government towards Warner have varied as intensively as the government itself over the last century. In 1931, the National Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities declared that archeological objects could only be taken from the country if there is no one in the country "sufficiently competent or interested in studying or safe-keeping them." Otherwise, the Commission concluded, it is no longer scientific archeology but commercial vandalism." Warner himself viewed his work as a heroic act of preserving art from destruction. He defended taking fragments from the Longmen Grottoes, saying "If we are ever criticized for buying those chips, the love and labor and the dollars we spent on assembling them should silence all criticism. That in itself is a service to the cause of China bigger than anyone else in this country has ever made." It is worth noting, though, that most of the destruction was done to fill orders placed by western collectors using images provide by the buyers. Today the caves in Dunhuang are favored as tourist stops to showcase the Chinese view that the Americans pillaged their heritage. Certain members of the family have requested that the Museum return the pieces to Dunhuang. The Museum's position is that since they have a bill of sale indicating that Warner legitimately purchased the artwork, they have no obligation to return them. The Warner family acknowledges both points of view on the matter and seeks resolution. World War II Warner's archaeological career was interrupted by the United States' entry into World War II and he became part of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) Section of the U.S. Army. He was brought on as an advisor to the MFAA Section in Japan from April to September 1946. He has been given credit by some for advising against firebombing and the use of the atomic bomb on Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura and other ancient cities to protect cultural heritage of Japan. There are monuments erected in Kyoto, Hōryū-ji (outside the western edge of Hōryū-ji temple), and Kamakura (outside Kamakura JR Station) in his honor for this reason. However, Otis Cary has argued that the credit for sparing Japan's cultural heritage sites belongs not to Langdon but to the U.S. Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson. Major works The Long Old Road in China (1926) The Craft of the Japanese Sculptor (1936) Buddhist Wall-Paintings: A Study of a Ninth-Century Grotto at