日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / China-US

Flying Tiger finally coming home

By Lia Zhu in San Francisco | China Daily USA | Updated: 2017-06-16 10:55
Share
Share - WeChat

The first Flying Tiger pilot killed in China's War Against Japanese Aggression will be brought home to Kansas on Saturday after his family's 13-year quest.

John Dean Armstrong was a US Navy who volunteered to teach pilots for the Chinese air force. He was 24 years old when he was killed in a training accident while flying a P-40 in the skies over Myanmar in 1941, just three months before the US entered the war. He would have turned 100 this year.

"I kept imagining my grandmother saying goodbye to her only son, knowing he was going all the way across the ocean to Burma (Myanmar) and never ever getting him back again," said Karen Beauprie, a niece of Armstrong.

For a long time, her mother told her never to bring up her uncle's name and the family would take down his pictures on the wall when her grandparents came to visit.

Thirteen years ago, Beauprie and her cousin Lynn Evans, both mothers of sons themselves, made a decision to find their uncle and bring him home.

"We have a lot of family members that thought we were kind of crazy - why would you want to do that? He was already buried, what difference does it make?" she said. "It makes a difference to know the remains are close by and that he will be honored with their families there."

All of the Flying Tigers were given Distinguished Flying Cross awards and granted military status in 1994. At the time of Armstrong's death they were civilians, which made it impossible for his parents to get his remains returned to the US.

Armstrong's father traveled to Myanmar and tried to locate his son's grave but failed.

"Up until 2015, we were under the assumption that Dean was still in Burma," said Beauprie. The cousins had photographers try to map the cemetery, Burmese tour guides actually walk the cemetery for them and a Canadian graduate student trek from Thailand to Burma to look for the graves.

The cousins also enlisted the help of researchers and agencies, including the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Along with Armstrong, there were two additional pilots, Peter Atkinson of West Virginia, and Maax Hammer of Illinois, who died a month later. All were buried together in an Anglican cemetery in Myanmar.

"What we have learned during the past two years was that the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) recovered all three pilots' remains in 1947, moved them to Barrockpore, India, performed forensics, and then in 1949 transported them as Unknowns to The National Military Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Hawaii," said Beauprie.

In April 2016, they were disinterred. With the help of DNA, Armstrong was identified in January.

Upon hearing the news, "I jumped up and down and screamed. I couldn't wait to talk to my cousin," said Beauprie. "It was satisfying, exciting and sad at the same time, because 75 years later he's coming home now."

The other two men had their memorial burials in March and April. Armstrong's is set for June 17 in Hutchinson, Kansas.

"There will be around 80 people attending the service, so we are having a family reunion to celebrate Dean's homecoming," said Beauprie.

The Navy will do the honors at the funeral, and the Air Force will perform a Missing Man formation flyover for the service.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/16/2017 page1)

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 在线一区视频 | 一级激情片| 99久久99视频 | 啪啪网免费 | 亚洲一区二区在线播放 | 999精品国产人妻无码系列久久 | 国产69久久久欧美黑人A片 | 嫩草影院永久入口在线观看 | 色播播网| 中文字幕综合在线观看 | 九九久久99综合一区二区 | 国产网站在线播放 | 麻豆短视频传媒网站怎么找 | 九九视频这里只有精品99 | 日韩中文一区二区三区 | 国产一级免费在线观看 | 午夜特级毛片 | 六月婷婷啪啪 | aaa级片 | 精品久久久久久久 | 欧美狠狠操 | 亚洲日韩aⅴ在线视频 | 久久精品性视频 | 国产亚洲欧美日韩v在线 | 99精品国产福利在线观看 | 91小视频在线观看免费版高清 | 国产精品高清在线观看 | 成人18免费观看的软件 | 欧美久久久网站 | 中文字幕a∨在线乱码免费看 | 无主之花在线观看 | 欧美日韩北条麻妃一区二区 | 亚洲午夜久久久久久尤物 | 中文字幕无线码一区二区三区 | 97超级碰碰在线看视频免费超 | 激情一区| 一区二区三区四区在线视频 | 一级做受毛片免费大片 | 李欣汝 | 欧美成人免费高清网站 | 在线视频中文字幕乱人伦 |