The Flying Tigers

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Christopher Carranza
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Fifteen World War II veterans from the 14th Air Service Group and 987th Signal Company also known as the Flying Tigers visited Travis for their last reunion Sept. 5 at the Heritage Center.

The 14th Air Service Group was a 250 man unit composed of Chinese-American servicemen. The Group was part of Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault's 14th Air Force "Flying Tigers" who served in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II.

"They're a fun bunch of guys to be around," said Edwin Len.

Edwin Len was part of 555th Air Service Squadron during his enlistment and during this time he met his wingman Wing Lai, they have been friends since 1943. They remember being to numerous locations throughout Asia and each unique place with their own special stories.

The stories that both clearly recounted were those of their convoy of Burma Road and flying over the Hump.

"Burma road, after the Japanese were cleared out, we drove 15 days to get supplies to Chiang Kai-shek, if not you were flying over the hump," Len said. "I have to admit that it was a fun drive, the C rations were good, a lot better than those D rations."

Len said that it wasn't all about job but the people you were around and not letting them down.

The Hump is the name given to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew transport aircraft from India to China.

"If you were not on the travelling on the ground with the rest of us, you were taking your chances and flying over the hump," Lai said. "We lost a lot of birds and good men, because of the treacherous weather that the hump had."

They were particularly happy to see a China-Burma-India theatre operations display in the center with photos of Burma Road and a picture of the Hump.

"Stuff in here is the real McCoy," Len said, as he looked at the photo of Burma Road. "Very nice displays in here."

The veterans spent their reunion chatting, laughing and enjoying all the displays the Travis Heritage Center had to offer inside and outside and left smiling.