Texas History Minute

Dr. Ken Bridges

The Flying Tigers were one of the first American air units to fight the Japanese as World War II began A gruff Texas native, Claire Chennault, organized the volunteer force in the months before the United States entered the war His determination and success of his pilots drew the attention of the world to an almost forgotten corner of the global conflict Chennault’s Flying Tigers helped the lay the foundation for the defeat of the Japanese in China

Claire Lee Chennault was born in Commerce in 1890 Circumstances, however, led the family to leave for Northeast Louisiana while Chennault was still young He proved to be a bright student and eventually attended LouisianaState University in Baton Rouge through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program

In 1913, he left LSU to become a school principal back in Northeast Louisiana He married, and the two had eight children together When the United States entered World War I in 1917, he completed his officer training and was assigned to aviation section of the army signal corps to train as a pilot From there began his love affair with the skies

After World War I, he returned to Texas for further combat pilot training at Ellington Field in Houston He spent much of the 1920s as part of an army air corps stunt flying exhibition team and eventually became a combat flight instructor based at Brooks Field in San Antonio by 1928. In spite of his skills, his prickly personality led to conflicts with his superiors and fellow officers As he continued to be passed over for promotions, he retired from the army in 1937.

In the meantime, Japan had conquered Manchuria in 1931 and was priming to conquer the rest of China. Chennault was recruited by Chinese officials after his retirement to inspect Chinese air capabilities Soon after his arrival in June 1937, Japan attacked; and Chennault had to quickly rebuild the smashed Chinese Air Force He recruited pilots from wherever he could find them, trained them, and used whatever planes he could against the Japanese, including both American and Russian But it was having little effect as Japan continued to advance throughout 1938 and 1939

By late 1940, Chennault and a delegation from the Chinese government traveled to the United States to make a direct appeal for aid President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to send 100 P-40 Warhawk recruited 300 American volunteers, including pilots and ground crew, as the First American Volunteer Group, paid at rates significantly higher than the regular military With few supplies in a distant part of the world, Chennault had to improvise with materiel and tactics

By August 1941, his men, who quickly became known as the Flying Tigers, were fully organized In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers were in action, shooting down nearly 300 Japanese fighters in a matter of days, mostly in southern China Chennault won wide acclaim for leading attacks against Japan while America still recovered from the initial attacks With the success of the Flying Tigers, the army absorbed the entire group in April 1942, promoting Chennault to brigadier general Most of what had been the Flying Tigers become the Fourteenth Air Force, expanded, and maintaining the high aerial victory rates However, Chennault continued to argue with his superiors over policies and tactics His forces undertook tasks from air support for Chinese forces to preparations for the allied invasion of Burma In July 1945, he was reassigned to Washington, DC He retired from the service a second time that October

He returned to China in 1946 and served four years as president of Civil Air Transport before returning to Louisiana He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1957 He had been a heavy smoker, and little could be done for his type of cancer at the time Chennault decided to live his last days to the fullest and took a tour of Europe and Taiwan By July 1958, his strength was fading, but the air force honored him with a promotion to lieutenant general Chennault died a few days alter in a New Orleans hospital at the age of 67.

Chennault was widely honored in the years after his death He was featured on a stamp in the 1980s He was also inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 1972 The Chinese government unveiled a series of memorials and museums honoring the Flying Tigers and Chennault starting in 2005 to mark the end of World War II in China, while the government in Taiwan presented a special award in memory of Chennault to his family His childhood home in Commerce is now noted with a historical marker

Dr Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor He can be reached at d k b id @ il

Learning to give our burdens to God

I had lunch with a middle-aged couple the other day and they were sharing about a crisis situation they are struggling with The stress has been building for quite some time and the heavy burden of trying to deal with this is taking a toll They are both believers, but at the same time they admit there is much to learn when it comes to spiritual warfare and getting into position to listen and trust God with their life You know, we all have a difficult time with these aspects of the Christian life, but admitting we are vulnerable and weak in our times of adversity is a positive step in the right direction Many times it’s our pride that leads us into even more difficulty when we become convinced we can handle our own problems y Holland

When we approach our circumstances through our emotions, it usually does not end up well, but when we humbly follow God’s instructions we can trust that his wisdom knows exactly what to do It’s true, the Lord can make all things work together for the good, but we must cooperate with his plans II Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong ”

Most of us have heard the old saying, “Let go and let God” but this is not easy. There may be times when we need to take the bull by the horns, but surrendering is associated with trust and this is an area where we humans often hesitate Remember when your dad would hold out his arms and tell you to jump? This is the same idea that we are trying to learn about our spiritual relationship with God and if we cannot trust him, we cannot please him. Our nature has a stubborn and independent determination as we are not naturally wired to yield our control to anyone even God Himself This is why the Bible speaks about our mind being renewed as learning to submit and obey is a learned behavior This is especially the case when it comes to turning loose of our problems because we would much rather spend our time and energy trying to defeat them with worry and anxiety The frustrating reality is that many of our misfortunes are simply too difficult for us to handle We might as well face it, we cannot solve, repair, heal, restore, or resolve our serious obstacles, but God can “But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26 When we finally realize we are unable to fix what is broken, we then have the choice to give our problems over to God and believe that he will step into the need and create a miracle This is great news! Charles Swindoll is quoted as saying, “We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available But this kind of trusting doesn’t come naturally It’s a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith ”

I realize it’s difficult to understand, but Jesus offers a very different perspective about suffering While we are asking how God could possibly create anything good from our difficult situation, we usually forget that he knows everything and is waiting to use our circumstances to manifest his glory. Even though we may experience a thunderstorm occasionally, let us be reminded that eventually they stop and the sun comes out Our life was not intended to be a continual valley of shadows or for us to carry our worries and heavy burdens Matthew 11:28 declares, “Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ” Today as you continue to face your giant and it seems there is no hope for victory, consider transferring this burden over to Jesus and allow him the opportunity to intervene Linda

Shepherd is quoted as saying, “If you are caught up in situations beyond your control, the solution is not figuring out how God can Psalm 33:4

Verse of the Week

4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.