[Photos] Forgotten allies: The untold stories of China-America cooperation in WWII

(All images courtesy of Zou Dehuai unless otherwise stated.)

This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the US, as well as 79 years since China’s victory in its war of resistance against Japan, and in the global fight against fascism.

On 26 September 2024, my exhibit “Heroes during the War, Neighbors in Peace: A Historical Photo Exhibit of China-America Cooperation” opened at the Beijing American Center. I’m so pleased to share these photographs and artefacts from my collection, which I believe illuminate a crucial period in history: when the Chinese and American people fought side by- side during World War II, defending freedom and peace for all humanity.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said the history of interactions between the Chinese and American peoples can be traced back to the 18th century. World War II represents the most significant period over these two centuries, and we must remember this history and never forget it.

Here are some of the items displayed in the exhibition.

Robert McCawley Short was born in Washington State, US and served in the US Air Force. In 1931, he travelled to China to become a flight instructor at the Chinese Aviation School, playing an important role in helping the Chinese develop their air force. During the 1932 Shanghai incident, Short was shot down in a dogfight against at least three other Japanese planes as he tried to protect civilians below. He died in the crash, and became the first American military personnel to lay down his life to protect the Chinese people.

The Chinese government invited his mother Elizabeth and brother Edward to China to attend the funeral, and his remains were interred with the highest honours near Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. However, following the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese army destroyed all of Short’s graves, memorial pillars and monument pavilions; in 1947, the national government brought Short’s coffin from Shanghai to Nanjing for burial. Edward Short finally located his brother’s grave in 1984.

Charles Older was born on 29 September 1917 in California, US. On 1 April 1940, he joined the US Navy for flight training. While with the First American Volunteer Group of the Republic of China Air Force (also known as the “Flying Tigers”), the highly decorated Older became a double ace pilot after shooting down ten and a quarter planes. After the war, Older pursued a legal career, eventually becoming a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court. He is most well known for presiding over the famous Charles Manson trial. Older spent his later years happily with his wife and three daughters.

Claire Lee Chennault was born on 6 September 1893 in Texas, US. He officially became a pilot in 1920. In June 1937, Chennault served as an advisor to the Chinese Air Force. On 1 August 1941, he helped establish the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, the famous “Flying Tigers”. As commander of the Flying Tigers, he worked closely with Chiang Kai-shek to fight the Japanese, and also led efforts to airlift supplies from India to China over the notoriously dangerous “Hump” route.

On 10 March 1943, he was promoted to be commander of the US 14th Air Force. On 15 July 1958, President Eisenhower asked Congress to promote Chennault to lieutenant general. On 27 July 1958, Chennault died of illness in Washington at the age of 65 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Chennault’s second wife is Chinese American politician Anna Chan Chennault, with whom he had two daughters. He also had eight children with his first wife, Nell Thompson.

Bruce K. Holloway from Tennessee joined Chennault’s “Flying Tigers” in Chongqing, China, after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. He became commander of the 23rd Fighter Group — the successor unit to the Flying Tigers — and earned the distinction of a fighter ace after shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft. In 1944, he married Frances Purdy Holloway. After the end of World War II, Holloway continued his service in the US Air Force and was promoted to commander of the US Air Forces in Europe on 1 August 1965. He also served as commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command during the Vietnam War. He retired in 1972.

Captain William C. Mooney Jr. served in the US Army’s 14th Air Service during World War II, flying combat missions against the Japanese forces in China and Burma. His brother, Robert Carleton Mooney, also saw action in Europe during the war, piloting a bomber against German forces. Tragically, Robert was killed in action in Romania on 1 August 1943, at just 23. William C. Mooney Jr. passed away on 31 August 1971 in Dallas, Texas.

Travis Hoover was born on 21 September 1917, in New Mexico. In 1942, Hoover participated in the “Doolittle Raid”, a daring air operation led by James “Jimmy” Doolittle to bomb Tokyo. After bombing Tokyo, Hoover and his crew crash-landed when they reached China, but they were aided by the local people, including a man named Tung Sheng Liu who saved Hoover’s life. In 1946, Liu travelled to the US to study at the University of Minnesota and eventually settled there, maintaining a brotherly friendship with Hoover for decades. After the war, Hoover continued his military service until 1969. He passed away in 2004 and was buried with his wife in Texas.

Joseph Warren Stilwell was born on 19 March 1883, in Florida, US. He was a four-star general in the US Army and visited China five times. During the War of Resistance against Japan, he served as the commander of the China-Burma-India Theatre for the US Army and as the chief of staff for the China Theatre, leading the Sino-American allied forces in the northern Burma counteroffensive. General Stilwell’s son and two sons-in-law, who were all able to communicate in Chinese, assisted him in China.

However, he had a long-standing personal and professional feud with Claire Chennault, which sometimes hampered efforts to fight the Japanese. Stilwell also made no secret of his disdain for Chiang Kai-shek, which eventually led to his recall from China. Stilwell passed away in San Francisco in 1946.

Colonel Richard Heppner, born in 1909, served as the head of special operations for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Europe during World War II. In 1943, he was transferred to the China-Burma-India Theatre, where he helped the Chinese military establish the first parachute unit in history. His personal photo album contains the only known complete record of Chinese paratrooper training found to date. While working in China, Heppner met OSS agent Elizabeth P. MacDonald,  and the two married after the war. Elizabeth became well-known in the US for her autobiography Sisterhood of Spies after the war.

