Following months of negotiations with Chinese authorities, the British Government and various relief bodies, the FAU’s offer to send 40 trained personnel to provide ambulance services to Free China was finally accepted in December 1940. The first party of four arrived in Kunming, Yunnan Province, in July 1941 via Rangoon and up the Burma Road.

This first phase of the China Convoy’s story runs from July 1941- May 1942. At the end of this time the Unit’s members found themselves cut off in Western China by the Japanese occupation of Burma, having salvaged what supplies and equipment they could before finally making good their escape. The second chapter of their story covers the period from May 1942 – February 1945. Convoy members remained isolated in Western China, supplied only by air from Calcutta, until Allied forces reopened the Burma Road connected via General Stilwell’s Road from Ledo in Assam.

The last period of this outline history follows their experiences from February 1945 – January 1951 as the Second World War came to a close. Activity shifted towards rehabilitation and reconstruction work against the backdrop of the now resumed Chinese Civil War, ending with the winding up and evacuation of the last of the Convoy members.