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137-542: CAT was created by Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) Air Transport. Using surplus World War II aircraft such as the C-47 Dakota and the C-46 Commando , CAT airlifted supplies and food into war-ravaged China. It was soon pressed into service to support Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang forces in the civil war between them and

274-638: A Convair 880 M, becoming the first airline to operate pure jet scheduled passenger services on regional routes in the Far East. The Convair 880M was replaced by a Boeing 727 in January 1968. On 16 February 1968 the 727, flying from Hong Kong to Taipei, crashed near Linkou in northern Taiwan, ending 23 years of operations. The remnants of the cargo operation became Flying Tiger. Flying Tiger International merged to FedEx . Claire Chennault Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958)

411-645: A break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu . Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để , Châu started the two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội (Modernistic Association) and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi . Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sen 's Xinhai Revolution , Châu

548-523: A crack fighting unit, always going against superior Japanese forces. They became the symbol of America's military might in Asia. They became the Flying Tigers. A year before the U.S. officially entered the war, Chennault developed an ambitious plan for a sneak attack on Japanese bases. His Flying Tigers would use U.S. bombers and U.S. pilots, all with Chinese markings. He made the fantastic claim that

685-626: A defeatist attitude as a gambit to force Chiang to cede more powers of command to him. As the Japanese took Changsha in June 1944, Chennault criticized Stilwell for trying to command the Chinese armies from Burma, sending a message to Washington saying no-one had seen Stilwell in southern China recently. Following their victory in the Fourth Battle of Changsha, the Japanese began to advance on

822-481: A handful of fliers and planes could win the war single-handed. The U.S. Army was opposed to that scheme and raised obstacles by noting that being able to reach Japan depended on Chiang's troops being able to build and protect airfields and bases close enough to Japan, which they doubted that he could do. It also had little confidence in Chennault. Despite the military advice, U.S. civilian leaders were captivated by

959-733: A high school graduation ceremony and subsequently wed in Winnsboro , Louisiana, on December 24, 1911. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946, long after his service in China started. He had two daughters by his second wife, Chen Xiangmei ( Anna Chennault ), a young reporter for the Central News Agency whom he married on December 2, 1947. She became one of the Republic of China 's chief lobbyists in Washington, DC. His children from

1096-689: A large-scale purge. In addition to British support, the French also received assistance from various southern groups that modern historians consider unambiguously Vietnamese. After the August Revolution, the armed militias from the religious Hòa Hảo sect backed by the Japanese were in direct conflict with the Viet Minh who sought to take full control of the country. This ultimately led to the assassination of their leader in April 1947. The Bình Xuyên organized crime group also sought power in

1233-519: A promise from the War Department and President Roosevelt to be delivered to Chiang Kai-shek that several shipments of P-40C fighters were forthcoming along with pilots, mechanics, and aviation supplies. The 100 planes were crated and sent to Burma on third-country freighters during spring 1941. At Rangoon , they were unloaded, assembled and test flown by personnel of Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) before they were delivered to

1370-473: A recovery effort for the bodies of the pilots. In 2005 the POW/MIA office announced that it had identified the remains of Robert Snoddy using DNA analysis. Schwartz's remains have not been recovered. The 1952-1953 edition of Jane's All The World's Aircraft lists the head office address as Suite 309, Kass Building, 711 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., with the footnote that the company had reregistered in

1507-615: A sizable regular army facilitated by large popular support. They used guerrilla warfare doctrine and instruction from Mao's China, and used war materiel provided by the Soviet Union. This combination proved fatal for the French bases, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ . An estimated 400,000 to 842,707 soldiers died during the war as well as between 125,000 and 400,000 civilians. Both sides committed war crimes including killings of civilians (such as

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1644-632: A special mission for Chiang Kai-shek. By 1940, seeing that the Chinese Air Force in dire need because of obsolescent aircraft, ill-trained pilots and shortage of equipment, Chiang again sent Chennault, accompanied by Chinese Air Force General Mao Bangchu , to the United States to meet with banker Dr. T. V. Soong in Washington, D.C. , with the following goal: "to get as many fighter planes, bombers, and transports as possible, plus all

1781-967: A statue of Chennault in Zhijiang County, Hunan . The Kunming Flying Tigers Museum opened on December 20, 2012, on the 71st anniversary of the first combat in Kunming of the Flying Tigers. Chennault is among the "foreign friends of China" that Xi Jinping cites in his foreign policy discourses in an effort to recognize the contributions of other countries to China's national liberation. First Indochina War [REDACTED] DR Vietnam [REDACTED] Lao Issara (1945–1949) [REDACTED] Pathet Lao (1949–1954) [REDACTED] Khmer Issarak Supported by : [REDACTED] French Union Supported by : Total: est. 450,000 State of Vietnam : State of Vietnam: Total: est. 134,500 dead or missing Second Third The First Indochina War (generally known as

1918-653: A third CAT pilot, Connie W Seigrist, had joined flying a CIA Consolidated PBY Catalina . The CIA directed Beale and Pope to target not only Indonesian armed forces but also unarmed foreign merchant ships, in order to frighten overseas trade away from Indonesian waters, thereby weakening the Indonesian economy and undermining Sukarno's government. On April 28, 1958, Beale attacked the Royal Dutch Shell terminal at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan , sinking

2055-494: A third of the Chinese infantrymen had rifles, their artillery consisted of just two French artillery guns from World War I, and the majority lived on starvation rations of one bowl of rice per day. Despite their bravery in resisting Japanese assaults on Hengyang all through July and August 1944, the Chinese weaknesses in regards to weapons and food began to tell with Xue reporting his men badly needed supplies to hold Hengyang. Channault wanted to airdrop food, weapons and ammunition to

2192-630: A three-month contract at a salary of $ 1,000 per month, charged with making a survey of the Chinese Air Force. Chiang 's English-speaking wife, Soong Mei-ling , known to Americans as "Madame Chiang", was in charge of the Aeronautical Commission and thus became Chennault's immediate supervisor. Upon the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in August, Chennault became Chiang Kai-shek's chief air adviser, assisted in

2329-494: A venereal disease was one less man who could participate in the war. Stilwell was enraged when he heard about Chennault's brothel and promptly had it shut down by saying it was disgraceful that an officer of the US Army Air Force would open such an establishment. British Field Marshal Alan Brooke , who met both Stillwell and Chennault in late 1943, wrote that Stillwell was a "hopeless crank with no vision" and Chennault

