Discovery of WWII era bombs in East Singhbhum brings spotlight back on Ramgarh town

Ramgarh: On a day when two US-made bombs from World War – II were defused on the banks of Subernarekha River in East Singhbhum district, Ramgarh’s little-know connection with the US and the war was back in spotlight.Now a garrison town, Ramgarh served as a training facility where the US instructors trained thousands of Chinese troops before sending them to fight the Japanese forces on the Burma front (now Myanmar). Before that, it served as a prisoner of war camp.Chinese War Cemetery, a seven-acre facility where 667 Chinese soldiers are buried, stands as a testimony to that forgotten chapter of history. The cemetery, which sits along the Ramgarh-Barkakana state highway, contains the remains of the 30,000-strong Chinese Expeditionary Force that took part in the Burma campaign. Many of them had been trained in Ramgarh, which today houses the training centres of the Punjab and Sikh regiments.The first trainload of Chinese troops arrived in Ramgarh on July 17, 1942