834 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f96352c72ea93ac9168cd70cf43aa6da.mp4 4fda1c45bde5ca3d0b598556478ff561 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4311733f892ae029b1fce75fe5288681.pdf 8d44b22f87873640afcf32838ffbe190 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert “Burma Bob” P. Locke Date of interview: February 7, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 6] BOB LOCKE: With round trips up and down that road, I was most of the time, on my own. FRANK BORING: Where did you get the name "Burma Bob”? BOB LOCKE: Well they hung that on me because as truck convoy, running truck convoys back and forth, most of my trips were up and down the Burma Road. I forget who – I think it was Sutliffe say "Bob you sure make a lot of trips up and down this Burma Road, I guess we'll start calling you ‘Burma Bob.’" And so there it hung on me and with, as I say, 39 round trips up and down the road, I guess it's appropriate. FRANK BORING: What happened to Kitten? BOB LOCKE: We were going up to Kwei Lin, they had moved a group up to Kwei Lin which was up around Chun King and I was going with Janski - a two truck convoy - we were taking equipment up. Well Kitten was on my truck and she'd got restless riding in the back so when we stopped and put her in the back and tied her between some engines that we were taking up and she was in the back of the truck and it was just about a day and a half out of Kunming, heading north, just about noon, we were strafed. I believe - I know that they made about 2 passes and when they did we saw some trees up the road further and we were hauling for that and Janski �pulled up right behind me and started blowing his horn and I looked in the mirror and he was motioning to me to pull over. So I thought possibly something had happened. Well I pulled over, got out of the truck and walked back and Kitten had jumped out of the truck and busted her neck and she was dragging behind the truck. At that time, it really broke us both up, but we had dug a grave and buried her alongside the road and put her food pan on top of it and that was the last we saw of Kitten. FRANK BORING: Some of the pilots and people in the AVG have sort of stuck out at least in terms of journalists writing about them and all that because of their behavior or whatever. Can you tell us anything about Greg Boyington? BOB LOCKE: Greg was quite a good guy. At the second hostel he was transferred over there from the first hostel because I think that they couldn't close the bar over at the first hostel as long as Greg was living over there. So they put him on alert at the field and he stayed at the second hostel. In my trips up and down the road, Greg had a nose for booze, I don't care where it was and anytime you broke out a bottle, if he was around you'd figure that you may as well - you're not going to put it away, you're not going to save any of it - it's gone. So I know, one of my trips, I came up the road and I just had got a whole batch of stuff and I turned it in at the first hostel and out of it I got a couple of bottles of Scotch. I didn't drink at all but I used to like to keep it for medicinal purposes for my friends and I'd have one drop in once in a while. So I had this booze and I came back in the truck and got over there and snuck in and put it under my mat and - our bar over at the second hostel had been closed down and old Greg Boyington came singing down through there and banged on my door and he said "Hey Burma" and I says "Yeah, Greg?" and he says "You got a bottle in there?" and I says "No Greg, I'm going to sleep" and he'd say "Come on now" so he came in and I said just one drink and he says "Just one, I just want a nightcap.” Well then he sits around and after killing the bottle, he decides that he wants to wrestle because in the academy he had �been a wrestler. Well, he says "how about let's wrestle a couple of falls" and I said "no I don't want to do that" and he'd say "come one" and I said "okay just one fall and then that's it'. Of course he gets up – our hostels are made of woven bamboo or reed and then they're plastered over with mud and they're about that thick. He goes over to a wall and puts a fist right through it like that and you're not going to tangle with anybody like that. But it was one of the nights too, I remember, one of the pilots was living over at the second hostel. He had been over at the first hostel and closed the bar, came back in his jeep and parked it and of course as I said before, I had Kitten between two trucks on a run wire and a big crescent moon was over there and everything was quiet and beautiful, warm evening and this pilot came back singing, walked by within range of Kitten and he was gassed to the eyeballs. We were sitting over there and watched him. He came along and about that time off the back of this truck came Kitten and jumped on him and started slurping and slurping and he was cold sober that fast! FRANK BORING: Do you know why Boyington left early? BOB LOCKE: Well Boyington, as I say, he had some differences with different personnel and his consistent drinking - there were some problems that came up on that, I understood. Greenlaw - Harvey had gotten a hold of him and told him that he'd have to quit drinking or quit flying and the crux of the whole thing was that problems had come up. I think that maybe a little footsies was going along with Olga and I know that they used to go over and play poker over there, and Boyington was one of the favorite poker players over there. As I said before, Olga was a beautiful woman. Anyway, he told Harvey he says "I'll tell you, I can go back in the Marine Corps and drink and fly." So he took off and went to Karachi to New Delhi not Karachi, but he flew over to New Delhi and my understanding was that Olga took all of her jewelry and everything she had and followed him and went over there and said that she wanted to go back with him. But of course this could have been rumors, but I know she was gone for about two weeks and she came back. But �Boyington went on back to the States and of course, when I was in the South Pacific and flying later in the Navy, I heard of Boyington being captured. But he had set a very good record back in the Marine Corps for himself and periodically in the last few years, before he passed away, we used to see Greg periodically. But one of the misconceptions of the whole thing was that Boyington was given a dishonorable discharge. Because only the General was very emphatic - only those that completed their contract with the group and stayed until July 4, 1942, were given the members of the Chinese Air Force Flying Tigers and they were the only ones that were recognized as the American Volunteer Group. FRANK BORING: What was the presence of Olga like around that area? I mean here she was, she's a beautiful woman, you had a whole bunch of young men running around. BOB LOCKE: To all of the ground crew that I know of, unless there was some select group, it was - well, very uncomfortable. I had no problem with it at all because it seems like I was doing my job and I'd been in the Navy and I'd been aboard ships before and abstinence didn't kill me and as long as you worked hard and kept busy, there was no problem. We cherished Foster, the nurses, Dorian Davis, who was one of the girls that came in, that worked with the General and with different ones it was no problem to me, as a matter of fact. I saw her and that was it. She was a beautiful woman, but I had no desire. FRANK BORING: Did you ever meet Madame Chiang Kai-shek? BOB LOCKE: Oh yes. FRANK BORING: What was your impression of her? BOB LOCKE: She was one of the most beautiful people that you ever saw. She spoke English with a southern accent and of course she had gone to school in the south. She was a lady - well Ma Davidson down at �Loy Wing who took care of the hostel down there - she was another lady. Recently when my wife and I were volunteers and went to Viet Nam, my wife came out there and I was working out in Viet Nam and both boys were there. My wife worked at the USO and, as an older woman, it's a funny thing how military personnel liked to be around one of their own kind. Not because of their desire for them, but the desire to be with a respected lady. FRANK BORING: Well you met the Generalissimo, but he didn't speak English. What was your impression of him when you saw him? BOB LOCKE: Well the Generalissimo was quite distinguished, the Chinese adored him. We met him with awe and his thumbs up deal that he used to do, the Madame was really the go-between. They came in just before this reunion, before the final Chinese Air Force plane came in and landed at Kunming. Well as we used to do, any flight that came in - CNAC - we'd go out and greet the plane and look at the stewardesses or we'd climb up on the steps and make believe we were taking off on that aircraft. A group of us were out there one day and this plane came in and this beautiful Chinese lady came out. Well some of the pilots and some of the ground crew gathered around her and talked and somebody said "LOCKE:, how about using your jeep?" and I said "Sure, I'll drive" so they were going to take her to tea over at the second hostel and we did, we loaded her in the jeep and drove over to the second hostel and got over there and she sat around for must have been 15 or 20 minutes having tea. Of course the room boys and the house boys all knew who she was too and they were just in awe. But she was the most gracious person you ever saw. Then within about it seemed years, but it must have been about 30 minutes maybe, General Chennault and the Generalissimo came in and said "I'm sorry boys but we've got to break up this up. Madame Chiang has to go now." And boy, I'll tell you – I think that most of them knew who she was. I didn't, all I knew was that she was the most - it was just wonderful to be around such a beautiful, gracious woman - just to hear her talk. �FRANK BORING: What do you think the AVG did for the Chinese people? BOB LOCKE: Well I think that the Chinese people figured that they were losing the war, they were being overrun by the hordes, step-by-step they were retreating. I talked to one of the Chinese Generals one day and I asked him "what if the Japanese come in here and we're gone and they come in. What will you do then?" and he says "the more Japanese come in and we retreat and first thing you know the Japanese stay and they take over and maybe one generation, two generations, three generations - pretty soon no more Japanese, all Chinese again." So I think that the Chinese people are adaptable, I think they thought that AVG was wonderful. I know to this day when I've been to - we made trips to Taiwan and we've seen Chinese groups that knew us at that time, the overseas Chinese who have come to the United States periodically, they'll recognize either seeing our insignia or something that we're wearing that identifies us as former members of the AVG, the Chinese just love us and we, in turn, think that they're a wonderful people and we were glad that we were over there to be able to do what we did. FRANK BORING: What were you personally most proud of, of what you did with the AVG? BOB LOCKE: Survived. Was able to survive, was able to come back knowing that I'd done a good job, I was proud of what we did, I was very proud of the group and to a man I don't think that there's one person that was out there that I'm not proud of and able to say that I'm sure glad I was able to survive and come back to the United States and make a career, complete my career in the Navy. At this age now I look forward to every one of the reunions, to get together and swap stories with the group. FRANK BORING: You have this feeling of pride and you know what you accomplished and it's obvious from everybody I've ever talked to, but yet the military at the end there, they acted as if none of it happened. How did you feel about - you'd been fighting this war �and these guys are coming over from the States and telling you what to do and saying we're gonna draft you. What was your reaction to these guys? BOB LOCKE: You take what people tell you - at that time when we were proud of the fact that we were fighting, doing a job, we were given those that were knocked down to their knees a chance to recover and we knew that the American people would take over and come right back. One of the things that military personnel – I shipped in the Navy as I said in '34 - I made a career of 26 years in the Navy. A career regular Navy man is like a home guard. The people that win the wars - anytime one of these wars comes up - the only people that win the war is the man on the street, the one that comes in, the reserve. We would have never won that war, World War II, if it hadn't been for the Okies who came to California in the 30's, who settled out here and scrounged and did anything that they could to make a living and then when the war started they were the ones right there in the front row doing the war factories. The citizen soldier is the one that comes in, sheds his blood, if he survives, goes back as a civilian and makes this country what it is. It's not the military career man, it's the reserve that has it and God bless 'em. � 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_Locke_BurmaBob_1991-02-07_v06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Locke, Robert P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Burma Bob" Locke interview (video and transcript, 6 of 8), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Burma Bob" Locke by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Locke was recruited to join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) from the Navy, where he was a Propeller Speciallist. He served his full term with the unit and was honorably discharged in 1942 when the AVG disbanded. In this tape, Locke discusses how he received his nickname running truck convoys up and down the Burma Road, in addition to his sense of pride and accomplishment as a Flying Tiger. 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/25757e26c866915ca684c7e24682c4f5.mp4 06a299d5e5c5d17eec18ee92e0b36f32 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6bdf3df9d5a61ce496667119ae5d1a6.pdf 8a25330dab9c5ed381c71df1ddf4c5ba PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert “Burma Bob” P. Locke Date of interview: February 7, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 7] FRANK BORING: We want to try to convey to the audience that it wasn't just a matter of Bissell getting up there and saying we could have drafted you and you walked out, but why was it that that happened is because you had all these things that you were doing, all this fighting you were doing, this day-to-day no sleep, constantly working and then the loss of people like Sandell, you had these two weeks where you go okay after that two weeks, I'm out of here and it had to be, as I see, it like this light at the end of the tunnel. BOB LOCKE: Well as I said before, we continually - every time an airplane came in - that was a reach at home, even though it was just flying within country. They'd come in there, we'd go down, we'd greet it, we'd meet it, bum cigarettes if they had any American cigarettes or anything else and the war had started and progressed, we had many morale times. There were lulls. This was not a continued fight all the time. There was recovery. One squadron would go down to the front and work and the other one would come back up and it would be a rest period. There were differences of - I can't say who started it - but Charlie Bond was involved in it at one time - of trying to instigate discipline through rank and one of the guys ordered one of the crewmen to do something and it almost ended up in a fight and I think that there were times that there were verbal squabbles. But as I said, I didn't run into much of this because 39 round trips up and down the Burma Road, I was busy. I would come back up and maybe spend 2 or 3 days at the prop shop working around �there and then I'd get a call from one or the other, normally it was the General ordered me when to go. Greenlaw had it in for me because he was sure that he put Ceder on my tail many times and Ceder was his intelligence and he put Ceder on my tail many times to try to check and see what I was bringing up the road. Chennault told me, anything you bring up here you turn it over to Tex Hill or you turn it over to me, it's not to be turned over to anybody else. Many times I would be met before I got into Kunming proper, Tex would drive down there in a jeep and check the loads and check what I had and sometimes I would turn the truck over to him and go back up because Tex had use for the stuff. I don't know, the deception that you ran into periodically, normally I would - if the General didn't order me out, I'd go up in about 2 days and I'd say "Don't you think I ought to go down the road. I know where there's a go down, I can get some stuff." I continually liked what I was doing. Besides I was getting per diem for driving back and up and down the road too. FRANK BORING: You had a lot of contact then with Chennault on a one-to-one basis? Why don't you give us a better idea of - I mean he was your Commanding Officer but you also had a great deal of respect for him. Give us an idea what it was like, you're in the room with the old man and what was he like to work with and to talk to? BOB LOCKE: Well one time - remember I told you we got the booze down in Lashio and we brought it up and we opened the bar in the second hostel. Well before the bar was officially opened, it was gonna be an official opening, so that was with Roady and quite a few of the others, Kemp, that was stationed over at the second hostel. We went in and we broke a couple of bottles out that we had of our self, we took pictures of the bar and sat around and had it all ready to set up for the following day. During the night, after a few drinks, we all went back to our rooms and somebody went in, to this day wouldn't admit who it was, but we did know, and somebody broke in and stole quite a lot of the booze. Well Greenlaw put Ceder on it and started an investigation. This is one of these deals that they �cornered us and said you were there and we know you've got to tell who it was. Well I said I'm not telling anything. Well on the spot Greenlaw fired me and I said you can't fire me, I work for the General. And he said well you just go in and see the General because I'm recommending that you be given a dishonorable discharge. We lost Metasavage at the same time. There were quite a few others, this dissention, a low point of morale, no work to do, supposed to be resting and spies among the group. It didn't help. I went to see Chennault and I told him Greenlaw says I'm fired and he says "Well what he's trying to do is get out who-was it that broke into the liquor and took it." I told him, I said "General, that liquor wasn't bought by the AVG, that liquor was provided by me, I brought that liquor up the road, I turned it all over to the group, as I bring everything up and turn it over to the group." And I said "For a person to want me to snitch on somebody else that I'm not positive of, I'm not about to say." And he said "Is that the final say'' and I said "Yes Sir, I don't want to leave, I honor you and I think that you realize how I feel." And he said "Well forget what Harvey said, I'll tell you what, why don't you get your truck and get your Kitten and why don't you take a trip down to Pow Shan and pick some stuff up and see what you can find." So with that, I got out from under it and I did numerous times. FRANK BORING: What was he like to work with, you're in the room with him, he's telling you what he wants you to do. What was the interplay like? BOB LOCKE: The interplay was that you could tell the old man anything that you wanted. Don't try to lie to him and don't try to cover up, don't speak too loud or don't speak too soft because he was released from the Army Air Corps because he was deaf, supposedly. I've seen many a times when somebody would be called in before the old man and walk out and as you get to the door, "the old son of a bitch", and he'd say "I heard that" so he could hear when he wanted to hear. He was a father image to most of us because he was older than most of us. He was a career officer and I don't care, discipline, he was discipline per se. He, as I said before, if he said jump, we �wouldn't question how high, we'd jump, or if he'd say cut off your arm, you'd cut off your arm. Though he was fair and I think this is what he really had. You don't see many of this type of personnel. Patton I believe was one. With me, Admiral King was one, he was the Admiral, he was over all Admirals. But when it came down to down and out things, he would respect your knowledge. I know Admiral Tomlinson, I knew him when he was a Lieutenant Commander and many the time I'd tell him things and he'd say "LOCKE:, as an officer to an enlisted man, if you're right I'll apologize to you in front of the whole crew, if you're wrong you'll go aft till your hat floats and I'm gonna step on it." So usually, you've got to be positive with what you had. FRANK BORING: With Chennault, a lot of people talked about the first time they ever met him, there was like a charisma about him, there was something that set him apart from anybody else. Did you feel that as well? BOB LOCKE: Of course. He was not God, but he was the closest thing to it and he was not your father, but out there he was the closest thing to it. He had a sense of understanding. The only place I ever saw him real rough was when somebody would refuse to carry out a direct order. For the benefit of the whole, he would still say he didn't want to do it and boy the old man would get up in arms. But I'll tell you, he was fair and the only time he would really let his hair down was on the baseball diamond, and boy! He did then and he was a good player. FRANK BORING: My mother once told me that even in a crowded room or a party, when he talked to you, you felt like you were the only person in the world. BOB LOCKE: That's right. Stood out like a sore thumb. We had many visitors. I know I saw him periodically, he'd have people in and of course dignitaries would come in and they’d come to the different messes. If we were closer to the second hostel, they’d come over there and �they had a certain table that the General sat at. I'd sit there and I've watched him. One day this Britisher came in and he was talking and continually talking. Well the old man liked to be in command of the talking. He sat there and all of a sudden he reached over and he took one of these peppers and he shakes off the stuff, puts it in and just chews it down and took another one and chewed it down and didn't blink his eyes and this guy says "What are those?" and he says "they're Louisiana peppers, you'll like those." And he offers them to this guy and the guy took one, bit if off like that, he gagged and drank water and tried to do things and he sat there the rest of the whole meal and didn't say-a word. Chennault had full command of the conversation. FRANK BORING: If I were to look at Chennault, he was sitting in this room, what would I see? How would you describe the man to look at? BOB LOCKE: Well I would describe him as "The General", that's the way I would describe him. Even if he didn't have the stars on his shoulders - in 1948 I wrote to the General. I'd got through and I thought he was in New York at the time and I wrote him a letter and I said "I know that you probably don't remember me. I'm Bob Locke, I ran your truck convoys for you" but I said "I thought I'd bring you up to date, I'm now a Lieutenant J.G. in the Navy and I'm married and I have a family and I'm a pilot and as a matter of fact I saw Tex Hill down at Eglin Field when I finished flight school and flew over there in an old SNJ and he hadn't flown an SNJ in years and he borrowed by SNJ and flew it around the field." So I received a letter back from the General and he said "Bob, of course I remember you. Congratulations on being commissioned. I knew you were a good man. The Army's loss was when we lost you, but I know that you're doing us proud in the Navy and congratulations on you and your family and best regards and I'm passing this letter on to Tex." So these are things that - even in '57, my first reunion when he was there, and though he was dying of cancer at that time, he was still the old man and the General. And here again, people, families, the people at Ojai and everything, �would come up and "Pardon me, General could we take a picture?" not "could we take your picture with you" it was children, anything. He was very gracious and always seemed to have time for them. FRANK BORING: As I understand from the people that I've talked to, there was a down-to-earth, even though he was a General or at that time a Colonel, 'even though he was the Commanding Officer, when he spoke to you it wasn't as if you were being spoken to like a regular Army guy would talk to you or a military guy, how did he talk to you? When he was going to ask you to go somewhere did he say "Bob, we're going to have you do this, do this, do this" or how did he actually talk to you? BOB LOCKE: Normally he'd approach it, he'd say "Are you busy?" and you'd say "No" and he'd say "Well I understand that there's some equipment that we can use, do you think you could get it?" and I'd say "Sure, General, I'm positive I could." He'd say "do you need any orders?" and I said "no I can carry it out by myself." And he'd say "Well remember if you have any problems, I don't know anything about it." And I'd say "That's fine Sir, it's okay by me. I'll get it if it's possible." He realized that I'd had quite a lot of experience in this of - when you work in different shops in the Navy and you've got certain things to do, you've got to go around and cumshaw. Before World War II, 3/4 of our planes were kept in the air on a crosscountry and stop at an Army field or Army Air Corps field, you needed something, it was cumshaw. You scratch mine and I'll scratch yours and it was the same out there. We did an awful lot of scrounging. And if we didn't, we wouldn't have survived. Because the way that things were tied up, in Rangoon for instance, all that stuff that we burned on the docks at Rangoon because it wasn't released to go up the road and because all the things have to be there, not just one piece missing. Can you imagine us completing in Vietnam we used to lose more stuff - but still and all we would still go on and we would issue what we had left and it's the only way that a group can survive. �FRANK BORING: Please explain about the fact that - not that many people are gonna know about it that you have a shipment of something, if one thing is missing you don't get the whole thing. BOB LOCKE: For instance, you get a consignment. Say there's 100 jeeps. All right, they come out on consignment on ships, maybe there's 50 jeeps on one ship and there's 50 jeeps on the other. In off-loading or something they drop one over the side. Okay, they turn them into the go down, the guy that's in charge of the go down or the warehouse, he has a consignment that says 100 jeeps, there's only 99 jeeps. Until that one jeep shows up, the British would not release the consignment. We had truck tires, we've had airplane tires, we had to have them shipped in - the Navy flew in tires to us, because they were down there on the dock but one complete consignment was missing. � 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_Locke_BurmaBob_1991-02-07_v07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Locke, Robert P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Burma Bob" Locke interview (video and transcript, 7 of 8), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Burma Bob" Locke by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Locke was recruited to join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) from the Navy, where he was a Propeller Speciallist. He served his full term with the unit and was honorably discharged in 1942 when the AVG disbanded. In this tape, Locke describes what it was like working so closely with General Chennault and the effect he had on those around him. 