Current data for Contributor

Boring, Frank (interviewer)

Current data for Creator

Hanks, Emma Jane (Foster Petach Hanks)

Current data for Date

1991-05-17

Current data for Description

Interview of Emma Jane (Foster Petach) Hanks by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Emma Jane "Red" Foster first traveled to China as the first woman foreign exchange student at Lingham University in Canton in 1935-1936. After receiving her B.A. from Penn State (1937) and Masters in Nursing from Yale University (1940), she joined the American Volunteer Group (AVG) medical team in 1941. On her trip to China aboard the Jaegersfontein, she met John "Pete" Petach, 2nd Squadron Flight Leader. She was the only RN who served with the AVG and helped the three physicians take care of men who contracted dengue fever and malaria as well as those injured in accidents or combat. In February 1942, she and Pete Petach were married by AVG chaplain Paul Frillman in Kunming, China. Red and Pete decided to stay several days to help Col. Chennault after the AVG disbanded. During that time, Pete Petach was killed while on a bombing and strafing mission at Nanchang. After the war, she continued her nursing career in various capacities and in 1964 married Christian Hanks, a former Hump pilot for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). In this tape, Hanks describes her inspiration for wanting to go to China with the AVG and their journey from San Francisco to Rangoon.

Current data for Source

Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)