Update: 12/2016
"It took great bravery for those who took to the skies to fight the Japanese" former kamikaze pilot
This blog has pictures of Colonel (posthumously awarded General) Lee ranging from his days as a WW 11 pilot with the Chinese American Composite Wing through his 102nd birthday celebration. He took part in over 300 missions and was shot down or crashed on at least three occasions during his active flying years. His story has been recorded by military historians and popular media throughout Asia. A short write up of his life is found at the end of the photo section.
Lee, Jin Xian
1913-2015
Courageous indeed
SPARK
September 1, 2015, was the day of Colonel Lee’s (known to the family as Baba/Dad) memorial service. It was a beautiful event with many grown men and women openly weeping, some of them buckets even. Several for sure would not have personally known Baba at all, and why would anyone have such sorrow over the death of an individual almost 103 years old. He lived a long and full life, his wife had passed 4 years earlier, and daily tasks had become a chore. So, what caused the public mourning, the anguished shouts of grief? The answer or at least a part of the answer lies in a past which is never dead.
Lee Ji Xian was born in the countryside of Jiangsu province in the year 1913, just one year after the birth of the Republic of China. They grew together. While in high school far from home his village, Buing, came under communist control and contact with family and funding was cut off. Unable to continue his education he joined the army and was admitted to the Military Academy in 1937, the same year full-scale war broke out with Japan. Retired United States air warfare strategist Claire Chennault was in-country when the 8- year long Sino-Japanese war started and quickly became Chiang Kai Shek’s Air Force adviser. He eventually recruited a force made up primarily of western nation mercenary pilots to do what they could to help protect the skies. They painted portraits of tigers in attack mode on their planes noses and soon were known as the flying tigers. Their exploits slowed the enemy’s conquest as the group proved to be productive way beyond their numbers. The problem though was that their numbers and available planes were at an 8-1 disadvantage compared to their would be conquerors. The enemy advanced gobbling up huge chunks of territory, and the government relocated to the hinterlands.
Mr. Lee soldiered on.The day after Pearl Harbor Chennault was reinstated in the US Air Force as General in charge of the Allied Air battle over China. Funds became available to buy more planes, which created a need for more trained pilots. The Chinese American air composite wing was born and recruitment of local pilots begun. Lee volunteered to join the force. He received on the job training in India and then months of flight school in Arizona. The Americans at the school treated him and his fellow trainees well and he returned to the front where he took place in 50 combat missions, plus a few flights over the hump from Calcutta to Zhejiang airfield before the end of the WW11. Assignments included fly search and destroy as well as bombing runs. Several friends were lost. He received numerous medals for valor and campaign participation from the Republic and two Distinguished flying crosses. The Allied air unit known as the Chinese American Composite Wing of which Mr. Lee belonged has been recognized by military historians as extremely effective and credited with having a key role in the ability of the Allies to prevent Japan from conquering China. Its members all of whom were known as the flying tigers were well respected and much appreciated.
The nationalists and the communists had entered a truce during the World War which dissolved not long after victory. Mr. Lee soon saw action again as civil war erupted between the two factions. He took part in over 200 missions during the internal conflict within China and after the Republic’s relocation to Taiwan. He witnessed the loss of many more friends and was extremely fortunate to have survived himself. Altogether his planes crashed 7 times. Twice he had to parachute out to safety. There were some scary incidents for him after relocation. One when a f-86 broke his T-33 wing during a training run which caused his ship to roll. He was able to drop a fuel tank which stabilized the unit and allowed him to gain altitude from which he parachuted out to safety. The f-86 pilot was not so fortunate. The other was when his plane got shot down over the narrow strip of water that separates the mainland from Taiwan known as the Taiwan Straits. He bailed out in time to land in the sea. Both the ROC and the other side saw the crash and took to the waters to make retrieval. His side got to him first and returned him to safety.
The year was 1955, and he had a wife, Chao Pei Yin, and two young children. Upon return home, Chao took one look at him and declared no more. Pei Yin was beautiful, and also a formidable presence. The only female member of her High School graduating class. a college graduate from National Chengchi University as well and an active loyalist of the Nationalist party. She survived a street massacre along her journey to the shore to catch a boat in 1949 to Taiwan. Ma ma said the hand of Buddha lifted her out of the chaos while the machine guns were blasting away. Thus, when she spoke of family and risk Baba listened to her and ended his flying career. He remained in the military with the Deputy Chief of Staff’s logistics unit and retired as a full Colonel in 1969. After mustering out he managed a vocational school. Leaving the flight line in 1955 afforded the opportunity to be involved with the raising of their two offspring. He often walked them to school and brought homemade lunch. In the meantime, Taiwan transformed from a third world former colony of western and Asian powers into a modern nation. The hope to recapture the mainland though only continued for a few.
