More Childhood Memories of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Provided by John Babina
The Stratford road was built through the salt water marshes at the beginning
of WWII to gain better access to the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft plant (the
building known as AVCO-Lycoming in the 1950s) which then had almost 12,000
defense workers. Since the salt water marshes offered construction
difficulties of its own, the local road picked up the nickname "the Burma
Road" in recognition of the [by then] internationally known Burma Road in
China.
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(Edison 1955, Hall 1956, Notre Dame 1961; and Success Park)
The "Burma Road" in Stratford was named after the Burma Road in
China. The Chinese road was about 700 miles long and was constructed through
rough mountain country. It was considered a remarkable engineering achievement
by many people around the world. The Burma Road was undertaken by the Chinese
after the Japanese invasion in 1937 and was completed in 1938. It transported
war supplies, landed at Rangoon, and shipped by railroad to Lashio. The Burma
Road traffic increased in importance to China after the Japanese took
effective control of the Chinese coast and Indochina. When this road was cut,
the U.S. flew the famous supply route called "The Hump" [the
Himalayas] to keep China supplied.