In January 1942, the Bombay Burmah Trading Company orders the evacuation of all of the company-associated women and children from Burma: the Japanese are bombing Rangoon, and their steady march into the country proves relentless. Burma is strategically located, “block[ing] an overland supply route for the Allies to China, Japan’s bitter enemy. Along the famed Burma Road came ammunition and fuel” (206). In addition, Japan sets its sights on India, where anti-British sentiment is already running high. Many Indians throw in their lot with the Japanese, believing it will help them in their quest for independence from British colonial rule. The Burmese are divided: some ethnic groups, including the majority Burmans, also want independence from British rule, while others—the predominantly Christian Karen ethnic group, for one—side with the British, for the most part. Ultimately, however, the Japanese will not be liberators but rather occupiers who perpetrated “Japanese racism and brutality” (207), according to historians of the period.

Williams is conscripted to accompany a large group of women, children, and elephants on the long trek out of Burma and into India, which is still firmly in the hands of Allied forces. He agonizes about not returning to his men and elephants but is eager to protect his own family.