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RAFINO Report Inflation in China After the 2nd Burma Campaign, part of the Chinese Combat Command was transferred to Kunming, China. U.S. personnel were paid in U.S. currency as Chinese money was practically worthless. I accompanied a large shipment of Chinese currency (printed by the National Bank Note Co. in San Francisco) to Chungking, the wartime capital of China. 8,000 Chinese dollars was worth one U.S.$! It was necessary to pay several thousand Chinese dollars -- the equivalent of ¼ of a US penny for a haircut- -or 50,000 Chinese dollars for a Chinese meal. Most U.S. personnel exchanged their money on the open market with local "business men" who would follow a soldier on the street saying, "change your money, Joe?" (I pray that U.S. money never suffers the same sort of inflation I saw in China.) When the war was over in Europe, a few select military units were made available to the CBI. Of course, the "Manhattan Project" was ready to be used and the 1st Atomic bomb was dropped. That was the end of the war in the Pacific. It took several months to rotate American military personnel back to the United States. Replacements arrived to take over disbursing accounts --- the most important function of the Finance Corps there. After the war my assignments, among others, included: the USMA, at West Point, NY; University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business; Assistant Attaché to the Paymaster-in-Chief, Royal Army Pay Corps, (in London); then a 4 year assignment with the MAAG in Taipei, Taiwan; and Budget Officer, AC of Staff, G2, at the Pentagon. Recommended Reading For those of you who might be interested in reading further about the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations in WWII, I recommend that you read "Burma, the Untold Story" by Won Loy Chan, published by the Presidio Press, 3 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 949947. (Colonel Chan and I served together in Ledo in 1943 and later in 1949. We retired together at Ft. Myer, VA in May 1968.)" |