On 4 February 1944, Private Edward F. McNamara from Indiana, US, was dining at a frontline camp in Taipa Ga, Burma, which had just been captured. Chinese soldiers nearby were teaching him how to use chopsticks. McNamara was a cryptographic clerk with the 988th Signal Company, attached to the 114th Regiment of the 38th Division of the Chinese Army under the command of General Sun Li-ren. After the war, he found his lifelong passion and became a brick mason, working for 20 years until he retired. McNamara married in 1951 and had four children. He enjoyed a long and happy life surrounded by his children and grandchildren, before passing away in 2019 at the age of 98.

General Gilbert Xavier Cheves was the commander of the 365th Armored Regiment of the US Army at the onset of the Pacific War. He successively served as the commander of the US Army Supply Group in the China Theatre and later was the commander of the US Army Supply Group in the Pacific Theatre. His son, Gilbert Xavier Cheves Jr., was also a military man, graduating from West Point and serving in the Korean War. He later worked as an engineer in the space programme.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Whitney Sheely was born on 21 November 1900, in Iowa, US. He joined the Signal Corps in 1940 and was dispatched to the China Theatre on the eve of his daughter’s birth. He collected nearly 800 photographs capturing the local customs, people, historical sites, and temples in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. He also documented the brutal combat on the Yunnan-Burma battlefield as soldiers from the US and China fought side-by-side. His photos provide a multifaceted and comprehensive view of the China-Burma-India Theatre from 1943 to 1945, making them valuable assets of the history in that theatre.

Claude E. “Don” Davis Jr. was born on 5 October 1922, in Des Moines, Iowa. He came to China to fight in 1943. After his military service, he volunteered as a bingo game manager at his local veterans’ association for 13 years, once winning over US$5,000. He married Mary Lou Spring on 5 May 1963. As an avid football and baseball fan, watching his grandchildren and great-grandchildren play sports brought him great joy. He passed away on 30 December 2018, surrounded by his family, at the age of 96.

Quentin Rust was born on 12 August 1921, in Utah, US. His lifelong treasure were the photographs and documents of the surrender ceremony of the Japanese army by the Chinese and American troops in Qingdao on 25 October 1945. At that time, he served as a captain in the Sixth Division of the US Marine Corps and witnessed the surrender ceremony. Quentin Rust passed away on 6 July 2002, at the age of 80, and was buried in Provo, Utah.

Theodore Jung was a Chinese aviation hero whose ancestral home was Kaiping, Guangdong. In his early years, he emigrated to California with his father. The family established a vineyard and became very wealthy, with a luxurious mansion, luxury cars, and a yacht. After graduating from the Chinese American Aeronautical School in 1934, he joined the Chinese Air Force. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan, Theodore Jung was ordered to go north to defend Taiyuan, where he repeatedly made outstanding contributions. On 11 November 1937, Theodore Jung was surrounded by several enemy aircraft in the sky over Luoyang in Henan and died in the line of duty at the age of only 24. His father, Zhang Binyin, donated the death benefits to the Chinese Air Force.

Tom Amer was born on 17 December 1921, in Los Angeles, California. During World War II, he served as a combat photographer in the 164th Signal Photo Company, 835th Signal Service Battalion, and followed Merrill’s Marauders in special operations behind enemy lines in Burma. After the war, due to racial restrictions in California that prevented him from obtaining housing, he — along with other Asian Americans — successfully overturned racially segregated clauses through litigation. Amer was a member of the International Combat Camera Association. In his later years, he had two daughters, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. In 2008, Amer passed away due to illness in California at the age of 86.

Raymond Low Suen was born in San Francisco in 1919 and moved to Guangzhou, China, with his family when he was three years old. He returned to San Francisco to work in 1935, and two years later, he went back to China to care for his father, who was seriously ill.

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, he joined the resistance as a communications broadcaster. In 1938, Raymond Low Suen returned to the US to establish the Youth National Salvation Association, promoting anti-Japanese propaganda activities overseas. In 1941, he joined the US Army and served in the China-Burma-India Theatre. Later, he went to the European battlefield, serving as a mechanic and photographer, and participated in the famous Normandy landings, with the rank of Captain.

After the war, he became a renowned artistic photographer. In 2020, he and his brother were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the US Congress for their service in World War II as Chinese American veterans. He passed away in California in 2022 at the age of 102.

On 22 August 1944, the 382nd All-Star Band’s African American band in the China-Burma-India Theatre performed at the dedication ceremony of the newly established Magli Margherita Red Cross in Assam, India. 60% of the 15,000 troops (about 250,000 men) sent to the CBI Theatre were African American, where they established the only African American hospital in Asia, served as truck drivers, bulldozer operators, and other logistical and engineering roles, and even formed their own bands. The earliest performance record found so far is from early 1943. General Joseph Stilwell listened to their singing and was so captivated that he requested several songs. Regrettably, images of African American soldiers in the CBI Theatre are very rare, and information is hard to find.

Lloyd A. Taylor was a linguistic genius who had already mastered Latin, Spanish, French, German, Greek, and Japanese. He graduated from Temple University with a degree in medicine and dedicated two hours every day to learning foreign languages.

These stories and photos tell us that these were all ordinary people. Regardless of nationality, gender, age, race, or faith, they all fought for freedom and peace.

The items showcased in this exhibition are just the tip of the iceberg, but are enough to awaken long-buried memories. They remind us that many more tragic and glorious stories have unfolded in various corners of the world. We need to listen, record, and pass on these stories.

May the people of China and the US remember this shared history of unity and mutual support, and cherish hard-won freedom and peace.

Related: [Photo story] The Doolittle Raid and the historical bonds between China and the US | [Photo story] The Dixie Mission during WWII: First contact between the US and the CCP | A Japanese soldier’s photo album: To the hell of war and back