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/a74633eafe5771947aa6c482e8900d15.mp4 bf68b0e11b4f9ab13a8e0a9ea0a43ab5 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2b812cfe5762ebf006753c2fd49fdcab.pdf a3f9acc70072b83d0d8acc4552c9cc1c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interview Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert “Burma Bob” P. Locke Date of interview: February 7, 1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 8] BOB LOCKE: One of the things that we seemed to run into in China was, as I said before, the companionship, the trust that we had for each other. We did our jobs to the best of our ability, we were continually recognized for being able to do a job. But you want to realize one thing, this was the first time in most of our military experience and though we were civilians - that we were being paid - all of our salary was going, except what we paid for our food - was going to a Chase National Bank in New York. As long as the AVG was in force, we were working, but in the back of our minds we knew that July 4, 1942 was our final day of our contract. We had done a good job, we knew we had done a good job. The publicity in the States it seemed that the morale was building up in the States. And we were starting to get an influx of prior Army takeover of the group. They would come in, they would be invited - of course we were in the second hostel, the first hostel, we'd hear about the parties that would go on every night, there would be a party over there, they would be toasting some dignitary, they would bring them out to the field or the prop shop and they'd show them around - we're in throw-off outfits, we've been working hard to try to get things done, we've scrounged gasoline, we've scrounged parts, we've used baling wire to keep these aircraft together and some of the pilots went over and got some P-43's. Before they got back, here we were having replacement aircraft, before they got back, the Chinese pilots that were flying them back, crashed them. I mean just stupid blunders. It's such a waste. And this was a waste that we had been �tying things together. Well, this was one of the times that morale went down. Each flight that would come in, they would have American cigarettes. We had been smoking - those that smoked would have been smoking the British cigarettes. The Raleighs that I got at the Go Down all those Raleigh cigarettes, we found out that 3/4 of them had worm holes in them and to smoke them you had to play them like a flute. So morale - when you're left without – but in the back of our mind we knew and we were proud of what we did, the job that we did, not just hearing it. Clair Boothe Luce arrived just before this fiasco on the 4th of July and she was there and she showed us copies of what went on. She showed us proof and she came around and she was just as gracious as anything. Taking notes and asking "what do you do" and "where did you get this cat" and all of these things. So we gave her that information. She was there about 48 hours and she was gone and we liked to feel that eventually we would be given credit, which we were. But as I say, when Bissell whapped us with this one, that was when morale went to the deepest and especially Sandell who was lost there and Imogene Hanks married to him, not knowing that she was at that time pregnant, luckily, that he did have a child. This crushed us. As youth does, I guess, I was close to 26 at the time and I didn't figure too much, I just figured I'm going to be out of a job. There was a lull. Then when we got over to the West Coast of India and were told we couldn't go back to the States and figured how we would get back, these are the things that - well, we fell back into the old position of we're going to have to create for own self, a way to get out of here and we created it. FRANK BORING: On that trip back after your experience with Bissell and not really knowing what to expect, your reaction to the American Embassy was rather novel, going over with the camels, what were you feeling like during that period of time, were you feeling frustrated, were you mad, were you angry? BOB LOCKE: Well frustrated, of course we were frustrated. Really frustrated because to see ships come in, we knew, we had already figured we �couldn't fly back to the States. Pan American was busy and dignitaries and stuff like that. As a matter of fact, I'd already made arrangements, the China Air Lines was gonna fly Kitten, they would fly my cat, before she was killed, they would fly her to Karachi and from there Pan American - I had already made arrangements - they were gonna fly the cat back to the States for me. So this had been taken care of. But to get down there - have you ever walked down to a dock and watched ships come in and unload and then they'd steam out into the sunset - well that's periodically, every day we were watching. Ships would come in, they'd offload and we knew, high in the water, taking off and going out, and we knew they were going right back to the States and we were told "I'm sorry, there's no transportation, none available" continually. This is day in and day out and we found out through the grapevine and through direct orders that about two days before we pulled this fiasco down in front of the Embassy, we found out that Bissell had put the orders over - no military personnel would give any assistance to the AVG group, no way. The can come onto the base, if they come in to eat, they pay for it, if they do this they pay for it, if they want transportation, they pay for it. There'll be no staff cars given to the pilots, there'll be nothing. You'll be given nothing. Cause I'm gonna have their butts right back into the military and I'm gonna have them over here. And that's the word that got out. FRANK BORING: What was your reaction to that? BOB LOCKE: The reaction to that was some of the guys quit and went to Bangalore. Some of the guys tried to - as a matter of fact, Bob Blair went down, he was on the same ship but he didn't get on at Karachi. Bob Blair got on at Bombay because he went down to Bombay trying to get out of there. Quite a few of the pilots finagled a group and went down there and they were waiting down there when we came through. Once we got on the ship, though, this ship was going back and the only passengers were about 45 American nurses, U.S. nurses that were, as they say you can't be a �little bit pregnant, but some of them were just a little bit pregnant and different reasons. They psychologically couldn't set up with it and there was a Major in charge of this group and I accompanied her all the way back to New York. So I had no problems really, as a matter of fact I fell into it and came up smelling like a rose. FRANK BORING: I think it would be good if you'd explain about the wedding, the fact that two very close friends got married and then they volunteered to stay afterwards, had a major effect and died. So start with the actual marriage, the fact that they were asked to stay on and they decided to stay on the two weeks and then what happened to him. BOB LOCKE: Well we had two nurses out there and Emma Jane Foster was very friendly with one of the pilots and that was Petach. He was one of the Squadron Leaders and they struck up a romance and one thing led to another and the first thing you know we had a wedding. And as it was our only wedding out there at the time, a lot of the fellows were envious of the fact that there went our nurse because she had always been with the crew as much as with the pilots. She would associate and here's the contact of the female/male contact that it's just nice to have around. But when Bissell made his speech and put the kibosh on us staying out there, we were asked to stay over for two weeks extra and many of us agreed to stay. Tex Hill, of course, was gonna stay there, Ed Rector was gonna stay there, which he did anyway, Peter Wright stayed, Rosbert stayed and Petach had agreed to stay for the two weeks extra. Some of the pilots will have to tell you which flight it was, but the 3rd or 4th, and we heard through the grapevine down in the crew level, we heard that they'd gone on a raid and Petach had been shot down and this was a great loss. P. Green and R.T. Smith, I believe, accompanied her back and I believe they were flown back to the States. Just overnight these things happened in this way. �FRANK BORING: There's one other question that we didn't quite get addressed. What did Chennault look like? How do you describe his face and his demeanor and all that? BOB LOCKE: What did he look like? FRANK BORING: They called him old leather face so I was just wondering... BOB LOCKE: Have you ever looked in the business end of a bulldog? Well that's just about what Chennault looked like. To me you can visualize, here was a rugged jaw stuck out, leather face - I think they used to call him leather face because flying in open cockpits all that time, your face turns to leather because of the weather hitting you constantly. But to me you could sit in a chair and look at him and talk to him, and you could see father, you could see a gracious person, you could see a rigid General, and then you could blink your eyes and look again and it was just like looking into the business end of a bulldog. � 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_Locke_BurmaBob_1991-02-07_v08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Locke, Robert P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Burma Bob" Locke interview (video and transcript, 8 of 8), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Burma Bob" Locke by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Locke was recruited to join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) from the Navy, where he was a Propeller Speciallist. He served his full term with the unit and was honorably discharged in 1942 when the AVG disbanded. In this tape, Locke discusses the final days of the AVG and their difficulties returning to the United States. 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/2cbe1d2721cc97323e958d8bad3274dc.mp4 e036abac35d2bc114b41eaa1e6ef636a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/df2cf00a239f5ceeb03c4d324e89f56f.pdf 8675aacea96a448ef3ddd6c2f9fb3a5f PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 1] FRANK BORING: What were you doing prior to joining the military? BUSTER KEETON: Before I joined the military, I was going to college, Colorado College in Colorado. The Navy was sending through recruiters for cadets for the cadet program down at Pensacola. Right after graduation, I got the word that I’d been accepted. So, we had to report to Oakland, they called the naval reserve base at that time. So that’s where I reported and I got my 8 hours of flying, and they turned me loose and I got the three bounces and then I was on my way to Pensacola. After a month, why then I reported down to Pensacola in the fall of 1938. FRANK BORING: What was it you were doing in Pensacola? What kind of flying? What kind of airplanes? BUSTER KEETON: The airplanes we flew, we had five squadrons at that time at Pensacola. There was the first squadron Sea Plane squadron, single engine on floats and the second squadron was the same kind of airplane, N3N’s which is a Navy version, built by the Navy. Then the SN which was a Stillman trainer and that was squadron 2. And then in squadron 3, why we had land planes where we started getting gunnery practice and those were the old observation planes and they scout - beginning of the dive bombs. Then in squadron 4 was Sea Planes - twin engine sea planes. Then from squadron 4 we �went to squadron 5 where we got an instrument flying an SNJ’s and then the little bit of fighter flying of which we got the old Boeing F4V4 which is the same as the army B 12. FRANK BORING: Who were some of the people that you met during your stay there in Pensacola? BUSTER KEETON: Well, there’s people I met while at Pensacola. Of course Tex Hill and I were classmates. John Hennessy was a classmate. Christman who was ahead of me a couple of classes, but came from Colorado. Talking about all of these boys landed in the American volunteer group. Bob Neale and Jack Newkirk and I lived in wing 3 the same wing. Bill Fish, who I knew, he lived upstairs some place. There’s more but I can’t think right now who they might be. FRANK BORING: What was it that interested you to get involved with flight, with airplanes to begin with? BUSTER KEETON: Well, actually the first, I don’t remember how young or how old I was, but Lindberg on one of his barnstorming flights before he made the trip across the Atlantic. He did that in 1927, so it probably had to be around 1924 or 25, I would have been about 9 or 10 years old. He made a forced landing - we had a farm just south of town in Southeast Colorado. He made a forced landing on this brand new hay field, kind of burnt my Dad up a little bit. He didn’t like his hay field - and so to make up for it, why I maneuvered some way to get a ride and that was the first time I ever saw an airplane and it ended up I got a ride out of it. From then until the Navy came recruiting through, I didn’t think much about it, because I didn’t have the opportunity. But when they came thru I was ready. Why I really don’t know. FRANK BORING: Begin by saying Lindberg on one of his barnstorming tours had a forced landing and then tell about how your father got burnt up and how you maneuvered a ride and that’s what got you interested in flying. �BUSTER KEETON: Lindberg on one of his barnstorming flights cross country before he made his trip across the water had a forced landing on my dad’s farm and landed in this new alfalfa field and sort of tore it up pretty good and coming out of that why I finagled a ride somehow. I’m not sure now how. But I got a ride and that was my first airplane ride. I think that that stuck with me and got me interested in flying and eventually I ended up in aviation. I spent 40 years of it. FRANK BORING: Your still in Pensacola, what were you doing just before you heard about the opportunity in China? What were you actually doing before you heard about the opportunity in China? BUSTER KEETON: That would be in San Diego. When I heard about the American Volunteer Group being formed, Tommy Cole was my roommate. I think probably the first person who heard about the meeting with this retired, Commander - retired Navy Commander. So Tommy Cole and I went over. He was having a meeting someplace on the island. We went over but the commander wouldn’t have anything to do with us because we were patrol plane pilots and he was looking strictly for fighter pilots at that time. Later on he couldn’t get enough fighter pilots so they started taking dive bomber pilots and that’s when Bob Neale, Tex Hill and a couple more of the boys signed up and then later on why they couldn’t get enough dive bombers, so they started taking patrol plane pilots and that's when Tommy Cole, Pappy Packs and my two roommates and myself and a few more of the boys like Benny Foshee they accepted us and we got to go. FRANK BORING: What was the interest you had... why would you even attempt to go and talk to this guy? BUSTER KEETON: I think several things. One thing is China, I’d never - I really didn’t know anything about China. A lot of the boys, like Rector had read Kipling all of his life. I don’t think I’d ever even heard of Kipling. China sounded like a good thing, plus the fact the squadron and �everybody on North Island pretty well knew that war was coming and when or how we didn’t know but this was a way to get into it quicker and help get it over with or something. Plus the fact that it was exciting, something different. I really don’t know what the number one answer is but I think just a lot of everything. FRANK BORING: Were you talking about the opportunity to the other guys. I mean was there bull sessions about China and Tex Hill telling you a little bit or Ed Rector telling you a bit? BUSTER KEETON: Before we signed up with AVG, Tommy Cole and Pappy Paxton and Betty Foshee and a couple, three of the other boys that didn’t go yet. Several conversations before they wouldn’t accept us and after they accepted us, and we all thought it was a great idea happy to go. Plus we weren’t getting as much flying and the main thing was we all wanted to be fighter pilots and we couldn’t, we were patrol plane pilots and I think really down if you got to the bottom of it that’s what it was mostly, getting to be a fighter pilot. FRANK BORING: What did you know about Japan at that time? BUSTER KEETON: The only thing I can remember about Japan at that time, is you would hear from different people in various places that we were selling all of our junk to Japan and a lot of the people especially the military people were thinking, which turned out to be correct that they were taking all of this junk and building into armament, eventually which they used against us. And how they did it and what shape, I’m not familiar with. It turned out that that’s when they built ships. I’m sure they didn’t build airplanes but I’m sure they could have built ships or something of that type. FRANK BORING: What was it about fighter airplane, the whole idea of being a fighter pilot that attracted you? BUSTER KING: I think being a fighter pilot, every pilot, especially when you are starting out to fly, wants to be a fighter pilot. I’ve never run into a �pilot yet in the beginning but what he wanted to be a fighter pilot. You’re young and full of “you know what” and that’s the best way to go. You don’t want to sit up in the big old sea plane and wallow around - you want to get out and be a fighter pilot and if you go to war why then you start shooting bullets and flying around. I think, later on you go into the airline or the bomber or the sea plane patrol or something, but in the beginning why the fighter pilot’s it. FRANK BORING: Did you ever get a chance to see the film footage that was shown before movies about the bombing of Chinese cities. Sometimes if you go to see a movie, they would have newsreels in the beginning. Do you recall ever seeing or did it ever affect you what was happening in China? Once you made the decision to go and they’ve gone thru the process of looking for fighter pilots and couldn’t get those and went to other ones and finally got down to accepting you, what was the process of resigning your commission? Was it an easy process or was it difficult - from the military point of view, letting you out of the military? BUSTER KEETON: To resign from the military at the time got to where I asked for my resignation, it was no problem what so ever because there had been so many before. The word had been sent down from the white house - President Roosevelt himself to let these people go. So I had no problem what so ever. All I really had to do was go up and ask for their resignation what I was going to do and the commander gave me the papers, I gave them to the squadron commander and as far as I know that’s all there was to it. I don’t remember anything more than just being anything more than just that. FRANK BORING: Once the decision had been made and you had already signed your papers, what did you tell your friends and family about what you were doing? Did you get a chance to talk to family members or friends? �BUSTER KEETON: Oh, yeah, before we went to China, I’m not exactly sure what we did tell them. It certainly wasn’t going over to do what we were doing, but I haven’t given any thought to that for so long, I’ve forgotten what it was, but it was something about maybe flying patrols up and down the Burma Road or something like that. Definitely not what was in the contract and that we were going to be in a fighting or shooting war. Nothing like that. I guess that’s about it. Can’t think of anything else. FRANK BORING: Was that out of concern of them worrying about you or… BUSTER KEETON: No, no. Everybody seemed to think it was a good idea. As far as I remember, my friends I knew in Southern California where I was based in the Navy. I remember we made a quick trip back to Colorado and saw my folks and friends there and they all - so whatever I told them they thought it was a good idea. I’m not sure what I told them now. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 1 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses what he was doing prior to joining the military and when he first learned of the opportunity to work with the American Volunteer Group in 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/0574a7efdc053a8391e9eb8374c18782.mp4 7986a342cda7ba1f028ed3cf13bb48ed https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0bf588aece3861742afd13505da1a919.pdf d4f4a69ee5136d186435484321e90446 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 10] FRANK BORING: What was it like to be in Kunming thinking they might be breaking thru any day now? BUSTER KEETON: The Japanese were coming up the road really coming fast, that we’d begun to think that maybe they’d be in Kunming in not too long a time. But then the Chinese army when they blew up the bridge. They caught a lot of refugees on the west side and then we did a lot bombing and strafing along the bridge along Salween and sometimes we weren’t sure whether the Chinese or Japanese were shooting at us - or both of them. Anyway, I think that we did a lot of good work there and we lost some good men. We lost Bob Little there. In fact loosing Bob Little shook Bob Neale more than anything I’ve ever seen shake him. But then, the Chinese strength and with our help we held the Japs at the Salween River and that stopped them. Then a director led this squad I was on and we bombed and strafed this - they had a bunch of Chinese cornered and that broke that up and let all of the Chinese get back into the action. We did a lot of good work on that Salween deal. FRANK BORING: A lot of army replacements were coming in from the US and in one case, you talked about a Lieutenant Colonel Sanders who wanted a group of P-40's to go off and fly a mission and you knew there were problems to begin with and it turned out to be a disaster Can you recall that? �BUSTER KEETON: I remember one incident where Col. Sanders was bringing in some P-40's I believe from Dinjab [?]. And he got lost and Caribou King who was a radio operator, threw the net we had and they tracked their planes we had all the way. I’m not sure whether they were east of the field or west of the field but anyway Sanders thought he was the opposite of where they were and Caribou King said you’re over here because the net had told him where they were. So they had a little discussion and finally Sanders took Caribou's word for it and they came in and found the airport. It was quite an argument. Caribou King was a character. He could have cared less whether it was a general or president of the US. FRANK BORING: Look at the last day, July 4, 1942 in your diary. You said it was probably the longest day of your life at that time. What was the last day like? What happened and what was going thru your mind? BUSTER KEETON: Looking back on it, I think several things. I was still down at Kunming; I didn’t get up to Kweilin. Everybody in the 3rd squadron at Kunming was leaving. They weren’t staying for the extra two weeks. I kind of felt like I hadn’t done too much and I’d have liked to stay for the two weeks, although I wasn’t about to stay. I think we had to buy our tickets on CNAC, we couldn’t get out on Army transport. Just a lot of things plus the fact that you’re leaving. A lot of people had already gone. And it’s a breaking up of the group. I think a combination of a lot of things. I can’t think of anything more but that’s part of it anyway. FRANK BORING: Do you remember, the feelings that you recall of that day? BUSTER KEETON: I can’t. Actually, it was kind of sad and on the other hand it was kind of a joyful day. To see that you were heading home and not knowing when you were going to get there, but at least you were going that way. FRANK BORING: The trip home was quite difficult. I guess there was some anger on your part that they didn’t live up to their part of the bargain of �allowing you to go back home. Do you think Chennault was involved in keeping you from going home? Do you think the orders came from him or Stilwell? BUSTER KEETON: Chennault had something to do with that. It seems to me that when we got to Karachi and went out to the airfield and some major or somebody told me that they had word that we were not supposed to be given a transportation ride on anything and the word had come from Chennault. That upset the few of us who were there. There were quite a few of us. Later on, I think that probably came from somebody else. I just don’t think he would say that or do that. But that’s the information we got and that really upsets you. FRANK BORING: What do you think the AVG accomplished in that year period of time in terms of the Chinese and in terms of the Americans? What do you think the AVG as a group accomplished? It was a period in Chinese history, it was a period in American history, it was a unique period in which people worked together. Where do you think the AVG fits in terms of that period? BUSTER KEETON: I think the AVG kept the Japs from taking all of China and if they’d have taken all of China, they would have taken all of China before the US army, air force, and the navy and so on could get in a position to stop them. If they’d of taken all of China, they’d have taken a lot of India, maybe all of it and if they’d of done that, who knows what would have happened. As far as the AVG, what they did and so on, I think we were very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, under the circumstances, doing a fairly good job of stopping the Japanese. I think the raid on Chiang Mai slowed up the whole process of the advancement of the Japanese and the other one was the Salween River. In fact, I think the Salween river thing kept the Japs from taking China. By then the army, air force and so on got in and that was the beginning of the end of the war. �FRANK BORING: What do you think the AVG did for the morale of both the Chinese people and the American people in the US? BUSTER KEETON: The morale of the places of where we were staying, boy they changed it a tremendous amount. Kunming - places like Yunnanyi. I didn’t get to Kweilin, I don’t know, but - Loiwing until we lost Loiwing. The morale of the people while we were there was terrific compared to what we were told it was before. As far as the US, I wasn’t here, but I think they thought it was doing a pretty good job. Maybe that was all due to the war correspondents. I don’t think so; I think we did a pretty good job. FRANK BORING: The final question and a very personal one. You’ve accomplished a lot of things after AVG. You got a nice home here, you found a wonderful wife, you’ve built a life for yourself that went beyond what happened at the AVG. What I want to ask of you Buster, what was it that you accomplished personally? What did you get out of the AVG that carried you on to the person you are today? BUSTER KEETON: That’s a tough question. I don’t know how to answer that question correctly but I got a hell of a lot out of the AVG and what it was I don’t have enough language to really say. Except I think it made a better man out of me, made a better pilot out of me. It builds up for me to carry on to what I as after. If not it had a hell of a lot to do with it. FRANK BORING: What do you think personally? BUSTER KEETON: What I personally feel now or back then? Camaraderie of the group is still tremendous. We still have it everybody had the greatest far as I know. We all have a great, great friendship and everybody thinks they accomplished a lot. A terrific job. All of them ended up as squadron group commanders at least two or three tours of duty over there. But we all have great respect for each other and that’s the important thing. �FRANK BORING: What do you feel you accomplished over there? Your own personal evaluation of yourself during that time? BUSTER KEETON: I think I did a good job. I don’t think I did a fantastic job. I’m proud of what I did, I’m certainly not ashamed of it and I don’t know what else to say. FRANK BORING: When you look back at that time, how does it fit in your life? Is it something that has stayed with you? BUSTER KEETON: Oh, definitely. The time I spent in the AVG had a lot to do with how I conducted my life, how I conducted myself and I’ve always been very proud and happy. It’s one of the best parts of my life. In fact the whole thing. I wouldn’t change that or since then for anything. I think a lot of its luck. Being in the right place at the right time. Ending up with everything you got. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v10 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 10 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton describes the experience of his last day as a part of the AVG and the breaking up of the group, in addition to his reflections on their accomplishments and their place in history. 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/c2f2ff7ccffd24e3b65aa382a363d80b.mp4 1be9d20ea99a525390ec8fb07b031b86 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/77ead83d0b1675d4b3679979cd801cf5.pdf 5c6f0fea73316c18df776ffcf2898bca PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 2] FRANK BORING: If you could just talk about the days that you spent with these people before you actually went to China. BUSTER KEETON: Before our boat sailed out of San Francisco, we had about three setbacks. So every time we’d have a setback, I’d go back down to Southern California where my friends were - Andy and Doogie Devine, and Lou and Linda Crosby, and Tuffy and Liz Goff. How I met these people was through Lou Crosby who I went to college with back in Colorado. Then Andy and I when I was stationed at North Island, we went sword fishing and both caught a sward fish and this is quite a story in itself. We both caught one at the same time and thank gosh we had a good boatsman, finally we got them both in and usually you have to cut one loose. So I’d make a trip up to San Francisco to catch the boat and it would be delayed another week and I’d get on an airplane, fly back down. We would spend our time, well, we’d either go fishing or we didn’t play golf in those days, I don’t know, just sitting around telling lies and laughing at those people. That Andy and Tuffy are two of the funniest people that you ever met. And later on in life they were good friends to Phil Harris who Mave [?]