An American soldier poses beside a battle-scarred Buddha statue amid the ruins of a pagoda in Myitkyina, Burma. Captured during or shortly after the 1944 Battle of Myitkyina -- a grueling campaign fought by Allied forces, including Merrill's Marauders, to wrest the strategic town from Japanese control -- this photograph reflects both the destruction wrought on Burma's religious and cultural heritage and the informal 'tourist' photographs American servicemen took of themselves amid the CBI Theater's ancient monuments. Project: 218046