Unearthing Buried Memories: The History of the Republic of China Air Force's Training in the US During the Anti-Japanese War and Investigations into Air Crashes

This book won the 2022 Best Non-Fiction Book Honor Award from the Chinese American Librarians Association!

During World War II, a succession of Chinese Air Force pilots were sent to the United States for training, based on agreements reached between the Chinese and American governments. Most of them returned home after completing their studies, joining the fight against Japanese invaders, and many sacrificed their young lives. Some, however, died in flight accidents during their training. Due to the chaos of war and continuous political movements in China, most of their families never learned the specific circumstances of their deaths, let alone where they were buried. These young men, who died before achieving their ambitions, were like forgotten orphans. For seventy years, far from their homeland and loved ones, a mound of earth in a foreign land buried their ambition to kill the enemy and serve their country.

The author of this book, Li An, lost her second uncle, Li Jiahe, in this way. In 1941, Li Jiahe, a third-year physics student at the National Southwestern Associated University, dropped out of school to join the air force. He went to the United States in the autumn of the following year and never returned. Sixty years later, Li An's family finally found him at Fort Bliss National Cemetery in El Paso, TX. When they went to the cemetery to pay their respects to her second uncle, they were surprised to find many other tombstones around Li Jiahe's grave, all engraved with "Chinese Air Force." These were all Republic of China airmen, like her second uncle, buried by the dust of time.

Facing the graves, Li An made a vow: "You are all my second uncles, and I must help you find your relatives!"

From early 2018, the "Silicon Valley person" who had only focused on the progress of high-tech projects for thirty years, entered the historical archives with a reverence for history and a sense of mission. She embarked on a journey to find the families of wartime pilots, and to research and document the history of the wartime air force's training in the United States...

Volunteers and air force historians from home and abroad offered assistance from all directions. A series of historical materials and photos of the Republic of China Air Force in the United States gradually emerged from long-sealed filing cabinets, historical document websites, museums, and some from private collections. This series of precious historical materials became important clues and evidence for finding and identifying relatives. With the help of caring volunteers, media such as TV stations and newspapers, and the "Longyue Foundation," Li An has already found relatives for thirty-three airmen who died in the United States. In this process, she systematically unearthed and compiled the history of the Republic of China Air Force's training in the United States, from high-level decision-making to specific implementation, from logistics and transportation to training courses, living arrangements, and so on. This resulted in this book, "Searching for Buried Memories."

May the young pilots, whose ambitions remained unfulfilled, rest in peace.

2021-05-27

1 Plus Books

426

9781949736281