. And I finally met and the three of them, I’m telling you. Something else. But that’s where I was spending most of my time, before we finally caught the ship and we took off. �FRANK BORING: When you, in September of 1941, is this the same period of time that you met John Wayne? BUSTER KEETON: Yeah, but I can’t remember where we met him. Late at night in some bar. One night when it was late we were in some bar in Hollywood we ran into John Wayne. I don’t know, at the time, I didn’t think much of him. Why, I really don’t know because later on I had a chance to meet him several times with Andy. In fact, several times when I was flying the airline - the old Boeing 377 from Paris to New York, I had him up in the cock pit for the whole trip and he couldn’t be a more delightful individual. So it goes to show, the first meeting isn’t always the greatest. FRANK BORING: In 1941, September you had some meetings with the CAMCO Representative, the actual representative from CAMCO. Do you recall what it was they were telling you to expect? What they expected of you? BUSTER KEETON: When we had a meeting with the representatives before the CAMCO people before we took off, I’m really not sure what all went on except they told us what would be the procedure aboard ship and then when we got to Rangoon why we’d get our pay checks for the money that hadn’t been advanced to us previously and how our money - we would get so much and then the rest would be sent home to our bank. Pretty much they did a good job, they filled us in on I think everything they possibly could have. I thought the relationship was real good at that time and most everything they told us - meeting in San Francisco and what happened on the ship and what happened in Rangoon and then on up to Toungoo. Everything they told us pretty much turned out to be the fact. FRANK BORING: Did they state that you would have passage to China and then return passage at the end of the year? �BUSTER KEETON: As I remember, they said that we would have passage to China and yes, we’d have passage back to the United States. I’m almost positive that that was the statement that was made. Whether that was in the contract, I’m not sure because I haven’t seen the contract. Whether I ever saw one, I’m not sure. FRANK BORING: On the 24th, the Boschfontein departed from SF and in your diary you talked with Al Anderson. At the time you didn’t really know what was going on in the Far East but after talking to him he gave you a very different outlook on the Far East. Can you recall the conversation you had with him or what was it about the Far East that was different as he told it to you since he’d been there many times? BUSTER KEETON: The conversation I had with Anderson if I can remember it correctly, he had lots of experience in the Far East and actually I knew nothing about it and another thing if I remember correctly, he filled not only myself but several of the boys in that the Japanese were good pilots. They weren’t all wearing glasses and couldn’t see and they couldn’t shoot. He said they were very good pilots, very good at bombing and they shot straight. Of course, maybe it was joking between people, we’d always heard that they couldn’t shoot straight and all of this. Later we found out that they could shoot pretty straight. FRANK BORING: What was your impression of your fellow travelers on this boat? Not just the AVG but also some of the other people. BUSTER KEETON: There were several very, very interesting passengers. I don’t recall exactly everything about them, but there were quite a few missionaries of course and the missionaries were very interesting people, in fact it was one that had been a bishop in a church right close to where I lived, where I was growing up. But the other people were going over to fly for the Dutch in Dutch East Indies and very, very charming, very intelligent people. We had some very good relationships. I haven’t given it much thought lately, but �for years afterwards, I often wondered what happened to all those boys, some of the missionaries too. FRANK BORING: What kind of impression did you have of some of these guys who were going to China? I know you knew some of them already, but what was your first impressions of some of these guys you were with? BUSTER KEETON: I thought that the guys going over were all real clean cut and good guys. Some of them a little ornerier then others. We, I don’t like to talk about places, people - I might have said something in my diary about maybe Boyington drank too much or always wanted a fight or something like that. Which was true and then Prescott and Gun [?] all got in a little scrap and Smith who was the senior officer who always got us up for reveille wasn’t very well thought of. But all in all they were a fine bunch of people, all just real good. Charlie Bonn I remember that’s the first time I met him and George Burgard - just a real bunch of good guys - Jack Croft. We had a few scraps, seven weeks on a ship and a little drinking going on now and then and a few poker games, you get into some arguments. I remember Gun [?] and Prescott - they had a good argument one night but those things happen. FRANK BORING: Just for the flavor of it, in terms of worrying about Boyington or anyone like that, I can tell you right now that everyone’s talked about Boyington. The secret’s out. It’s not that we’re looking for dirt or we’re trying to stir up anything, we’re trying to get any incident on the boat that sticks out in your own mind from your own personal experience? BUSTER KEETON: Well the King Neptune is probably the thing that sticks out the most when we passed the, not the International Date Line, but the Equator. �FRANK BORING: Start from the beginning and say what about the King Neptune sticks out the most in your mind? Continue on from there. Just tell us as much detail as possible. BUSTER KEETON: What sticks out in my mind mostly on the boat trip was the King Neptune Court held when we passed over the Equator. They had the king and the queen as I remember, Charlie Bonn was the Queen and I’ve forgotten who the King was - maybe it was Rossi, I’m not sure. They’d stand you on the side of this pool and put you on this chair and then they’d slap this fish in your mouth and then they’d put some other gunk which didn’t taste very good. So everybody I think had a couple of beers, so we’d put up quite a fight to try to keep from getting shoved into the pool off of this chair. I think we all had a great time, it was a great day. Later on why, that as far as I can think is the most vivid thing on the trip. The rest, we’d stand watch up in the crow’s nest. We were always playing handball and after we got down to the warm part of the country in the swimming pool So everybody kept pretty active besides we weren’t drinking and playing cards all the time although we did a lot of it. FRANK BORING: You were at sea for quite a while, then you had a couple of stops on the way before you made it to Rangoon. Do you recall any of the shore leave or any of the time you spent off the ship? One of the places was in Bali right? BUSTER KEETON: Well we stopped off on the route first was Honolulu which was a very short stay and I had the duty so I had very little time although I finally got a hold of an old classmate I’d gone to college with. Then I went back and stood duty for the rest of stay in Honolulu. Our next stop was Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies and while there the ship was to go on up to Batavia and drop off a lot of the equipment they were hauling and then come back to Surabaya and then we’d take off for Singapore. While the ship went up to Batavia why we, several of us took a trip over to Bali and that’s quite an experience. We got on a train and took down to the - I �forgot the name of the estuary or whatever it was - then we got on a barge and had native cows, chickens and everything else. We got on the other side and we got on this bus and the same thing - cows, chickens, ducks whatever they could get on and then we had I think about a two or three hour ride up to Kuta Beach. This was a place that this gentleman from Southern California, L. A. or something place had gone over there a few years before and it was a beautiful beach. He had set up a little restaurant with some cabins and so on, so that’s where we stayed for I think it was two nights, possibly three. We’d go in to the little village and we’d do some shopping and some swimming. Then we’d take pictures of the Balinese girls, at that time the first we knew of that went around topless. Good stay. Then of course we were back to Surabaya and then on the ship and up to Singapore. FRANK BORING: As an American who had never been to the Far East, what was your reaction to this foreign country and these people wandering around in strange outfits and whatnot? BUSTER KEETON: Well on Bali, we went to see what they call a monkey dance and at the time it was pretty fantastic. I’ve pretty much forgotten the story of it, but it was something great. Then we went to another little place where the young males at a certain young age had to have their teeth filed off and boy that was weird. We went to the place where they laid the little male boys down and then this guy would file their teeth. Didn’t seem to hurt them but I don’t know how it kept from it. Then well, there were some more things there, I can’t recall at this time. FRANK BORING: When you returned to the boat, did you arrive in Rangoon soon after that? Did anything happen between Bali and Rangoon? BUSTER KEETON: From Bali, we went back to Surabaya and then Surabaya there had been these three people who had been in the same squadron that I’d been in in San Diego and they were instructors for the Dutch Navy there. Flying patrol planes and well, any type of plane and �one of the individuals who was there, Robby Robinson was engaged to Ann Nagel who was the movie actor at that time quite famous. He couldn’t get her out there and he couldn’t get back and he was really homesick plus lovesick. We spent quite a bit of time there and there was a place to go and have fun - course that Dutch beer was awfully good - called Chez Willys. We would usually meet there for lunch and they had the greatest prawns and Heineken beer. There were quite a few other Americans there too. From Surabaya we went to Singapore and we were in Singapore for three days and from Singapore, we went on to Rangoon. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 2 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton describes his experiences leading up to the journey overseas, the initial meetings with CAMCO, and traveling aboard the Boschfontein as they headed to Rangoon. 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/71886425d88e1389e6e01d355047d001.mp4 4fc160f7f54353a86d619e2f23103fd3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d07c82e07a3d204583cc4bb6c8a5b043.pdf ca043b4f17628c5c7155e2357025b8bb PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 3] FRANK BORING: If you could tell us about your visit with the Sultan, please? BUSTER KEETON: When we landed in Singapore, course everybody headed for the Raffles Hotel so they could get a Singapore Sling of which most people had heard about While there, the Sultan of Johore was having a little party and he invited all of us to join in on his party and while we were joining in on the party he had asked us if we’d like to come over and see his palace and all of these grounds which were very beautiful and so on. He said that he’d been having so much trouble with the British recently that they wouldn’t let him stay in Singapore overnight anymore so he had to leave before dark. But he had all the arrangements made and the cars to pick us up. I think there must have been 8 or 9 maybe 10 of us and the cars picked us up the next morning at the hotel and took us to this next little island. We went across this estuary, a bridge there and that was the Sultan’s place and whoever it was handed him a piece of paper and he read it and they opened up the gates and then we had guides. A very beautiful palace, fantastic!! Very similar, I would guess to the one down south, I can’t think of the name of it. Then the grounds just beautiful grounds, flowers of shapes and bushes and plants so we had a very pleasant day and back to Singapore and then we went out to the new world and had the new world, the old world and mostly it was sort of a dance hall and then back to the ship and we took off for Rangoon. �FRANK BORING: What was your first impression upon your arrival in Rangoon? Were there people there to welcome you from the AVG or CAMCO? What was your general impression? BUSTER KEETON: When we arrived at Rangoon there was somebody there from CAMCO with instructions and I’m sure that they had the cars available or Taxis and took us right up to CAMCO office where we were to sign in and make out some pay slips and do some paper work. When I walked in the office, the first person I saw was Ethel Sarkisian who was the wife of one of my old school mates back in Colorado and I had no idea that she was in that part of the world. So I got to talk to her and she told me about the terrific accident she’d been in coming down the Burma Road. They were going up the road in a truck and another one coming down and they got pushed over the bank. She lay there, I think for around 12 or 13 hours if I’m correct with her pelvic broken and several bones and course her face was kind of messed up. But anyway that was kind of a pleasant surprise and she had survived this and you could hardly tell that she’d been thru this ordeal. But Sarkisian was out of town at that time and he, which I found out later on, was starting up free Danish underground, which later on would pass thru China and behind the Japanese lines to do demolition and so on. But then, we only spent two or three hours at the CAMCO office and got right on the train and headed for Toungoo which was to be our training base. FRANK BORING: If you can go back to that time of getting your first impression of walking off and there’s the base at Toungoo. What did you see around you, what was your first impression of what you saw? BUSTER KEETON: Well, actually when we got off of the train at Toungoo, it wasn’t too bad in my circumstances cause if I remember correctly the first two people I saw were Tommy Cole and Pappy Paxton who I lived with at North Island so I didn’t give much thought to what, although it seemed like it was awfully hot. Course it was night too. The railroad station which turned out to be one of the best spots in �town why that’s where we landed. Then we got on the lorries or trucks the back of the truck with our baggage and headed out to Kyedaw to the airport and then. At night it didn’t look too bad because they were just regular barracks with the netting and so on but finally after we talked for a long time, finally got in the rack with mosquito netting around, it wasn’t long before flashlights were flying around and guys were shooting their 45’s trying to get these rats crawling around. So it was quite an awakening and course we were kind of worn out but anyway we woke up in a hurry wondering what was going on. FRANK BORING: What happened the next morning? What was the initial introduction if you will to the AVG? BUSTER KEETON: I think the next morning they had a reveille or I don’t remember exactly how it was done. We were awakened and then we all went to the mess hall, had breakfast and then the new recruits, as I remember we were taken or walked, I think we rode our bicycles down to the hanger and that’s where we first had the encounter with the old man Chennault. He didn’t have too much to offer as I remember at that time. Just welcomed us to get squared away and get you trained here in a real short while and get you underway and then we checked in with a squadron and I checked in to squadron Two which Jack Newkirk that I’d know back at Pensacola was the squadron leader and most all day was just going to the squadron and the old man welcomed us and they told us what to do and then of course, I was fortunate, Tommy and Pappy were both in the Second squadron which I was signed to. They told me everything to do or what to do so it made it very easy. There was no problem whatsoever. FRANK BORING: In your diary, you mention right around the beginning period, you got sick. Apparently you got pretty sick. Do you recall? Was it the food? BUSTER KEETON: Was this at Toungoo? I don’t recall, I don’t... �FRANK BORING: You got some boils on your arms. Here you are arriving in this camp and all of a sudden you got some physical problems. BUSTER KEETON: It seemed like the darn hands and arms were all broken out and I went down to Doc Gent or Prevo might have been Doc Rich. He used, what do you call that velvet stuff? They don’t use it any more but he painted my whole arms with it - they were sore. I don’t know might have been today you call it psoriasis. Whether that was it or not, I don’t know or it could have been a fungi of some kind. FRANK BORING: What was the food like? BUSTER KEETON: At Toungoo, I didn’t think it was too bad. It was a lot better than what I expected. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. Because Chennault pretty well had it you know, got cooks in the restaurant and the service was good. We had such fantastic food on the boat or the ship I should say it didn’t compare to that. But hell, in the long run, it was better than what I expected. FRANK BORING: We will be talking about Chennault throughout the interview, but if you can recall what struck you the most about Chennault. BUSTER KEETON: Course we’d heard so much about, I guess we called him, he was a Major at that time, but I think we called him Colonel Chennault and the first impression to me was that his features were very much like the old Indian Head. You know we used to see in the Cigar Store corner. Very distinguished. Seemed to be a man who knew what the heck he was doing and how to do it. He impressed me very much. I don’t know quite else what. FRANK BORING: Could you describe the first training experiences you had in November? What was your pilot - what was the first training experience, especially considering you’d never flown a P40 �before? If you could give us an idea of what those early training days in November were like. BUSTER KEETON: The first thing that I can recall at this time was Tommy Cole took me out to P40 and I think we spent a good three or four hours just going over everything about the airplane. Then it was, within a day, then we were told because they’d had some accidents that all of the people who’d come in on the last ship that hadn’t flown fighters, would be getting some training in the two seater, a two seater airplane and we would get take offs and landings and we had some time to go out and stunt a little especially because the propaganda was that the P40 was real hard to land because of the narrow landing gear. So, I think it was possibly four or five days before any of us got our first flight. Then we got a few hours, but I remember I was delayed because of the arm thing and Doc. Gentry if I’m correct, wanted me to take it easy and he felt it might have had something to do with nerves. Possibly, I certainly wasn’t nervous. Anyway so I missed probably a couple of flights and if I remember correctly we were supposed to get either four or five flights and we’d go into the P40 and get our checkout. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 3 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses his first impressions upon arrival in Rangoon and later at the base in Toungoo, in addition to his initial introduction to the AVG. 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/90ebf6c27104c38e96e169d8133d4c58.mp4 689088ef6f4ff42e2c61f2f1df53e408 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a5152efa58c02d690f53da89e84febcd.pdf 1d483d8c56c9047c37cf60d2596a507d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 4] FRANK BORING: Let’s talk about your impressions of his lectures. What kind of things did you learn? Did he impress you as somebody who knew what he was talking about? BUSTER KEETON: The lectures that Chennault gave to all of the new pilots coming in was quite impressive to me of course coming and being a P boat pilot. Especially the tactics were altogether different than what I had gotten in Pensacola. One thing was we were, instead of the three plane element why, we would be flying two planes element and the other thing that I remember definitely is that you [?] with the I-97 and I-98 or I-99 whichever it was, could we have a fight with. There was no way that the Colonel kept telling us… There’s no way that you can dogfight with the small Japanese fighters because they could turn insight of you and just the best maneuver was to get an advantage shot and then if they whipped around on your tails then you could come back and try and get them again. That’s the first time that I’d heard of such a tactic then. Course talking to the people that had been there before that had gone thru the instructions said that was the way that we were going to do the fighting when we had to do it and it turned out in the long run that was the maneuvers that was used all the time that we were in combat with the Japanese. BUSTER KEETON: Well, I would think that he was a very good teacher because he’s real determined and insightful and he had a lot to say and oh, �Chennault. Chennault was a real fine teacher from the fact that he was straight forward and everything he had to say about fighter tactics and ah, what he had learned by observing the Japanese when they were fighting the Chinese and the Chinese fighting the Japanese. And uh, I thought he was one of the best I’d ever uh, had the privilege of being around. FRANK BORING: Could you give us an idea of your first experience with the P40? Just comments about when you got a chance to actually get into the cockpit and familiarize yourself with it. BUSTER KING: My first experience flying a P40, I was shaky because especially the army pilots were telling us what an awful hard airplane this was to fly and you Navy boys coming out of P Boats why you’re going to find this more than you can handle. I was a little shaky. The first flight up - nobody was more surprised than I was when I came down and made a good landing. Thank gosh. It was just like any other airplane once you got used to it, why it was a fine flying machine. Very fine airplane, fact I don’t think we could have any better. I guess the 51 would have been better if we’d of had it but we didn’t have it and there’s nothing that I know that would have been a better airplane than the P40 under the circumstances. FRANK BORING: Once you had a chance to fly it and to land it, how did you look at the other pilots that were flying with you? You mentioned about [Thomas] Cole who was flying with you. You saw [Thomas] Cole coming in for a landing and you said he did a typical Cole stunt. Do you know what that meant? That’s a direct quote from your diary. BUSTER KEETON: I can’t… FRANK BORING: Were there any of the things when you watched other pilots take off and land, did you think I’m not going to do that? Or I should learn that... �BUSTER KEETON: Well, we had some pilots that had some bad experiences. Especially one that came out of the patrol planes which probably gave most of the patrol pilots a bad name was Conant. Very fine guy but he had a lot of trouble flying the P-40's especially landing it and he ended up I think tearing up about 3 of them. Not landing them correctly. The pilot would say ground looping which meant that he didn’t land the airplane like he should have and messed up the landing gear. In some places did damage to the wing and the prop and the props were pretty precious. But I tried to watch everybody especially on the landings until I got familiar and then as soon as I got familiar, the airplane was not a bad airplane to land at all. Just be careful. Fly it don’t let it fly you. FRANK BORING: Let’s stay with the P40 and your experiences with the P40. Can you give us a sense of what it was like to fly the P40? Give us an idea of what it was like. BUSTER KEETON: The P40 was a lot different than any airplane I had flown, actually had ever flown. All of the land planes that I had flown in the Navy were much lighter, not as heavy. In fact, didn’t have near the speed that the P-40 had so even in the air in the first flight, it was quite a different experience and it took two or three hours and then fake dog fights with other people to really get the feel of the airplane and once you got the feel of it why then it flies like any airplane. After a few flights I got into a fake dog fight with a couple of the boys and did alright which surprised me I was quite happy with it. FRANK BORING: When you got into it, was it like you turned a key or something? BUSTER KEETON: Well, I’m trying to think and isn’t that something I don’t recall. FRANK BORING: One of things that you mentioned is these fake dog fights; I understand that there was a real close call with Tex Hill one time. Can you tell us about that? �BUSTER KEETON: Tex Hill and I had a close call, gee I don’t...can’t think when that was. I remember poor Ol' Tex had a long landing one time at night. FRANK BORING: Can you tell us about that one? BUSTER KEETON: Yeah, they’d gone out on an alert as I remember and coming in why, all we had was lanterns along the side of the run way and Tex come in and he just was a little bit long and crashed off the end of the runway. We were all scared and he was ok and the airplane wasn’t hurt too much. It was very fortunate. It was just long with the lighting we had it was excusable for anyone to do something like that. FRANK BORING: During this period of training, you got a chance to meet some of the people outside of the pilot group and whatnot. You mention in your diary about playing cards with the Greenlaw's. Can you tell us anything about them, your impressions of them? BUSTER KEETON: At Toungoo I ran into Olga and Harvey Greenlaw. Harvey was second in command. Down at Toungoo, I only remember seeing Olga probably two or three times. But Harvey I would see quite often because he was out on the line quite a bit. But I never had too much conversation with Harvey for some reason or the other. I really don’t know exactly what he did except he was second in command. Apparently I guess he was supposed to do what the colonel told him to do - Chennault. I, later on, I used to think that Harvey didn’t carry out the orders too well. Even after I moved up to China, I never saw too much of Olga. I don’t know. FRANK BORING: Here’s a group of almost 300 men, a couple of nurses and here’s Olga Greenlaw. What was your impression of having this very attractive woman there? Did you have any reaction? BUSTER KEETON: No, I never saw her that much. I guess I was at the wrong place at the wrong time at the right time or the right place at the wrong time. I never saw Olga too much and you know actually except �with the arm problems I had at Toungoo, I never saw the Joe or Red Foster too much. They stayed pretty much to the hospital. Anyway they did a great job and everyone was very proud of both of them. And I think everybody was proud of Olga for what she did. I think she probably might have done more for the group by keeping some records than the Army did. FRANK BORING: You mention in your diary, what you call the foolish behavior of some of the pilots in Toungoo. Here was a group of guys free from the military and now out in the middle of the jungles of nowhere and your learning to fly planes and everything and some of them took it a little more seriously than others. Do you have any comments about your observations of the pilots? BUSTER KEETON: I probably boned down quite a bit in trying to learn the airplane. When I got in I’d try to fly it better than some of the other people because I’d come out of patrol planes and I hadn’t flown land planes in about 3 years and everything had been sea planes from what all of the boys would tell you how hard it was to fly. I worked a little bit too hard and maybe some of the guys who were taking it easy why maybe I thought they were goofing off or something. But in their own right, maybe they weren’t. FRANK BORING: You had come out of the military environment with uniforms, rank, and certain steps you had to do throughout your time in the military. Give us your idea between the military as you knew it and the AVG. BUSTER KEETON: Actually at the beginning of the AVG at Toungoo was pretty much I felt the same as military. We had a commanding officer Colonel Chennault and everyone respected him. We had a squadron leader and a vice squadron leader and we had a flight leader and of course at that time I was a wing man. So it pretty much resembled being in the military and that’s sort of the way I looked at it. And I know that there were some people that didn’t they figured they were all civilians and they could do what they wanted to do and some of �them did. But I personally, I kind of looked at it as a military operation which you pretty much had to make it successful. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 4 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses his appreciation of General Chennault's teachings for new pilots and his first experience flying a P-40 plane for the AVG. 