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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/016f79a3ea25ae930d2fbe60f12dca6c.mp4
73ea2476f54f202df07296fdaaf10e66
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7e264cbd605b757a17bcba58279e5eff.pdf
3df28071b98c26698154ec8747842682
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Marian "Steve" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 3]
FB:
That year that you spent in China - how did that year affect your life and your marriage
with Skip?
MA:
The year in China with Skip really welded our marriage and we both have been stronger
because of it and as he said Mike brought us together and Pat kept us together and
Stephanie, who is our baby, the one you saw the write-up on, was the one that really
made the difference because we have a deeper understanding of each other and he also is
more tolerant and I have become more tolerant. I'm supposed to be a creative person and
I made fashioned clothes for some of my friends and could select who I wanted to work
for and he puts up with that. That's the reason the house is such a mess, I don't think
about housekeeping. I'm doing something else, creating. So he just says creative people
have to make a mess. I'll create the cooking and I'll create the mess in the sink for
somebody else. And sometimes I don't have that somebody else.
FB:
What are your memories of the war in China? Do you have any memories of the war?
Skip was involved in the war.
MA:
To begin with, the only good news in the paper was these little blocks about that big,
sometimes just two lines of what the Flying Tigers were doing in China. It wasn't on the
front page, it was on the back page and my mother was an excellent reader and she would
bring them to me and show them to me every morning if there was something good in the
paper and I always felt like Skip could take care of himself. I didn't much feel that he
might not come back.
1
�FB:
MA:
What did you know about Skip's work? Did you think that it was important? Were you
aware of what he was doing? Did you have any idea of what it was he was doing?
Well, in a way, but not too much because he didn't talk to me too much about it. His own
family didn't know much about it.
(break)
FB:
Did you feel that what Skip was doing was important?
MA:
Oh yes I did because I believed in China and China at that time was threatening to be
invaded and was invaded and that made a difference because he was doing what he
thought was right and it was good for both of us.
FB:
How was it good for you?
MA:
Well I think it made me a lot stronger person. I definitely would probably be momma's
baby because I was. I never had to make a decision of my own all my life and I've had to
and even now I have to make decisions that are sort of whopping. But we get along. He
makes some decisions too.
FB:
How did you feel about leaving China?
MA:
FB:
I didn't want to leave and yet I did want to leave. I felt for Pat's sake because she had
already been born, that I ought to come home and it was much more crucial than when I
got out there because I've forgotten whether the Chinese had closed the Burma Road - I
don't remember why it was closed - it was closed and travel was not allowed on it and
when it was reopened they didn't know what was going to happen and they were trying to
get all civilians out of Hong Kong and I was one of the ones - probably the last ones - it
wasn't long after that Hong Kong was invaded. My memory abates in years - confused. I
never did make good marks in history.
How did you feel about Skip returning to China to join the AVG?
MA:
Well that was in the book when our life together began because he was so dedicated to
doing it and he only slept in this house 3 nights after we bought the house and it was
devoid of curtains and rugs and furniture. We had a few sticks of furniture, but it was a
challenge. There again, I had to do all the purchasing and decision making. I put myself
2
�on an allowance. He was making enough money at the time that we didn't spend it all and
I just wrote my allowance from the account - Chase-Manhattan - and put it in my bank
account here and kept the kids going and paid for a servant and paid for whatever I
needed and then when things got too high, I just raised my allowance.
FB:
During this period of time, it was very unusual for a woman to be on her own raising a
family. I wonder if you could give us an idea and give your family an idea of what that
was like to be raising a family on your own?
(break)
MA:
How did I feel as a single mother, so to speak, since my husband was gone? Actually one
of the boys down the hill - a twelve year old boy - he used to come up and play with the
kids and I was smoking cigarettes then and he was at the age - he might have been
fourteen - he thought he could get by coming up here and smoking with his parents not
knowing it and I couldn't stop him from smoking too much, I'd let him smoke one or two
and then we'd do something else. He got the word around that nobody even knew
whether I had a husband or not and of course, the people next door who we had known
for these 52 years now, bless his heart, he's gone, but she's still living in town and they
sold the house about 15 years ago to the people that are in it now, and the strange part
about it - they also have 3 boys. The former almost had 3 boys and my boy didn't have a
brother and he surely wanted that brother, but we just couldn't give him a brother. I did
not have any problems. Occasionally, when I'd go out in the evening somebody might get
kind of a smart attitude, but I never did have any trouble with men trying to outsmart me
or financially or being rude to me because I had known several of the couples that he had
known the six months he was here, you see, we lived in an apartment and met a lot of the
- the McDaniel Heights Apartments is an apartment that a lot of people in Greenville
started their lives in and I still know some of them. Just were about starting housekeeping
like I was for the first time. I did have an apartment in Charlotte one time, but that didn't
last long. Skip made me get it before he came back and I had a place for him to be with
Pat and Mike without my parents being in the way, but they never have bothered us. They
never have tried to run our lives and never did and we've just been strictly independent.