2466-408: Is especially detailed in recording his experience in China. The difficulties that he faced in modernizing fighter tactics, even in emphasizing airpower as a weapon, are clearly explained. His disagreements with and criticisms of the theater commander, General Joseph Stilwell , who was trained in the infantry and seen by Chennault as unappreciative of the capabilities of airpower, are a major portion of

2603-595: Is listed as 2 Douglas DC-4, 22 Curtiss Commando, 2 Douglas DC-3, 3 Douglas C-47, and 2 Convair Catalina. In the 1958-1959 edition of Jane's, the last year in which the "Airlines of the World" section was carried, the home office address in Taiwan remained the same, but no company officers are listed. The fleet is given as 3 Douglas DC-4, 25 Curtiss C-46, 5 Douglas DC-3, 2 Convair Catalina, with 2 Douglas DC-6B on order. In 1958 Time reported that 20 CAT aircraft were supplying

2740-480: Is of French origin; the French pronunciation is "Shen-OH", but his family pronounced it "Shen-AWLT". He grew up in the Louisiana towns of Gilbert and Waterproof . He began misrepresenting his year of birth as either 1889 or 1890, possibly because he was too young to attend college after he graduated from high school and so his father added three years to his age. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1901 and he

2877-752: The Nhân Dân journal) calling for a general uprising, resistance and guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. It also called on the French in Vietnam to recognize Vietnamese independence and on the DeGaulle French government (Allied French) to recognize Vietnam's independence and fight alongside them against Japan. In an article from August 1945, (republished 17 August 1970), the North Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Truong Chinh denounced

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3014-614: The 14th International Bomber Squadron , from Britain, France, Netherlands, and the United States, proposed raiding Kagoshima with incendiary bombs but were all declined because of the "exorbitant remuneration" demanded by the foreign "volunteers". The mission was ultimately tasked to Capt. Xu Huansheng and Lt. Tong Yen-bo of the 8th Bomber Group. Under the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1937 , Soviet-made bomber and fighter aircraft increasingly replenished China's battered air force units previously equipped with US-made aircraft, such as

3151-685: The 343d Fighter Group , called the "Aleutian Tigers", during the World War Two. The Chennault daughters from the second marriage are Claire Anna Chennault (born February 8, 1949 – October 22, 2023) and Cynthia Louise Chennault (born 1950), a retired professor of Chinese at the University of Florida, Gainesville . As the State of Louisiana had passed an anti-miscegenation law in 1894 forbidding marriage between whites and non-whites, Chennault had been informed by his lawyer that his marriage to Anna

3288-784: The Air Corps in 1926. After graduating from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1931, Chennault became Chief of the Pursuit Section at the Tactical School. Into the mid-1930s Chennault led and represented the 1st Pursuit Group of the Montgomery, Alabama -based Army Air Corps aerobatic team the "Three Musketeers". The group performed at the 1928 National Air Races. In 1932, as a pursuit aviation instructor at Maxwell Field , Chennault re-organized

3425-739: The August Revolution , Japanese forces allowed the Việt Minh and other nationalist groups to take over public buildings and weapons. For the most part, the Japanese Army destroyed their equipment or surrendered it to Allied forces, but some of the weapons fell to the Việt Minh, including some French equipment. The Việt Minh also recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers to train Vietnamese. On 25 August, Hồ Chí Minh persuaded Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate and become "supreme advisor" to

3562-515: The Bank of China was further discussed in a meeting held at the home of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. with Chennault, Dr. Soong, and General Mao on December 21. On April 25, 1941, the United States and China formally signed a $ 50 million stabilization agreement to support the Chinese currency. By December 23, 1940, upon approval by the War Department, State Department, and the President of

3699-712: The Civil Air Transport (later known as Air America ). The aircraft facilitated aid to Nationalist China during the struggle against the Chinese Communists in the late 1940s and were later used in supply missions to French forces in Indochina and the Kuomintang occupation of northern Burma throughout the mid- and late 1950s, providing support for the Thai police force. The same force supplied

3836-692: The Franco-Thai War , the Vichy French in Indochina defended their colony in a border conflict in which the forces of Thailand invaded while the Japanese sat on the sidelines. Thai military successes were limited to the Cambodian border area, and in January 1941 Vichy France's modern naval forces soundly defeated the inferior Thai naval forces in the Battle of Ko Chang . The war ended in May, with

3973-663: The Hawk IIIs and Boeing 281 Peashooters , and were also augmented by Soviet volunteer combat aviators ; while the Chinese Air Force Academy in Jianqiao Airbase was pushed hinterland with the Fall of Shanghai and Nanjing , Claire Lee Chennault went along to Kunming 's Wujiaba Airbase , in the capital of Yunnan Province in southwestern China, to reorganize and train new Chinese Air Force cadets at

4110-624: The Ho–Sainteny agreement . In February 1946, he also forced the French to surrender all of their concessions and ports in China, including Shanghai, in exchange for Chinese troops withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region starting in March 1946. This left the VNQDĐ without support, and they were suppressed by Việt Minh and French troops. The Việt Minh massacred thousands of VNQDĐ members and other nationalists in

4247-872: The Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam , and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War ) was fought between France and Việt Minh ( Democratic Republic of Vietnam ), and their respective allies, from 19 December 1946 until 21 July 1954. Việt Minh was led by Võ Nguyên Giáp and Hồ Chí Minh . Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although

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4384-574: The Korean War , CAT airlifted thousands of tons of war materials to supply United States military operations, including support of Kuomintang holdouts based in Burma (Operation PAPER). On 29 November 1952, a CAT C-47 left Seoul on a mission to collect an anti-Communist Chinese agent in the foothills of northeastern China , using a "pole and line" technique. The mission was apparently compromised and Chinese forces were waiting for them. Approaching low over

4521-517: The Ledo Road overland route continued throughout 1944 and was completed in January 1945. Training of the new Chinese divisions commenced; however, predictions of monthly tonnage (65,000 per month) over the road were never achieved. By the time Nationalist armies began to receive large amounts of supplies via the Ledo Road, the war had ended. Instead, the airlift continued to expand until the end of