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/7c911e1462fbf0bfa99a01bab9133d20.mp4 35337c80e1e1ca646737dd2c8fa976b6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/323df9b83274367b510f9b7c51bb85dc.pdf 15ff7152dba2dcfe4bb92c577767a847 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 5] FRANK BORING: Give us an idea of the differences of the types of things that were done in the military and the types of things that were done with the AVG. BUSTER KEETON: Well, in the AVG, there was no saluting; there was sort of a muster type but not really a muster type. We didn’t line up for the mess hall and the relationship between the pilots and the MX was not military type, it was more or less “How ya doin’? How’s it goin’? The airplane ok?” We had no uniforms, we wore any kind of a uniform. Some wore a fatigue, navy fatigues other army fatigues. Some just what we had brought along. So in that respect it was strictly a civilian outfit. On the other side we still sort of observed a military type operation. FRANK BORING: What was your relationship with your crew chiefs or your mechanics as you put it? BUSTER KEETON: My relationship with my crew chiefs was just first class. We had great crew chiefs. Johnny Carter did most of the crewing on the airplanes I flew and he was one of the best. A good crew chief, a real gentleman. FRANK BORING: Give us an idea of what it was like to go onto your airplane with the crew chief waiting? What kind of conversations did you guys have? �BUSTER KEETON: Well, a conversation with a crew chief mostly you just wanted to know if the airplane was ok and then you’d ask how things were going and if there was anything wrong with it why if you had an alert it would be ok. Just mostly you were both interested in the airplane. So that’s what most of the conversation was about, in my experience anyway. FRANK BORING: There was an incident of someone forging their name to get some supplies, you thought some unscrupulous individuals on Chennault's staff. Do you recall any of these incidents of people you thought were not doing the same kind of job you were? BUSTER KEETON: At this time, I’m sure there might have been people doing things maybe to take advantage, but at this time I can’t recall and I can’t think of instance. FRANK BORING: You would have a pretty strong reaction to Pearl Harbor happening which in your part of the world was December 8th. Your first reaction and comment was that the military base got caught by surprise and one of your quotes I like very much you were commenting on the [?] silk admirals which you thought were going to make a mess out of things. Could you give us your first impression, your reaction to hearing about Pearl Harbor? BUSTER KEETON: Well my first reaction was I didn’t believe it. I thought that somebody got something on the radio or somebody’s pulling a joke. I didn’t think that at first we’d actually get caught and I felt like for some time that we weren’t prepared in the Navy like we should have been, because it just looked like the war was coming and we should be doing more. I made the mistake probably of saying it and putting it in my diary - about the [?] so bad [?] - guess that’s probably what a young ensign would say if he didn’t have to stand up to them. But I was amazed I react, it just didn’t seem it could possibly happen, but it did. �FRANK BORING: You mentioned that Chennault gave a rather enthusiastic talk about this is war, this is the real thing. Can you recall or give us an idea of what it was that Chennault was telling you at that time? BUSTER KEETON: If I remember correctly, after Pearl Harbor it happened. Chennault called a meeting. First he put one of the squadrons. Went on alert and he called a meeting of the rest of the people and said “Now we’re in war and the only thing I can remember from the speech outside of that we’re in war and we’ve got to snap to and do our job, was that we’d probably be moving to Kunming and take over the fight for the Chinese hitting the Japs from the backside of which they had all of north side and east China and we would probably get into actual combat and things might be differently now than what we’ve been led to believe, that our job would just be protecting the Burma road. FRANK BORING: Can you give us comments about the British that were there in Rangoon? What were your comments and what did you observe about how they were dealing with the war time situation? BUSTER KEETON: My personal impression of the British in Burma was that they were not actually fighting a war. They were enduring a war, putting up with a war. It seemed like the war was getting into the way of the things they wanted to do, rather than fight a war, such as take time off for tea in the middle of the afternoon even if there was an alert. Or there should be things done. I’m sure most of the other guys thought the same - you’re not going to win a war this way. FRANK BORING: On December 10th, there was an alarm and given the fact that Pearl Harbor had just happened and Chennault had made this speech about the fact that you were now at war and things were going to be different, you commented on this waiting or an attack you said “half anxious and half amazed.” I wonder if you could give us an idea of whether you were aware of the risk that was involved. That you felt vulnerable being in this airfield and �perhaps not ready to take on the Japanese. Could you recall those early days when an alarm went off and what was your reaction? BUSTER KEETON: My reaction the first alert we got, I think probably was more an amazement and not really as concerned as I should be because I wasn’t really sure what was going on. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but later on the bomb started coming down and strafed why it was a different story. You needed to hit the ditch and you knew what was coming and thank god you got in the right ditch. If you were caught on the ground. FRANK BORING: You made notations in your diary; you definitely were not ready for combat. Hadn’t had enough flight time. Can you give us an idea, especially since alarms were going off and Pearl Harbor had happened? Give us your own personal feelings about being ready for combat. BUSTER KEETON: Well, definitely when Pearl Harbor happened, I hadn’t had enough time in the P-40, I felt in my own mind to actually go into combat. On the other hand, I had had enough time in the airplane that I think that if I had gone into combat, I could have done a fairly good job. I wouldn’t have been an ace pilot like the boys that had flown it and had a lot of time, I know that. But still on the other hand, the best way to learn is to get in and be a part of it. Once you have the mechanism of the airplane set up and the fire power which I didn’t have completely at that time. FRANK BORING: Do you recall there was a forced landing of a DC 3 during this period of time, about the 22nd of December? Do you recall that happening? BUSTER KEETON: BTC a forced landing? It was a forced landing at Toungoo, if I remember correctly. I remember the forced landing, I forgot actually what happened, but it worked out alright. I remember that, but I’ve forgotten what caused it. �FRANK BORING: On the 24th and then Christmas day in Burma, there was concern about the number of planes that were ready to go up. At this time, I guess you were helping to check out the airplanes. BUSTER KEETON: The 24th of December, I was the only flying pilot stationed still in Toungoo. Eddie Goyette, he was the head man at the station and I was doing all of the test flying and getting all of the airplanes [?] sided plus whenever we’d get an alert, if I could get in a plane fast enough before they bombed, why I’d take off hoping I’d find one that I could shoot down. I’d rather shoot him down then me of course. That was the job I had there. I didn’t ask for it and how I got it, I have no idea. I think possibly because I didn’t have enough experience in the P-40 and that’s why I don’t know if Newkirk decided I should stay there or whether Goyette had requested me. Because Goyette was not going to fly in combat or do any flying unless it was absolutely necessary. FRANK BORING: Now also during this time, newer pilots were coming in and some were taking it a little less seriously. You actually caught Grow drunk in the cockpit trying to start it up at 12:30 in the morning. Could you tell us about that incident please? BUSTER KEETON: I don’t remember the exact circumstances, I suppose I had to go out that early in the morning, in the middle of the night almost, why I’ve forgotten, but anyway here was Cliff, this airplane tanked to the gills trying to get it started. He couldn’t quite hack it, thank God he couldn’t. Or I’m sure he probably would have banged it up and might have killed himself. But Cliff was alright, he was just young and he’d had a lot of land plane experience, well I don’t knew a lot, that he thought he was a pretty competent pilot. FRANK BORING: You also made references to Raines and to Donovan. Their behavior was apparently pretty wild too. Can you comment on that? �BUSTER KEETON: Well, I’ve forgotten the reason that Raines and Donovan were there at Toungoo. I’m trying to remember but I don’t know there’s a lot of things that we all had to buckle in and do and it wasn’t all flying it was a lot of other. I can’t think - well there were a lot of things that had to be done besides just standing by on alert or taking up hoping you could get up before they’d come over with a raid. Goyette had had a couple of discussions with the two individuals and they were kind of dogging it at the time, no doubt about it. I think they realized it later on. FRANK BORING: Give us an idea of what your duties were at the time. Your journal referred to like supervising repairs. You were a pilot and there were crew chiefs to do all kind of work, I don’t understand why you were having to be careful about the engines and what was wrong about the engine. BUSTER KEETON: When I was at Toungoo I was doing lots of things. Probably a lot of things I wasn’t supposed to be doing. We had two fine mechanics there, Walker and Kenner, if I remember two real fine mechanics. We had amour, a big moose a great one. We were all in the thing together and I, to be honest with you I was probably just a one man air force there, because if anything came over or they wanted an interceptor observation plane, why I was always taken off and hoping I would see one which I never did ‘til later on around Feb. 3rd. But I was doing a little bit of everything just to keep the base going. Of course after Christmas why that’s when they’d bring up the shot up airplanes and we’d try to get them repaired and we’d ferry them back down to Rangoon or mostly ferry then back down and sometimes Goyette would go along on those flights. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v05 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 5 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses the differences he experienced serving in the military and the AVG, in addition to his reaction to the news of Pearl Harbor and the days that followed. 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/5fb908e38222601141752c0ff174d981.mp4 cf2840d173c827acdf33b3b68dcea92d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/259ede99d6db770a3541bee02f8694a0.pdf b3badfcd17e9eaa009e333a4aab44fca PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 6] FRANK BORING: The crew chiefs fixed the airplanes and you would check it out? BUSTER KEETON: Actually I probably was a little bit supervising. We had great crew chiefs, but you kind of had to coordinate between the crew chiefs, the amours and then Goyette. He was running the station, most of his stuff was sending messages and getting messages between Rangoon and Toungoo and Toungoo and Kunming. So I would presume that probably I was the coordinator between the crew chiefs and the amours and myself to get the airplanes fixed so they could go back to combat. FRANK BORING: You refer to taking off a distributor cap that was having a problem and you were checking out distributor cap. Did you actually have to do repairs yourself? On the airplanes? BUSTER KEETING: No, I didn’t do any work on the airplane. All I did was try to coordinate between the crew chiefs , the amours and of course we had a lot of, not too many in Toungoo, but we had some of course the Chinese that were fantastic at getting the when an airplane was shot up getting the holes patched together, they were fantastic. FRANK BORING: Let’s go into the conditions as much detail as possible. Mention the Chinese and what they did and how you were coordinating the work and the working conditions they were under. �BUSTER KEETON: The working conditions at Toungoo were not the greatest. One thing is the weather, the other was we’d keep getting a little scares of some of the Burmese were not too friendly with the English and were possibly might get a little sabotage. To try to get an airplane put together they had to rob from other airplanes and do patch work of which sometimes you’d think just couldn’t be done but somehow they got done and I really don’t know a lot of times how things got done. Somehow we did it. But due to the people who really put out. They worked night and day and they, the ones that worked, were all first class people and they really put in a job. FRANK BORING: Let’s talk about an airplane that’s brought in, that’s been shot. What kind of things did you have to do to get it back in the air and who did it? BUSTER KEETON: The crew chiefs we had there would take it into the boondocks and really start to work on it there. They did all the work and they got the airplane to where with the help of the Chinese and some Burmese employees they’d get it into flying condition. Then we’d take it over to the amours and they would bore sight the guns and I think we were down to about 300 yards then, we would bore sight them in. Then I would take the airplane up and if it was on an alert, which we would try to do but to keep down the amount of flying time. If it was an alert why then I’d have to take it up and check it out anyway. Normally it didn’t take a long checkout - pretty quick 30 minutes, I would say is about the average. Take the airplane down and notify Rangoon that the airplane was ready and usually I’d fly down and pick up another one that was in bad shape and bring it back. FRANK BORING: What is bore sighting? BUSTER KEETON: Bore sighting is when you have all of the guns in the ,like in the old P40 B, we had the Two 50's thru the prop and the two 30's in each wing and we would have them coming into a small circle as small as we could get it at 300 yards. All of the bulls coming in, so �that would be the focal point when you got in combat. If you got a guy at 300 yards why you had all of them hitting him and pretty close to the same spot. I’ve forgotten how small that circle was we tried to get them in but it wasn’t too large. FRANK BORING: During this period of time you had airplanes coming and going and personnel and whatnot. Did you know what was going on? Was there enough communications that you knew what was going on in Kunming and you knew what was going on with the other guys? BUSTER KEETON: I knew quite a bit. Not as much as Goyette. He handled all of the paperwork and what he told me or if he’d show me a message and then we had a telephone connection when it worked between Toungoo and Rangoon. I had a pretty good idea of what was happening, not any of the details, but generally. FRANK BORING: In one case, you mention in your diary that you actually decoded a message from Brett to Chennault. Do you recall? BUSTER KEETON: The message I saw was decoded probably by the British or Goyette. I do think probably I saw that message. Mostly we heard about what was happening back in the U.S., was from the war correspondents. And they had ways of getting information in and out. FRANK BORING: Could not hear the interviewer due to faulty tape. BUSTER KEETON: Boy that I recall real well. Boyington just was really gassed and he was having trouble starting to sing and I don’t know if Goyette had sent me out there I’ve forgotten. Anyway, I was out there and I got on the wing and started talking to Greg and he and I had been fairly good friends on the ship going over. We had one argument, but as a rule we got along pretty good, and so except for one night on board ship I talked him out of it and got him out of the airplane and he was so used to the gills and of course Croft?, he’d do �anything Boyington did so he was no problem. But he slept it off; I think the next day and flew up to Kunming. FRANK BORING: Does that come back to you now? BUSTER KEETON: One night, we’d, I hadn’t had a drink but I was in the john on the throne and Boyington come in and he was pretty loaded to the gills. He said something like get the hell out of there or something and then he slammed the door to the john. So the john had a bar up above so I grabbed a hold of the bar and I kicked the door open with both feet and hit him right in the nose and to this day, I don’t think he ever knew what happened to him. Knocked him out cold for about 5 or 10 minutes. But never had any problem with him after that and he never knew what had happened so quick and he was so drunk he never knew what happened. But he could raise hell. He was the best hell raiser actually I ever knew. FRANK BORING: During this period of time, I wonder if you could comment on learning about the death of Christman. BUSTER KEETON: Bert Christman, yea that shook me quite a bit. He was a real fine, I didn’t know him as well as the other boys even though we both came from Bosen [?], Colorado because he was four or five classes ahead of me at Pensacola and he lived on the upper deck and I was down on the lower deck. But all of the conversations I’d had with him at Toungoo he was very helpful and he clued me in on a lot of things about flying the P40 that were a great help. And then another about flying, formation. I’d had one flight were I flew formation on him and was just fantastic. It was quite a blow and of course then Tommy Cole when he went in why that was a real blow because Tommy and I had been real close. And not knowing whether he was shot down from the ground or whether or exactly what happened, well it was hard to take at that time. FRANK BORING: Also during this period of time, we are talking late January, was the first mention of induction of the AVG. That the AVG would �somehow be inducted into the army or the air corps. Do you recall the first rumors that there was going to be a change? BUSTER KEETON: I don’t recall the first rumors at any place except when we got up into Loiwing, Lashio, Magwe. Then that’s when the rumors kind of started flying around. FRANK BORING: One of the things we found kind of interesting is a lot of the things that you picked out to mention in your diary. You mentioned having your first glass of milk since SF. Do you happen to remember that? BUSTER KEETON: I remember going up to this place where they had - the British had some dairy cows and I’d forgotten all about that. Quite a feat - get a glass of milk in Burma. So the British did some good things that were there. FRANK BORING: You apparently did some duck hunting during this period of time. BUSTER KEETON: Yea, we took a day off, I think. Yeager was his name. He and I we took a day off and went duck hunting. Neither one of us had shot a gun for some time, so we had a few misses but we got a few ducks. I can’t remember what we did. We brought them back and cooked them at the barracks or what. But anyway, we had a lot of fun, it was a great day. FRANK BORING: A little bit of celebrating done too with Keller and with Unger. Do you recall that particular period of time? BUSTER KEETON: I don’t recall. FRANK BORING: In February, things started to heat up. In fact, February 3rd, 1942, there was a bomb attack at Tiger Base and you got airborne and discovered you didn’t have any oxygen. Can you tell us about that incident? �BUSTER KEETON: Yea. I got up and had to turn the oxygen back in the baggage compartment and I forgot to turn it on in the excitement. I was trying to get up in the air. So when I got up course went to [?] down and put my oxygen mask on, I wasn’t getting any oxygen but we knew that there was airplanes in the area, so I kept on climbing. I was trying to climb up into the sun and to shoot somebody down if possible. Wasn’t too long, 15, 20 minutes something like that, maybe 30, I felt a little not nauseated, a little dizzy or something so I started - I figured I’d have to go down because I wasn’t getting any oxygen and I just sort of fell off and right below me is this twin engine airplane down there. I was a little woozy, I wasn’t sure if it was a bomber or what. Anyway, I still had sense enough to charge the guns and to open up on him. But I just kept on going because I knew I couldn’t pull back up and go up to the altitude without losing him. Well, I thought I’d lose my senses, I might have been able to but I didn’t take the chance. And so I went on down then and flew around a while way up north of the field and then came back and landed so I thought I’d shot him down. Wasn’t positive but I know there was smoke coming out of one or two of the engines and, but on the other hand, I wasn’t positive, but I believe it was the next day, that the head man of the village which was about three miles maybe four north and east of the airport at Kyedaw. Brought in a piece of a tail and an aileron off of an airplane that he said crashed the previous day. And the Japanese – not the Japanese - the English that were still on the base said it didn’t come off of theirs and our crew chiefs, plus whatever Americans we had there, didn’t recognize it at all. So we determined that that must of been the airplane that I’d shot down. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 6 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton describes his work coordinating repairs with crew chiefs and the working conditions in Toungoo, in addition to the loss he experienced with Bert Christman and Tommy Cole. 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/3483bdb051fbdefb24d126bebce43294.mp4 2386225c8c5f807f6add3a75d2b538f5 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20289fb7b06941b1bef9e87a1f0c3469.pdf 1e485d73e82a287e0ac4d2e70ee9913d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 7] FRANK BORING: Could you tell us what you knew about having an airplane confirmed? BUSTER KEETON: As far as I knew at Toungoo, to get an airplane confirmed it had to go thru the senior British officer because the British controlled the whole state of Burma. And China was supposed to be the same way, this is my understanding now and I could possibly be wrong, but we had a board and [?], usually if Chennault was there it was he plus a couple of the squadron leaders and maybe someone else on his staff. They would read all of the reports that were sent in and they would decide. In case of the airplane that I felt I shot down at Toungoo, the British didn’t confirm it and later on I don’t know how much later at least a month, when the board met, our AVG board met in Kunming?. They didn’t confirm it. But I kept hounding Jim Howard who was on the board - Bob Neale was on the board - they were the only two that were still alive and I kept asking them why and finally Jim Howard who had the records went all the way back thru and read all the record and I got a verifying letter. I got it upstairs. He says I don’t have any idea why the hell this wasn’t confirmed a long time ago. He sent all the material to Bob Neale and Bob Neale said the same thing so they confirmed it. That was 47 years afterward. I never got paid for it, but finally I got it confirmed and I feel in my own mind that I shot the airplane down. The reason why we didn’t go out and confirm the airplane when we were there, this was the time when we were �getting things ready to get out of Toungoo because we were getting bombed two or three times every day and strafed and we were going to have to get things out of there. FRANK BORING: Could you give us an idea of those last days, of the strafing and the bombing from your perspective? What was it like to be strafed and bombed? What did you have to do? BUSTER KEETON: The last few days at Toungoo were pretty hectic. We had some airplanes and we had the mechanics were trying to get them ready, loaded with equipment and so on and get on the road to go up the Burma road because I was the only protection they had then. One airplane if I could get off. It was pretty hairy, we were getting caught and they’d come over and we’d just head for the ditches you know. Or if we knew enough time, which we normally didn’t, why we’d normally jump in some kind of automobile or whatever...it was pretty hairy because we were getting caught on the ground and the field if we had time either bicycle or automobile or someway we’d get off the field because there most of their bombing was at the airport. But if we didn’t have time, why then we’d get in a bunk or in a ditch. Got to be a little hairy but finally we got most everything out and sent up the road. FRANK BORING: Do you recall about Swartz getting killed? BUSTER KEETON: Well, that was a little later up at the - he got hit at Magwe and I think it blew his thumb or part of his hand off and then he was injured some other places and then I don’t know the complete story - he ended up in India and that’s where he died. It seems though I think [?] trick said it wasn’t necessary. It seemed time got caught on the ground was - Fauth. But he was killed immediately there. FRANK BORING: (Inaudible question) BUSTER KEETON: To get to Kunming, we had two airplanes left at Toungoo. And Goyette said he would fly one but he wouldn’t fly any farther than �Lichou [?] / Lashio. So he and I took off and we flew to Lichou [?] / Lashio and Tex Hill had come down on CNAC or somebody. Maybe on the Beachcraft with Hennessy and so we overnighted there and Tex and I flew to Kunming the next day. I don’t recall - I guess that was the landing at Kunming. I’ve forgotten... FRANK BORING: You had a strong reaction to Kunming when you arrived there. It was very different than Toungoo. You noticed that went in for dinner one time and you noticed Chinese person spitting on the floor and you lost your appetite. What was an American's reaction to this Chinese City? BUSTER KEETON: The barracks where we lived were fantastic and the food was fantastic but the city was filthy. And some of the Chinese restaurants were filthy. The food was good, good as you could expect, I should verify that, but it was a little hard to eat when somebody just four or five feet away from me was spitting on the floor. It’s something I hadn’t seen before, that kind of a little hard to eat some chow that was good but not too good. A little hard to stomach. FRANK BORING: Do you recall the time you went to see Chennault in Kunming and asked him if there was a plane available that could reach Japan? You were thinking that American policy was not concentrating on Asia and if Chennault had the right supplies and the right amount of people, he could put an end to what was going on in China. BUSTER KEETON: For some reason, I think it was John Hennessy and I had heard that there was a twin engine airplane someplace and all it needed was to be fixed up and we got the idea that if we could get that airplane fixed up and got some bombs on it, then we would be the first people that would bomb Japan. The old man at first thought it was a hair brain idea, but then the more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a pretty good idea. But sometime in here why that airplane was destroyed and I’ve forgotten exactly how or what happened to it. We didn’t get to do it, Doolittle got in there first. �FRANK BORING: In one of the incidents that happened that shocked you and gave you an idea of some of the problems that the Chinese government was having was there was apparently a group of Yunnan soldiers who had a conflict with some central government soldiers and I wonder if you could comment on that and your recollection of the internal strife that was going on in China. Perhaps the problems that you saw facing the Chinese. BUSTER KEETON: The war lords soldiers they were fighting the nationalist Chinese and one day while we were on alert here’s all this shooting going on and we’re not sure exactly what it is and so we run out of the alert shack and here are the war lord soldiers and the nationalist soldiers having a battle right outside of our barracks on the Airport itself. This business going on between the war lords and the Generalissimo's armies. I don’t know enough about it to know really what it was and some of the other provinces were fighting and the Communists were fighting. Plus the Communists were fighting the war lords. It was something that I’m not well versed in to comment. Except this happened about three or four times while we were on alert and it might have happened more. BUSTER KEETON: I think what he was referring to was in China and the servants in the hostels and some of the coolies that were doing work around the airport and not the officers, the Chinese Officers and so on. Probably some of the Chinese that were working on the airplanes, not the mechanics but the others were doing various things. I think that that’s probably what he meant. That’s the only thing I can think of at the present time. BUSTER KEETON: Chennault told us not to get too friendly with certain Chinese people because they would lose respect for us as American pilots. Now this was not by any means all of the Chinese. Certain part of the Chinese I think the Coolies that worked on the airplane and the house boys and the some other types that supposedly look up to us. �FRANK BORING: Can you comment on your belief if that Chennault was given the right amount of airplanes, he could accomplish a lot more? BUSTER KEETON: I think without a doubt if we’d of had spare parts, more airplanes and some bombers we could have really stalked the whole nations of China and maybe Burma and French Indo China. Cause we could have hit them from the backside. Without the airplanes and the spare parts there’s no way to do it and especially as far as the AVG is concerned, we didn’t even have the spare parts to even do more than what we did and we could have done a lot more too. But without spark plugs and propellers, it’s a little hard to fly an airplane and tires were a difficult.... very hard supplies to get. FRANK BORING: Why do you think the US army didn’t give Chennault…? BUSTER KEETON: I really don’t know why. We would hear rumors flying like mad at Kunming. Rumors that a plane load of tires were coming in but they didn’t come in. Then we’d hear a plane load of spark plugs or propellers or so on, but they didn’t seem to ever get there, just enough to keep us going as good as we could go. We always had airplanes that could have been fixed if we’d of had the spare parts. FRANK BORING: Why do you think the American military didn’t supply all those things to Chennault? BUSTER KEETON: I really don’t know, at the time I thought they really didn’t want to supply it because the so called Generals were jealous of Chennault because he was getting so much publicity especially back in the states. They kicked him out of the army once and he was a civilian. Along about this time I guess is when he was being inducted back but he was going to be junior to all of the generals out there so... FRANK BORING: On Feb. 28th there was a big banquet by Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang Kai-shek and Chennault got up and made a speech also. I wonder if you could tell us about that banquet? �BUSTER KEETON: I think that’s the banquet that the Generalissimo and the Madame gave. The Generalissimo gave a real good speech thru the interpreter. Madame gave a beautiful speech and I think isn’t that the one where she said “you’re my boys” or I forgot the famous expression, it’s been in several books. Chennault gave a fine speech about what we had done and so on and so forth. Actually it seemed like they were throwing a lot of roses more so than we’d actually done. