 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations present the Pacific Story. This is the story of the Pacific. The drama of the millions of people who live around this greatest sea, where the United States is now committed to a long-term policy of securing the peace. This is the background story of the events in the Pacific, and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. Tonight's Pacific Story comes to you with drama of the past and present and commentary by Roy F. Hendrickson, Deputy Director General of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration who has just returned from a tour of China. For China's millions. Listen to him. My mind is made up. All of us have suffered together. Let us not suffer more needlessly. He is right. Ah, perhaps he has not been away as long as we. I speak to you as one of you. Hear me. We have lived through the war. Let us not throw away our lives now. Listen to me, this one. What is wrong? We have been away a long time. Nearly eight years since the enemy swarmed over our coastal plains and all of us walked out here into the interior. But we here in Sichuan must realize that 60 or 70 million of us migrated out here into the West. We must realize that the cities and the farms we left have been blasted and burned. The carts are still picking up the dead off the streets of Luchau and Canton. The basin of the Yellow River has been flooded. Droughts have scourged Kamsu province. There is less food in the areas we left than there is here. Are we to forsake our home? There is not enough food, not enough clothing, not enough medical supplies to take care of the people who are now there. I speak to you as one of you and say, stay here. Here all of us can make a new life and a better life. You see, Wang, that is what I have said. I am a shopkeeper, my wife. What wisdom can there be to give up all that we work for in Hongkou? Hongkou is a room. It is our home. We have no home except what we have here. A few sticks of furniture, a few meager pots and pans, and a hover to sleep in. But what have we in Hongkou, my husband? Oh, well, I have been looking for you. Yes, Lee. Then how's the cholera? And Chow has it. Cholera is spreading. I am going back to Hunan province once. But the Yellow River has changed its course, Lee, and the whole countryside of Hunan suffered. I must go where my land is. You see, my wife Lee is a farmer. His home is in the Yellow River country. There may be also cholerae in Hunan. But in Hunan, I will be home. Here in Sichuan, I am more than a thousand miles from home. And now they are starting to inoculate the people against the devil of the cholera. The needle has already pierced the skin of thousands. But it will not pierce mine. The needle is evil. Lee is right. We must go away from the cholerae here. We should stay and be inoculated. Never. Lee is a farmer. He wishes to go back to his land. We are shop people. We should go back to Hongkou and start all over. We could run our shop here and Lee could farm here. I am going back to Hunan. And we will go back to Hongkou. Is it wise not to heed the words of those who know? We will go, old woman. We will sell our few poor sticks of furniture, our pots and pans, and we will walk back to Hongkou. I will walk with you. You must walk well. There is the area of China's greatest suffering and greatest need. But there is cholerae here. Yes, but there is not more but less. We are winning our fight against it. Although the needle will never pierce my skin. If all of us should go back to the areas that have been occupied by the Japanese, the suffering our people have endured so long will be prolonged. I must go back. And I must go back. Ed was scattered with people as far as we could see. We carried what we could. My husband walked with Lee. I walked behind. Most of the time they just walked in silence. Sometimes they talk. This is great, your province, Lee. It is not as rich as Ho-Man. My feet itched to stand in the soil of Ho-Man. Ho-Man is far away. We have walked only 200 miles. Soon we will be to Gueyong. Another 40 miles. Look, my husband. There is one fallen by the side of the road. He's a seeker. Do not touch him. Do not touch him. He may have color. We must help you. Stay away from him, old woman. He housed the car. Let us hurry. We saw more and more sick along the road. We kept on walking. At last we reached Gueyong. They gave us rice at a waste station. Who runs this station? The Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. It is the agency of our government and works with UNR to help us. What is UNR? The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. UNR is working in many lands to help the victims of the war to help themselves. Have you been inoculated against cholera? No. There is cholera here. And everyone is being inoculated. Not me. We have inoculated 50,000 in Chungking. The death rate was 40%. Four out of every ten who got cholera died. We have cut the death rate to from five to 15%. I will not be inoculated. No, me. No, my wife. Come. No, no, wait. UNR and the Chinese Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is doing this for us. For the good of us Chinese. We are waiting to control epidemics so disease does not strike us down. I think we should be inoculated, my husband. What do you think, Lee? I will not be inoculated. No. I will. You will inoculate me. No, my wife. Yes. Will you inoculate me? Just step right over here. My husband and Lee looked on as they inoculated me with the needle. What do you say now, Lee? No. Perhaps it is good. Will you inoculate me, too? Very well. They will never pierce my skin with the needle. There. This will protect you. Yes. I am going one. I must leave this infested place. We will walk with you. Come, old woman. Gold wound into Guangzi province. The ragged thousands of us walked from daylight to dark. Lee did not speak for days. Not until we had walked 300 miles from Guayang and were entering Guilin. There is no city. No Lee. Look. Even the trees lining the road are burned and dead. The whole city is dead. Every house, every cooler hut is destroyed. Nothing but ash and broken walls. Even the bridges are destroyed. I had thought we might get help here. There is no help for us here. Perhaps there is a way station. We are in rags. Perhaps we can get some clothes. Would you like to work here? Yes. The government is hiring men to help clean up the