Later his family moved to Greenville, we agreed we would not live in the town that either
of our families lived in, but his father died in the meantime and his brother was in
Burman, so his mother and sister moved to Greenville to be close to the other brother,
3
�and that's the reason we ended up - and it's been fortunate because we're all close and she
needs us and we need her.
FB:
MA:
You had touched briefly upon seeing articles or little bits and pieces about the AVG, but
what was your reaction during that period of time you probably also knew that the
Japanese were practically taking over Asia and the only real bright spot was the Flying
Tigers. What was your reaction as a person here - a wife of one of the Tigers here in
America what was your reaction to what was going on over there?
We didn't like Japan trying to take over China, but that has been for thousands of years
between the two countries - misunderstandings. China has been able to take care of itself
and we thought that with this work that Chennault and the Flying Tigers were doing, that
China had a chance of survival.
(break)
MA:
The little bits of news that was in the paper were billed from the back pages of
everybody's news and it was - Charlotte being a much larger city had better coverage
probably than Greenville papers, but it meant a lot to them and to my friends here in
Greenville it meant a lot knowing that Skip was over there.
FB:
We're trying to get a sense of during the dark days in China 1941-42 when the
Americans, the British, everybody was being defeated over there, but this one group
called the Flying Tigers had incredible successes against incredible odds. And your
husband was over there. There was People, there was Time Magazine, there was Life
Magazine, it was a big thing, but you had much more personal insight into all that. I
guess what we're looking for is your personal reaction to the successes of the AVG when
all else seemed to be lost.
MA:
The news filtering into the papers about the Flying Tigers in China of course affected me
quite a bit and my friends who at that time had widened considerably, were impressed
with it and would ask me questions that of course I didn't know, being so far away. But
they kept up with it and were just most impressed. When Pearl Harbor came along, my 12
year old friend down the hill, the boy, came up - I had just come home from Sunday
School with my two little kids and I had a rose garden at the top of the hill then - now it's
grass - and I was looking at the rose garden, I had planted some pansies, and Do said
"Ms. Adair, I hear the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and Singapore and where's
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�Skip?" I said "what?" He said "It's all over the newspapers" - not the newspapers - I
think then the newspapers hadn't even come out - "It's all over the radio news" and so of
course I had to turn on the radio and that was about 11:30 on Sunday morning, which was
not too long after it really happened - come to think about it - 'cause that was Sunday. So
I was informed of it right away by my little neighbor and the other people were
concerned about me in the meantime. Don, next door had gone - he'd been in the Navy he'd gone back and became a Commander in the Navy and people were just leaving [?]
my friends who had been in the service of any kind.
FB:
Well as they left, Pearl Harbor and the time after that, there was no real successes. The
people that went over there were not being successful with the Japanese, but the Flying
Tigers were. What was the reaction back home in the dark days before you knew the
successes of the Flying Tigers?
MA:
It was just incredible. No one could believe how this little group of pilots could be
performing such fantastic feats over there and it was Chennault's genius - I think it was
nothing short of that - the way he trained them to attack and I think he should go down in
history books as a genius in flying and having pilots trained.
(break)
FB:
During the time that they were the American Volunteer Group, The Flying Tigers, what
do you think Skip and Chennault and all the pilots and ground crew and nurses and
doctors accomplished for the morale of the United States and the defense of China?