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 7 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses their last days in Toungoo during a period of strafing and bombing and how General Chennault didn't receive adequate supplies at the time. 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/86d1027364a879ccb8f93f97a9af4a53.mp4 daa82c0d9579a8f3452a1481c016b20f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4f25e8ae35da6e38cc52cfd831982f11.pdf 3e7cb7ecfc921e541505fd074630ee5b PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 8] FRANK BORING: Give us the details of the escort of Chiang Kai-shek after this banquet? BUSTER KEETON: After the banquet, the next day I think the Madame and the Generalissimo were flying back to Chungking to Kunming and Chennault, I don’t know whether he left earlier to go to Lashio but anyway Harvey Greenlaw decided that it would be a good idea to put on a little show for the Generalissimo and the Madame and escort them part way to Chungking so there was Frank Lawlor was supposed to lead the flight and the flight with Boyington and Geselbracht and Gil Bright and Layher. It might have been one more, but I don’t recall now, but anyway they talk off and do a slow roll and Lawlor did the first slow roll and his baggage door came off and he almost crashed but because he was such a fine pilot he brought it out. But he had to come back and land of course, so then that put Boyington in command flying his escort part way to Chungking. After they left, the DC3 I presume is what it was or a DC2. They headed back to Kunming and was flying the wrong route and got completely lost and all five - four then finally ended up landing wherever they could. I think Gil Bright finally flew his airplane out - they might have been one other - that finally they got out - they might have sent the truck for one or two of the other. One of them was pretty messed up and I think lost it completely, but anyway it turned out to be a fiasco. I think Boyington’s excuse was that his compass was off 20 or 30 degrees which seems a little �weird that he wouldn’t find it out before he started home. He was flying along the escort in one direction and you think he’d of know about it then. Anyway it was a fiasco. FRANK BORING: What was Chennault's reaction? BUSTER KEETON: I think if I remember correctly, Chennault came back the next day and he was really hot. I think he was upset with Greenlaw for having the escort and of course he was upset with Boyington for getting lost and losing all the airplanes. He was really upset actually. FRANK BORING: During March, things started to change in the AVG, the morale was getting lower because there was more incidents of crashing planes. At this point, pilots were threatening to resign. Chennault got everybody together and gave a lecture about promising to stay together as a unit. Do you recall? BUSTER KEETON: Well, there was one down at Loiwing when he got the group together and there was - we were doing a lot of low level flying over the Jap lines and to give and the Chinese lines to give morale and it was - we went out to escort some Blenheim's back down to Chiang Mai which we had already done a mission down there it was very successful. This was to go and there were a lot of things, I think actually all the pilots wanted to do was have a meeting and see if they could get Chennault, Generalissimo and Stilwell all on the same flight length. Things got a little confused at different times because Chennault would tell us one thing and then be overruled by the Generalissimo or by Stilwell. FRANK BORING: You knew Hastey - he had a few plane crashes or something like that BUSTER KEETON: I think actually he cracked up three or four airplanes - three I guess. All of them not necessary at all. [?] got two or three at Toungoo checking out and then Hastey got another three, not �called for and Boyington had five. Probably the old man almost sent him to the grave for loosing those airplanes unnecessarily. (break) FRANK BORING: If you could give us the details of your involvement in the Chiang Mai raid. BUSTER KEETON: We took off at Kunming and 10 of us - and we flew to Loiwing and supposed to gas up and get out of there that night. Anyway, we didn’t get out we stayed overnight. The next day we flew down to [?] and we had a stay over. The night before we went out and put lanterns because they had no night lights or any runway lights. Put out lanterns across the runway and I remember this talking the night before they’d probably lose more on the takeoff then they would on the strafing and bombing. That’s what I thought of when they were taking off. I was the last one to take off. Nobody cracked up yet. But anyway we joined up the four Newkirk, Geselbracht, Lawlor and myself. We were supposed to join up with Neale and they would hit Chiang Mai and we would go 15 miles south and hit this other little field. What happened is we didn’t join up and Newkirk took off and we followed him and so we got over Chiang Mai ahead of Neale but just enough to alert him a little bit. We missed the field or I’m sure we’d of gone in and strafed and went on south trying to find the other little field. We didn’t find it or if we did I didn’t see it but then Newkirk started strafing warehouses and then there was a train on the track just beside these warehouses. Then there was a whole line of storehouses or something and we pulled all those apart and then we were coming back up and I was fourth man - the last man and Newkirk was coming around. I was back here and he went down and about here I saw a ball of fire over to the right and I didn’t realize what it was. , I thought maybe it was a weapons truck afire or a tank or something. On this strafing mission at Chiang Mai we had set a lot of storehouses or barracks or whatever along this railroad afire and had pulled up. Newkirk’s leading, I was behind and they pulled �around and while I’m back here Newkirk’s apparently is here because Geselbracht and Lawlor and about here, I see a ball of flame down there and I’m thinking that Newkirk had hit a weapons carrier blown it up or a tank or something. Then I notice that Geselbracht takes off in the direction back to Heyho [?] or [?] back over the airport and then Lawlor goes and I’m following Lawlor. I get on Lawlor and then we’re coming over the airport where the other guys had hit and really they had messed him up real good. The flak then was every place. It was just all over the sky and so I saw Lawlor, apparently I thought he was hit and was going in but what he was doing was just diving down and I don’t know. I just kept going side to side and kept straight ahead. And finally I thought Lawlor had gone in because all I could see was just one little speck up there which had been Geselbracht. Finally Lawlor came in from the side and the three of us got back and Black Mack was hit by ground fire, anti-aircraft and of course he finally had to - he nursed his airplane along for a while and finally he had to bail out and he was captured. I didn’t realize until the three of us were together flying that that was Newkirk at We [?]. Instead of him hitting something amazing how you don’t realize things when you should right off the bat until a few minutes later. We were so concerned about all of that flak coming up, but it turned out to be a very successful mission. Our group didn’t do anything good, but the other guys really shot up a lot of airplanes on the ground. Neale and Bond and Boyington and Bartlett. FRANK BORING: When you returned back with just the three of you what was the reaction? What realization that Newkirk wasn’t coming back? How did that affect you those three airplanes coming back and you finally realized that that fireball wasn’t something else? BUSTER KEETON: Well, you were concerned and you were upset. Although I had to admit previously that Newkirk didn’t get along too good, but that had nothing to do with the fact that you’re real upset. He’s a squadron commander and he never dodged any mission or �anything. He did his share. He was a little bit of a showman but on the other hand he still did his share. FRANK BORING: In April, there’s a battle over Loiwing in which some of the P-40s got caught on the ground and Reed had something shot up in his airplane. Oil got covered up all over, he couldn’t see and you apparently led him back to safety. Do you recall that incident? BUSTER KEETON: Yea, Bill Reed either had oil on shot or sometimes they didn’t screw the oil cap on the oil tank firmly and that would come loose and that oil would spill all over the windshield and you’d be flying blind. But you could see out the side and Frank Lawlor and I and three New Zealanders and the Buffalos had taken off on this alert and we got up, it wasn’t too high, around 10,000 feet and we run into all these zeros. So we all scattered, because we didn’t have the altitude and then with them coming at you, it’s dog eat dog then. I’m not sure exactly where I ran into Reed but anyway there was no dog fight as far as I was concerned then but I ran into Reed and he had all the stuff and so he - I told him just fly on my wing and I’d take him back to the airport. So he flew on the wing and took him back and landed and made a beautiful landing and everything turned out alright and I flew back up to get back into the action and it turned out because then I ran into this zero, he was heading for home, apparently getting low on gas and I got him and got confirmed - got paid for it. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 8 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton discusses a period of low morale within the AVG in addition to his involvement in the Chiang Mai raid. 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/e985d9c05ca6aaa7c065237a0724a0f2.mp4 e84e6d7227753148aca1a4cbab7362fa https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12eaeb8436c4bf04bc111c4327b5be8b.pdf 1bbd7099a1b693e5c6354e9c628219a0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert B. “Buster” Keeton Date of Interview: 05-29-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 9] BUSTER KEETON: In the battle over Loiwing where all the zeros came in, I ran into Bill Reed, north of the field and his airplane - the windshield was completely covered with oil that had either come from a shot out line or a gas cap that wasn’t on tight. By communicating with him by radio which both of our radios worked, I told him to fly on my wing and I would take him back to the airport and he could make a blind landing just by flying formation. That he did and he made a landing and fortunately the whole thing worked out good for me because then I didn’t land I just kept on going and just climbed back up and I’m not sure the altitude now, but it wasn’t too high. I ran into this Zero who was heading back for, I‘m sure they came out of Chiang Mai. I imagine he was getting low on gas and I came up on the left side, rear left side and shot into his engine which I was trying to shoot into and it actually didn’t catch on fire but smoke came pouring out and finally he went in. And then I climbed on up to around oh, 18,000 feet and didn’t see anything and we got the all clear alert. Sometimes our radios worked real good and sometimes they didn’t work too good. FRANK BORING: At about that time, you became known as the white feather. BUSTER KEETON: That was a bad moment, because everyone had lots of respect for the General, of which he was going to be, At that time maybe he’d already had his commission in the army air corps and it was a tough thing but on the other hand, everybody had done a good job �and it was just a bad moment. Still, it upset everyone to think that we were white feathered because no way was anybody in the group that I knew anyway that would sew it in. Well, I don’t know at this stage of the game, I don’t know how to explain it, because we all admired the old man an awful lot. He was under a lot of pressure. He had pressure from the Generalissimo, he had pressure from Stilwell, he had pressure from Brereton. And Bissell and Ambreth? In India and McGruder in Chungking. Everybody was a little bit on edge. FRANK BORING: Did you notice a change in his attitude - in his way of doing things after he got the promotion to General? BUSTER KEETON: I think there was a change. Of course, we didn’t think it was for the better, but you could tell there was a change. It was back military type the way things were handled and away from more the relaxed way we’d been operating under. It was then very successful under the relaxed way and that’s the way we wanted to finish out our contract under. FRANK BORING: It’s important that we bring out with Chennault the change occurred when he received the commission. BUSTER KEETON: I think that most of us felt after Chennault received his commission that things changed to a little more military type more so then the relaxed type that we’d been operating under. More like going thru the chain of command, not too much but there was change that you could feel it. And it was, I guess, for the better because the army was coming in sometime and they would have to take over. Had to get back to the regimentation. I remember what led up to the white feather incident, it was some missions that were set up one was five or six P-40's to fly formation or cover for five Blenheim's. And I’m not sure who all was assigned to this, but it was to go down and bomb with these five Blenheim's, go down and bomb Chiang Mai. To escort Blenheim's which was almost impossible to even stay in the air in a P-40 because you couldn’t fly that slow. A �lot of the Z guys though the mission wasn’t called for and they thought it ought to be called off. Now, the mission didn’t go off and I’m not sure why. I think the Blenheim's were supposed to come in from someplace in India or someplace in North Burma and they got lost or something. But the mission didn’t go off and if I remember correctly that’s what the reason for it was. I can’t think of anything else. FRANK BORING: On May 21st, you actually met Bissell. Bissell was promoted over Chennault by a day. I wonder if you could comment on the meeting of him and any impression you had on the fact that Chennault was not promoted at the same time Bissell was. BUSTER KEETON: Everybody felt even going in or not, that Chennault should have had the seniority over Bissell because he’d been out there. He’d spent all these years in China. As far as going back in army history, maybe Bissell was senior to Chennault. I don’t know. Anyway, our reaction was that Chennault should have been appointed the senior man. In fact, we all felt that he should have been the man that was running the whole show in China, not Stilwell or Brereton. Or Brett or McGruder. It should have been Chennault running the show. FRANK BORING: What was your impression of Bissell? BUSTER KEETON: A meeting was called, I presume by General Bissell in Hostel 1 of all AVG people. The idea of it was to induct everybody or anybody that they could get into the army. The impression that Bissell left on everybody and I go along with it definitely is he made sort of an ass out of himself because he tried to railroad us in by saying we would get no help out of China to get home. No transportation. We’d have to pay our own way. When we got off the ship, whatever harbor it came into why we’d be met by the draft board and inducted into the [?] army. A lot of people were on the fence about going in. That made everybody sort of teed off and they said so and they told him right there. No way. �FRANK BORING: What did you tell him? BUSTER KEETON: I’m not sure. I don’t even know whether I have it in my diary or not. I said well, I don’t know. I can’t quote it. FRANK BORING: Maybe give us a sense of it. BUSTER KEETON: My feeling definitely was after that I wasn’t going to go into the army air corps and China then. I was going to come back and well, at that time I wasn’t sure later on I thought I’d go back into the Navy where I came from. But when a person tells you, you know you’ve been fighting a war and then they tell you that you’re going to have to walk home, pay your own way and the contract we’d signed well they weren’t going to let us work out the contract. The contract that we’d signed I’m almost positive, said that we’d get transportation home. But he said we wouldn’t get any and we didn’t. FRANK BORING: Why would he talk to you guys like that? BUSTER KEETON: I don’t know. The whole thing, now as I look back on it, then at the time I guess we thought the whole thing was not done correctly. It should have been sort of an individual thing instead of a railroad job. They were going to railroad you into going into the army instead of making it attractive. Just pushing you into something, you wasn’t sure you wanted it or not. I think at first I was very much on the fence but after Bissell made that speech, I wasn’t on the fence anymore. I was heading home. FRANK BORING: Do you think that people like Bissell were...? BUSTER KEETON: I think that there was animosity between Bissell and Chennault. I think Bissell was jealous of Chennault because Chennault was getting all of this glory and he was getting nothing plus the fact that Chennault had a way through the Madame to the �Generalissimo and he could pretty much get his way in China which Bissell or Brereton or McGruder - none of them could do that. And they were all, they didn’t like that. Guess if I’d been in their shoes, I wouldn’t either. I think that's the reason for the animosity between them or part of it any way. FRANK BORING: Also inherent in this insult, if you will, is the US and the British up until this time had not really done a lot of the fighting. The AVG was doing the fighting. The British as you know, were in India taking their tea breaks and the US had not really given a lot of support in the way of hearts, supplies you know major support. What was your reaction to - from the point of view of you knew you were fighting the battle, you knew you were fighting the war and Chennault was put in a position where he talked about the white feather and Bissell comes in and he states that “There’s a war on”. That’s one of the things he told you. From the perspective of you personally, because you had already seen that the US wasn’t doing as much as they really should have. The British weren’t and the AVG was the only one really fighting, what was your reaction to the attitude that the military was giving you at this point? BUSTER KEETON: Very disappointing. We were Americans. We all felt like we’d done a good job. We were very disappointed and we were a little bitter. The fact that we weren’t getting more help. Maybe from all the rumors and all the information we could get, we could have gotten a lot more help. That might be rumors. Maybe our thinking was wrong. No way I could confirm it, but we all felt like we could have gotten more help. FRANK BORING: One of the things that you talked about in your last days, was some things that you witnessed that kind of shocked you. Apparently there were some Chinese bandits that were rounded up by the military and you witnessed the execution of those bandits. Do you remember that incident? �BUSTER KEETON: Those were thieves if it’s the thing I’m thinking. Oh yea, they stole some wire or something off the telephone wire or something. They took them out into a vacant lot and well, they paraded them all over Kunming. Whether they pulled them in rickshaws or what I’m not positive but anyway, with these awful horns blowing and then they took them to this vacant lot and bent them over and shot them in the back of the head. Kind of gruesome, but I think they still do that in China. � 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_Keeton_Buster_1991-05-29_v09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Keeton, Robert B. "Buster" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05-29 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Buster" Keeton interview (video and transcript, 9 of 10), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert B. "Buster" Keeton by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Keeton served in the American Volunteer Group as a Flight Leader in the 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." He joined the AVG in September 1941, and 2.5 confirmed victories in air combat against the Japanese. He remained with the AVG for one year, and returned to the United States in December 1942. In this tape, Keeton describes the change that occurred when General Chennault received his commission and how operations became more regimented during the last days of the AVG leading up to the army's invovlement. 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/ea5d302d97df655c9a985f29f06c4819.mp4 0c733b14ed27efc4dff97d239fe1e0f2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/54ef89e65036276a2d52aaff76f7f5f0.pdf b5e0a308828ba9b010cd3c7ab519143d PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 1] FRANK BORING: Moose, if we could begin with how you actually got involved in flight and airplanes. ROBERT MOSS: The way that I became involved in flying was by accident. I was in college and a boy rooming next door was from Pensacola Florida and he said to me, that the reason he was at school was to earn enough college credits to be able to become a cadet in the navy without having to take the mental examination, and he told me what fabulous pay rates that you would get when you finished your flight training and that made me interested in flying because the money was a big thing at that time because we were just beginning to come out of the depression. The valedictorian of our class the previous year got the highest paying teaching job in the state and his starting pay was $125 a month, so this kid told me that if he finished flight training, you could get $240 a month and I said, "Well, that's worth looking into", so it wasn't long ''til I had requested that through a friend of mine that our Senator give me an appointment to go to Randolph Field and I was accepted, and that was the way I started. FRANK BORING: If we could continue on with your experience on at Randolph Field and your subsequent transfer to Mount Clements. �ROBERT MOSS: Randolph Field was the basic training place for all cadets. Later on they had fields in California and Montgomery, Alabama, but my class which was 40H, when we went through the flying school, Randolph Field was the only flying field available at that time, so when we graduated from Randolph Field, the pilots being young shave-tails all put down choices of where they wanted to have their duty, so you had three choices. So my choices were anywhere below the Mason Dixon line, so I was sent to Mount Clements, Michigan. So it worked out that I believed that they purposely sent you where you didn't want to go. FRANK BORING: What was your experience once you arrived in Mount Clements? ROBERT MOSS: When I arrived at Mount Clements, it was a different vehicle than I started in because I had never driven on snow and ice and when I got to Detroit, I piled up five cars in the middle of downtown Detroit, so they had to usher me to Mt. Clements, which was about 20 miles out away from Detroit. FRANK BORING: Once you arrived in Mt. Clements, what was the training? What were you training on? ROBERT MOSS: When I arrived at Mt. Clements, it was the base that had the 23rd Pursuit Group, and I was attached to that group. I was so surprised, I had never seen fighter planes that had 35's and 40's there and the first day or two after I arrived a Major Doolittle came flying in a P39, all silver and sleek, but what impressed me most, I think, about getting out of a basic trainer and into a fighter plane was the amount of torque on the takeoff, and we had one boy that couldn't handle the torque and he left the runway and cut down a few planes and wound up half way in the back of a hangar because he couldn't handle the torque on takeoff. FRANK BORING: During this period that you were training on the P40, can you give us an idea of your first experiences with a P40? �ROBERT MOSS: My first experience with a P40, I guess, didn't differ much than the other pilots. We were told that this P40D was quite famous for its ground loop characteristics, it had a real low tail wheel that I think may have been corrected later, but basically I still think that the P40 was one of the finest combat planes. It was a plane that would take a lot of punishment and proven in combat, an aircraft that would bring you home. FRANK BORING: Any details that you can give - if you can't give details that's fine but, give us an idea of flying the P40 for the first time, when you were at Mt. Clements. ROBERT MOSS: When I flew the P40 the first time, I was amazed at the power over which I had control. It doesn't sound very fast now to talk about aircraft, but at that time it was the fastest plane known in America. It was the fastest that we had, its rate of climb we considered excellent. We knew that it had great diving speed, that was one of its real plusses. It allowed a pilot in combat if he had any altitude was break away from combat and come again which other planes didn't have that privilege of doing. FRANK BORING: When did you first hear about the opportunity in China? ROBERT MOSS: There were rumors at the 21st Pursuit Group that they were forming a volunteer group to go and protect the Burma Road and that there would be someone there in a few days that would interview people who had enough fighter pilot time to qualify to join this particular group. I knew that since I had been in the last graduating class that I would have the least amount of P40 time of anyone. However, the fact that they were requesting pilots that had flown an inline engine as opposed to a radial engine might give me the advantage and I decided right then that I would be at the interview. FRANK BORING: What was your motivation, or what was your interest in this particular endeavor? �ROBERT MOSS: I'd never been outside the United States, I decided that it would be an adventure for me, at least a peak beyond the horizon for a country boy, and I decided right then, if I went, that I wanted my crew chief to go with me. So the next day, I contacted my crew chief and said, "George," his name was George Bailey, I said, "George, if I'm lucky enough to get on this - with this group, would you go along and be my crew chief?" He said, "I'll need to one or two people, but I certainly would like to go." So that was the background there. FRANK BORING: What did you know about China at that particular time? ROBERT MOSS: When we were about to be interviewed, I found that I knew nothing about China, nothing about the Chinese people. We weren't even planning to go to China because at that time we were going to protect the Burma Road. However, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we went immediately to the offensive and straight to every Japanese airport within P40 range within the minimum number of hours. We could give the Japanese a real blow while MacArthur was waiting to get official sanction from Congress that we were being shot at. FRANK BORING: Along the same line, a question about China, what did you know about Japan at that time? ROBERT MOSS: Having never traveled and was not very good at geography, I had very little concept of the kind of people that we would be meeting, that had different ways of life, and that was one of the things that appealed to me, would be because I get to travel abroad and be able to see some other ways of life other than ours. FRANK BORING: Had you seen in the movies the newsreels of the invasion of China by the Japanese, had you seen any of those - and whatever your reaction was if you did. �ROBERT MOSS: I didn't really know that the Japanese had invaded and I did not know that a war had been going on in China with the Japanese for ten or twelve years. That was so foreign to my background that I was unaware of that. FRANK BORING: Once you heard about the AVG and you'd gone to George Bailey and talked to him about going, what was the next step? Who did you meet to talk to? What was the interview? Was the interview next? What was the next step, if you will, after you made this decision that you were going to go. ROBERT MOSS: I believe that the person that interviewed us - I know that Adair was in the party - and of course one of the most appealing things in the very beginning was that the pay scale was going to be so high. We were going to get more than a Major or 2nd Lieutenant immediately go on a pay scale of at least that of a Major and then a small bonus of $500 for each plane that we shot down, certainly were enticing parts of getting one to go. However, I knew that with the few hours that I had on a P40, I'd be fortunate to go. However, when they were not able to get the number of pilots that they wanted with the number of flying hours, then they dropped down to the bottom of the barrel and allowed me and another one of my classmates or two to come along. � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v01 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 