Willert, born and raised in Thompson, had little idea when he was inducted into the service in 1943 that he would be a part of General Joseph Warren Stillwill's campaign to provide a supply line to Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Army fighting the Japanese.

Willert first trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He trained in the 26 Battery 213th Company. He was one of the few recruits who had experience with horses or mules. One mule would carry the barrel of a 75-mm howitzer and the other mule would carry the carriage. Other mules carried supplies and ammunition.

"Many recruits were from New York and thiswas the first time they ever saw a mule," said Willert. Willert met Ernest Bergo of Lake Mills at Fort Sill. The two of them became lifelong friends and both survived the campaign together.

After Fort Sill, Willert was transferred to Colorado Springs, Colo.

It was early in this action when Willert took a piece of shrapnel in his left arm a few inches above the wrist. He still has a noticeable scar. He was evacuated to the rear and received medical attention in a tent unit. He told the doctor he wanted to go back to his company. The doctor poured penicillin on the wound. "The penicillin began to bubble and boil and the doctor told me that was an indication of infection and why I was not going back to my company," said Willert.

After approximately 30 days, Willert rejoined his company who were still pinned down from the opposition in the mountain. The Air Corps tried to bomb the artillery inside the mountain but because the placement was too vertical, they could not get a bomb in it.

The transport ship first went to Australia. Willert said that the ship was only in Australia for a day. From there they went to Bombay, where they then traveled by train across India to Imphal. Willert has stong memories of the train ride across India and the young boys who got on the train to sell the American soldiers bananas. He also remembers the poverty and starvation he saw all around in India.

They embarked by plane at Imphal. That was somewhat ironic in that Imphal was an early point of struggle where the Japanese attempted invasion of India was broken. From Imphal, Willert flew to Mandalay, Burma. Here they met up with the pack mules and horses.

Carl Willert is pictured before shipping out to San Francisco in a battalion photo. Willert is not wearing his long coat because the mule was afraid of the coat. Willert was one of the few in his company, who was familiar with pack animals prior to becoming part of the pack artillery battalion. The mule is carrying the barrel of a 75-mm howitzer.

The Major in charge of their position went to get coordinates on the artillery in the mountain. He was gone for about a week. The battalion was beginning to believe that he was dead. However, he eventually called in, reporting that he did get the coordinates on the gun. He wanted all the 75-mm howitzers brought to bear. They all opened fire and brought it down. Willert said that one of the 75-mm went right down into the big gun's barrel.

Willert and his troops fought their way up the Burma Road into China. By the time they made their destination there was little fighting going on. It was then over a 1,500 mile walk to Shanghai, China, where they

Willert and his company headed up the Irrawaddy River. He

said they had heard that Merrill's Marauders were operating in the area but he never ran into them. He also heard that most of the Marauders were killed.

It did not take long before the battalion ran into the Japanese.

"We were headed up this mountain and we met the Japanese coming down. We began firing at point blank range at each other," said Willert.

Willert, in addition to being in charge of a mule carrying the gun barrel of the howitzer, carried a Browning automatic rifle. This meant that he brought to bear some of the strongest firepower of those in the brunt of the engagement on the mountain.

The battalion retreated down the mountain and took up position in the jungle surrounding the mountain. The Japanese had large artillery on rail inside the mountain. The artillery would be pulled out and fired, then hauled back into the mountain.

Willert recalled a Burmese man who would pass his battalion at night when they would make camp. The next day the battalion would pass the Burmese. This went on for several days until they found the Burmese alongside the road. He had died from starvation. Starvation of the Burmese people was common scene on the way to Shanghai.

Willert did not learn about dropping of the Atomic Bomb until several days after it was dropped. He and the men of his company did not fully understand the devastation of this occurance. However, when they heard the Japanese hadsurrendered, they whooped and cheered.

It took some time for the Japanese in Shanghai to be convinced their country had surrendered and to stop the fighting. Willert was part of the detail assigned to dispose of the dead mules and horses before departure. They would bury the dead animals by day, and when they would return to the site in the morning, the animals would have been dug up and taken to the starving Chinese.