Radio: Stilwell’s Program

One of the most isolated of all U.S. battle theaters—China-Burma-India—got its first clear hearing on the U.S. air last week. The Blue Network program, Yanks in the Orient, was the first of 13 programs being recorded on the spot by U.S. Army Public Relations and flown to the U.S. by Air Transport Command.* It told the story of the Rescue Squadron of A.T.C.’s India-China wing.

Yanks in the Orient let the men of the Rescue Squadron speak for themselves. There were no dramatics, no suspense. But the plain voices of U.S. airmen doing a job had impressive authenticity.

One rescue crew came in during the broadcast, having located the crew of a plane lost in the jungle. Many kinds of supplies are parachuted to lost crews: red blankets and junk jewelry for barter with the natives; playing cards and cribbage boards; Bibles, mess kits, boots, mountain rations, chewing gum, razor blades, ciga-rets, soap, canned beer.

Undoctored Reporting. The reason for Yanks in the Orient is Lieut. General Joseph W. Stilwell’s desire that the U.S. public understand his theater’s physical barriers and painful supply problem. He called for some professional radiomen. He got Lieut. Finis Farr, writer, late of the MARCH OF TIME and Mr. District Attorney, and Lieut. Bert Parks, ex-CBS-NBC announcer, and a mobile recorder. Lieut. Colonel Paul Jones, onetime Don Lee, Mutual Networker, who had been with Stilwell for two years, was made head of the project.

The recording machine which Lieuts. Farr and Parks brought with them turned out a remarkably clear job on its first try. In a theater where the scarcity of electric power, the weather, and the nature of the country virtually prohibit front-line broadcasting, the crew have labored mightily to put together their broadcasts. A pair of lightweight wire recorders, shipped to them last week, should help.

In a communication to the War Department, Lieut. Farr indicated the tone that Yanks would take, took a passing crack at phony warcasting. Wrote Farr:

“It strikes me our mission is just to tell a true, clear story. … I read . . . that the U.S. public is hungry for straight facts and undoctored reporting, and I can’t think of a better way for the Radio Branch to serve it up than by such on-the-spot recordings. The public will certainly understand the sincerity with which our pilots, engineers and soldiers speak.”

* In all of C.B.I.’s 800,000-square-mile area, only New Delhi and Chungking have transmitters powerful enough to reach the U.S., and even these cannot be counted on.