A statue of US General Claire Chennault, who gained renown as the leader of the "Flying Tigers" during World War II, will be soon moved from a park in Taipei to an air force base in Hualien.
The Flying Tigers were a group of US volunteer fighter pilots based in China's Kunming, Yunnan Province, who fought against the Japanese and helped to train the fledgling air force of the Republic of China.
The air force will establish the "Flying Tigers Squadron Memorial Hall" dedicated to Chennault and his squadron in Hualien for Air Force Day on Aug. 12.
Chennault, a captain in the US Army Air Corps, resigned his commission in 1937 and traveled to China at the invitation of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). In early 1941, before the US had declared war on Japan, Chennault organized the American Volunteer Group -- popularly known as the Flying Tigers -- to fight alongside the Chinese against the Japanese invaders. Chennault died in 1958.
The general's wife, Anna Chan Chennault (
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