Jack Wood, U.S. Army

Served in the military 1942 - 1946

Induction into military March 17, 1942 in Champaign, Illinois, my home for 21 years. At the end of basic training I was transferred to a staging facility at Newport, VA, where I was inducted into a cadre of 72 colonels, six Chinese women officers and one Chinese professor, Jimmy Lin, from Yale University together with 150 technical agents, of which I was one. We were sent to China, Burma, India theater of operations. I found a home in Ramgarh, India for the next three years training Chinese in warfare for Chang Kai-shek 72 Army division stationed in Kumming, China.

After serving in Ramgarh for three years, I was transferred to Chang Kai-shek headquarters in Kung Ming. While serving there for several months, World War II ended; what a rejoicing that was.

By 6 PM the same day I boarded a DC 4 along with one general, 12 colonels, 6 captains & 20 enlisted men bound for Shanghai. We arrived in Changsha air base in Central China early the same day. Our flight continued to Shanghai the same day. While on board the plane we were given instructions upon arrival at Shanghai.
After 25 years of Japanese occupation they left a lifetime of supplies & goods to the Chinese. It was at this time I was assigned to Chang Kai-shek's G4 Section. Before I left Shanghai I was given a medal by Chang Kai-shek which represented his appreciation for my serving command in the CBI Theater of Operations.

I arrived back home in Champaign, Illinois in the month of March, 1946.