MA:
Well it was just so tremendous a thing that I cannot express it. Everyone was talking
about the Flying Tigers and what they were doing. And some people didn't know my
husband was over there. Some people thought - as I told you - the boy said that people
were saying that I didn't have a husband - but to people around here the man that sold us
the house knew I had a husband and the next door neighbors knew I had a husband
because they were the only people here. In fact, there were just the 3 houses then - oh
there were 4 - the one at the top of the hill. All the other houses have come in since then
and the road wasn't paved. When we moved here it was a red mud road and Skip's
brother, one of the last night he was here it had been raining before Skip left and he
skidded down the terrace in that mud and they couldn't get the car out anyway so they
had to send him - somebody else had t take him home and come back the next day to get
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�the car out of the mud. But those people, that night were part of the group that of course
knew Skip was around and knew that he was part of it and I think we all felt like Skip
was always safe. I don't think it ever once entered my mind - I know some women were
so fearsome - maybe I just didn't have sense enough to be afraid, but I've always believed
in him and he must have always believed in me.
6
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Marian_1991-06-06_v03
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Marian "Steve"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Marian "Steve" Adair interview (video and transcript, 3 of 3), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Marian "Steve" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Adair, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the wife of pilot Skip Adair. In this tape, Adair discusses how the year she spent in China affected her life and marriage with Skip Adair, in addition to how the Flying Tigers affected the morale of the United States and China.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a3c384584adf07bb8ef439b766b94ff3.mp4
834772fec0998c4185297962dbc16603
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/704fcff906dc5cf9c1e7111265dd2ca6.pdf
62bb01bfdaf4ff998607ce493e21e15e
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Marian "Steve" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 2]
FB:
If we could, your personal observations of Chennault.
MA:
Well, Chennault to me was, as I say I met him first at a get together at a party. The
Kunming, employees, or whatever you call them, that were working with him, were all
there and he was just a quiet gentleman, playing host to the group. He was helpful
because I didn't know how to handle this food you're supposed to cook like Sukiyaki,
except it had a Chinese name. I did it again.
FB:
I think when you met Chennault at this party and he was very helpful and then go into the
story about the Sukiyaki.
MA:
When I first met Chennault, was at a party that they had a get together of a CNAC and
the instructor school, he was there and very quiet, very gentlemanly and very helpful.
Trying to make me seem at home in a foreign country. He even helped me try to learn
how to make the Chinese version of Sukiyaki which I have still not learned to pronounce.
My inflections of the Chinese is not to be admired by anyone so I'll stop trying to, I did
learn to count, and I left one number out. I don't know which one it is, like an E or some
[?], I get lost in the middle of it but that's just part of me. Dead ears I suppose. Then later,
he used to come and see the little girl that was the daughter of the common dot in Yu
Nang Yee when he was up there, she was somewhere about 5, 6 years old. And he always
came by and spoke to her, he seemed to enjoy knowing her. And one instance, he had
come by, this was a year later, had come by to see my baby Pat, the redhead that was
born in Manila, and he wanted to see that thick of hair. And so, he came out and Mama
was giving her a bath and he just had more fun watching that little baby, probably about
3 or 4 weeks old and that evening I went out to supper with the gang to McDonald's and I
1
�guess I'd been living with the one that was the hero of kings. Had an apartment together
and had us over there and he had arrived before I did and if there wasn't anybody else.
Most of the people had arrived. He had been telling them about he had seen the redhead
take a bath and of course they lived in what was called a fishbowl in Hong Kong, all of
the apartments you could see from one apartment to the other. And so they were all
trying to decide which redhead had not drawn the curtains, and when I had arrived, they
found out that he talked about my baby Pat. But we got along fine. And he liked having
his little jokes.
FB:
What are some of the things that you recall about Chennault's personality - in regards to
you in terms of when he would talk to you? Did you feel like he was listening to what
you had to say? Did it seem like he was interested in talking to you or was he just very
much a part of the group?
MA:
When I was around him, the most, it was… the conversation was that he was talking to
me and felt like I was a good listener. You probably can tell by the way I'm talking now,
I'm not much of a talker. I guess when I get excited.
FB:
What things would he talk to you about? What kind of things did he talk about?
MA:
Well, one things about all the wars going on in the world and the standings of the
Russians and the English and the Chinese and the branch - it was just astonishing some of
the things he would come out with that I thought, my goodness, but I never did repeat
what he said to anybody because he was talking to me and nobody else.
FB:
Did he tell you what he thought was the danger from Japan, that China was in danger?