4658-551: The Mỹ Trạch massacre by French troops), rape and torture. At the International Geneva Conference on 21 July 1954, the new socialist French government and the Việt Minh agreed to give the Việt Minh control of North Vietnam above the 17th parallel , but this was rejected by the State of Vietnam and the United States. A year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm , creating

4795-534: The PRRI / Permesta movement against President Sukarno 's government of Indonesia, which the Eisenhower administration feared had communist sympathies. In April 1958 two CAT pilots flew combat missions for Permesta's Angkatan Udara Revolusioner ("Revolutionary Air Force") or AUREV. William H. Beale and Allen Pope flew CIA Douglas B-26 Invaders for AUREV. In May, Beale withdrew from the operation, by which time

4932-600: The Potsdam Conference , 200,000 troops of the Chinese 1st Army occupied northern Indochina to the 16th parallel, while the British under the South-East Asia Command of Lord Mountbatten occupied the south. The Chinese troops had been sent by Chiang Kai-shek under General Lu Han to accept the surrender of Japanese forces occupying that area, then to supervise the disarming and repatriation of

5069-718: The Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Soon an insurgency , backed by the communist north, developed against Diệm's anti-communist government. This conflict, known as the Vietnam War , included large U.S. military intervention in support of the South Vietnamese and ended in 1975 with the defeat of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese and the reunification of Vietnam. Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887. Vietnamese nationalism grew until World War II, which provided

5206-608: The Time issue appeared, Chennault encountered British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference . According to historian Carlo D'Este , Chennault "had been nicknamed 'The Hawk' by Time Magazine and described by Antony Head , a member of the Joint Planning Staff, as 'resembling a Red Indian Chief who had just taken somebody's scalp.' Turning to [Gen. Hastings Lionel] Ismay , Churchill asked

5343-422: The Truman administration 's arms embargo had been a key factor in the loss of morale to the Nationalist armies. Chennault advocated changes in how foreign aid was distributed and encouraged the US Congress to focus on individualized aid assistance with specific goals, with close monitoring by US advisers. Those viewpoints may have reflected his experiences during the Chinese Civil War in which officials of

5480-443: The US intelligence community and others during the Vietnam War . In 1951, now retired, Major General Chennault testified and provided written statements to the Senate Joint Committee on Armed Forces and Foreign Relations , which was investigating the causes of the 1949 fall of China to the communists. Together with Army General Albert C. Wedemeyer , Navy Vice Admiral Oscar C. Badger II , and others, Chennault claimed that

5617-405: The Warhawks , honoring Chennault's AVG Curtiss P-40 fighter aircraft nickname. A large display of General Chennault's orders, medals and other decorations has been on loan to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., by his widow Anna since the museum's opening in 1976. For many years Chennault was viewed negatively within the People's Republic of China , due to his role against

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5754-419: The 10th Army but was vetoed by Stilwell on the grounds that to air drop supplies would "set a precedent for further demands that could not be met." Chennault did have the pilots of the 14th Air Force brave Japanese anti-aircraft fire to fly in as low as 300 feet to drop supplies of food, ammunition and medical supplies, but Xue stated he needed far more. A request from Chennault to air drop 500 tons of weapons to

5891-403: The 10th Army was rejected by Stilwell as a "waste of effort." On 7 August 1944, Xue reported the Imperial Japanese Army had broken his defense lines and entered Hengyang and the next day, Hengyang fell with Xue ordering his men to abandon the city. Fenby wrote that Hengyang would have probably fallen as the Japanese had committed overwhelming force, but the city could have held out far longer than

6028-421: The 10th anniversary of CAT. Chennault was very weak, unable to cut the cake. He and Anna flew back to the United States. Chennault was promoted to the honorary rank of lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force on July 18, 1958, nine days before his death on July 27, at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans . His honorary promotion was authorized by a special bill of relief passed by Congress, likely

6165-404: The 1911 revolution and anti-Japanese war which had made it "not the same as feudal China". In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh called on the people to contribute gold to purchase weapons for the Viet Minh and also gifts for the Chinese, presenting a golden opium pipe to the Chinese general Lu Han. Lu Han pressured Ho Chi Minh for rice to feed the Chinese occupation force. Rice sent to Cochinchina by

6302-401: The 1st American Volunteer Group (nicknamed Flying Tigers ). He headed both the volunteer group and the uniformed U.S. Army Air Forces units that replaced it in 1942. He feuded constantly with General Joseph Stilwell , the U.S. Army commander in China, and helped China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to convince President Roosevelt to remove Stilwell in 1944. The China-Burma-India theater

6439-448: The AVG training unit at Toungoo . Their first battle occurred on December 20, 1941, with aircraft flying out of Kunming. CAMCO delivered 99 Tomahawks before war broke out. (Many of those were later destroyed in training accidents.) The 100th fuselage was trucked to a CAMCO plant in Loiwing, China, and later made whole with parts from damaged aircraft. Shortages in equipment with spare parts almost impossible to obtain in Burma along with

6576-424: The Allies by surrendering Indochina to Japan. Ho Chi Minh blamed Dong Minh Hoi and VNDQQ for signing the agreement with France which allowed its soldiers to return to Vietnam. Chinese communist guerrilla leader Chu Chia-pi visited northern Vietnam multiple times in 1945 and helped the Viet Minh fight against the French from Yunnan. Chiang Kai-shek forced the contentious French and Việt Minh to come to terms in

6713-450: The B-26, and Pope and his Indonesian radio operator were captured. The CIA had ordered the CAT pilots to fly "sterile", i.e. with no documents that could either identify them or link them with the US government. However, Pope was carrying about 30 documents including his detailed flight log, secret orders for temporary deployment in Indonesia, military separation file and CAT identity card. Pope's capture with these documents immediately exposed

6850-422: The British journalist Jonathan Fenby as a clash between Stilwell, the New England Puritan and proud "Yankee" who "prized moral courage" above all else, and Chennault, the Southern gentleman and "Good Ole Boy", who accepted "human foibles" as natural. For example, Chennault opened up a brothel in Guilin for his pilots and recruited English-speaking prostitutes from Hong Kong who fled to the inland of China to escape

6987-418: The British tanker MV  San Flaviano , while Pope off the port of Donggala near Palu in Central Sulawesi sank merchant ships from Greece, Italy and Panama. On May 18 west of Ambon Island , Pope attacked one of a pair of Indonesian merchant ships that were carrying government troops for a counter-offensive against Permesta. An Indonesian Air Force P-51 and anti-aircraft fire from the ships shot down