rubble, to open the roads. Is there food here? Can we get clothing? There is food. Not much, but more than in the countryside. And the Sinra will help you with some clothes. Wang and Lee went to work on the roads. I worked in the rice kitchen. Everyone crowded around the Sinra headquarters to get some clothing. Quiet. Quiet, people. Quiet. There is not clothes for all. There is some clothing, but not enough. Is there none for us? We have no more. Are we to have nothing? We have no more. There are 13 million here in what was occupied China who have almost no clothing. There are hundreds of millions like you who are in rags, but who can still get along. If we are to reach our homes in the north before we freeze, we must go now. Yes, we must go now. We left Guilin and headed for Hengyang in Hunan province. We walked from daylight to dark. Look how this country has been scourged by the Japanese. It is even worse. Yes, from the cities that were bombed and burned. At night we stopped and cooked the little rice we had. The people of Hunan told us what the Japanese had done. They took everything we had on our farms. They burned out tools for firewood. They slaughtered our water buffaloes so that we had no means to pull out plows. The dikes that hold the water were blown up. The earth is cracked and dry. We grow no crops. Is that color? Yes. Will you share your rice with us? My wife and I will share. And I will share. At daylight we were walking again. I shall be happy when I am in Hunan again. Hunan is richer than this poor country of Hunan. You should come with me to Hunan one. I wonder if we shall even get to Hengyang. Hengyang was 300 miles from Guilin. My husband and me walked hours side by side saying nothing. I walked behind them. At last we reached Hengyang. I think I am sick. Your head is fevered. I cannot go on. My husband and I talked of what to do. Hengyang was in ruins. Only five buildings that could be lived in were still standing. Hengyang here was the Stalin god of China. Here our 10th army held off the powerful Japanese divisions for 48 days. 48 days we were shelled mercilessly and the American bombers blasted out the Japanese. I cannot go on. Is there no health for the people? Until Unra and Sinra send help, there's only what you see. This winter there will be little shelter for anyone. Little food, little medical care. We cannot go on my husband and leave Li here alone. What can we do? Could you not make rice cakes of the rice we have and sell them? You go. Leave me. No Li. We will stay until you are better. We scraped clear a small place with some charred timbers we built a lean to and here we made small rice cakes and sold them. With the money we bought more rice. We cared for Li. Go. Go. Leave me. Leave me here. Li had cholera. We will not leave you Li. Day by day the people straggled through the dead city. I must get home to Honour when you go. When you are better Li. I am better. I must get home to Honour. We ask questions of those who knew. Honour and province is hard hit. The Yellow River must be put back in its course. The dykes must be rebuilt. There is little food when the land is devastated. We could start and by the time we reach the cities ahead. The conditions ahead are no better than here. There is Typhus and Nanking. The mills in Shanghai are still. The millions of people in North China and Manchuria are in rags. I will go back to Honour if I must crawl my hands and knees. The countryside ahead has suffered most in all China. What of Hancao? Hancao is in ruins and refugees are pouring back into the city. What they will be helped for is in Hancao. The streets are filled with rubble when the buildings not smashed to the ground are gutted. I am going back to Honour. If you can go back to Honour and Li, we can go back to Hancao. We will go my wife and Li. We will help you as far as Hancao. We had come 1000 miles of the way. We had walked every inch. It was 100 miles to Hancao. We started walking again. The roads were scattered with people as far as we could see. Hancao is a great city, Li. Ships from many lands come all the way up the Yangtze and anchor there. The waterfront is filled with thousands of small boats. Many junks, river people who live all their lives on the Yangtze. And the railroad come into the city and bring the products of the back country. And take away the products brought in by the ships and the thousands of boats. You talk too much my husband. Li is too sick to listen. Help him. No. No. I can walk. At night we slept by the side of the road. In the morning Li could not go on. The people straggled by us. We stayed with him three days. I can go. I can go. I will get well when I reach home. We started walking again. We covered only a short distance each day. At night we asked questions of anyone who stopped near us. No, I know nothing of Hancao. I did not see it. But I have seen Shanghai. The cotton mills are dead. The Japanese stripped the buildings of everything they could take. Machinery. And even heating and plumbing. The people are in rags. So I am going back to Sichuan province. It will be better in Hancao. We will go on. There were more people walking along the road. Even more hungry and sick and dying by its side. We did not even look at them. How far are we from Hancao? Now one. About 50 miles. All now is only 200 miles beyond Hancao. Only 200 miles. We carried these last miles into Hancao. My husband and I. This is Hancao, Lee. Hancao? I knew we would get here. Now it is only 200 miles to Hancao. They are looking at the ruins of Hancao in silence. Rubble. Broken buildings. Jagged walls. Blackened chimneys. When I looked down again, Lee was dead. To where our shop had stood eight years ago. Nothing but wreckage and charred rafters. No. Not a thing left. It has lain like this for years. Maybe since the first day the Japanese came. Is it Wang? Is it Wang? Eh? Yes, I am Wang. I am Siang. You remember me? Siang. I ran the shop next door. You know not Siang. I am Wang. My shop is gone. And my family is gone. And the Japanese destroyed everything. The railroads coming into the city. The waterfront where the ships landed. Factories and the power companies. Even a pumping station. There's no fuel for the waterworks. Uncle has been bled to death, Wang. Uncle. We must get help, my wife. We went to the relief station. The refugees are pouring back into Hancao by the thousands. And back into