1 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses how his flight career began and the cadet training he experienced before volunteering with the AVG 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/34276c9fb00707dd5cf56cb3134ef5e3.mp4 d96ffd9bfb4cce9a143e58b1df828818 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3e2ab5ece284d6894a257bdd687c7e97.pdf 4ec3be016769dcc6687d067586eeda06 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 10] FRANK BORING: Why do you think Chennault called on you to - as you put it- cry on his shoulder? ROBERT MOSS: Chennault seemed like - always made me feel that he was close to me because he challenged me to pistol duels and I was one of the youngest kids there and he had hunted a lot when he was flying in the United States on a little team that he was flying. His mechanic lived about 50 miles from here and he taught me about the quail hunting and he knew I was raised with a shotgun in my hand and I guess we maybe felt a little close. And you know, just walking away, something can hit a man that he feels like spilling it right there and those words might not be his exact words, but that's about how I remember him saying it and he said it to me walking in a hall into a room - of course it wasn't long till there was a bunch of people in there - but as I said it's the only time I ever saw him with tears in his eyes. I know that he was hurt, permanently hurt. He was hurt even worse when MacArthur sat still and let them destroy all the air power in the Pacific waiting for somebody to declare war before they'd protect themselves. That hurt Chennault. He said "How are you going to cooperate with somebody that won't protect themselves?" He said "How do you, when you don't know what he's gonna do next?" I have to agree with that a lot, that's the way I feel. �FRANK BORING: You were a very young man at that time and he was a much older man. How did you look at your relationship with Chennault? I realize he was your leader and all that, but personally what did you see as your relationship with him? ROBERT MOSS: Well he had a knack of bringing the two together. He had a knack of getting to your level. I know it was pretty hard for him to get down to my level, but he had a real knack of making you feel comfortable with him and I think he could do that to heads of state or to a sharecropper's son. FRANK BORING: If we were able to look through your eyes, if we were looking at Chennault, what would you see? ROBERT MOSS: I would say that Chennault was a man of vision with some well thought out wisdom to go along with it, but I think that vision and the belief in the future and the non-give up attitude that he had all his life - I know he had it all his life - because he talked about when he was a boy and what he did. He is just one of the people that I admire greatly that I don't think history will be able to show, to give him his fair place. I don't think that history knows enough about - knew enough about him personally, that they can place him correctly in history. And he only wanted to be placed in a very narrow range. He didn't want to be thought of as a great public speaker, he didn't want to be thought of as anything except a tactician that was able to search out the weaknesses and coach a team that could defeat the enemy based on the tactics that had evolved from his experience and knowledge of the equipment that they flew and their own personality - and the personality of who was flying had a lot to do with it. FRANK BORING: I realize that anyone that was either hurt or died in the AVG would affect every member of the AVG, but was there anyone in particular that sort of brought it all home to you? One that affected you more deeply, one that you perhaps suddenly realized about your own mortality? �ROBERT MOSS: I think in terms of stress and emergency, combat, death is possible. I think that it's sad when someone has to die because of something of which he had no particular control and I think that I was hurt as much when our own plane flew into the Studebaker that killed a Texas cohort. He was in there sleeping and I understand perfectly why the airplane veered because couldn't see. But it's real sad for someone to lose their life and had no possible chance to gain anything by losing his life. We were over there, if we would have lost our life - I'll say one thing that I said in combat, talked out loud, in the heat of combat. I said "The little bastards will never take me alive." I don't know why. And it just came to me today and now, I said that out loud and I woke myself up and was surprised myself at hearing myself say that. But see, he didn't have a chance to get anything back for giving his life and those are the things that to me are the saddest. And of course all those that didn't come back, they paid the price, not the ones that are here. FRANK BORING: The First Squadron and the Second Squadron, there was Bond, Boyington, Rector, Keeton, yourself and this is when McGarry was lost. I wonder if you could recall that day? ROBERT MOSS: I don't think that I was on the mission. I'm not sure, but if I was, I wasn't flying in the same flight with him. I know that. But I don't think that I can - maybe the hurt or the fact that I was a classmate all the way through and he was such an unusual individual. He didn't fit anyplace you put him. He didn't fit in our organization, he didn't fit in college, he should have not gone to war, he should have gone to church. I never saw where he fit, but wherever he was, when the grades came out, he was top of his class and that's so unusual. I never met a character of his sort, he never fit, but he was most likely the best there and he apologized anytime he whipped you at anything. He made excuses for you. FRANK BORING: Do you recall an incident in which some of the pilots were upset over certain missions that were being assigned. There was never an �example of a pilot shirking responsibility of going into battle, but there were morale missions that were being asked to just show your face, so to speak, at a low altitude over the Chinese troops to show the Chinese troops that there was an Air Force out there. But the problem was there was a grave danger in the Japanese ground fire and air attacks and at one point Chennault was actually presented with a petition stating that they didn't want to do that, they didn't think it was fair. Do you recall that at all? ROBERT MOSS: Yes, I recall that. I was at Loiwing at the time. I don't know any of the details because the radio conversations went on with the Squadron Leaders and the people receiving the messages. I believe that that was Boyington, I believe I'm correct. Boyington was there with us. I believe that he had a fairly sensible answer if the question was correct and the way I understood it, he personally did it - was the final straw for him. Let's make this off the record, then if you see anything about it that you can put back that you think will help, we'll try to do that again. FRANK BORING: ……this fellow friend from Doe Run? ROBERT MOSS: Well that was the 32nd orientation for the Chinese. But I don't know the details but he was shot down FRANK BORING: The very beginning of the story you talked about this - you were on your way out - that's all we want - you don't have to go into the whole after part, but please make sure that you were on your way out and he was on his way in and the fact that he was somebody from… ROBERT MOSS: He was a personal friend of mine. We went through high school together. (break) �ROBERT MOSS: After we disbanded and I was on my way home through India, at the airport I ran into Clyde Slocumb from over in Georgia and I had known all my life and he was a part of the 14th Air Force coming in to fly with Chennault. He asked me to give him a little advice about the Japanese and I think I told him that - not to try to win the war all in one day and don't try to win it by yourself. Try to fly in such a manner that you can come back home and fly again tomorrow and if you do that it'll be a lot better than trying to do it all at once. FRANK BORING: I'm going to ask three more questions. We’re finally down to the last few. But these three are… � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v10 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 10 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss describes his close relationship with General Chennault and his ability to bring people together as a man of vision. He also reflects on the losses he experienced as a Flying Tiger and how it affected his work. 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/79536a198e19d217a03db63021e53c7e.mp4 d555b75b206b745697a96057b4e2f321 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c081a02bc839124feb9f0cf7497cc4ca.pdf 0e028ace15fda8adbdfe13f69abccd06 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 11] ROBERT MOSS: Now then, I’m ready for that one – the one looking back. That’s the easy one. FRANK BORING: What do you think the AVG accomplished in its brief one year? ROBERT MOSS: I think the best thing that the AVG accomplished was that we were the one source maybe of good news during most of that period of time in the United States, although we didn't know that we were the good news, when the good news was happening. I think maybe looking back is it maybe we might have caused the war to last longer. I don't think that we helped very much determine the outcome of the war, but I think that the spirit that we gave to the people of the United States at a time when they were getting kicked in the teeth in every direction, may have been worth the price that we paid to go. FRANK BORING: What effect do you think it had on the Chinese? ROBERT MOSS: The effect that we had on the Chinese in my opinion was to the people that we were near and could make them feel a little more safe or would allow them to open their store in the daytime instead of at night and sleep at their house instead of in the mountains and slit trenches. I think it was a matter of comfort to them for us to be there. However, I think that sooner or later approximately the same �thing that did happen, would have happened and if it had happened earlier, I don't think the average Chinese would have been any worse off by it. I don't think we changed much for the Chinese and I also would like to say that I think that the Communists, when they took over, did a lot of good things for China as well as all the bad that totalitarian governments do when they're in command. But they quit having to eat stray dogs. A Chinese man or anybody in any country will go if he's hungry where he thinks he can get the best food and I think that is what moved the Chinese population in the direction that they were moved. I think they went where they could get the best food and maybe if they weren't going there they might have got killed for not going and it's two damn good reasons to go in that direction. FRANK BORING: Final question… (break) FRANK BORING: That's what I want… ROBERT MOSS: I think I've been to China 3 or 4 times. I've been so far back in the boondocks they hadn't seen a Caucasian, ever, this generation of people. Walked and spent time and they maybe have heard of that war, but back in those places nothing much has changed by their way of life or their style of existence. I think when they ordered everybody to catch so many flies a week and turn them in and I think when they started having to buy flies from a neighbor that happened to catch more than their share and they couldn't catch theirs, I think it's a wonderful thing. I think that they got rid of a lot of bugs. I think the idea that they don't have people own, the government payroll, that sitting and doing nothing, they'll have a job. They sweep the roadways through the countryside early in the morning to get all the sand off the pavement. It gives those instead of being on relief, it may give them a feeling that they're earning what they're getting for doing that. I think one of the things that America and our people and my children and grandchildren need �to know, is just because it's American doesn't mean it's the best or either that it's right. But I know that we crucified and our soldiers did, the people where they came into port, the Americans took all the women. They had all the money. The Dutch had their meager allowance and they almost may as well have not gotten off the ship, so we got our head up like a charging bull and go through all these countries making them - try to make them feel inferior whereas the Chinese, for example, think there's a real art in knowing how to eat and we just try to eat instead of knowing how to eat. It's not real important to most people here. So I think that anytime that one can travel in time of war or in time of peace and understand that it's not necessarily right because it's the way you do it. I think that's a real lesson to learn and I didn't learn it very soon in life. But I think I've recognized it by now. (break) ROBERT MOSS: I don't know why, but a lot of us figured it was a matter of time that he would have to be escorted out of mainland China or being held as prisoner there. He was in a poor part of China. He'd been pushed back, so to speak, into areas of China where people were destitute and they didn't have much to go on and the Communists had taken over the rich areas of China where they would have funds to get rid of anybody they wanted to get rid of or pull in anybody they wanted to get rid of. That's an opinion, that's not a historical fact. FRANK BORING: Last thing that I have to ask. You mentioned as you were getting off the plane in Rangoon, you said that Peters this… ROBERT MOSS: When we arrived in Rangoon on this Blenheim bomber with this Sergeant pilot flying the plane whose name was Peters, he shut one engine down as a courtesy for me to get out without being blown too badly and as I climbed through the cockpit from the turret gun post, I told him that there wasn't any way that I could express how much I felt or how much I appreciated him volunteering to come �over into enemy territory, pick up a pilot that he never knew and never seen before. (break) FRANK BORING: Start again from arriving in Rangoon. ROBERT MOSS: After we arrived in Rangoon I told him it was no way that I could… (break) FRANK BORING: Start from the top. ROBERT MOSS: After being brought by the underground to Moulmein this British pilot by the name of Peters, in a Blenheim bomber dropped in on the runway to pick me up, asked me "Yank, can you use a turret gun?" I said "If it's got a trigger on it I'll try to use it if we need it" and he said "Good" and he headed down the runway and took off downwind and all the way to Rangoon I don't think we got over 15 feet above the water. He was trying to stay on the radar level. When we arrived and he taxied up to my alert tent, I told him "Peters, there's no way that I can show you or tell you how much I appreciate you risking your life to come for me, a pilot that you had never known and never seen and may not ever see again." I said "It's an extraordinary thing to do and of course I would be grateful every day of my life and I thank you so much." FRANK BORING: What do you think you personally accomplished during that period of the AVG and what did it do to affect you the rest of your life? ROBERT MOSS: One of the things that I think that I learned in the AVG was to gather enough courage to overcome fear, at least partially overcome fear and to think clearly in a time of stress. I think that I brought that back home with me and have used it repeatedly in life and in advice to my own children and to my family and to the �young people that I deal with on a day-to-day basis. It's to know that it's all out there just beyond the horizon, it's there for you, but you have to overcome the fear of the unknown to reach for it. � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v11 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 11 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses the accomplishments of the American Volunteer Group during their brief year of service and what their work meant to the Chinese people. He also discusses his personal accomplishments and how his time as a Flying Tiger had a profound effect on the rest of his life. 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/640a4be80f53100981f2ebee86d6be1f.mp4 215449c6196ae654a31dfad63e035357 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0b31f15be1d9c65942dea5aba844824a.pdf 599feed852f6d87ec8f140216cc4d8f4 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 2] FRANK BORING: Can you recall the meeting with Skip Adair and the group and what was told to you? What you were expected to do? Or did you get more details later? ROBERT MOSS: I remember vaguely some of what would be required of us if we were accepted. We were told that we would have to resign our commissions because a member of the armed forces of the United States could not be in combat in a foreign country under someone else's insignia, and of course, we were all concerned about that, but they said, you will see with your resignation, it will be at the pleasure of the President of the United States is how it will be written, and you can come back into the United States services any time you wish at, at least the rank of your contemporaries. I had a good feeling about that. I didn't feel like I was getting so far out on a limb that it might be cut off. FRANK BORING: When they told you that they would be sending you to China, did they also say that they would also provide transportation back home after your year's contract. ROBERT MOSS: I don't remember whether they gave - it's been so long ago that I don't remember many details of the mechanics of how the overall thing was handled. �FRANK BORING: If you could describe the process of resigning your commission, was there any difficulty from your Commanding Officer that you were leaving or was it a smooth transition to sign out and then join with CAMCO? ROBERT MOSS: The paperwork for our getting out of the armed forces of the United States was handled in a very smooth manner and you could readily see that the United States was acquiescing in this and making it easy to do because they wanted to check out some of our equipment against that of the Japanese. FRANK BORING: Once the decision was made, you'd signed your papers and everything, what did you tell your friends and family that you were going to be doing? ROBERT MOSS: I told my parents that I was going to Burma to try to protect the Burma Road which was the lifeline to China, and they agreed that they thought that it would be a good idea and that I would have a great time. FRANK BORING: Did you give them any impression, or perhaps did you have any impression that you would be in danger. ROBERT MOSS: I think that when you have power, danger is always involved and when you have power and gunfire, even more danger is involved. I don't think anyone of us overlooked the possibility of not coming back, and when we got there and talked with Lloyd's of London about insurance, we found out that they felt that we had at least a 10% chance of not lasting a year based on the premium rates for insurance that they were asking. FRANK BORING: Could you relate to us your experience in talking to Black Mac McGarry family. ROBERT MOSS: Black Mac and I went all the way through flying school together and since both of our last names started with M we were tent mates �at places and we were sent to Mt. Clements together and Mac was one of the most unusual people that I had ever met and real timid and he didn't want to tell his parents that he was signing up to go to China, so I went ahead of him to Los Angeles and met with his family, all his family, and told him of Mac's decision, and I had a pretty hard time telling them that I didn't have anything to do with his decision, with his making the decision, that they only thing I was doing was telling them about the decision that he had made. But I don't think that I got them ever to believe that. FRANK BORING: Soon afterwards, you then went to San Francisco I believe. ROBERT MOSS: No, we met at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles, that's where we assembled to make the trip, so in the Jonathan Club, the first night I thought someone was playing with me. I heard a knock at the door and I opened the door and no-one would be there and the second time, I would open the door and no-one was there. I said, "Well, I'll catch them, I'll stay at the door and as soon as they knock I'll undo the door." I did, and there was no-one there, so I decided that something might be happening to me upstairs. I was on the fourth floor so I called out to the front desk and they said that we're having an earthquake, and said what you hear are the window weights and the windows rattling - getting the vibration that's causing it to sound like somebody's knocking on your door. So they said, if it gets any worse, get under the bed. So I just waited it out and it happened to be what they consider in California, I think, a mild earthquake which is totally foreign to somebody from South Georgia. FRANK BORING: We had a chance to talk a little bit about your background and the fact that you did come from a very small area - from this area. What I'm looking for is your first reaction to this group of guys that had assembled there in Jonathan Club from all over the country, you're all going for the same basic purpose. You said you had no illusions about the danger and whatnot. What was your first impression of this group of guys that you met? �ROBERT MOSS: My first impression of the people on the group that were - we were going to travel to San Francisco and get on the Jaegersfontein, and my passport said that I was an agricultural adviser, that's why I was going, and I assume it's because they knew that I had a rural background and if I were questioned I could talk maybe fairly intelligently about agriculture, so they wrapped that I thought pretty nicely. The group that they put together, being four years or so in the service, I was fairly well aquatinted with the fact that a lot of service people tend to close the bar-rooms wherever they are, whether it be in Los Angeles or whether it be in Rangoon, Burma, so I wasn't too surprised at most of them being completely free and full of spirits. FRANK BORING: You mentioned the passports, was there a level of secrecy that was required of you? Did they ask of you to remain secret about this? ROBERT MOSS: Not that I remember. I don't believe that they warned us about saying where we were going and what we were going to do. However, we were isolated most of the time. You can't talk much on a ship at sea, it doesn't get farther than the ship. FRANK BORING: I'd like to return in a sense to the question that I just asked and carry it on to the trip itself. This question you'll find popping up as we go along because what we're really trying to do is get a personal view of the AVG. So I had mentioned what was your first impressions of your group when you were in the Jonathan Club. Now that you've boarded the boat and you're on your way, what were your impressions of your fellow travelers, not just the AVG but the other people on the ship and the interaction between them? Mainly what I'm looking for is your impressions as you're starting to get to know more of your fellow travelers. ROBERT MOSS: As far as I knew, outside the Jaegersfontein, the AVG people were the only people on the boats. I don't remember anybody else. I think that we were the only passengers. �FRANK BORING: What were your impressions of the AVG? Who stuck out, if you will? Who were the ones that you started to develop friendships with? ROBERT MOSS: Since there were only two women aboard, they naturally stuck out, and they may have not been so popular back home, but they found out there they became immediately popular on the boat and all the time that they were in China and Burma. FRANK BORING: Can you give us the stories or any remembrances you have that may have stuck out on that particular trip of any of the people that you knew? ROBERT MOSS: On the boat we had to cross the International Date Line - was one big party with all the tricks that they'd play on those that had not crossed. The other thing that we noticed that a group of young people like that, that are competitive in every way, played games aboard ship and we even had boxing gloves on board and I arrived in Rangoon with a fractured bone in my hand from boxing on the boat. It healed on its own but we x-rayed it and saw it had a fracture in the bone, and it happened with Ken Merritt from the University of Texas who was supposedly a good boxer at the University of Texas. FRANK BORING: Who were some of the AVG people that were with you on that trip besides Red Petach and Josie Stewart? Can you recall anybody else that was on there? ROBERT MOSS: I'm really embarrassed - as soon as we got to Rangoon we were back together again as a total group and I'm just not able to tell you now offhand how many and the names of the pilots or crew that were on board. FRANK BORING: Did you ever witness - at that time, Doc Rich was also on the boat - one of the things that they talked about was the dancing - that �there were dances there and Doc Rich and Red Petach, at that time Red Foster, were dancing. Do you recall that at all? ROBERT MOSS: I have known, I guess, as long as I've known Doc Rich that if there happened to be music and a woman, he was dancing. FRANK BORING: What were some of the stops along the way like? Do you recall any shore leave, or were you allowed off the ship at all? Can you recall any of the stops on the way? ROBERT MOSS: We had a stop and were allowed off the boat shortly in Australia. I don't remember any more detail than that - can't afford to. � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v02 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 2 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss describes his first experiences and impressions of the American Volunteer Group and their journey overseas aboard the Jaegersfontein. 