event_note History Timeline
1944
American Soldier in Kachin in 1944
people Wayne Martin
Taken in March 1944, this photograph shows American Private Wayne Martin offering gum to a child. PFC Martin was one of "Merril's Marauders", the American special operations unit that fought behind Japanese lines and this photograph was taken during the unit's successful campaign to take Walawbun in the Hukawng Valley. The operation, involving some 2,750 men and conducted in cooperation with a Chinese armoured battalion, took five days and resulted in 800 enemy killed, with eigh Marauders killed and 37 wounded.