Capt. Laffin Leads Marauders to Myitkyina

Photo By Erin Thompson | Gathering of the 5307th staff in Burma: Lt. Col. Hunter center; 1st Lt. William Laffin...... read more read more

Photo By Erin Thompson | Gathering of the 5307th staff in Burma: Lt. Col. Hunter center; 1st Lt. William Laffin far right.  see less | View Image Page

UNITED STATES

05.15.2023

Story by Lori Stewart 

U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence

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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian

17 MAY 1944
On 17 May 1944, Capt. William A. Laffin, S-2 for Merrill’s Marauders, arrived at the Myitkyina airstrip in northern Burma. For nearly a month, he had led a reconnaissance force that cleared the way for the rest of the Marauders, who took the Japanese forces at the airstrip by surprise.

In early 1944, Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, commander of all U.S. forces in the China-Burma-India Theater, began his offensive to retake northern Burma from the Japanese. The Allies needed to establish a new ground supply line linking India and China to replace the one cut by the Japanese in 1942. The Myitkyina airstrip, on the proposed path of the new road, became a key objective of the offensive. Once secured, it would serve to supply, by air and land, continuing Allied efforts in the theater. Conducting long-range penetration operations in support of Stilwell’s offensive were Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill’s Marauders, a commando unit code-named GALAHAD and formally known as the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional).

Attached to the Marauders for their “dangerous and hazardous mission” to capture Myitkyina were fourteen Japanese American linguists under the command of 1st Lt. William Alfred Laffin. Born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Canadian American father, Laffin grew up in Japan, attended various schools in the United States, and was working for a branch of the Ford Motor Company in Japan when the war began. He was initially interned in Japan as an enemy alien but was allowed to leave for the United States in June 1942. Upon arriving two months later, he and his wife, Janet, settled in Detroit, where William volunteered to join the U.S. Army.

Fluent in Japanese, Laffin was sent to the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage, Minnesota, where he graduated in the summer of 1943. He then accepted a commission when the school commandant recruited him as chief of the linguist team destined for Burma. Laffin, a soft-spoken 42-year-old, interviewed other graduates of the school to build his team. Once in Burma, his linguists were divided among the 5307th’s six Intelligence and Reconnaissance (I&R) platoons. [See "This Week in MI History" #101 3 August 1944]

In addition to overseeing the linguists, Bill (or sometimes Willy) Laffin served as S-2 for the 5307th’s deputy commander, Col. Charles N. Hunter, who admired Laffin’s selfless bravery. While Laffin relied on the I&R platoons’ and Office of Strategic Services agent reports, prisoner interrogations, village informants, and aerial photographs, he also commonly led scout missions to gather his own information.

In late April, as the Marauders approached Myitkyina, recently promoted Capt. Laffin led the way, reconnoitering a sixty-five-mile-long route through the treacherous mountainous jungle terrain. With him were thirty Kachin Rangers as well as a detachment of engineers and thirty Chinese laborers to prepare the narrow road for the following forces. By 16 May, Laffin’s patrol reached a point a little more than two miles from the Myitkyina airstrip. As he waited for Colonel Hunter and the rest of the Marauders to arrive, he sent out a six-man patrol to locate the Japanese fortifications along the airstrip. He was able to confirm the small Japanese force there was unaware of the approaching Americans. The next day, Merrill’s Marauders were able to surprise the Japanese and quickly seize the Myitkyina airfield. By mid-afternoon, the airfield was open for Allied aircraft.

Although the airfield had been secured, the Japanese base in the town, about five miles distant, was still active. Captain Laffin climbed aboard a L-5 liaison aircraft to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the Japanese positions there. Just as the aircraft took off, a Japanese Zero flew over the airfield and shot Laffin’s plane down. Both he and the pilot were killed. Laffin was temporarily buried at the end of the airstrip, while the battle for the town continued. It finally fell to the Americans on 3 August 1944. Captain Laffin’s body was later exhumed and reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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