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/15224d7a4cbd8cb1a3137c4d387c47af.mp4 1567bfd4162581b144eb95364d2dc8bf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/02bbc6309c976e3ed1560a6d173cf7cd.pdf 6256aafd530ae344b9987d3ce988e9f3 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 3] FRANK BORING: Could you describe - I'll tell you what I'm looking for… the arrival in Rangoon? ROBERT MOSS: When we arrived in Rangoon and got off the boat, we were confronted with these strange looking little people that were riding bicycles and pulling rickshaws and I could see immediately that they had a total different way of life that we in the United States had been accustomed to, even though in the United States the way of life varied a lot from the city to the country, I knew that this was going to be another step in a different direction because I was seeing people walking, and found out later that they were religious people that didn't touch money, that had a bowl that they always went to get food and were allowed in every home to get meals, and so it was a real education. Some of the basic things remain the same all over with people in the military and virile young men they started looking to see what kind of women were going to be around, and they found out that there were enough foreigners there that we had an ample supply of girls that could speak English, although we always appreciated some of the pretty little Burmese girls. FRANK BORING: When you arrived in Rangoon, what were the next process? You eventually got into a P-40, so if could you explain that - how you got into the P-40 to fly it over. �ROBERT MOSS: Before we get to the P-40, in Rangoon we were there for a few days, going through some paperwork for CAMCO, signing up where you wanted your paycheck sent and that sort of thing, which was really important, and it was a bit of orientation there that we appreciated, because those people lived in the Orient for many years, and they could advise us what was best not to attempt to do, as well as some things that might be acceptable. Most of the people got on trains intermittently going to Toungoo, but word came out that they had a P-40 that was assembled. It hadn't been test flown but it was ready to go. So Roger Reynolds and Chennault were down there and they said, "You people are the pilots, why don't you just fly this P-40 up there?" I said, "Do you have a map of how to get there?" They said, "No we have a railroad." FRANK BORING: This part is very important - the P-40 and not having a map and all that. Let's start from the beginning then of you stayed in Rangoon did you know there were other P-40's being assembled at the time? ROBERT MOSS: I had not been to where the planes were being put together and readied for us. However, when I went out to get into the P40, I noticed that the mixture control, instead of pushing it forward to make it rich, you pulled it back, and I began to ask a few questions and they said, "You know, these planes were designed to go to Australia and they have a British cockpits that prop pitch control and the mixture control are opposite, and the lights on the side of the plane - flying lights - are different than they use in the United States, so you're going to have to adjust yourself to the reverse prop pitch control and that sort of thing. So Roger Reynolds and Chennault were there, they said, "Even though you don't have a map, you can fly formation on us after you get to Toungoo." I didn't know that the planes they were flying were about 40 miles per hour under the cruising speed of a P40. So I circled two or three times in order to stay in sight of them rather than get hanging on to their wing, and each time I'd circle them, I'd try to get slower, I would let the wheels down first and, of course, that slowed me �down a lot, and I'd let the flaps down about 30 degrees, and used a prop pitch that near take off pitched, so that if I began to stall out I could have enough power in my hand to get flying without stalling out. Even at that we got out of town about 20 minutes and the ceiling kept dropping and dropping, and I lost them and I followed a Y in a railroad track ''til I saw where I was going 180 degrees almost from the direction that we'd been flying, so I stayed down on that railroad and flew back and found the intersection where I'd taken the wrong track and when I arrived in Toungoo, they were taxiing up to park. I just landed right on behind on them and taxied on in the park also, but I never did let them know that I had been lost. I didn't want to embarrass them - be embarrassed by telling that on me at that early stage. FRANK BORING: Can you recall any of that, that you signed some papers and there were some warnings of what you should do and what you shouldn't do? ROBERT MOSS: I remember what the CAMCO people that they asked us to sign a will and I do remember that the witnesses on that will that I signed were from three different areas in the United States, because they put their address down when they witnessed the will and they were all from different sections of the United States, and I thought that that would look pretty unusual in a court anywhere in the country, to read a will that the witnesses were all from all parts of the country. FRANK BORING: What was your first impression of Chennault? ROBERT MOSS: When one meets Chennault, they readily recognize an aura that tells you that he's a winner. There's never any question, in athletics, on the softball field, Ping-pong, he was the worst loser of anybody you could ever imagine, and if he couldn't settle it any other way, he would challenge one of these young guys. If they teased him too much about him being an old man, he'd challenge them in physical areas just to prove that he was still much of a man. He was �definitely the finest quarterback that any organization could ever have. He had the information to disseminate that would save lives and make you a winner. FRANK BORING: Once you arrived in Toungoo, if you could, describe your living conditions. Give us an idea of what the field was like. What were your impressions of the air base in Toungoo? ROBERT MOSS: They had prepared a macadam landing strip which was better than a lot of places that we flew out of. We flew out of leveled rice paddies at times which still weren't too bad because they were they type of aircraft that would take a little bit of beating and still do the job. But of course, I'd never lived in huts that the roofs were made of rice straw, but it's quite fine insulation and the mosquito nets and the people that had prepared us a place to stay knew how the easiest way to overcome hot, humid conditions, and we were fairly comfortable even with the outhouses and that sort of thing. Chennault indicated that he had told some of the people that were recruiting pilots and ground personnel that he knew that the lifestyle of southern country people might fit better - temperaments of that type might fit better because he knew that in Burma and China, there wouldn't be any paid entertainment. He needed a person that could sit under an oak tree with a pocket knife and whittle and hum and be comfortable and not have to have bought entertainment, and I think it proved to be true. I think that the people that needed bought entertainment were not as comfortable as some of the rest of us. FRANK BORING: What was the - give us an idea of the sleeping quarters, the situation of the mosquitos, critters, snakes and things like that, any stories that you know of? ROBERT MOSS: In my shack, I was rooming with - one of the people that I had for a shack mate was Joe Alsop. He had a lot of good stories about Washington, and he had just gone to Duke University six months ahead of that had about 100 lbs. of fat taken out surgically, and he �had the belt there that he wore before the operation, and it would reach around me twice, so it was pretty unusual for me to meet someone like Joe Alsop and his background, and I found out later that maybe one of the reasons that he might have been there, that he was, I believe he said, a third cousin to the current President of the United States. FRANK BORING: Let's now talk about the first training experiences in Toungoo. In your case, you had already flown the P40, you were fairly familiar with it even though you had to do things backwards in the sense of the British version of it, but what we'd like now is your observation - as a pilot who already knew the P-40's, of the training that Chennault gave you in the art of flying this airplane. ROBERT MOSS: In Toungoo I don't think that we discussed and talked that much about the skill of flying because we were supposed to have those skills. I think, if I remember correctly, what I remember most was tactics that he said that would work against the Japanese that might not work against the Germans, things that he knew and that you could depend on, the Japanese pilots attempting to do and what his strategy would be to turn all of their advantages into disadvantages, and utilize our plane's best tricks, and a perfect example later on when the British that were in Rangoon with us, a group of Brewster Buffaloes, they were all shot down very shortly. They weren't there any more after a couple of engagements in combat with the Japanese. They didn't have any planes - they were nonexistent, and we were still flying. FRANK BORING: You had a background - your schooling, if you will - was from a small one room schoolhouse… � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v03 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 3 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses the AVG's arrival in Rangoon, his first impression of General Chennault, and the living conditions upon their arrival in Toungoo. 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/a8583f292abe841ee9626996ad477990.mp4 03f993e8a570693fcc98ede37f3b7a5f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e413d1d81e9d8c21e864dac617dd3bb5.pdf a35febe4b1500c56da824d222de2df8e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 4] FRANK BORING: ………… would land 30 ft. in the air basically, that's what I'm talking about. ROBERT MOSS: ………… a lot of good reasons, even the navy training might have been superior to air force training, we don't even know that. FRANK BORING: I'm not trying to get a comment on that, and I'm not commenting on their abilities as fliers, what we're talking about is that difficulty from going, from your observation… ROBERT MOSS: It's as simple as this, I had to become accustomed to flying an airline plane, which is - the cockpit is a lot higher from the runway than a P-40, so you're tending to come in - and you hit the ground before you think you're going to hit the ground because you're accustomed to being 6 ft. from the ground when you make contact and you're 13 ft. from the ground, and those guys on the PBY's were higher than that, so they leveled off that P-40 up there at about the same place you'd level off the PBY and when it stalled out, it should have been a quarter of an inch above the ground and it was 16 ft. above the ground, and it was a hell of a whop when it hit. I can't say it any other way. That's right. FRANK BORING: That's exactly what we're looking for, it's from your observation point. Now we've got it, that's perfect! We have to try and �communicate with an audience, Moose, we have to show an audience that doesn't know a thing about it. ROBERT MOSS: But I shouldn't be criticizing… FRANK BORING: Were there some pilots that could not get used to the P-40 and they turned into ground personnel or anything like that? Did you observe that? ROBERT MOSS: Yes, there were several people in the checkout stages in the AVG that became ground personnel, assistants and office people because Chennault figured that - we knew that we would not be having a lot of new P-40's coming in, and we were losing too many P-40's in the checkout period, and he just had to stop that, because we wouldn't have been active if we'd used them all up trying to get them adjusted back to the height that you should land in a P-40. FRANK BORING: During this period of time in training, you'd already established some contact with these guys from all over the country. Were there any in particular during the training period that you became closer to, or ones that you got to know, or even ones that you felt - that you didn't like? ROBERT MOSS: Of course, you find out more closely about your common interests if you're rooming with someone, if you're put together with them on a day to day basis, and I felt that - out of one or two - that it was generally known that were despicable characters and didn't last very long. I thought it was really an interesting group because one thing of the geographic distribution from whence they came, and about their personal lives and the lives of parents and friends being so different than mine. It made them an interesting group to me. FRANK BORING: Your background in terms of your schooling was in a small one room schoolhouse. Chennault had taught in a one room schoolhouse. What was your impression of Chennault as a teacher? �ROBERT MOSS: I think one of the first things I noticed about Chennault as a teacher, he didn't play around the periphery. He came straight to the point. He was one who immediately took the wheat from the chaff, and whatever he did - was immediately let you know where the point was, and the reason for going straight to it. I liked him. FRANK BORING: On that same line of thinking, you had been trained as a pilot, as a fighter pilot for certain tactics that the military at the time considered to be the tactics. Now as I understand it, Chennault had some radical concepts that were somewhat different than the training that you had had. Can you comment on either the differences or your reaction to the differences between the way the military taught you to fight and the way he was telling you to fight? ROBERT MOSS: I had for one had not been in the military long enough in a fighter plane to be well versed in gunnery or in military tactics. It may have made it even more interesting for him to come up with specifics about when a situation came about how to handle that particular situation and if we saw a certain picture emerging, what would be the next thing to emerge from that same picture in combat. For example, he would say that when you meet three planes, you should expect them to react in a certain way, and then your defense against that should be this, and so on. But he discussed tactics and not flying ability. FRANK BORING: What were your first impressions and any comments you might have on the British at that time? ROBERT MOSS: Some of our boys wanted to have little sham dog-fights with the Brewster's, they did, and I don't remember really anything about how they have come out. What they wanted to do is to check and see about the turning radiuses and how quickly we could get to the red line on a dive compared to their planes and we were not located on the same air base and we didn't get to know those �people very well. However, we do know that they had some pilots that were not officers and all of our pilots were officers in one of the other forms of service. FRANK BORING: What was your impression of Chennault's staff? Did you have any contact at all with people like Harvey Greenlaw or Boatner Carney or Skip Adair, any of this group? ROBERT MOSS: I knew them all on a personal basis but I had no way of knowing, or making a judgement as to their ability and the job that they were hired to do… I know that Olga, Harvey's wife was a very, very lovely lady. FRANK BORING: Can you comment any further on that? ROBERT MOSS: I don't think I should comment any further. FRANK BORING: Give us your first reaction to the events of December the 8th, when you heard about Pearl Harbor. ROBERT MOSS: When the news came to us that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, we started getting directives immediately and it was just as if you've had your practice, now the whistle is blowing, it's time to start the game, and that's how I remembered it. FRANK BORING: Did you notice, yourself specifically, but amongst the group itself, was there a change of attitude - I know you were still in the learning process of the airplanes and there was getting the equipment together and all that, but it was all sort of gearing up for this big event. Did you notice any change in the attitude in terms of the event is now on? ROBERT MOSS: Not that I recognized. FRANK BORING: On the 10th of December there was an alarm - the first alarm - a warning that the Japanese were coming. Can you comment on that �feeling of - before an actual attack - what it felt like, the waiting for the attack to happen? ROBERT MOSS: I wasn't on duty on the first contact, it was my day off or I was not at the airport, but I do remember very distinctly that everything downtown was closed all day during the day because they were being bombed. But I was - and business was carried on in Kunming, China after dark as a normal routine. But after the first contact the Chinese immediately believed that there would be no more bombs in Kunming and they started opening their places of business immediately because it was really a shock to them and a wonderful, I'm sure wonderful, surprise, not one bomb fell in the city limits, not one - letting one plane arrive. So they felt like that they were safe from then on. That was the big change. FRANK BORING: Let's talk about Kunming then. You were sent to Kunming - did you fly there first of all? ROBERT MOSS: I flew. FRANK BORING: Could you describe to us your first reaction, your observation of flying into Kunming? You had been flying in Toungoo which was one atmosphere. What was it like in Kunming? ROBERT MOSS: Well of course the difference in the altitude made you land a lot harder - thinner air, but the runway was long enough to land there, so, nothing that I remember specifically. FRANK BORING: (Inaudible) ROBERT MOSS: On our flight to Kunming, only the flight leader had a hand drawn map. We were able to fly over underneath all the top cover, no maps necessary, and it was strictly a cross country, uneventful trip other than, in the distance we could see, snow-covered mountains, and it was very beautiful, but very different. �FRANK BORING: What were the conditions in Kunming different from Toungoo your living quarters, for example, or the food? ROBERT MOSS: The food in Kunming was not a great deal different than it was in Toungoo, as much as we had our own cooks and the people to prepare the meals. The housing in China - we were in hostels that had permanent roofs and normal buildings for that part of the country whereas in Toungoo it was temporary thrown up barracks. FRANK BORING: What would you say was the difference between your experience of military routine and AVG? ROBERT MOSS: There was not a great deal of difference between that except that in the AVG we cut out a lot of the boring and monotonous things that you had to do just because you were in the military. Those just kind of faded into the distance, and we didn't have the formalities, that sort of thing. � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v04 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 4 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss describes the P-40 flight training and how Chennault's teachings compared with his prior military training. He also describes when they received the news of Pearl Harbor and the days that followed for the AVG. 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/dde23bb9bac759d882adc8f78b8d677d.mp4 7e0ab1cccc2845a3e1b329cabdc669ae https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/22bee6bd9873d6bd6da4350fe1453272.pdf c6ef9f618997699ebd1f7996c4d5ed7e PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 5] FRANK BORING: But if you could also incorporate that you didn't have the saluting, you didn't have the marching in place, if you will, that is important perhaps in the formative years, but then… ROBERT MOSS: Give me the question again. FRANK BORING: The military has certain regulations and certain things that they do, such as saluting, marching in place and whatnot, which they claim is necessary toward the building of a proper military unit, yet the AVG was a very successful military unit without all that. Your response was that it's important in the formative years to develop that discipline, but once you have it, the military still keeps it up whereas the AVG didn't. ROBERT MOSS: I think the main difference in our organization as a military unit and a standard military unit in one of the services is that although we originally had been associating with, and accustomed to, the kind of discipline, then once we learned that discipline, then in the AVG we were able to dispense with a lot of the formalities, still maintain the correct discipline where discipline was necessary. It made it a lot easier to live where nobody saluted someone else, but we had that respect because of position and authority and mutual respect. �FRANK BORING: Could you give us some idea of what your duties were in December before the first contact. What was the routine like? ROBERT MOSS: Our daily routine was if we had gasoline available to fly some, stay making the equipment feel like it was an extension of our body, feeling completely comfortable in the equipment. Other than that, we didn't do anything that I remember particularly to maintain an edge. FRANK BORING: What were you doing on your off days for example, cards, or baseball games, or trips into town? ROBERT MOSS: On my off days in the AVG, I used to take side trips to get closer to the people, to find out how they made a living, watch their arts and crafts, and try to find out how those people were living and had lived before we came. FRANK BORING: What were some of the observations that you made on these trips? ROBERT MOSS: I never knew that saving face anywhere in the world was as important as it is in China. I can give you an example. I was in a jeep going on a little side trip in the morning and I met a truck load of workers along a slick dirt road. I stopped to wave the truck by and he bowed and wanted to wave me by, but I felt that the one that went by would have the greatest chance of slipping in the ditch, so he waited for me and I waited for him. They finally ate their lunch there, but when it got to be quitting time, the workmen on his truck kept all kind of noise going and I could see all day that it was a face saving situation, and I just wanted to see how long that it would last, so they finally put enough pressure on him late in the afternoon when it was time to go home from work, to pass me on that slick road rather than for me to pass them. I just wasn't going to lose face, I was going to out wait him, and I did. But they put the pressure on him - there about 12 or 15 on that truck, and they were wanting real bad to go home, so they just kept - and �when they finally passed me, everyone bowed from the back of the truck. FRANK BORING: Can you think of any other situations like that on your trips out, how you got know some of the Chinese people, or their situations…? ROBERT MOSS: I don't recall anything especially interesting off-hand. FRANK BORING: You came from a very poor environment in the United States, hard-working. What was your observation of the Chinese, the poor and the kind of city environment that you were looking at in Kunming? ROBERT MOSS: I think it's quite difficult. You can tell a good many things from observation, but it's pretty difficult to know much from a real lifestyle point of view by meandering among the people. You can get some ideas, but I think you have to go a lot deeper than that and I wasn't in the position to do that. FRANK BORING: How about in terms of what you saw in Kunming? You had come from a country background, and this was basically a city in a sense. What did you observe and what was the city like? ROBERT MOSS: I think that I was able to adjust quite well because I was associated with people who spoke the same language that I did, and we were an autonomous group there that independent of the social aspects of the Chinese people, although I enjoyed and watched people practicing public speaking, it would be kind of embarrassing in Boston or Atlanta, I assume, to get out on the street with a new audience and try to see if your voice would carry one block or two blocks and make a speech for an hour and a half without an audience, but that's just some little differences. I knew when they come to our country, that we do things that would appear extremely odd to them. �FRANK BORING: Did you witness the bombing of Kunming? Did you see or hear…? ROBERT MOSS: I don't think anybody there ever saw or heard a bomb hit Kunming. FRANK BORING: Just before you arrived though, there was a bomb attack. Some of the guys did see that, but did you go into the city and see any of the damage? ROBERT MOSS: Yes, I saw some of it. But it was done before we arrived, not after. FRANK BORING: What did you see in terms of the damage in Kunming? ROBERT MOSS: The frugal Chinese picked up everything from the bombing that could be salvaged almost immediately, so what we saw was either a hole in the ground or a building that all the materials that could be reused had already been moved. FRANK BORING: You mentioned that on the first day that the battle actually occurred, you were actually not on duty. Were you on the field, did you go to the field after they came back, or were you - where actually were you? ROBERT MOSS: At the hostel. FRANK BORING: What was the reaction, what was your reaction I should say, when they came back after the fight? ROBERT MOSS: It was of course, thrilled that we did as well as we did and didn't lose a pilot. FRANK BORING: Was there a sense of exuberance going on? ROBERT MOSS: Yes, of course. FRANK BORING: Give us an idea of what it was like, now that there's a first engagement. �ROBERT MOSS: One of the things that maybe I was a little surprised - that most of the comeback from discussing the mission happened at very close range instead of 500 yards that our guns were both sited to coming in on, mostly a hundred yards and less, so we changed both sites of our guns to a much closer distance. FRANK BORING: What was the reaction of the Chinese people? Were you present at the awards and the banquet and all that? ROBERT MOSS: I don't remember anything about that. FRANK BORING: What would you say was your next - the next step - where were you transferred to, or did you remain in Kunming for an extended period of time? ROBERT MOSS: I was in the second group that went to Rangoon? - the first group may have been there two weeks or something and I was in the next group. FRANK BORING: So now you're - this is to relieve the 3rd squadron, right - that had already been fighting there? Okay. If you could describe to us the this is when you first saw battle, is that correct? Okay. I wonder if you could give us a sense of that first time that you had to get into an airplane that you knew that you were going to be going into battle. ROBERT MOSS: You never know for sure if you're going into battle, but if you take off and there's a warning, naturally you assume that the enemy is approaching your area unless you're going on offensive mission, at which I believe the first two of my missions were that rather than meeting an enemy coming in, and so you know what the plan is and what you hope to accomplish. FRANK BORING: What did you feel like when you took off - this is very different from training, very different from just getting into a P40 and, as �you say, feeling one with the machine or whatever, this is real battle? ROBERT MOSS: I don't think one thinks like that. I think like this is something that you've prepared yourself to do, and now's the time that you go about it, and you just try to make it happen it was planned. I think that maybe I was no different than most under the circumstances. FRANK BORING: Describe if you will, in as much detail as you can, the first encounter you had. ROBERT MOSS: Those are areas that have not been real fond memories. The first mission that I flew with Charlie Mott was strafing mission on an airport over in French Indo China, I believe, or it was at the time. Charlie was shot down, but militarily is to the number of planes destroyed and that sort of thing, it might have been considered a real successful mission, but of course, there's nothing real successful if you leave one of yours on the other side… You were going to not go into combat and I would like to steer around combat. FRANK BORING: I don't think I was here when you guys were talking about - you don't want to talk about any of the combat at all? � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v05 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 5 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses the differences he experienced between the AVG and a standard military unit and his impressions of the city of Kunming. 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/98678e22e34bf621340a87febfa58c23.mp4 6673216f322d7270e6bc1b47d02b76e6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d077956217eed2221934d2272ec737b7.pdf 7adaa062f813004f71f09d45e39d812c PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 6] FRANK BORING: The fact that - some of the interesting things that you've gone through are horrendous and granted they’re painful memories, but I really think the world should know this, the audience should know this, people should know this, but you tell it your way, in your own way. ROBERT MOSS: You know that memory and time and when you intentionally - I've never discussed anything like I'm talking to you, any of my children or any of my family in any way, or any of my friends, and when we go to reunion, we don't - I never have had a conversation about an engagement, but I'll go along and if something that I haven't tried to remember, and I haven't tried to remember any details and it's very possible that I might be incorrect on something, and I really don't want to do that, and I know that if I don't say anything, it won't be incorrect, but I'll do - I can maybe give a little - some insight. FRANK BORING: Over the next few days, there was a great deal of - a hectic pace if you will, this is war now and you were sent on various missions. Can you give us an idea of - an example - perhaps a very dramatic example in which you had an encounter, what happened and what was your personal dealing with that? How did you deal with that? How did you deal with that kind of stressful, intensely scary situation? �ROBERT MOSS: I believe that two weeks from the day that Charlie was shot down Charlie Mott that is - that six of our fighter pilots were to escort a few Blenheim bombers. I don't know how many, three or six or something like that, bombed strategic areas, mainly I believe being a Chinese airport, I mean a Japanese airport. Apparently the net picked us up about the time that we were to arrive over the target. Two of our planes - our six fighter pilots were in pairs and at different altitudes. I was flying in a top cover, and when I spotted the fighter planes, they were well above us, so they had had - the net had picked us up and the pilots had been able to get up and be waiting. So I spotted - waved my wing very quickly to indicate to my leader that I spotted the enemy, and I just pulled up real strong on a head on run and I assume I froze at the controls because when that plane exploded, part of - I could see on the leading edge of my plane that I had either been hit by oil or some debris. I didn't feel anything - didn't feel a jar, but I could see that. I pulled up, and as I turned I got another plane on my sites, and I knocked him down, then I was immediately engaged with four planes, one keeping me in a circle, and the other three shooting across the circle, and as we worked our way down, they finally got me, and I was able to bail out low enough that they didn't follow me down to that height to dump me in the parachute. I was a few days behind the Japanese lines, carried from village to village by the head man of the village. He kept his team with him and I noticed that I stayed on the same bullock cart, covered, and I assume it was because the head man of this village would - it would be not uncommon for him to be seen in the next village, but if he was seen in two villages away, he might be in some suspect, so in each village I felt a bit - he appeared to be taking me to the Japanese, and if they could get through the Japanese lines, they got lots more money if they could deliver me to our side, and the first day of the trip, I could tell where the sun rose and set that I was going deeper into Japanese territory and thought maybe that they were taking me directly to the Japanese because we were going in that direction. But I decided to - since I didn't have too many choices - although �nobody had a gun that I knew of - that I'd better take a chance. We finally arrived at a river and I was put on a boat and covered with grain - wheat or rye, or some kind of grain, and the people that paddled the boat on the river - it was against the tide part of the time - it was still downstream. They hugged the edges of that river so closely that I knew they were professional oarsmen, that's what they did for a living. We arrived at Moulmein and it had been totally evacuated. Some official must have known that I was going to arrive there because he met the boat at the dock and took me into the alert shack that the British had had at Moulmein. When I got there, the two people on duty said, "We're leaving now," and I noticed that they had some bloody parachutes that they had brought into the alert shack. On the day that I was shot down they Japanese had caught some British planes on the ground and some taken off and shot them all down. I believe one of them told me it was six that they had shot down and I could see the results of that. They had a Studebaker car that they were leaving there and wanted to know if I wanted to go with them. I told them I wasn't going with them because they weren't going to get out, because they were going to have to cross the lines where they were going, that all I wanted them to do was radio Rangoon if they could. They said they would send that message before they left. They radioed Rangoon and a 19 year old sergeant pilot, by himself, landed a Blenheim bomber. I was standing on the end of the runway when he arrived and when he hit the other end of the runway, I made myself clearly visible on the other end by being out on the end of the runway. He taxied up and turned around. I opened the hatch. He says, "Hi?, can you use a turret gun?" I said, "I never have used one but I'll certainly be willing to try if need be." I climbed in and strapped down and he took off downwind on that Blenheim bomber and we flew across that bay from Moulmein to Rangoon. I believe 12 or 15 ft. may have been the height, altitude he was going to stay at below radar. His name was Peters. He landed on my airport, I guess it was Mingaladon, I believe that was it, and didn't get out, dropped me off, took off again, and landed on the British airport. So it was several days waiting to get some teeth �worked on so I could swallow, and it wasn't but a few days before my squadron had to transfer back to China and another squadron came in and I asked to be transferred to the incoming squadron, so that I could get - I felt like about being out that I hadn't had my pro rata share of time on the front, and so they allowed that transfer. And then I was there at the total evacuation and as we went on up through Magwe and Loiwing and on out through Burma as troops pushed us out of Burma. However, when we got to Loiwing, and started to evacuate Loiwing, I had an opportunity to go across the Hump with a convoy and since there were enough pilots there to fly all the planes back and somebody had to go by convoy, I decided I'd like to see that route, and I went back to Kunming by convoy from there. FRANK BORING: We'll talk about the convoy trip in a minute…and what happened was this when you bailed out? ROBERT MOSS: The sidelines caught me on the chin way down here low and took all the hide off and broke 17 teeth. FRANK BORING: Could you begin at the point when you - this is right when you were baling out, right? ROBERT MOSS: That's when I had a chest pack when I bailed out, and I didn't have time to wait and get in the right position, I was so near the ground. As soon as I cleared the airplane, I popped the chest pack and the sidelines caught me on the neck and on the chin and that's when I mentioned that buffalo milk and raw eggs… FRANK BORING: Okay, we don't have any of that on tape, right? I really am sorry to put you through this, but I think it's a very important part. This is what you lived on? If you don't mind… � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v06 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 6 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss touches on the painful memories of combat and shares a memory of the time he bailed out of his airplane and withstood a facial injury in the process. 