The Sichuan Army's Soldiers Who Fought for China

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, nine military airfields were built in Sichuan: four strategic bomber airfields at Xinjin, Pengshan, Guanghan, and Qionglai, and five fighter airfields at places such as Mingshan and Shuangliu. Collectively, they were known as the Special Projects. On June 16, 1944, Chinese and American air forces took off from Sichuan to launch a long-range bombing raid on Japan, drawing the world's attention. CBS correspondent Stuart Washington reported: "Such enormous airfields were built by hundreds of thousands of Chinese farmers. The scale of labor involved has rarely been seen since the construction of the Great Wall two thousand years ago." Working with nothing but their own shoulders and backs, the people of Sichuan built more than 2,000 kilometers of national defense roads, including routes linking Sichuan with Yunnan and Shaanxi, at enormous cost. When building the 7-kilometer stretch through Yanwogou on the Leshan-Xichang Highway, for example, more than 1,400 laborers lost their lives.