the target coordinates with the other members of the flight. His plane's name is Flung-Dung. It flung more than that. One of these pilots was shot down later on, fell into the hands of the Japanese, and was killed. Smoke from the battle for the besieged town rises in front of the mountain. These men are the remnants of the Chindit force which took Mogong awaiting evacuation. The P-40s make one climbing turn and are in position to make their run. I mounted the camera to the gun site of one of the planes. Smoke shells fired by the infantry delineate the target for the P-40s. A 250-pound demolition bomb falls from the dive bomber and into the enemy bunker. This was a close support mission for American infantry. The camera plane is following the squadron leader who is zeroing in on a bunker in a grove of trees. When the first ship pulls out, the camera ship continues to follow the bomb. Before returning to the airstrip, a strafing run is made across the town. The Irawati River is in the background. American infantry, after taking the position, examine the enemy dead and collect souvenir weapons. As the dive bombers return to base, there are now only three. The camera plane was directly over the exploding bomb and barely got back to the field where it crashed. The pilot was safe. The Japanese flag near the cockpit indicates that this pilot was credited with a zero in aerial combat. The crew chief and the pilot checked the airplane. First, it's gassed up and ammo replenished and the aircraft is ready to go on another mission in support of the troops fighting at Mission Earth. These pilots had made so many dive bombing missions. The only place left to keep score was on the tail. Battle honors. The 5307th Composite Unit was the first United States ground combat force to meet the enemy in World War II on the continent of Asia. After a series of successful engagements in Hukong and Mogong valleys of North Burma in March and April of 1944, the unit was called on to lead a march over jungle trails to extremely difficult mountain terrain against stubborn resistance and a surprise attack on Mission Earth. The unit proved equal to its task, overcame all the obstacles put in its way by the enemy, the train and the weather, and after a brilliant operation on 17 May 1944, seized the airfield at Mission Earth, an object of great tactical importance in the campaign and assisted in the capture of the town of Mission Earth on 3 August 1944. The successful accomplishment of this mission marks the 5307th Composite Unit as an outstanding combat force and reflects great credit on Allied arms. By order of the Secretary of War, G. C. Marshall, Chief of Staff.