World War II Relics

With Sivasagar getting a much-needed highlight, another area in Assam that needs urgent attention is the large number of World War II relics lying across the state in general and upper Assam in particular. It was only in the Saturday edition of this newspaper that a prominent front-page story pointed out that a massive World War II-era air raid bunker has been under illegal occupation in the oil town of Digboi for more than five decades. Fortunately, the structure, which is situated on IOC (Assam Oil Division) land, has remained largely intact despite being under occupation and receiving little official conservation effort. In fact, the various World War II sites in Assam, including the two Commonwealth War Cemeteries in Digboi and Guwahati, hold immense potential to attract global heritage and remembrance tourists if properly maintained with better infrastructure and a series of promotional campaigns launched. The Guwahati War Cemetery, located beside the Navagraha cremation ground in the heart of the city, contains nearly 486 graves of Commonwealth servicemen from the UK, India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, while the Digboi Cemetery has 200 burials, including 197 servicemen primarily from the UK and India, as well as one serviceman each from the USA, Italy, and Belgium. The historic 1,726-km Stilwell Road, which starts from Ledo in Assam and ends in Kunming in China after passing through Myanmar, too, can attract a large number of tourists from all over. A third war cemetery is situated at Jairampur inside Arunachal Pradesh, not very far from Digboi, and contains around 1,000 graves of Allied soldiers and labourers – including Chinese, Indian, British, American, and Kachin servicemen – who died building the historic Stilwell Road (Ledo Road) during World War II.