the coastal plains and the coastal cities by the millions. And these, with the nearly 200 million already here, have made the task of relief and rehabilitation enormous. We listen to the men at the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Hancao here has become a focal point of this entire area. But our transport has been smashed. Unruh supplies are arriving at Chinese ports. But we must have transportation to get them to China's needy. We have less than one-tenth of the shipping that we had at the beginning of the war. We must have ships and trucks and railroads. And we must have fuel and highways. We must do all we can to help ourselves until food and clothing and medicine can weaken. We walked away. Will we get help in time, my wife? There are too many of us to help. Must we die here? Unless we can help ourselves. There is no food for us in Hancao. We made our way again to where our shop had stood. We looked at the wreckage a long time. The confusion of smashed and blackened bricks. The charred rafters. Let us start, old woman. Yes. We can start over here again, my wife. Yes. If we can build a shelter by winter. If we can get some food. If we do not, does it matter? I wonder if it will come. Clear the way to rubble bit by bit. We built a front with the charred rafters. We covered them with lath and plaster. Now the front is painted with soft colors of yellow and pink and lavender. The refugees straggled through the city as ragged and hungry as we. And as we work, we wonder if the health will come in time. After fighting for its life longer than any other nation on earth, the Chinese are today looking to their partners in victory to help them get back on their feet. To tell the significance and the scope of the work of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in China, the national broadcasting company presents Roy F. Hendrickson, Deputy Director General of UNRWA. The next voice you hear will be that of Mr. Hendrickson. We take you now to New York. On my recent extensive tour of War Shattered China, I saw at first hand scenes such as those described tonight. The officials of the Chinese government took me on a journey, and we visited towns in the south, like Guizhou, Guilin, and Hanyang, which have suffered both from battle and the scorched earth policy. For example, we landed at Hanyang, the Stalin grad of China, which the fighting reduced from 53,000 houses to only five houses. I saw thousands of refugees streaming northward from this region, disease-stricken, hunger-ridden, faced by long foot marches. Guizhou is an example of the inexhaustible recuperative powers of the Chinese people to rehabilitate their land. Patiently, painstakingly, they make use of every available resource. But after 14 years of bitter warfare, they have needs which no amount of courage and ingenuity can overcome without initial help from the outside. The destruction of the inland transport system is China's number one problem. The railroad system, not very adequate to meet the country's needs even before the war, was so decimated that the track ties were cut up and used for firewood, and the rails carried away and melted down for scrap. While we will be able to repair short sections of track in time to benefit the relief program during the period of under-operations, we are concentrating upon other means to defeat the transportation problem. Where can we send in trucks? But here again, the roads in China are in pitiful condition. We are relying principally upon coastal and river transportation. We are in the market for hundreds of tugs, landing craft and barges from the United States Army and Navy so that we can move supplies by boats or craft up the rivers. We hope that many such vessels will soon be available from surpluses in the Pacific area. Finally, we are buying aircraft which we can carry medicine, seeds and other supplies together with UNRWA personnel wherever they are needed. The need for clothing is also extremely great, and we are shipping raw cotton from the United States and from India and raw wool from Australia which we have secured against the contributions of these countries to UNRWA, of course, so that desperately needed clothing can be produced in China itself. But the textile mills depend on coal for power, and the miners require flour in order to work, so UNRWA has been sending shiploads of wheat north to Qingwan Dao for transfer to the mines. At present, UNRWA is sending about one shipload every two days in the Shanghai, consisting chiefly of food which is then distributed by the Chinese government. Moreover, UNRWA and the government working always in the closest cooperation have embarked on an ambitious reclamation program which should prove of inestimable value in increasing China's food production. This project is the shifting of the Yellow River back on its right course. The Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is employing about 330,000 laborers for six months and preparing a new channel for the river, which turned off its true course in 1938 after the Chinese blew its dykes to check the advancing Japanese armies. UNRWA has just dispatched 17 carloads of engineering equipment and food to Kaifeng in northern Hunan province as our first step in assisting China in this mammoth project, the most important contribution which we can make to its agricultural rehabilitation. More than two million of China's fertile acres will be reclaimed. An estimated 200 million bushels of grain can be grown annually from the reclaimed land. This is an example of how UNRWA and the Chinese government are working together. Unfortunately, no amount of assistance can completely assuage China's sorrow and suffering. With our help this year to the magnificent millions of that republic, help which will represent our largest single program of aid UNRWA is seeking to indemnify in a small measure the people of China for their inspiring contributions to our common victory. You have been listening to the Pacific Story presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send ten cents in stamps or coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and produced by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso. The principal voice was that of Yanadir Luce. Programs in this series of particular interest to service men and women are broadcast overseas to the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.