Description:

CORRESPONDENCE OF A MARINE IN CHINA, 1943-1946
A fascinating group of 18 letters written by USMC Lt. Robert D. Lewis, a Florida native who served as part of the North China invasion from April 1944 to at least 1946. Lewis' multi-page letters to family and friends in the States are all neatly penned and contain extraordinary observations about China's culture, customs, topography, his life at camp, time in India (possibly while taking part in the Battle of Kohima), and other notable observations. There is, of course, an absence of descriptions of military engagements in the letters up until April, 1945, and Lewis, who for a time served as a censor, cannily sidesteps any sensitive content and instead gives a fascinating and detailed narrative of the daily life of a soldier in as much as he wished correspondents at home to understand. Later in the correspondence, Lewis reveals that during his tour he served with a Chinese guerilla division and describes his experience. Lewis then remains in China as part of Operation Beleaguer (1945-1949), the Amphibious Corps III occupation to aid in blocking the Communist advance. How long Lewis served in China post-1946 is not known, but his final letter reveals a desire to remain there for financial gain. The letters read, in extreme small part: ‘[Feb. 5, 1943]…If my application [to be an officer] is accepted I will be sent to O.C.S. at Quantico or maybe even Parris Island…I will be commissioned a Second Lieutenant…'. In October, 1943, Lewis finds himself Norfolk, VA, and then is silent until Apr. 21, 1945, when he is stationed in the mountains of China: ‘…I think it is just about the most beautiful place I have ever seen…I'm living in a semi-tropical very damp mountainous region…The Chinese have built stone trails and stairways all through the mountains…I have to climb 256 steps up, four times a day to eat the four meals…I'm getting a little Asiatic (a mental condition)…forced to use chopsticks since I first set foot in the country', then describing the food and method of eating, again in great detail. On April 7, 1944, Lewis is in India – possibly as part of the operations around the Battle of Kohima, although he never clarifies the reason for his being there. He describes the abject poverty and his experiences in rickshaws, gharries, the number of servants at the soldiers' quarters, caste system, money, and so forth. On May 15, 1944, Lewis writes from an undisclosed location and requests some items from home, including a Lyman Peep Sight and subscription to pony editions of TIME magazine. Two weeks later, on June 2, 1944, describes a movement of ‘…1000 miles by truck and train and it took about 12 days…the whole distance through the mountains on roads such as only China can have, went up through one pass…we also crossed a canyon that rivals the Grand Canyon…It rained the first seven days of our trip and we were pretty uncomfortable but it was still a wonderful tour…' Lewis continues, on Aug. 7, 1944, that he contracted dengue fever, and describes his new jobs as a mess officer and censor (‘…one man writing to eight different girl friends – three of them married'). On Aug. 10, 1944, Lewis describes discovering a new kind of melon to eat, his ‘chow', and adds that he got Japanese occupation money for India. His letters of Aug. 18 and Sept. 1, 1944, contain more descriptive content, adding: ‘…I made a 200 mile trip last week-end to see Ann Sheridan, Ben Blue and Melvyn Douglas in person. First recreation of any kind in 4 months, then adding ‘we had a two minute tornado that took the roof off of my quarters…I think I prefer the ‘zerben fiji' (Jap planes)…'. On Sept. 16, 1944, Lewis writes to his mother a description of local food and adds these consoling, if not deceptive, lines: ‘…Mother, I probably won't be able to write again until January or thereabouts. Do not be alarmed, I will be in no greater danger than I have been – and that has been very, very slight. I will be just a little too far back in the hills for communication…'. He writes again on Christmas Day, 1944. The dampstained letter contains the usual friendly content, adding that he received the benzidine sulfate tablets requested, then casually mentions: ‘…I just finished walking 412 miles…I did have a pretty bad bout of dysentery and yellow jaundice but have been well more than a month…Americans have landed in the Philippines, I don't even know what's happening there…' He describes the rough conditions of living in an unheated room in the mountains, his inability to send money home for lack of a paymaster there, a Christmas party, learning to ride a horse, but then adds: ‘…I can't understand your optimism about the war. Over here we're getting the hell beat out of us and I mean it, it's no fun running from them all the time…'. Lewis picks up his correspondence again on Mar. 1, 1945: ‘…I've lived all winter in an unheated mud house with a straw roof…now I have moved to a nice brick house with tile roof and wooden floors…I'm pretty well isolated here. I actually don't know who was elected President last November…'. He describes the Chinese New Year celebration, his new-found love of tea, ‘American chow', incredible inflation, and prophetically adds: ‘…I think the war over here will last a couple more years. The Japs are much stronger than we are here and push us around when it pleases them…'. Lewis' correspondence breaks here until a letter sent on Sept. 21, 1945, in which he is finally able to disclose his military activities: ‘…Censorship is now a thing of the past and I'll write what I'm actually doing for a change. Right now I'm in Hankow on the Yangtze River. Hankow is one of the larger cities of China and has conveniences (somewhat damaged now on account of the bombings). It's been bombed for 8 years by China, Japan, Russia and Uncle Sam and the European concessions are largely destroyed. There is a very ticklish situation here. The Japanese army in China (about 7,000,000 people) is a victorious army, never having been beaten by the Chinese. Actually they have not surrendered to the Chinese and the Chinese aren't strong enough to enforce the surrender. There are about 80,000 Japs here and they are still armed and the Jap officers still swagger down the streets with their swords…there are also about 20,000 Chinese soldiers and a few Americans here all armed. No one shoots at anyone else…The Japs are very polite and are industriously planning the next war in 10 years…All last winter when I couldn't write I was with a Chinese Guerilla division about 300 miles behind the Jap lines…I've been in action several times in the past year, and a half about 30 bombings, three engagements with Jap troops, and once with Chinese Communist troops. To complete the score one American took a shot at me in the dark – fortunately I was never hit…Everything in China is at a standstill because the 14th Air Force has destroyed all the steam locomotives and steam boats and all the roads have been blown up by the Central Government troops…I rode last week…from Changsha in [the] Hunan province to here. Changsha is where I was last year and where the Chinese army had their big debacle and I had to run to get away – June & July 1944…'. Much more. In June 1944, the Japanese amassed 360,000 men for an attack on the Changsha and Hengyang (to Changsha's south). American support of the Chinese forces centered on the bombing by Claire Chennault's ‘Flying Tigers', who had been engaging in intensive interdiction strikes along the newly established north-south Japanese corridor. Chief among the targets were the railways — bridges, tunnels, locomotives and marshaling yards. Despite these measures and the American support of the Chinese, the Japanese too the city in the Battle of Hengyang on Aug. 8, 1944, forcing the American disbandment of critical airfields. The letters are accompanied by the original covers, and also included in the archive is the formal invitation to graduation ceremony of the thirtieth class in the Marine Corps and four ration books issued by Tallahassee, FL.

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March 26, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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