"The United States Army Observer Group, code name The Dixie Mission, was sent on a secret mission approved by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and under command of General Joseph Stilwell in the China-Burma-India Theater of War. The first group which included John Colling, arrived in Yenan on 22 July 1944. The Dixie Mission's objectives were to establish liaison with the Chinese Communists; to save downed B-29 crews who were bombing Tokyo and Manchuria from bases in Chengdu; and to determine the effectiveness of the Communists as a fighting force to help in a U.S. invasion of Shandong peninsula, China. This book is a compilation of personal files and photographs from the Dixie Mission. It has been put together by John Colling as a record of the wartime friendship that subsequently developed. This friendship may have provided a better base for U.S.-China relations than the then current support of Chiang Kai-shek."--Publisher's description.