MA:
I think so, that could have been included in this conversation he had with me. I mean he
was just talking to me. I've forgotten we were going somewhere in a taxi, there were 3 of
us in a taxi and he was on one side and I was in the middle. And it seemed to be very
serious to me what he was talking about - his expressions of what was going on in the
world.
FB:
What did he look like when he was happy? What would his face look like when he was
happy?
2
�MA:
He was just that relaxed little grin, with a few more wrinkles showing when he was
happy. I never did see him when he seemed to be exuberantly happy. I don't think he was
the type of man that would express his feelings too much.
FB:
What other kinds of emotions did you see in him, when he talked to you and he was
maybe very serious about something? How did he look like to you?
MA:
Well, when he was talking seriously, he was very somber and was really concentrating on
what he was saying, he was just not talking off his head to make conversation with me.
He was expressing some deep feelings of his that would not be repeated and he knew it.
Now I don't know that I ever had any reason to have conversations with him - he would
visit us in our quarters at Mitchell Field later after Skip had gone back into the Air Force
and brought his little dog with us, and his little dog chased the rats. Had fun and wanted
to see the redhead again. And of course, that was before Stephanie was born and Mike
was there - I had two redheads then, and I don't think he got to see him, I think they were
in school the day he came by. He enjoyed it. We enjoyed having him.
FB:
If he was standing in this room right now, what would we see? Describe Chennault for
us.
MA:
Well, he was, he'd be a middle-aged man, and probably looking older than he was
because of his furrowed face, but a very alert person. Very much interested in the other
part of the world. It wasn't just him, he was interested in other people and individuals as
well as world affairs.
FB:
There was an incident you had mentioned about flying in an airplane with Billy
McDonald? Do you recall that McDonald was flying from... If you could tell us about
the trip that you took that was arranged on Man Tuck Hai Shek's [?] airplane?
MA:
I finally got ready to, Skip had proceeded to Yu Nang Yee and I was left in Kung Nang.
McDonald who was one of Da Nang's pilots, got permission for Reynolds to fly me to Yu
Nang Yee on the Madame's plane.
FB:
Start again, because of the phone.
3
�MA:
Skip had left me in Kung Nang waiting for me to get transportation to Ny Nang Yee and
McDonald who must of you know as Billy, and I always called him Mack got permission
from Madame Chiang Kai-shek to fly me in her plane and Roland was the pilot, he and
McDonald were the two pilots and it was fun because I had not flown in a small plane
before and the dog which Skip had inherited from one of his friends who had just left,
was in the back seat looking over our shoulders and got a little car sick and between me
and the dog I think the pilot had his hands full, but we made it. Probably in good shape.
And Skip was there waiting on us and was happy to see us and the dog was real happy to
see the ground and Skip.
FB:
If you could give us an idea of, here you are a young married couple, and you had a child
that was back in the States, describe to us what that must have been like? Here you are in
a foreign country, you're in a backwoods environment, you're a young married couple.
Living in a foreign land, your child back in the States, you're in actually a dangerous,
even though you had a couple of air raids, it still was a war zone, if you will What was
that like?
MA:
I didn't really feel, I felt the pressure of there being possible air attacks, but I felt I was
being cared for, and I knew my child back home was being cared for and as far as being
lonely I supposed I was lonely, but I was busy doing something all the time. Because the
house you saw the curtains in there and you didn't see probably the bedroom and all the
curtains, I made all of them by hand out of cooly cloth. Hems and ruffles on them, then
the covers to the two things that looked like studio couches in the living room, and if
there was a table cloth, I had done something to put an edge on that and I finally started
making some clothes for myself and the houseboy rented a machine for me - a Singer
sewing machine. I don't know how much, how he conned the tailor in the town to part
with that machine for a week for me to use it, but he did and he - they were just very kind
to me, all of the people, the house people and the people on the street, they would
acknowledge the presence but they weren't, there was nothing threatening, the only thing
Skip told me to be aware of the dog because they were unpredictable and our dog,
himself was unpredictable. He'd been trained to chase the lights from the flashlights and
just went wild running around the compound after the walls were finally built, chasing
that light, and I told them I thought it was cruel that they shouldn’t do the dog that way
but they went on and did it. It was fun to watch the dog. My dog chases around here, and
I think she just chases herself. She has a ball that she grabs hold on occasion then, runs
around, will not give it to anyone, she doesn't play pick and return to the owner.