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7124-483: The Chinese forces which started gradually returning to China. In further negotiations, the French would seek to ratify Vietnam's position within the Union and the Vietnamese main priorities were preserving their independence and the reunification with the Republic of Cochinchina , which had been created by High Commissioner Georges d'Argenlieu in June. In September, once main negotiations had broken down in Paris over these two key issues, Ho Chi Minh and Marius Moutet ,

7261-437: The Chinese soldiers occupied northern Indochina, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh tried to appease the Chinese soldiers with welcome parades in Hanoi and Haiphong, while reassuring the Vietnamese people that China supported Vietnam's independence. Viet Minh newspapers emphasized the common ancestry (huyết thống) and culture shared by Vietnamese and Chinese, and their common struggle against western imperialists, and expressed admiration for

7398-426: The Chinese were fully investigated, to the extent of executions for some Vietnamese who attacked Chinese soldiers. While Chiang Kai-shek, Xiao Wen (Hsiao Wen) and the Kuomintang Chinese government were uninterested in occupying Vietnam beyond the allotted time period and involving itself in the war between the Viet Minh and the French, the Yunnan warlord Lu Han wanted to establish a Chinese trusteeship of Vietnam under

7535-462: The Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War. However, this changed following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and the U.S. , with Chennault being viewed more positively. In 2005, the "Flying Tigers Memorial" was built in Huaihua, Hunan Province , on one of the old airstrips used by the Flying Tigers in the 1940s. On the 65th anniversary of the Japanese surrender, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and PRC officials unveiled

7672-401: The Defenders of the American Constitution (DAC). The DAC believed in a "one-worldist conspiracy" led by New York Jewish financiers who controlled international communism, and described their goal as the defense of "the US constitution against enemies and encroachments, both foreign and domestic." In 1949, Chennault published his memoirs, Way of a Fighter . The book covers his entire life but

7809-436: The French Minister of the Colonies , signed a temporary modus vivendi which reaffirmed the March Accord, although no specifications were made on the issue of a Nam Bộ (Cochinchina) reunification referendum and negotiations for a definitive treaty were set to begin no later than January 1947. In the north, an uneasy peace had been maintained during the negotiations, in November however, fighting broke out in Haiphong between

7946-467: The French agreeing to minor territorial revisions which restored formerly Thai areas to Thailand. Hồ Chí Minh, upon his return to Vietnam in 1941, formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), better known as the Việt Minh. He founded the Việt Minh as an umbrella organization , seeking to appeal to a base beyond his own communist beliefs by emphasizing national liberation instead of class struggle. In March 1945, with

8083-530: The French and the Japanese" for the deaths of "more than two million" Vietnamese. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Joseph Stilwell privately opposed continued French rule in Indochina after the war. Roosevelt suggested that Chiang Kai-shek place Indochina under Chinese rule; Chiang Kai-shek supposedly replied: "Under no circumstances!" Following Roosevelt's death in April 1945, U.S. resistance to French rule weakened. Japanese forces in Vietnam surrendered on 15 August 1945, and an armistice

8220-434: The French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes, as did the Germans in Vichy France . For Vietnamese nationalists, this was a double-puppet government, with the Axis powers behind the French behind the Vietnamese local officials. Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his continued safety safety and comfort. From October 1940 to May 1941, during

8357-432: The French garrison by parachuting troops and supplies with covert USAF C-119 inscribed with French Air Force insignia. Two CAT pilots James B. McGovern Jr. and Wallace Buford were killed in action during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. They were the first American casualties of what was later termed the Vietnam War . McGovern's remains were recovered in 2002 and identified in 2006. Seven surviving CAT pilots out of

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8494-411: The French government at various times during its Indochina wars, flying supplies and equipment into Hanoi 's Gia Lam airport and other fields using C-46 and C-47 transport planes. Operation Squaw-II was approved on January 29, 1954, and, after negotiations with the French, a contract was signed on March 3 for CAT to supply 24 pilots to operate 12 C-119s. At the Battle of Dien Bien Phu , CAT supplied

8631-444: The French gradually retook control of much of Indochina. Hồ Chí Minh agreed to talk with France but negotiations failed. After one year of low-level conflict, all-out war broke out in December 1946 between French and Việt Minh forces as Hồ Chí Minh and his government went underground. The French tried to stabilize Indochina by reorganizing it as a Federation of Associated States . In 1949, they put former Emperor Bảo Đại back in power, as

8768-588: The French in October 1945 was divided by Ho Chi Minh, with only one third to the northern Vietnamese and two thirds to the Chinese. After 18 December 1945, elections were postponed for 15 days in response to a demand by Chinese general Chen Xiuhe to allow the Dong Minh Hoi and VNQDD to prepare. Beyond their food quota, the occupiers seized several rice stockpiles and other private and public goods, and were accused of rapes, beatings, occupying private dwellings, and burning down others, resulting only in apologies or partial compensation. By contrast, Vietnamese crimes against

8905-411: The French side. Vietnamese society also polarized along ethnic lines: the Nung minority assisted the French, while the Tay assisted the Việt Minh. In March 1946, a preliminary accord signed between the French and Ho Chi Minh which acknowledged the DRV as a free state within an Indochinese Federation in a " French Union " and allowed a limited number of French troops within its borders to replace

9042-511: The French, despite the previous support of the Việt Minh by American OSS representatives. The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại , who had governed under the Japanese rule. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, and declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately, but

9179-470: The Generalissimo is one of the two or three greatest military and political leaders in the world today. He has never broken a commitment or promise to me." Chennault was supported in his disputes by Soong Mei-ling , Chiang's politically powerful wife, who was one of the richest women in 1930s China and, unlike her husband, fluent in English. Stilwell and Chennault loathed each other partly because of their very different personalities, which were described by

9316-419: The Indonesian authorities released Pope and returned him to the US. In 1959, CAT was reorganized as Air America , which supported covert operations throughout Indochina during the Vietnam War (also known as the "Second Indochina War"), particularly in Laos . For further information see Air America (airline) § Early history: Civil Air Transport (CAT) . After pulling out of South Vietnam in 1975, there

