^Colonel James G. Truitt
Returns After Locating
^Ledo-Burma Road Line
Colonel James G. Truitt, Seat
tle and Alaska Army Engineer of
ficer. returned to Seattle yester
day wearing the Legion of Merit
and its Chinese equivalent, the
Order of Cloud and Banner, for
his work in locating the present
line of the Ledo-Burma road.
Going to the China-Burma-In
dia theater of operations after
surveying the Rocky Mountain
Trench as a possible location for
|a rail line to connect Alaska with
the U. S. and Canadian shipping
points, Col. Truitt left the Seattle
Army Engineer District in Sept.,
1943.
From Ledo, a railhead in north
east India, he surveyed the road
route across India to the Burma
I^China border. Surveying was fol
lowed closely by clearing and
construction of the pioneer road,
progress depending, he said, “up
on defense movements of Chinese
and American forces battling J.ip
armies. We insisted on advancing
rapidly but we had no intention
of constructing a road for the
Japs to retreat on,” he said.
Truitt had high praise for the
daring and industry of Chinese'
troops working with his American
Engineers soldiers.
Location and construction of the
pilot road took until Sept., 1944, |
with the final construction forces
following closely behind advance
units. From Sept, until March,
1945, he was assigned to aerial
reconnaissance and bridge con
struction along the Ledo Road.
He was commanding officer of
all American forces in the East
ern Area Command, a territory
between the Burma-China border
and Kunming, with headquarters
at Wanting. Back on a 45-day
leave to visit his father, James S.
Truitt of Bellingham, former at
torney-general for Alaska, he will
report to Ft. Lewis for further
orders.
According to the Seattle Army
Engineer office, Truitt was com
mended by Maj. Gen. Lewis A.
Pick for his resourcefulness in
constructing the remote Irrawad
dy River Bridge on the Ledo road
ahead of schedule under unfavor
able supply conditions.
Pressed for details, Truitt said
the bridge was ordered June 8,
1944, at a time when the proposed
site was still 65 miles beyond any
survey point and lay in Jap-held
territory. Information was limited
to a few photographs of the gen- |
eral area and oral descriptions by !
British agents in the locality prior
to the Jap invasion. The stretch
of river in Central Burma was
flooded by the monsoon season
from May through Sept., with
flash floods from the Himalaya
slopes in March.
Aug. 1, a few days before the
fall of Myitkyina, Truitt made an
aerial reconnaissance of the bridge
site and in Sept, was able to start
a location party surveying. Using
barges for pontoons and military
deck truss on hand at various lo
calities in the CBI, he began con
struction Jan. 12 and finished the
morning of Mar. 31, 1945. Full
traffic to reinforce Chinese-Amer
ican lines began to roll the same
day, at least 60 days before es
pecially fabricated bridge materi
als could have arrived from the
U. S.
A veteran of World War I. Tru
itt was called to active milita y
duty with the rank of Lt. Col.,
while principal civilian engineer
in charge of construction in the
W. V Alaska Airlines
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Seattle Army Engineer office. His
first military assignment was to
organize and commence survey of
the proposed Trans-Cana d i a n
Alaska rail route.
This survey, more than 2,000
miles from Prince George, B. C.,
to Northern Alaska, was accom
plished under Truitt’s direction in
the face of adverse winter condi
tions and in the shortest time for
any survey in the history of Amer
ican railroading. Air reconnais
sance was used for the first time
in location of a rail survey line.
Pole boats, pack trains and char
tered planes were necessary to
supply Truitt’s survey parties in
remote parts of Alaska.
Col. Truitt was born in Vinita,
Oklahoma, graduated from What
com High School in Bellingham,
and attended the University of
Washington College of Engineer
ing. He first went to Alaska in
1916 on location and construction
of the Alaska Railroad, resigning
in 1917 to enlist in the Corps of
Engineers.
Commissioned from the 1st En
gineer School at Langre, France
n 1918, he was with the famous
“Sightseeing 6th“ Engi n e e r s .
named because they were so ac
tive in French combat lines and
he took part in the Meuse-Ar
gonne and Gcrardmer offensives.
Foil owing the Armistice, he
served as an engineer instructor
for American troops at Beanne
University, France, resigning to
return to the Alaska Railroad.
In 1925, he joined the War De
partment River and Harbor Dis
BRIDE —This bridal gown of
medieval monk’s robe style in
white corduroy, with a head
dress of orchids, featured a New
York fashion snow.
trict at Juneau, coming to the
Seattle Engineer District head
quarters in 1932. He received his
full colonelcy in Dec., 1942.
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