Religion: Pacifist Truck Drivers

The ramshackle trucks, coughing asthmatically, clambered on over China’s battered, tortuous highways. The truck drivers were young men wearing filthy civilian clothes and speaking a hodgepodge dialect which they hoped was Chinese. They were publicity-shy members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), doing one of the war’s toughest jobs. From China last week came the full story of this band of young pacifists.

The China Convoy (Friends Ambulance Unit) was formed in 1941 by 40 young Britons released from military service as conscientious objectors. They learned that ambulances in China could not evacuate the wounded because no roads ran to the front. They also discovered that lack of transportation was keeping China’s tiny stock of medical supplies bottled up in Kunming. The FAU promptly got hold of 25 trucks to keep the supplies moving to short-stocked hospitals.

China’s rugged mountains were more than a match for FAU’s trucks, and a single trip of 300 miles sometimes took 40 days & nights. Through necessity, members of the Unit became expert mechanics. When gasoline got scarce, they laboriously converted their fleet to charcoal.

Moving the precious cargo along China’s bandit-infested roads meant constant danger. At night, the Friends slept near their cabs. Religious scruples forbid them to carry guns or to travel with armed guards. One Friend’s arm was so badly slashed when he tried to ward off a robber’s sword that the nerves were severed.

The China Convoy has now grown to some 125 members—U.S., British and Chinese. None receives pay, and all personal funds are put into a common pool. Statistically, FAU’s contribution does not seem large (average haul: 160,000 ton-kilometers every three months), but the group is actually distributing 90% of Free China’s civilian medical supplies.