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WWII China-Burma-India Theater Photo Album, 1944–1945. Original, Intact, Never Before Offered.
Untouched since 1945. This is one American soldier's complete journey through the "Forgotten Theater" of World War II, from India through Burma and China and home to New York, in close to 200 original snapshots mounted exactly as he placed them. It surfaced in New Jersey, has never been exhibited, and has never before been offered for sale.
This isn't a collection of snapshots. It's a lost world, preserved.
THE SOLDIER
One man appears again and again: at the wheel of his jeep, standing before a war-damaged Burmese monastery, seated among Buddha statues, kneeling among a crowd of village children. He wears the CBI patch, and his sleeve shows what appear to be Technician Fifth Grade (T/5) chevrons. His many convoy and road photos suggest he served in motor transport.
His name is inscribed on the back of a Kunming studio portrait: "To Murry M. Gettler, my friend. From S.H. Yang, 1 June 1944."
IN THE SKY
P-40 Warhawk "Flung Dung" with the skull nose art of the 80th Fighter Group "Burma Banshees." Aviation references list a P-40N of this name with the 90th Fighter Squadron in 1944.
A second fighter behind it with a tail serial that appears to read 42-27509, likely a P-47 Thunderbolt
C-47 Skytrain with cargo doors open, tail serial appearing to read 42-93742
A rare air-to-air photo of a Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison plane, taken in flight
Aerial views over the mountains, possibly on a Hump flight
A crowd watching a burning aircraft wreck, and GIs on a wrecked fuselage
THE LEDO ROAD
The famous signpost listing Kunming, Chungking, and "TOKYO 3285 MI"
A dozen men with their truck at the "Junction Ledo Rd.–Burma Rd." sign at Mong Yu
Convoys on mountain switchbacks, suspension bridges over deep gorges, and an iron chain bridge
Overturned trucks and roadside wrecks, the real hardship of the road
A customized vehicle lettered "Betty's Elmer – China Bound"
The soldier with an elephant, still hauling loads in wartime Burma
THE RAILS AND THE FRONT
Men riding a damaged, possibly captured, locomotive, and an overturned rail car
A soldier aiming a Thompson submachine gun beside rail cars
A row of captured tanks
Captured Japanese flags, including a shirtless GI with a pipe holding one up
Field burials and Japanese field shrines, the human cost of the campaign
TEMPLES, BUDDHAS, AND MONKS
Monks conducting a ceremony at a temple altar, a rare and respectful image
A great seated Buddha amid rubble, and the soldier beside a giant laughing Buddha as laborers clear a bombed temple site
Toppled and damaged temple statues, some of which may no longer survive
Kunming's Hall of the Heavenly Kings and its painted guardian figures
Damaged pagodas, guardian lions, and bombed neighborhoods where life carries on
THE PEOPLE
The album's greatest strength may be the people he met, photographed with obvious warmth and respect:
Burmese women in traditional longyi skirts and wide-brimmed hats
The soldier with a local family before a pagoda
American soldiers planting rice alongside local farmers
Markets, a street barber, porters, and hill-people of the Burma–China border
The Indian labor crews who kept the war supplied
WARTIME KUNMING
The Golden Horse archway with a policeman under a signal light and a bilingual "SPEED LIMIT 10 MPH" sign
The U.S. Office of War Information building with a jeep out front
A shop advertising "Macy Whisky Liquor Rum Brandy" to GIs
Daguan Pavilion, city gates, a cinema, and memorial gates
A FRIENDSHIP
A rare personal thread runs through S.H. Yang of the Venus Photo Studio, Kunming. Several inscribed studio portraits show a friendship between an American soldier and Chinese civilians, including a portrait signed "To Mr. Yang, from Gloria." It's a connection almost never preserved.
A PASSOVER SEDER
The album closes with its largest print: some thirty American servicemen at a Passover seder in a bamboo basha, beneath a Star of David banner, holding up matzah. A man in a white skullcap leads the service. The National Archives holds Signal Corps photos of CBI seders, but this image does not appear among those published and may be unrecorded.
INDIA AND THE VOYAGE HOME
A classic photograph of the Taj Mahal
A large group of period Indian souvenir postcards and folders from Bombay, Calcutta, Darjeeling, Amritsar, and more, including what appears to be a complete numbered sepia series of Calcutta views
The voyage home through the Suez Canal: crowded troop decks, vendors in rowboats, a hospital ship
Arrival in New York harbor: the Manhattan skyline, a huge "WELCOME HOME" sign, and a flag-dressed ship that appears to be the troop transport USS General J.H. McRae (AP-149)
LIFE BETWEEN
Joking snapshots with his buddies in camp
WWII-era Knute O. Munson "Sketch Pad" pin-up prints with humorous captions, the artist's signature in the print, each with a small pinhole from being tacked up in his quarters
CONDITION
Untouched since 1945. This original embossed Art Deco album still holds every photo in its original corners, exactly as he left them. Honest wear for its age (a peeling corner, a small tear on the back cover, slightly brittle pages), but sound, complete, and a genuine piece of WWII history.
WHY IT MATTERS
Many CBI photos survive, but few like this: an identifiable owner photographed throughout, a dated inscription, inscribed Kunming studio portraits, and an apparently unpublished Passover seder. It covers the whole war in one album, the Hump, the Ledo Road, fighters and transports, tanks and trains, temples and monks, and above all the faces of the people of India, Burma, and China. Archives this complete rarely come to market. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Sold as one complete lot. Identifications of aircraft, units, and locations are based on research and offered in good faith. Please see all photos, and questions are welcome.
Photos shown are a small selection of the 150+ original photographs in this album. Full-resolution images are withheld to protect the archive, but additional images are available to serious buyers on request.