9453-427: The Japanese Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere as a regime to plunder Asia and to replace the United States and British colonial rule with Japanese colonial rule. Truong Chinh also denounced the retreating Japanese's Three Alls policy: kill all, burn all, loot all. According to Truong the Japanese also tried to pit different ethnic and political groups within Indochina against each other and attempted to infiltrate

9590-467: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and were used for the war in Burma, as they lacked the range to reach Japan from secure bases in China. Chennault's 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) – better known as the " Flying Tigers " – began training in August 1941 and was primarily based out of Rangoon , Burma, and Kunming, Yunnan. Just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , senior Chinese officials in Chongqing released details of

9727-486: The Japanese under Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi , Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Army Group based in Saigon. Allied troops in Saigon were an airborne detachment, two British companies of the Indian 20th Infantry Division and the French 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment, with British General Sir Douglas Gracey as supreme commander. The latter proclaimed martial law on September 21, and Franco-British troops took control of Saigon. As agreed at

9864-843: The Japanese Army. In the North, the Chinese permitted the DRV government to remain in charge of local administration and food supply. Initially, the Chinese kept the French Colonial soldiers interned, with the acquiescence of the Americans. The Chinese used the VNQDĐ , the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese Kuomintang , to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents. Chiang Kai-shek deliberately withheld his best soldiers from Vietnam, holding them in reserve for

10001-690: The Japanese-imposed Famine of 1945 , one to two million Vietnamese starved to death in the Red river delta of northern Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government accused both France and Japan of the famine. By the time the Chinese came to disarm the Japanese, Vietnamese corpses littered the streets of Hanoi. In the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , Hồ Chí Minh blamed "the double yoke of

10138-399: The Japanese. He argued that his men needed sex and it was better to have his "boys" visit a brothel that was regularly inspected to reduce venereal diseases. Chennault felt his men were going to visit brothels, regardless of what the rules said, and that was better to have them visit a brothel whose women were inspected for venereal diseases than one that was not since a man in the hospital for

10275-749: The Kuomintang as well as semi-independent army officers has diverted aid intended for the Nationalist armies. Shortly before his death, Chennault was asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the Congress. When a committee member asked him who won the Korean War , his response was blunt: "The Communists." On July 24, 1953, Chennault met with a number of former U.S. military officers, including Pedro del Valle and Bonner Fellers , to form

10412-713: The Red River region and Lai Cai were occupied by a column from Yunnan. Vietnamese VNQDD fighters accompanied the Chinese soldiers. Lu Han occupied the French governor general's palace after ejecting the French staff under Sainteny. On 9 October 1945, General Leclerc arrived in Saigon, accompanied by French Colonel Massu 's Groupement de marche unit. Leclerc's primary objectives were to restore public order in south Vietnam and to militarize Tonkin (northern Vietnam). Secondary objectives were to explore taking back Chinese-occupied Hanoi, and to negotiate with Việt Minh officials. While

10549-739: The Republic of China's capital, Taipei , as well as by monuments on the grounds of the Louisiana State Capitol at Baton Rouge and at the former Chennault Air Force Base , now the commercial Chennault International Airport in Lake Charles . The Chennault Aviation and Military Museum , located near the entrance to Monroe Regional Airport , and Chennault Park, also in Monroe, are also named in his honor. Nell Martien Calloway, named for her grandmother, Nell Thompson Chennault, and

10686-587: The U.S. The president is given as Whiting Willauer, and the fleet listed as 23 Curtiss C-46 Commando and 4 Douglas DC-3 aircraft. On May 1, 1953, Operation Squaw began, calling for CAT to airdrop supplies to French troops besieged at Na Sam, Laos . This operation was the first U.S. involvement in what became the First Indochina War . CAT transported supplies and troops for French operations during Operation Castor in November 1953. CAT assisted

10823-480: The United States, an agreement was reached to provide China the 100 P-40B Tomahawk aircraft which had originally been built for Britain, but which the British were persuaded to give up in preference for newer models rapidly being built. With an agreement reached, General Mao returned to China aboard the SS Lurline , departing from Los Angeles, California , on January 24, 1941. Chennault followed shortly after with

10960-470: The Viet Minh. The Japanese forced Vietnamese women to join Burmese, Indonesian, Thai and Filipino comfort women as slaves to the Japanese army. The Japanese inflicted two billion US dollars worth (1945 values) of damage, including destruction of industrial plants, 90% of heavy vehicles, motorcycles, and cars, and 16 tons of junks , railways, port installations, and one third of the bridges. In

11097-483: The Việt Minh before the beginning of the seasonal rains in May, and military operations were postponed until their conclusion. Come October, the French launched Operation Léa with the objective of swiftly putting an end to the resistance movement by taking out the Vietnamese main battle units and the Việt Minh leadership at their base in Bắc Kạn . Léa was followed by Operation Ceinture in November, with similar aims. As

11234-528: The Việt Minh government and the French over a conflict of interest in import duty at the port. On November 23, 1946, the French fleet bombarded the Vietnamese sections of the city killing 6,000 Vietnamese civilians in one afternoon. The Việt Minh quickly agreed to a cease-fire and left the cities. This is known as the Haiphong incident . There was never any intention among the Vietnamese to give up, as General Võ Nguyên Giáp soon brought up 30,000 men to attack

11371-473: The Việt Minh to attack well-defended bases in remote areas at the end of their logistical trails succeeded at the Battle of Nà Sản . French efforts were hampered by the limited usefulness of tanks in forest terrain, the lack of a strong air force, and reliance on soldiers from French colonies. The Việt Minh used novel and efficient tactics, including direct artillery fire, convoy ambushes, and anti-aircraft weaponry to impede land and air resupplies, while recruiting

11508-683: The World War all but lost, Japan launched the Second French Indochina Campaign to oust the Vichy French, and formally installed Emperor Bảo Đại as head of a nominally independent Vietnam . The Japanese arrested and imprisoned most of the French officials and military remaining in the country. In Hanoi on 15–20 April 1945, the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference of the Việt Minh issued a resolution (reprinted 25 August 1970 in

11645-717: The academy along the American army air corps training model. On October 21, 1939, as the Imperial Japanese schnellbombing (fast bombers flying without fighter escorts) campaign raged terror on the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing , Chennault, accompanied by four Chinese officials, boarded the Pan American Airways Boeing B-314 California Clipper in Hong Kong , arriving at San Francisco on October 26, on