4
�FB:
Did you find life in China, a surprise, was it surprising to you, things that happened
there? What kind of things did surprise you out there as an American woman out there?
MA:
Well, the, of course, I was brought up in a good size city which was Charlotte, N.C. and
the difference in living in a fairly large city, not Metropolis, but a large city, and to see
the difference in the streets and the roads, and the housing and the lighting and the, all the
facilities was not unexpected because Skip had written to me about everything to expect
when I got there, so I was not seeing the streets being used as a deposit stories, and no
plumbing, no running water we had two Cooly boys that their one job was to bring water
and gasoline in cans. I don't know what we would have done without the gasoline cans. 2
gasoline cans - only? A mile and a quarter from the one place you could get drinking
water and this was all you used for all our household water and out tubs, they had to fill
to keep the water on the stove, made out of gasoline cans and our latrine was made out of
gasoline cans, everything, we don't know what we'd do without those 5 gallon cans.
FB:
What things in China upset you?
MA:
Well, I think the filth. In a way it couldn't be helped, in a way you'd think that somehow
along the way that something, whether it been that the poor little children being strapped
on the mother's backs, we see our children being strapped on the mothers backs when the
mothers go shopping, these days just like those little infants out there, and that's the
modern way of young mothers taking care of their children there. That [?] what the [?]
had done for years.
FB:
What sorts of things amused you about China?
MA:
I don't know that I got amused too much. Now I enjoyed the Chinese Theater. It came to
entertain the troops, so to speak, the boys and the Flying School, when we were invited to
attend, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the stage, it was fun to watch
with all in Chinese and expressive, but still I didn't know what was going on.
FB:
How did that year that you spent in China, how did that year affect you?
5
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
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Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
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video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
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English; Chinese
Type
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video; text
Identifier
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RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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RHC-88_Adair_Marian_1991-06-06_v02
Creator
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Adair, Marian "Steve"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
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Marian "Steve" Adair interview (video and transcript, 2 of 3), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Marian "Steve" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Adair, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the wife of pilot Skip Adair. In this tape, Adair describes her personal observations of General Chennault, in addition to her experience as a young married couple living away from their child in a foreign land.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
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Moving Image
Text
Format
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video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
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eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9bde23484c9938a23132fd5b42e9fc41.mp4
81294a96cfba4730d106b840d537bd31
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb819585952585bd65934bf0cfe0e18d.pdf
ffb9e0b1392d6b0421b2711f48d27a97
PDF Text
Text
Grand Valley State University
Special Collections & University Archives
RHC-88 Fei Hu Films
Flying Tigers Interviews
Interviewer: Frank Boring
Interviewee: Marian "Steve" Adair
Date of Interview: 06-06-1991
Transcriber: Frank Boring
[TAPE 1]
FB:
Now is this your given name, or is this a nickname?
MA:
My real name is Marian Jeannette Stevens. And Skip's sister nicknamed me Steve
and I've been called Steve ever since.
FB:
Steve, if we could begin with when Skip decided to go to China in the first place,
what was your reaction to him to go off to China?
MA:
I knew when I met him that he had planned something. So I was not surprised when
he went.
FB:
Steve, if you could tell us your reaction of him going to China.
MA:
When I first met Skip, I knew he was planning to go somewhere. He was in
between. And it was to China.
FB:
What did you know about China at the time?
MA:
Nothing especially, except what I had read in the papers and history lessons.
FB:
And what was it that you had read or heard about?
MA:
Well it was such an entirely different lifestyle and people and we were in America.
Those people living in China and their beliefs and yet some of their women had
been educated in the United States which was very important and since I wasn't
1
�there for this they had gone to the Methodist Church and gone to the Methodist
schools.
FB:
Now when he finally asked you to come to China, what was your reaction?
MA:
Well because I was really excited and my whole family was excited, the thought of
their baby leaving the country and leaving her baby but my family thought it was
the thing to do and my mother offered to keep my child and he really had a lot of
love and care. My sister, Virginia helped her with care and he's known nothing but
love all his life.
FB:
What did you find when you actually arrived in China, give us some of your
observations, your first reactions, if you will. Here you are a young woman,
American, you've heard your husband is going off there, you've seen things in the
movies, read books, and everything, what did you actually find when you got to
China?
