Ho Weng Toh (何永道), a former pilot in the World War II US volunteer group know as the Flying Tigers, died on Saturday in Singapore at the age of 103, a relative said later that day.
Ho was a B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot, who flew 18 missions over Japanese-occupied northern China during the war, as a member of the Flying Tigers, a volunteer group of American and Chinese pilots who were recruited by then-retired US Army captain Claire L. Chennault to fight the Japanese in Burma (now Myanmar) and in China.
After the US entered WWII, the group, also known as the American Volunteer Group, was incorporated into the regular US Army Air Forces and Chennault was recalled to active duty in 1942. American members of the unit who wished to do so were absorbed into the US 10th Air Force.
Photo: CNA
Ho, who had been living with his family in Singapore from 1953 until the time of his death, said in a 2020 interview that joining the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force was a life-changing decision for him, as that led to his recruitment in the Flying Tigers.
Although he was a Chinese expatriate living in Southeast Asia, he did not flee to the US or Australia like others did during WWII, but instead joined the ROC Air Force to defend the nation’s security and safeguard his family, he said in the interview when he was 100 years old.
Born in 1920 in the small town of Ipoh in Malaysia, Ho was a university student in Hong Kong when Japanese forces invaded China and Hong Kong during WWII.
At the end of 1941, the situation in Hong Kong was turbulent due to Japan’s occupation, Ho said, adding that he witnessed the Japanese bombing of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport.
The war not only interrupted his studies, but also resulted in him losing contact with his family in Ipoh, he said.
Amid many challenges, he fled from Hong Kong to nearby Guangzhou, China, where he saw a government poster for air force recruitment and decided to join the military to fight the Japanese, he said.
He enrolled in the ROC Air Force Academy in 1942 and received preliminary flight training in India the following year, he said.
Ho then signed up as a trainee pilot with the Flying Tigers and joined other Chinese and American pilots in the US state of Arizona, where they received intensive training.
After completing his training in Arizona, he was sent on missions over China as a bomber pilot with the Flying Tigers, he said.
He flew a total of 18 missions with the Flying Tigers, he said.
After the war, Ho resigned from the ROC Air Force and returned to Malaysia in 1951, where he worked as a pilot for the now-defunct Malayan Airways. The carrier later split into two airlines — Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines (SIA) — with Ho going on to be a pilot for the latter.
In 2019, Ho published an autobiography: Memoirs of a Flying Tiger: The Story of a WWII Veteran and SIA Pioneer Pilot (飛虎情緣：何永道回憶錄).
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