11782-400: The airline faced financial difficulties. The CIA formed a private Delaware corporation called Airdale Corporation , which formed a subsidiary called CAT, Inc. The subsidiary corporation purchased nominal shares of Civil Air Transport. CAT maintained a civilian appearance by flying scheduled passenger flights while simultaneously using other aircraft in its fleet to fly covert missions. With

11919-406: The city of Hengyang held by the 10th Chinese Army commanded by General Xue Yue . The 14th Air Force bombed the supply lines of the advancing Japanese and Chennault reported to Washington that his "boys" had shot down 210 Japanese planes in the aerial battles over Hengyang. However, the Chinese soldiers holding Hengyang were ill-equipped, with the American journalist Teddy White reporting that only

12056-460: The city. Although the French were outnumbered, their superior weaponry and naval support made any Việt Minh attack unsuccessful. In 19 December, hostilities between the Việt Minh and the French broke out in Hanoi , and Hồ Chí Minh, along with his government, was forced to evacuate the capital in favor of remote forested and mountainous areas. Guerrilla warfare ensued, with the French controlling most of

12193-622: The commander of the Chinese Air Force flight training school at Yunnanyi  [ zh ] , west of Kunming , Chennault also made a great contribution by training a new generation of Chinese fighter pilots. The Flying Tigers were formally incorporated into the United States Army Air Forces in 1942. Prior to that, Chennault had rejoined the Army with the rank of major on April 7, 1942. Three days later he

12330-504: The communists under Mao Zedong . Many of its first pilots were veterans of Chennault's World War II combat groups, popularly known as Flying Tigers . (Other of Chennault's veterans went on to form another air transport company, the Flying Tiger Line . This was a completely separate operation from Civil Air Transport and the follow-on Air America .) By 1950, following the defeat of Chiang's forces and their retreat to Taiwan ,

12467-399: The concept of creating an American Volunteer Group of pilots and mechanics to serve in China. By then Dr. Soong had already begun negotiations for an increase in financial aid with U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Federal Loan Administrator Jesse H. Jones on October 17. Washington provided the money. How to obtain the shopping list of aircraft, aviation supplies, volunteers, and funds for

12604-619: The conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia . At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the allied Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° north was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten . On V-J Day , September 2, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed in Hanoi ( Tonkin 's capital)

12741-508: The country and although initially fought alongside the Việt Minh, they would later support Bảo Đại. Militias from the Cao Đài sect, which had initially joined the Viet Minh in their struggle against the return of the French, made a truce with France when their leader was captured on 6 June 1946. The Viet Minh later attacked the Cao Đài after open conflict had erupted with France, which led them to join

12878-531: The country except far-flung areas. By January the following year, most provincial capitals had fallen to the French, while Hue fell in February after a six-week siege. In 1947, Hồ Chí Minh and General Võ Nguyên Giáp retreated with his command into the Việt Bắc , the mountainous forests of northern Vietnam. By March, France had taken control of the main population centers in the country. The French chose not to pursue

13015-538: The daughter of Rosemary Simrall and Simrall's first husband, Norman Hopkins Martien Jr. (1926–2012), is the director of the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum in Monroe. A vintage Curtiss P-40 aircraft, nicknamed "Joy", is on display at the riverside war memorial in Baton Rouge, painted in the colors of the Flying Tigers. In 2006 the University of Louisiana at Monroe renamed its athletic teams

13152-495: The empire – North Africans; Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese ethnic minorities ; Sub-Saharan Africans – and professional French troops, European volunteers, and units of the Foreign Legion . The use of French metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" ( la sale guerre ) by French leftists. The French strategy of inducing

13289-541: The establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). In late September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin, and Japanese forces to the north of that line surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek . At the same time, British forces landed in Saigon ( Cochinchina 's capital), and Japanese forces in the south surrendered to the British. The Chinese acknowledged the DRV under Hồ Chí Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to

13426-498: The fight against the Communists inside China, and instead sent undisciplined warlord troops from Yunnan under Lu Han to occupy Vietnam north of the 16th parallel and accept the Japanese surrender. In total, 200,000 of General Lu Han's Chinese soldiers occupied north Vietnam starting August 1945. 90,000 arrived by October, the 62nd army came on 26 September to Nam Dinh and Haiphong , later arriving at Lang Son and Cao Bang and

13563-411: The first aerial attack made by the group, when the American flyers encountered 10 Japanese aircraft heading to raid Kunming and successfully shot down four of the raiders. Thus, Claire Chennault became America's "first military leader" to be publicly recognized for striking a blow against the Japanese military forces – despite not being a member of the American military, but a civilian mercenary who

13700-430: The first marriage were Col. John Stephen Chennault, USAF Ret. (1913–1977), Max Thompson Chennault (1914–2001), Charles Lee Chennault (1918–1967), Peggy Sue Chennault Lee (1919–2004), Claire Patterson Chennault (November 24, 1920 – October 3, 2011), David Wallace Chennault (1923–1980), Robert Kenneth Chennault (1925–2006), and Rosemary Louise Chennault Simrall (September 27, 1928 – August 25, 2013). John Chennault commanded

13837-418: The first of such bills for a retired USAF officer. A statutory waiver was required to promote a retiree like Chennault who was not otherwise on duty or eligible for promotion. He and Anna Chan are interred at Arlington National Cemetery . Chennault was twice married and had a total of ten children, eight by his first wife, the former Nell Thompson (1893–1977), an American of British ancestry, whom he met at

13974-499: The ground, it was attacked by small-arms fire, and crash-landed near the town of Antu in China's Jilin province. The pilots, Robert Snoddy and Norman Schwartz were killed during the crash and subsequent fire, and were buried nearby. The two CIA officers, John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau survived and were immediately taken prisoner by Chinese forces, who were waiting for the flight. Downey and Fecteau were held by China and regularly interrogated for nearly twenty years. Fecteau

14111-423: The idea of China winning the war with Japan swiftly with only a few U.S. airmen and planes. It was adopted by top civilian officials including Treasury Secretary Morgenthau and President Roosevelt himself. However, the American attack never took place: The Nationalist Chinese had not built and secured any runways or bases close enough to reach Japan, just as the military had warned. The bombers and crews arrived after

