Sunday, June 21, 2015

Wu has the last laugh now?

John Wayne, or Claire Chennault--whose granddaughter will be opening a museum dedicated to the memory of The Flying Tigers of WWII;
Since returning home after my recent trip to China in March, I have reflected on my experiences about the land and the people that my grandfather, General Chennault loved so much. It was a great honor to be invited to the opening of the Flying Tiger Heritage Park in Guilin. The Chinese people have become my extended family and it is with a grateful spirit that I join with my extended family to tell the story of my grandfather and the Flying Tigers. While many may know of the heroics of the Flying Tigers, they may not know the circumstances that led my grandfather to China, why he stayed, or the difficulties he faced.
Unlikely to be celebrated in Guilin would be Chennault's staunch anti-Communism. He was the wartime ally of Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and when civil war broke out between the Kuomintang and the Communists, needed no encouragement to side with the former. He headed China's Civil Air Transport (CAT) which was the supply arm of Chiang's military.

Even after the Communist victory in 1949, Chennault continued to support the anti-communists. He even attempted to organize a second American Volunteer Group, in the 1950s, from Taiwan to overthrow Mao's Red Army dictatorship in the People's Republic of China. After his death from lung cancer in 1958, his second wife Anna (a Chinese woman) took up the cause, becoming one of the most noted advocates in America for the Taiwanese and against Communism.

Anna Chennault was even suspected of conveying secret messages from Richard Nixon to the beleaguered South Vietnamese government in 1968, urging President Thieu to resist LBJ's 'peace' overtures between his country and North Vietnam.

No mention of any of that in the People's Daily article.

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