MA:
Well, I landed in Hong Kong when I first arrived all the noise on the street and the
conversations back and forth, not understanding anything, the [?] shows, that was
fun and the most exciting thing was and upsetting thing was he was not there to
meet me. He had had his friends meet me and the young lady that met me was
Margaret Potsmith. It was a wife of, I've forgotten her husband's first name,
Potsmith, he was a pilot, one of the CNAC's pilots. We became very good friends.
They had made reservations for me at the Hong Kong and somebody else had made
reservations at the Peninsula Hotel. And it ended up, Skip came in the next day, I
think there was a Typhoon and the Indian Ocean I think was supposed to go through
Hong Kong to get to Indo-China. And that was great pleasure.
FB:
Now, where did he take you next, where did you leave, when you left Hong Kong,
where did you go?
MA:
We went by boat to Hathong [?] and then on up the train, a little local train to
Mongsa [?] where there was a group of Americans stationed there, what they were
doing, I don't know. Part of them eventually ended up in Kunming or had been in
Kunming or Yunnan Ning. And became great princes, some of them.
2
�FB:
What did you find when you arrived there, what was your living accommodations
like?
MA:
The living accommodations in Mongsa [?]… I was only there a few days but the
hotel we were in had been part of the French Embassy. The French had just recently
left Indo-China.
FB:
Where did you go from there?
MA:
Went on up to Kunming, Baa, the French Railroad and it seemed like an awfully
long trip but it wasn't as long as I thought. We arrived and all of Skip's buddies
were there to welcome us. And that's all of the immediate reaction, I had to, things
happened so fast about then. I have very little recollection of it.
FB:
When did you first meet Claire Chennault?
MA:
Sometime later, probably several months, I met Col. Chennault. That's what I
always called him. That's what he was when he left the service before and at his
own home in Kunming I met him with a group of other Pre AVG's and the CNAC
pilots and of the men stationed in China.
FB:
Begin at the beginning of where you were when you heard the sirens go off and
then…
MA:
Of the first air alert that I was in, was in Mongsa and just doing nothing but hanging
around. Everybody said get your things together. We've got to go to [?], so we did, I
think about a dozen of us. .When the Nang men went off to Rios together, we really
did nothing until the siren stopped and then we got the all clear sign and we went
back in. And it was exciting because I didn't know whether there'd ever been an air
raid or not, but to expect it.
FB:
Amongst the Chinese population, either there or later on in Kunming, you had
stated that you didn't have too much contact with Chinese people personally, but
what were your observations of the Chinese in terms of their daily life or of this
condition that they were in, though we saw pictures of goiters and things like that.
3
�Can you give us a sense of what it was like to live there and what your reaction was
to the Chinese people?
MA:
Well the Chinese people that I knew some slightly through Skip's work and through
our help, and our house boy they were very cooperative and wanted to help me in
any way they could. The boys could even understand my English and I couldn't
even understand their Chinese. Which was interesting. One house boy got
fascinated because we let him run the Victrola. Played the records and after the
machine wound up while he was playing them and he loved the Beer Barrel Polka.
And one day by mistake, he got in and found the Begin the Beguine and the young
boy was so hacked. Because he liked the rhythm of that Beer Barrel Polka. And the
people on the street were in awe of me I think, they were polite and helpful I'm
sure, If I had needed any help, mostly I was walking down at the airfield waiting for
Skip to come in and walking around behind the hills behind the house and the, and
one time, I know, when I arrived there, Skip had hoped to have a home built for me
and the rains came and washed away the mud brick. So I stayed in the main
neighboring town in a nice two-story complex, kind of a U-shaped building in the
owner's quarters. And our house boy, Oscar, his family went over there with us.
And it was fun. I finally bought a pair of Cooley shoes because all of my shoes
were uncomfortable for walking the Chinese roads and highways and so the
Chinese thought my big feet were just riots. They were pointing at my feet and I
just laughed. And of course, I didn’t know what to think I just met them flat, didn't
make any difference to me, I knew my feet were big. And seriously I didn't have a
real Chinese friend and when I was in Hong Kong, I did meet and have lunch with
Butterfly Woo. She had heard I was there and heard the girls talking about me and I
had tried to play [?] with some of the women, and [?] she wanted to meet an
American woman, so Mary Margaret Potsmith and I had lunch with Butterfly Woo.