14248-515: The level of CIA support for the Permesta rebellion. Embarrassed, the Eisenhower administration quickly ended CIA support for Permesta and withdrew its agents and remaining aircraft from AUREV. Early in 1960 an Indonesian military court tried Pope; in April it convicted him and sentenced him to death. However, in 1962 Robert F. Kennedy negotiated with President Sukarno, and in August that year

14385-540: The memoirs. The book ends with his retirement from the Air Force and his return to China six months later to aid the nation's recovery. Chennault was diagnosed with carcinoma (cancer) in his left lung in late 1957. The doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center said that the cancer, the result of years of smoking cigarettes, would kill him in six months. He and his wife took the opportunity to tour Europe one last time, and they landed in Taiwan in January 1958 to celebrate

14522-625: The name of the American officer in a loud voice that was overheard by the U.S. delegation and produced an embarrassed silence, finally broken when [Churchill] announced: 'I'm glad he's on our side.'" Throughout the war Chennault was engaged in a bitter dispute with the American ground commander, General Joseph Stilwell . Chennault believed that the Fourteenth Air Force, operating out of bases in China, could attack Japanese forces in concert with Nationalist troops. For his part, Stilwell wanted air assets diverted to his command to support

14659-641: The new Việt Minh-led government in Hanoi . On September 2, aboard USS  Missouri in Tokyo Bay, CEFEO Expeditionary Corps leader General Leclerc signed the armistice with Japan on behalf of France. The same day, Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France. Deliberately echoing the American Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed: We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and

14796-520: The only law enforcement, the Imperial Japanese Army remained in power, keeping French colonial troops and Sainteny detained, to the benefit of the developing Vietnamese nationalist forces. The Viet Minh claimed that they, alongside Meo ( Hmong ) and Muong tribesmen, subdued the Japanese in a nationwide rebellion from 9 March to 19 August 1945, taking control of 6 provinces, although some of these claims are contested. Beginning with

14933-723: The onset of World War I, he graduated from Officers' School at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, and was transferred to the Aviation Division of the Army Signal Corps on November 27, 1917. He learned to fly in the Army Air Service during World War I. Following the war he graduated from pursuit pilot training at Ellington Field, Texas , on April 23, 1922, and remained in the service after it became

15070-424: The opening of a ground supply route through northern Burma to China. The route would provide supplies and new equipment for a greatly expanded Nationalist force of twenty to thirty modernized divisions. Chiang Kai-shek favored Chennault's plans, since he was suspicious of British colonial interests in Burma. He was also concerned about alliances with semi-independent generals supporting the Nationalist government, and

15207-580: The principles of the Atlantic Charter with the aim of eventually preparing Vietnam for independence. Ho Chi Minh sent a cable on 17 October 1945 to American President Harry S. Truman calling on him, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Premier Joseph Stalin and Prime Minister Clement Attlee to go to the United Nations against France and demand that they not be allowed to return to occupy Vietnam, accusing France of having sold out and cheated

15344-555: The pursuit of happiness. Ho Chi Minh denounced the reimposition of French rule, accusing the French of selling out the Vietnamese to the Japanese twice in four years. On 13 September 1945, a Franco -British task force landed in Java , main island of the Dutch East Indies (for which independence was being sought by Sukarno ), and Saigon, capital of Cochinchina (southern part of French Indochina), both being occupied by

15481-501: The ruler of a newly established State of Vietnam . The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French. During 1950 the conflict to a considerable extent turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons, with the French supplied by the United States, and the Việt Minh supplied by the Soviet Union and a newly communist China. Guerrilla warfare continued to occur in large areas. French Union forces included colonial troops from

15618-533: The seven weeks that it did if only Xue and his 10th Army had received more supplies, stating that Stilwell was remiss in attempting to command Sino-American forces fighting in Burma and in China at the same time. The Japanese ground forces advanced and seized Chennault's forward bases. Slowly, however, the greater numbers and greater skill of the Allied air forces began to assert themselves. By mid-1944, Major General George Stratemeyer 's Eastern Air Command dominated

15755-463: The skies over Burma, a superiority that was never to be relinquished. At the same time, logistical support reaching India and China via the Hump finally reached levels permitting an Allied offensive into northern Burma. Chennault had long argued for expansion of the airlift, doubting that any ground supply network through Burma could provide the tonnage needed to re-equip Chiang's divisions. However, work on

15892-605: The slow introduction of replacement fighter aircraft were continual impediments although the AVG received 50 replacement P-40E fighters from USAAF stocks that had been originally scheduled for shipment to Britain but cancelled by the Tomahawk's inferior flight performance to German fighters. Chennault recruited some 300 American pilots and ground crew, posing as tourists, who were adventurers or mercenaries, not necessarily idealists out to save China. But under Chennault they developed into

16029-618: The spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia , CAT's mission changed. During the Chinese Civil War , under contract with the Chinese Nationalist government and later the CIA, CAT flew supplies and ammunition into China to assist Kuomintang forces on the Chinese mainland, primarily using C-47 and C-46 aircraft. With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949, CAT helped to evacuate thousands of Chinese to Taiwan . During

16166-470: The supplies needed to maintain them and the pilots to fly the aircraft." Together, they departed on October 15, 1940, from Chongqing, China , transited at Hong Kong where they boarded Pan Am Boeing B-314 American Clipper on November 1, arriving at San Francisco on November 14. They reported to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Hu Shih . Chennault's mission to Washington generated

16303-533: The team as "Three Men on the Flying Trapeze". Poor health (deafness and chronic bronchitis), disputes with superiors, and the fact that he was passed over as unqualified for promotion led Chennault to resign from the military on April 30, 1937; he separated from the service at the rank of major. As a civilian, he was recruited to go to China and join a small group of American civilians training Chinese airmen. Chennault arrived in China in June 1937. He had

16440-526: The thirty-seven involved in the battle received the French Legion of Honor in February 2005 during a special ceremony at the French embassy in Washington. The 1956-1957 edition of Jane's All The World's Aircraft lists the head office address as 46 Chung Shan Road, North, 2nd Section, Taipei, Taiwan (Formosa). The president and general manager is given as Hugh L. Grundy, with C.J. Rosbert listed as vice-president and assistant general manager. The fleet