Dad stayed involved with his flying tiger mates. Both he and Ma Ma were friends of Anna Chenault and regularly attended CACW reunions. In later years China honored him with special visits to the mainland. He attended the opening of a WW 11 air museum in Nanjing. CCTV did a special on his return to the home village and successful search for his parents’ final resting place. He also attended events in Singapore and Bali. Local media did several stories and TV clips as he aged as did news outlets from Japan and the mainland. Upon his passing, an article appeared with him smiling and raising his arm in the air and noted that at 103 he had been the oldest remaining flying tiger.
Mr. Lee had extraordinary health and mental faculties throughout his entire life. He never took prescriptions on a regular basis until getting pneumonia a few months before his demise. After a few days in the hospital for the first pneumonia visit, he discharged himself and was monitored daily as to medicine intake. Three months before entering the hospital for the last time he gave an interview for public television which shows that his mind was very sharp. Pneumonia came back though and on July 27 he entered the hospital. There were some moments of gladness during that stay. All of his four grandchildren got to spend time with him while he knew who they were and endured playful scoldings. He loved to be fed ice crème and when a former mah Jong partner came he displayed unadulterated joy while trying to put together a foursome of us present to play a game. For the most part, the final stay was hard. He wanted to leave and fought with all his might to do so. However pneumonia had unleashed the TB germ he had carried for decades and release home was not possible. A man like him, of course, he would work to continue on as long as he could.
Search for meaning during those 29 days took place. I wanted to find some spark of the divine, some reason for why at his age he still had to suffer before release. During the 14 years of the combined two Sino-Japan conflicts, it is estimated 23 million Chinese died. For sure many many people are continuing to search for some meaning for those deaths as well as senseless acts taking place in current times but my concern was centered on Baba. I wanted to believe that such evidence for meaning, for purpose in times of suffering exists.
That Mr. Lee represented something larger than ourselves or even himself I think explains partly the emotional outpouring at the memorial service. The tribute started with introductions, followed by attendees greeting the family. The minister of defense, commanding three star general of the air force, and the President arrived. President Ma Ying-jeou expressed his appreciation to both Betty and I in separate conversations for the assistance Ma ma and Ba Ba gave his Mom when she first arrived in Taiwan in 1949. He also said that he had hoped Dad could have attended a planned commemorative event of VJ day to be held at his office that afternoon for descendants of Presidents Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Truman. A special flag was presented and documentation which posthumously made Colonel Lee a General.
A video was shown of Mr. Lee’s exploits of his military career. There were photos of him wearing his flight jacket and aviator jacket. He was such a striking young man and had that pilot swagger. The shots of him next to his various aircraft such as the P-40, P-51, and footage of action brought home the courage and bravery it must have taken to strap oneself in for mission after mission which often resulted in numerous aviator fatalities. No wonder dealing with a gaijin son in law years later was no big deal to him.
After the showing, those who wanted walked behind the stage to view the open casket. Again family was greeted and that is when noticed just how many people were deeply affected. They mourned his loss of course, but even more so perhaps the loss of a bygone era that cannot be recaptured. Afterwards, groups of people came down the aisle to pay their final respect. Close to 200 air force personnel walked down in batches of 10 to 15. They would be handed a flower basket bow to the large portrait of Mr. Lee set up on a three foot elevated stage encircled by white chrysanthemums interspersed with greenery, and its’ background of light blue sky dotted with cumulus clouds. return the basket and bow to the family to whom we bowed in return and then march to the exit.
Friends and family walked down as well. The air force six-piece band in the background played a few bars of Stephen Foster or spiritual pieces before and after each bow. This was followed by a summary and thank yous which concluded the service. A dozen or so then joined a unit of military and family on the short walk to the crematorium. I held his picture that had been on the stage high and marched in step with the troops down the hallways and parking area leading to the site. Then as he was placed on the roller to go into the fire we bowed 7 times and his final crash which began when he obtained pneumonia a few months earlier was finally over. Ninety minutes later a large silver tray was brought out full of his bone fragments, many of which had good color. Each family member carefully placed one in the urn, and after we left the site the rest of them were smashed so that they could fit inside the urn. We then drove to the Air Force Cemetery on a Taipei mountainside where he and Ma ma were reunited in a vault. As we got into our cab to leave the park it started to rain. Another good sign.
There were many lessons learned, some new, some rekindled during our stay at the hospital and afterward. There is no stopping change. We, the planet, history all changes. It is not always bad and not always good, most times it just is. Just because a person is quite elderly the loss does not diminish, in fact. for some it is greater as the person one knew and loved was part of one’s life for a longer period of time.
Meaning can be found in everyone, in every experience. Indeed, Viktor Frankl, John Rabe, and countless others have found such in the midst of horrific situations. Occurrences are not always what we want or hope for and indeed can seem senseless but people and life can be and often are beautiful. I found evidence of such in the way Betty carried out her sense of duty with love while providing care for her Dad in the hospital; in the non-complaining manner which brother Shui-king covered the night shift and endured sleepless nights for four weeks; from the medical staff taking meticulous notes and precautions at every step; in the grief expressed at the loss of a life; in the joy with which Ba ba expressed himself on occasion in his last days, and in the values of honor, loyalty, and generosity he lived by.
Ba ba flies now. The spark continues.
