Re: Burma and the elephants, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the book 'Elephant Bill' written by J H Williams, and published in 1950, which describes in great detail the excellent work done by the elephants and their Oozies, in rescuing hundreds of families and transporting them to safety. Rosemary Taylor > Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 07:22:06 -0800 > From: apwavl@att.net > To: india@rootsweb.com > Subject: [INDIA] Burma Road > > While on the subject of the Burma Road, there happens to be an excellent book > with the same title: "The Burma Road" by Donovan Webster. ISBN 0-06-074638-6. > > Archives for this list can be found at: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=INDIA > and at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/INDIA > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INDIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Yes indeed "Hati Bill" did sterling work in rescuing many refugees. He also wrote another book called "Bandoola" which was the name of one of the elephants. Unfortunately, some of these elephants were turned loose into the jungles that are located between Manipur and Cachar District of Assam and in the subsequent years caused havoc in the tea estates and paddy fields along the areas at the foot of the Mikir/Kachari/Jaintia/Khasi Hills.As they had lost their fear of humans they were not bothered by the local people throwing 'shaadi' bombs at them when the elephants raided their paddy stores. Incidentally, The Burma Road, runs from Lashio to Kunming in China, which was not a very favourable route taken by the refugees. Some people confuse the Burma Road with the Stilwell (or Ledo) Road. The Ledo Road ran from Ledo in Assam into Burma and evetually linked up with the Burma Road. Many refugees trekked from Shinbwiyang to Tipong/Lekhapani/Ledo through the Hukawng Valley which was the most testing and fatal route for many of these people.Some others managed to get out earlier and trekked the 'easier' (although far from 'easy') route through Tamu to Imphal before that route became untenable due to Japanese invasion. In regard to the refugees exodus and the ways that they went in 1942, there are only four books, to my knowledge, that specifically relate to the trek and rescue of the refugees, and these are: "Forgotten Frontiers" - by Geoffrey Tyson "..........and some fell by the wayside" - by A R Tainsh "White Butterflies" - by Colin McPhedran "Through the Jungle of Death" - by Stephen Brookes. If listers are interested in these stories, then I can recommened every one of these books to you. If you wish to see the book covers of three of these books, then log on to www.koi-hai.com and then click on the Books icon on the left. Alan Lane Subject: Re: [INDIA] Burma Road > > > Re: Burma and the elephants, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the book > 'Elephant Bill' written by J H Williams, and published in 1950, which > describes in great detail the excellent work done by the elephants and > their Oozies, in rescuing hundreds of families and transporting them to > safety. > > Rosemary Taylor