16577-510: The training of new Chinese Air Force pilots, and sometimes flew scouting missions in an export Curtiss H-75 fighter. His duties also included organizing the " International Squadron " of mercenary pilots. In late 1937, the Chinese Air Force considered attacking the Japanese home islands with bombers launched from the mainland of China with Chennault in an advisory role. Various pilots of the International Squadron, specifically

16714-601: The war, after delivering 650,000 tons of supplies, gasoline, and military equipment. Chennault was replaced as commander of the U.S. 14th Air Force by Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer in June 1945. Following the surrender of Japan in August 1945, Chennault retired from the Army Air Forces on October 31, 1945. Chennault, unlike Stilwell, had a high opinion of Chiang Kai-shek and advocated international support for Asian anti-communist movements. Returning to China, he purchased several surplus military aircraft and created

16851-450: Was "a very gallant airman with a limited brain." In November 1943 the Japanese Army air forces were ready to challenge Allied forces again, and they began night and day raids on Calcutta and the Hump bases while their fighters contested Allied air intrusions over Burma. In April 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichi-Go —the largest Japanese offensive of all time—that committed 1 million Japanese soldiers to action. The 14th Air Force

16988-791: Was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the " Flying Tigers " and the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in World War II . Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighter-interceptor aircraft during the 1930s when the United States Army Air Corps was focused primarily on high-altitude bombardment. Chennault retired from the United States Army in 1937, and went to work as an aviation adviser and trainer in China. Starting in early 1941, Chennault commanded

17125-714: Was an attempt to keep a company presence in Thailand. After this fell through, Air America officially disbanded on June 30, 1976. CAT started to operate scheduled passenger services, beginning with international flights to Hong Kong, then to Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, as well as domestic routes within Taiwan. The granddaughter of Sun Yatsen , Nora Sun , became the youngest flight attendant to work for CAT. The first flights were carried out with C-46 , then C-54 Skymaster aircraft. In 1958, CAT inaugurated DC-6 B services. In 1961, CAT started to operate

17262-456: Was concerned that a major loss of military forces would enable his Communist Chinese adversaries to gain the upper hand. The sharply differing assessments held by Stillwell and Chennault came out in a meeting in 1943 with President Roosevelt, who asked both commanders for their opinion of Chiang. Stillwell stated: "He's a vacillating, tricky, undependable old scoundrel who never keeps his word." Chennault by contrast told Roosevelt: "Sir, I think

17399-475: Was elevated to the 32nd degree in K.C.C.H. League City Lodge No. 1053, League City, Texas. He was also a Shriner. In December 1972, Chennault was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame , along with Leroy Grumman , Curtis LeMay and James H. Kindelberger . The ceremony was headed by retired Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart , and a portrait of Chennault by cartoonist Milton Caniff

17536-537: Was illegal in Louisiana, and to ensure his will was respected, Chennault—who lived in Monroe, Louisiana—had his will probated in Washington, D.C. Claire P. Chennault, one of Claire Lee's sons, was a U.S. Army Air Force and then U.S. Air Force officer from 1943 to 1966 and subsequent resident of Ferriday , Louisiana. Chennault was initiated to the Scottish Rite Freemasonry, and he later

17673-750: Was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou . From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikai 's counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai and spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940. In September 1940, the Empire of Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina , parallel with its ally Germany's conquest of metropolitan France . Keeping

17810-492: Was involved in strafing and bombing attacks against the Japanese advancing on the city of Changsha, which Japanese had tried and failed to take three previous times since 1938, making the city into a symbol of Chinese defiance. Relations between Stilwell and Chennault reached their low point in 1944. Stilwell used the success of Operation Ichi-Go as proof the fallacy of Chennault's claim that air power alone could defeat Japan while Chennault accused of Stilwell of deliberately taking

17947-666: Was made colonel . Twelve days later he was promoted to brigadier general , and then within a year to major general , commanding the Fourteenth Air Force . Chennault had 900 aircraft at his disposal, which was more than Japan had in China. The first magazine photo coverage of Chennault took place within Life magazine in the Monday, August 10, 1942, issue. The first Time magazine photo coverage of Chennault took place in its Monday, December 6, 1943, issue. Shortly before

18084-572: Was paid and promoted to colonel by Chiang Kai-Shek. The Flying Tigers fought the Japanese for seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chennault's three squadrons used P-40s, and his tactics of "defensive pursuit", formulated in the years when bombers were actually faster than intercepting fighter aircraft, to guard the Burma Road , Rangoon, and other strategic locations in Southeast Asia and western China against Japanese forces. As

18221-434: Was raised by his aunt, Louise Chase, along with his brother and her sons. Chennault attended Louisiana State University between 1909 and 1910, having given his birth month as June in order to meet their requirement that enrolling students be aged 16 "at nearest birthday", and underwent ROTC training. He and his wife, Nell, moved to West Carroll Parish where he served as principal of Kilbourne School from 1913 to 1915. At

18358-643: Was released unexpectedly following Nixon's visit to China in 1972, but Downey was released only after Washington publicly acknowledged their spy mission in 1973. At the time the families of the pilots were told, in order to keep the CIA's covert actions in China secret, that they had crashed into the Sea of Japan on a routine flight to Tokyo. In 2001, China allowed the US Defense Department's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) office to conduct

18495-592: Was signed between Japan and the United States on 20 August. The Provisional Government of the French Republic wanted to restore its colonial rule in French Indochina as the final step of the Liberation of France . On 22 August, OSS agents Archimedes Patti and Carleton B. Swift Jr. arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission to liberate Allied POWs, accompanied by French official Jean Sainteny . As

18632-586: Was strategically essential in order to fix many vital elements of the Imperial Japanese Army on the Chinese mainland to limit their use against Allied forces advancing towards Japan in the two Pacific campaigns. Chennault is generally said to have been born in Commerce, Texas , on September 6, 1893, although there is no documentary proof of his birthdate or place of birth. For most of his life, he gave 1890 as his birth year, but his widow corrected that to 1893 after his death. His parents were John Stonewall Jackson Chennault and Jessie (née Lee) Chennault. His surname

18769-400: Was unveiled. General Electric vice-president Gerhard Neumann , a former AVG crew chief and the technical sergeant who repaired a downed Zero for flight, spoke of Chennault's unorthodox methods and of his strong personality. Chennault was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 40¢ Great Americans series (1980–2000) postage stamp. Chennault is commemorated by a statue in

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