Now the big deal was that Butterfly Woo would speak English to me and would not
speak English to anybody of America. And the girls just couldn't believe that she
was talking to me in English. But she realized that I couldn't understand her
Chinese and didn't want to go around an interpreter. So we had a very nice luncheon
and that was my visit with Butterfly Woo.
FB:
Without trying not to sound too ignorant, who was Butterfly Woo?
4
�MA:
She was the young lady that the young Marshall, I think they called him, a Chailor,
became involved with and I don't exactly know what the situation was, like
everything else, there's stories. But she had quite a reputation but she still seemed to
be a fine young woman.
FB:
Did you witness any of the, what you would call brutality? Amongst the Chinese?
There were executions for example, or anything, did you ever have any
recollections of those?
MA:
They were very peace loving people and as far as I was concerned, they are
definitely family people and loved the children, they of course, the medical
situation out there, it just looked like they let the little flies and varmints eat up the
sores that were on the children but possibly they didn't know anything better to do
because it was definitely in the backwoods. And there were still women there with
bound feet which had been outlawed for some years in China. And they all seemed
to have some animal of some kind, following along with them.
FB:
Let's talk now about Chennault. You had a chance to get to know him fairly well,
you got a chance to perhaps see a side of him that nobody else saw. What can you
tell us about Claire Chennault?
MA:
Well, Claire Chennault, I met him first at his home in Kunming. And the group was
getting together for supper and he was very friendly and kind and gentlemanly and
we didn't have much to say to each other. Being in a group like that, I was sort of on
the outside and looking in. I was obviously a newcomer. And then later I got to
know him fairly well I think and he got to know me and we had some
conversations.
From your perspective, as an outsider looking in, what was your first reaction to
seeing Chennault? What did he look like? Did he stick out in a crowd to you at all,
was he, his face is often described as a leather face and his eyes were piercing
black, did you have any of those kinds of observations about him when you first
met him?
FB:
MA:
Well, when I met him he was just one of the group. And he was much older than
anyone there and I didn't react too much of his personal appearance. I've always
been an observer and not a participant.
5
�FB:
How about later, when you got a chance to know him better?
MA:
Oh, we just chattered around, general things, and some things that weren't so
general. But…
FB:
What was your, well I guess what we're looking for is that Claire's no longer with
us anymore. And all we have left, or just for posterity sake are just memories of
people who did know him. And I'm not looking for you to give away any secrets, or
anything like that, but what I am looking for is a personal perspective. You knew
him and I didn't. My father knew him and I didn't. I guess what I'm looking for is
for you to be able to give me an idea of what you like so much about him.
MA:
Well, I liked the man because he was quiet and was not trying to impress anybody.
He had his own way of doing things and receiving people and handling himself. He
loved children and he loved animals. He had a little Dachshund that he had with
him for years. And the little dog, he'd say rats and that little dog was under the sofa
and everywhere else looking for rats. And he, one of his favorite tales in Hong
Kong after Pat was born, this was a year later than, he came by to see Pat have a
bath. And I didn't think too much about it, went out to dinner that night and
fortunately one of Skip's friends had let me use his house because his wife had been
evacuated back to town, to Canada…
FB:
You're doing fine. The only problem is that the fabric on your pants, when you
touched.........
6
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Flying Tigers Interviews and Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Description
An account of the resource
Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG.
Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Boring, Frank
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1938/1991
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Fei Hu Films
Christopher, Frank
Gasdick, Joseph
Misenheimer, Charles V.
P.Y. Shu
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4; application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
English; Chinese
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video; text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1938-1945
World War II
Relation
A related resource
Veterans History Project (U.S.)
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-88_Adair_Marian_1991-06-06_v01
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Adair, Marian "Steve"
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1991-06-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Marian "Steve" Adair interview (video and transcript, 1 of 3), 1991
Description
An account of the resource
Interview of Marian "Steve" Adair by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Adair, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was the wife of pilot Skip Adair. In this tape, Marian "Steve" Adair discusses her reaction to her husband, Skip, going to China and her first impressions upon joining him overseas.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Boring, Frank (interviewer)
Christopher, Frank (director)
Fei Hu Films
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
United States--History, Military
China--History, Military
Veterans
China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng