Raymond Albert Wheeler was a lieutenant general in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and an engineer of international recognition. He fought in both World Wars, at the Marne in World War I, where he earned a Silver Star, and in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II, where he personally accepted the Japanese surrender in Singapore. During and after the war he held key roles in major engineering projects of the 20th century, to include construction of the Ledo Road, St. Lawrence Seaway, and Missouri Basin Program, the clearing of the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis, and the construction of tens of thousands of miles of rail and highway through Iraq and Iran during the development of Allied supply lines from Europe to Russia during World War II.

The Ledo Road was an overland connection between British India and China, built during World War II to enable the Western Allies to deliver supplies to China and aid the war effort against Japan. After the Japanese cut off the Burma Road in 1942 an alternative was required, hence the construction of the Ledo Road. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after General Joseph Stilwell of the U.S. Army, in early 1945 at the suggestion of Chiang Kai-shek. It passes through the Burmese towns of Shingbwiyang, Myitkyina and Bhamo in Kachin state. Of the 1,726 kilometres (1,072 mi) long road, 1,033 kilometres (642 mi) are in Burma and 632 kilometres (393 mi) in China with the remainder 61 km was in India. The road had the Ledo-Pangsau Pass-Tanai (Danai)-Myitkyina--Bhamo-Mansi-Namhkam-Kunming route.