From Burma With Love
Fifteen months of daily letters between Irwin and Mary Reiss during World War II
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Irv Reiss writes -- I am a Labor Officer. I hire, feed, pay, and fire the native labor used by the American Army. In India and Assam, I worked with a variety of tribes. Here in Burma, I hire Kachins, Burmese, and Shans. My work starts early in the morning. I have a few thousand collies tagged and registered. They report in to me every morning and I assign them to various units that use them. At night I dole out rations. And I keep a payroll on them and pay them about twice a month. Remember these people went through the terror of the conquest and re-conquest. They do not speak English. I cover a few hundred square miles of territory. For collies living a long way out, I have built a camp here near my headquarters. I think you can see for yourself why I am busy. You can't begin to imagine the problems that arise and must be solved by me. When I first hit this area, the natives didn't pay any more attention to me that any other officer. But since I have paid out a few thousand rupees, they all salaam me -- some even bow from the waist.
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About the Book
Irv and Mary Reiss (aka Dad and Mom) wrote this book as two letters per day for fifteen months from late 1943 through March 1945. Friends and relatives added more letters to bring the total to nearly 1,000. Virtually all of their letters ended with "I love you very very much" and "I miss you very very much." It's easy to empathize with their frustrations and anxieties about being separated and worried, especially with the birth and nurturing of their first child Stephen (aka me) in June 1944. This book title of From Burma With Love is an understatement. Irv Reiss served in the US Army from June 27, 1941 until September 17, 1945 for a total of 4 years, 2 months, and 20 days. Foreign service in India and Burma (Myanmar) was 1 year, 1 month, and 23 days. The foreign service in Burma was very intense and is the heart of this book -- hence the name, From Burma With Love. Irv was a labor officer along the Ledo Road from August 28, 1944 until December 11, 1944. His job was to hire and feed and pay several thousand native laborers (and a few elephants) to help build that road from Ledo, India to Mongyu, Burma. Read his letter of October 7, 1944.
About the Author
Stephen Reiss and Diana Peterson were married in Peoria, Illinois on July 10, 1971. Their first son Adam Stephen Reiss was born on August 8, 1976 and their second son Grant Andrew Reiss was born in Peoria on May 19, 1979. Steve worked 40 years for Caterpillar Inc. from July 20, 1966 until retirement on July 31, 2006. Diane taught fourth grade, worked at Illinois Central College in Adult Basic Education, and also taught English as a Second Language in local schools. The family of four lived in and around Peoria, Illinois except for five years in Asia -- Seoul, South Korea from early 1987 to mid-1990 and then in Hong Kong until early 1992. Steve has written four previous Reiss Family history books and has two more in the works.