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/96f0727079012e25873c9717084399c3.mp4 b5babc2d9d53fb3130765c0762dcbd85 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f1476a9fc571349d8b9138d5afb82693.pdf b54d04e10aeadd413f6d2dd7a2f0cdd5 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 7] FRANK BORING: The actual battle part, what we need is an explanation of - your airplane is now shot up and as I understand it, you're close to the ground - let's start from that point, then take us into the parachute coming off and - is this common that a parachute will do something like that or…? ROBERT MOSS: It's pretty rare, I think that it's pretty rare. Shall I start at when I bailed out of the airplane? FRANK BORING: Also give us an idea of the fact that you were very low to the ground, I don't know how you'll do that and how you survived… ROBERT MOSS: In my attempt to bail out as low to the ground as possible, I was having to wait and having to fly with the canopy open on account of hydraulic oil in the cockpit from the hydraulic line being shot in the combat. And I was fortunate enough that I'm assuming that the Japanese pilots had seen by my actions that they thought that I was just going on into the ground and not bale out, but I had enough control that when I got real low to the ground I had to shut my trim tight to keep the nose up when I rolled over on my back and to drop out very low to the ground so had one been right closely following, he would have had to have been very low to have dumped my 'chute. But when I did drop out and pop the chest pack, a shroud line caught me under the chin and took a lot of hide �and skin off my neck and all round my chin, out to my chin, and broke 17 teeth when it opened. The doctor said they didn't understand how I could take that much shock on the neck and chin without breaking my neck, but it happened and it was fortunate I just lost a bunch of teeth. The airplane fell within a 150 yards of where I did. I walked over and looked at the hole in the ground before anybody came up, and they appeared to be friendly and I just followed them since I didn't speak the language and they started on a program that appeared to me they were going to try to get me back through the Japanese lines to our side, and on that ride, the head man of the village took me on a bull cart loaded with wheat, straw or hay and took me to the next village. He would turn me over to the head man of that new village, he would put on two new oxen but kept the same cart, and we did this for two or three days until we got to a river. I was transferred to a boat and taken down the river 'til we stopped very near the airport at Moulmein. FRANK BORING: What were you living on? ROBERT MOSS: It was so difficult to swallow, I didn't try to eat anything. I drank milk - buffalo milk with raw eggs, and I was just barely able to swallow that, but I think that that gave me plenty of food for sustenance. FRANK BORING: I assume that the AVG thought that you had been shot down. What was the reaction of your pilots, or what was your reaction upon returning to AVG? ROBERT MOSS: I think when the message arrived at Rangoon for somebody to come pick me up that they must have called over at our alert shack and said that he is alive. They had already come to my house in my parent's home and told them I was missing in action and, of course, they couldn't say - that was all there was to it, and the politicians in the local area had already interviewed my parents to want to know if they objected to changing the name of Spence Field, this local air force base to Moss Field, so she was ignorant too. �FRANK BORING: I want to hear your mother’s part of this story, this is great. Start with the politician - you've got to get your mother's comment in here - this is great. ROBERT MOSS: When they approached my parents about naming - renaming Spence Field, they weren't overly exuberant about it, but they said they would have no objection. However, my mother told them that she thought I was a big boy and I was pretty capable of taking care of myself, not to rush things up too much, and she believed that way, and said it made it easier for her, because she believed that. She was right, and she got lucky. FRANK BORING: One thing that I didn't quite grasp when you were describing the one of the things that Charlie Bond has told us about and Joe Rosbert has told us about, the Japanese head was calling a beehive thing and if you get caught in the middle of that, you could really get yourself hurt. ROBERT MOSS: That's exactly what I got caught in. FRANK BORING: From your prospective, can you describe this beehive thing. We've got it from three different pilots now. ROBERT MOSS: First you've got to have somebody hold you in the circle, that's the man on your tail. Then they fly off of the circle and across the circle and either the man will turn inside you - of course, if you can you want to snafu and spin out and get down but when you get pretty low, you can't do that, and sometimes you might think - you don't know how high the land is under you - hill country, 3,000 ft. 4,000 ft. things like that, and it takes a good little bit to pull out in a P40 out of a dive. That thing back then was fast - it would red line at 480 is where the red line was on it as I remember. �FRANK BORING: In these kind of battles, Chennault's whole tactic of two's, was this something that sort of broke apart at this point? You guys were all on your own? ROBERT MOSS: There was a time you had to be on your own because the P40 had the ability, if you had the altitude, to break away from the fight, and that was when you were on your own. FRANK BORING: When this was over with and you had returned back to base, what actually occurred between you and Newkirk? ROBERT MOSS: I never, ever saw him again. FRANK BORING: ……… full description of what happened to Charlie Mott. ROBERT MOSS: I'm the only one - I don't even know how to get - I've never heard his description of it because when he came back with me in Calcutta, we didn't talk about that. We talked about coming home and those things and he did tell me that he dared the mosquitos to give him dengue fever, or any other kind of fever, - malaria. He said the mosquito might get malaria biting him but he was absolutely immune. He did talk like this, he said the first time - and he may have mentioned this in the interview, it would be interesting I think. This may be something that you won't want to put down, but you can ask him. He told me that once he had malaria fever. He said he thought he was going to die - as sick as a person can be and not die. But he wasn't able to get any medicine. He said in a given number of weeks, whether it's three or six or nine or whatever it is, he said he had it again. He said it was real bad, but it wasn't as bad as that first time and he said he kept on having malaria. I don't know whether it was the incubation period or whatever when you get over it or not in your system but he kept having it and he said, finally you just have the chill, small chill and maybe a fever for half a day, and he said within six months or a year and a half, he didn't remember time, he said he never had it again, and he said he woke up realizing that he was immune, that �nobody could give him malaria. He said when he got back somewhere into a hospital, they started giving him [?] or something that turns you yellow and supposed to get it out of your system. But he said that, I'll tell you, while we're off the record, Sully told me that the bravest people that were prisoners that were brought in with them were the Australians. He said that the Australians, a lot of them died, got killed trying to escape. He said a lot of others wouldn't try to escape. He said the Dutch tended to commit suicide instead of trying to escape and he started playing what's the name of the card game that is very popular - started playing with the guards and earn their cigarettes, planning to just barely - what's the name of the most famous card game in America? Anyway, he was playing this card game with the guards and he was trying to arrange it where he would wind up winning one or two cigarettes a day at the most, playing to lose, but he noticed that the competition changed guard and it got a little rougher and he told me that he finally found out that they had sent some of their best players from Japan as his guard and it was really rough for him for to not lose that cigarette that he was using for money to gamble with. Did he tell you about those games? That's something that I felt sure he would tell you that, because he had a lot of time sitting to think. He told me about all that when he was at my place in Calcutta, and I believe he said he made a [?] for a railroad out of a piece of teak wood. Did he tell you about that? � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v07 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 7 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss continues the story of the time he bailed out of his airplane after being caught in the middle of a beehive flight tactic and the reaction he received upon returning to the AVG. 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/d0b5402ff4215c5467a117cf116d8552.mp4 2202e7cde1d922cbf7f9dfb3c0bee576 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/083541e3d9186cbfa2008cc63f7bb72f.pdf 98179e301e6d85099988c730dd6b08b0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 8] FRANK BORING: And once again, if you don't remember a lot of it, you can just describe what you just said about the battle and your hands are full. ROBERT MOSS: I was flying on Charlie's wing on mission to strafe [?] in enemy territory and we located the airport, caught the planes on the ground and started making runs and had made several runs and billowing smoke from more than one aircraft and began to seize a few tracers, and then I believe on the next run, Charlie was crippled and he pulled up and bailed out. It's pretty hard to remember all the details because of how busy you are. You're trying to establish what your next run will be, most effective run and knowing that you had ground fire, you were either hoping to make a run to stop that or to evade it. It's pretty difficult to remember details when you have a lot of work to do. FRANK BORING: Were you present at the fall of Rangoon? You were one of the last ones to get out of…? ROBERT MOSS: I think so. FRANK BORING: Can you recall any of that - the fall of Rangoon? ROBERT MOSS: What is the name of the hotel, the main hotel in Rangoon? �FRANK BORING: Raffles, Silver Grill? You could just say the main hotel. ROBERT MOSS: Yesterday I could probably have told you the name of it. That's where everybody stays when they arrive and that sort of thing. When most people had already left and those that hadn't were trying to leave, I tied a water buffalo in the lobby of the main hotel in Rangoon so we could have fresh milk for the last morning's coffee before we left, and I went and milked this water buffalo and had fresh milk for our coffee. FRANK BORING: Do you know where Kitten, the snow leopard came from? I've seen pictures of it - of you with it. ROBERT MOSS: I don't know where it came from. FRANK BORING: How did you react to that cat - having that cat around as a mascot? ROBERT MOSS: I think it's more in history than in actuality. It were young enough to take some pictures with it but it didn't stay around a long time. I don't think anybody kept it, brought it home for a pet. FRANK BORING: Burma Bob did, Bob Locke. He took it all up and down the Burma Road. So you just basically posed for a picture. What was your impression of the supply and the repair situation during these wartime - you'd come in, they'd fix up your airplane, then you'd be able to go out again. What was your impression of the supply situation? ROBERT MOSS: I thought that the mechanics were very innovative, they did a tremendous job on keeping the planes in the air. I think when one plane was washed out, they went and covered it immediately and removed everything they could possibly reuse because supplies are something - was almost unknown. They did a fantastic job in that area. �FRANK BORING: What was your relationship with the ground crew? You had George Bailey at this time? ROBERT MOSS: Yes. FRANK BORING: Give us some idea of what it is that you two talked about. Did you come in and say, "George, I have a problem with this, or I have a problem with that," and you'd talk it over. What was that relationship like? ROBERT MOSS: George had tremendous pride in keeping my plane, what he would consider being the fastest in the group, tremendous amount of pride. The waxing and polish jobs that he would put on it. At least, he would tell me that this will have less friction. So we had a rather fine relationship. FRANK BORING: Did you two tease each other, or kid each other about the condition of the airplane you'd bring in or something? ROBERT MOSS: He'd just give me plenty of hell, if I came in with four holes in an airplane or six, that he was going to have to sit up half the night and work on the skin on it. FRANK BORING: Can you do that again? Make sure you mention George's name because we'll probably play this for him on the 4th of July. ROBERT MOSS: Our relationship as pilot and crew chief cannot have better, but there were times when I would come in with what he considered an extra few holes in the plane. He'd stand up and really give me hell because he was going to have to stay up at night and get that skin fixed right back on that airplane. He had a lot of pride in the way it looked and the way it flew. FRANK BORING: Forgot to mention George again! I'm sorry! We've got to have a context of it being George that you're talking about. �ROBERT MOSS: George Bailey, my crew chief and I had a very close, personal relationship as well as a working relationship. So he felt at ease to just stand up and give me holy hell for bringing a plane with a few holes in it that he would have to be up all night getting that skin patched and fixed and be ready - have it on the line next day. FRANK BORING: That was good. ROBERT MOSS: ………… I don't believe I understand the question. I believe that was the field that Charlie Mott and I… FRANK BORING: In February, a banquet was thrown by Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Do you remember that banquet? ROBERT MOSS: Yes. FRANK BORING: Could you describe for us the banquet itself and your impressions of Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang Kai-shek? ROBERT MOSS: It's been quite a few years since the Madame went to school here in Georgia. She kind of picked me out as a person who was from Georgia and I don't know if everybody was honored with a scarf from a T shirt with some kind of [?] on it but I got one. I don't know which girl got it but I received one that night. The dinner was wonderful Chinese chow as I remember, but as far as remembering details of what might have gone on or what the speeches were about, I have no idea. FRANK BORING: What was your first impression of Chiang Kai-shek? ROBERT MOSS: I always felt like that Chiang Kai-shek was a war lord, fighting for survival, and that's as close - and I got little rumors through the grapevine in as much as he didn't talk to anybody in English that I remember. FRANK BORING: What was your impression of Madame Chiang Kai-shek? �ROBERT MOSS: I think she didn't differ very much from women all over the world. In my experience, although meagre, I find that women are really the power most of the time instead of the men, in all ages that I've had a chance to read about. FRANK BORING: [?] was one of the pilots on that. Do you recall that at all? They came in and they did a run and everybody had to fall flat on the ground and then they finally did escort them out. They lost four of the airplanes, they got lost? ROBERT MOSS: I'm not sure that I remember that at all. I do know that one sort of exhibition that Bob Laird came over the field a slow roll and went down behind a rock wall that wasn't really high and went out of sight before he came up to show himself again and everybody thought he was gone. I don't know whether the time that you're talking about or not. FRANK BORING: What was your evaluation of – personally - of Boyington? ROBERT MOSS: I hate for you all to put something about that on my - I'm giving you my personal evaluation but I don't want to make it for the record. Cut it off and I'll tell you what I think about him. In Magwe where we had a jeep strafe trying to leave the field and when the Japanese set fire to some British bombers and they all exploded on the field. When this was all over and we went back to our chief plantation, cook or some of his help had stepped out the back door and stepped into a jug and the back of the glass came up and hit his heel string and almost cut it in two, and the scenario is that Doc Rich finally got him up on the kitchen table to clean the wound and see if he could repair the damage. Prescott was holding the light, the flashlight for Doc Rich to do the operation, and I was standing right beside Prescott and somebody came in and told Doc Rich that the boy that was in bed in the next room was dead now, that he wasn't breathing anymore and Doc Rich said, well, there isn't anything that we can do for him now. I'm working on this. If he's �already dead, we can't help him any. So in just a moment, the lights kind of wavered, and Doc Rich said, "Moose, don't you jog Prescott into asking one more time and make him shake that light. It's hard enough, trying to do this with a flashlight, and somebody back there playing. I said, "Doc, I didn't touch it." "I know damn well you did." In a little bit, it waved again, and he really got down on me that time, called me things he shouldn't have called me. I told him I hadn't touched him at all and, before he get through cussing me, old Prescott went, "Wheeeew". He hit the floor, he'd fainted from the odor and the smell of that. It took Rich ten years to apologize to me for that, but finally came back and apologized, fifteen or twenty years later, but he was so angry and it was so much like me to have been doing that he just knew that I was doing it to worry him. � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v08 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 8 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses his impression of the supply and repair situation during wartime and his relationship with the ground crew. 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/ffdb2b3306587c1f1ee880da07e3194c.mp4 ef895cb1c2616c92b6b144f1a143a844 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e370deba96fe1b4140f50087359fc834.pdf 85619201c12629c836cbb273e2d42d83 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Special Collections & University Archives RHC-88 Fei Hu Films Flying Tigers Interviews Interviewer: Frank Boring Interviewee: Robert C. "Moose” Moss Date of Interview: 06-09-1991 Transcriber: Frank Boring [TAPE 9] ROBERT MOSS: Do you want me to say something else about on the ground at Magwe? FRANK BORING: Yeah. What we'd like to talk about is, if you can begin it at the point where you had gone to lunch. You were on duty, you had gone to lunch and then you came back. Start with - you were on duty at Magwe, then you went to lunch and go from there. ROBERT MOSS: I was on duty one day at Magwe and had gone to lunch with the other pilots that were then on duty with me. As we returned from lunch and got on to the field, we noticed our planes becoming airborne, and we rushed on up to the shack to find them and what information that they had received, and by that time, someone sighted the enemy planes, so we felt that we didn't have time to get us off the airport, so we just dived into the slip trenches that were there for that purpose, right by the alert shack. As I remember, a wave of fighters came in first and strafed several British planes that were on the field and loaded with bombs and sit wasn't long ‘til those that were on fire started to have extra explosions from the bombs exploding. Some of the people tried to get off the field, but about that time, a wave - as I remember - a wave of Japanese bombers came over and did attempt to bomb the airfield and maybe some more of those planes they couldn't see that were on fire. In attempting to get off the field or change slit trenches while �the bombs were falling is when Forth was killed, also a pilot died… FRANK BORING: Swartz. ROBERT MOSS: …… During this raid, when the people on the field felt that the raid was over and tried to move to greater safety is when Swartz was injured severely and later died in India as a result of that injury and when Forth was killed almost immediately. Later on as we tried to leave the field, the bombs and the bombers were continuing to go off, causing a lot of distraction, and some pilots on the edge of the field were trying to survey the damage and while a bomb would go off and they would crawl back to the slip trench like a snake crawling so as to stay below the flack. FRANK BORING: What happened to Olson? You had mentioned that Olson had apparently gotten into a jeep and had gotten shot at? ROBERT MOSS: Yes, he did, Alan and I had to bring it in, but he… FRANK BORING: I think you might want to start, when you first talked about… ROBERT MOSS: It was a hell of a loss, anyway, see there's one thing for a plane to explode, but then when their bombs go off, you don't know whether they had a personal bombs or what on them, and you could hear that stuff whizzing across that airport. And they were British bombers. If you're ready to take on, [?] say something else you might keep. And during this raid as when our Group Chief Olson tried to leave the airport, on a jeep and the jeep was stripped and damaged badly, although Olson was not hit, his camera is said to have had a whole in it. FRANK BORING: Give us your idea, you had mentioned about to take off in a P-40, this is later, I guess, it was stripped? �ROBERT MOSS: When the Japanese, came close, [?] to Magwe, some of the mechanics said that if we could get a pilot to stay an extra day that they could probably have a P-40 ready to go to Loiwing. And I volunteered to stay over and fly that plane over to Loiwing which was our next base. I had no idea that all the flight instruments would have been robbed out but since it was day light, I had , didn't have much choice, I made it alright to Loiwing with that plane and they gave us another plane in the [?] - I was happy to do so. Two plantations in northern Burma and Northern India are quite the same. They were all operated by English people that were sent out to represent the large tea companies. They had pretty strict regulations. They never had their scotch until after 6. They had, during this war, they had been moved out and evacuated and sent back to Europe and these two plantations manager's homes were places where we had the finest opportunity to have housing that would have mosquito nets and cooking facilities so we took advantage ad we evacuated to find the biggest and best tea plantations that were closest to our air strips and we utilized that. FRANK BORING: You had mentioned when the camera was off, that it took a humorous, a certain sense of humor to get through all that. I wonder if you could comment on that again. ROBERT MOSS: I don't believe I can. FRANK BORING: Just don't remember it or? ROBERT MOSS: Oh, well, I don't know if it would try to set me aside of being a different kind of person but I think there must be a thread of humor to make the unbearable, maybe bearable. FRANK BORING: Toward the latter part of the AVG's existence, when the Japanese were coming closer and closer and you were moving from air base to air base, what would you say the morale was like amongst the pilots and the crew as equipment started to run out and the �airplanes were getting worse and worse shape, you were being kept awake by night bombings and the fighting? ROBERT MOSS: In the later stages of my employment in northern Burma, when we were pushed out by foot soldiers, instead of being defeated in the air, I feel that the morale, the pilot's morale, of the crews, remained extremely high, feeling that although we were backing up, we were still being effective in what we were put there to do. I didn't ever feel or see as a general thing a lowering of morale on maybe until the time of the disappointing species for the offer of induction back in to the military forces to the United States. FRANK BORING: Let's go to your , what was your hearing, what were the rumors that were going around about the American Army Air Corp. going to actually take over the AVG? Did you hear any scuttlebutt or… ROBERT MOSS: None. FRANK BORING: OK. When did you first hear that the Army Air Corp was going to be incorporated into the AVG? ROBERT MOSS: Maybe 2 or 3 days before the Air Corporation, maybe a week, I don't know, I can't remember. FRANK BORING: Do you recall the meeting that was called together by Bissell? ROBERT MOSS: I think that I was there. FRANK BORING: OK. Can you tell us what happened at that meeting? ROBERT MOSS: The meeting that was called to offer the organization an opportunity to come back in to the services of the United States was held by a Gen. Bissell who apparently had very little knowledge of what we knew about publicity that we had gotten in the United States. He started off by telling us very early that he had, the previous day or so, had seen a couple of victory roles over �the field, when we came back into the service, the United States of course, would be court-martialed if we did that. That we, the publicity that we had gotten in the United States as heroes, that we could do no wrong, but the, they wanted to remind each person there that they would be on strict orders or U.S. military from the day that they signed. We didn't know that we were supposed to be heroes. We just knew we were tired. We knew what our release from the armed forces said that we could do, we had a choice. He stated that as soon as we hit the United States, if we decided to go home, then we'd be drafted, well I knew better than that, because I had it in writing that I wouldn't be drafted as soon as I hit the United States. The only time I ever saw Chennault shed a tear, ever, was after that meeting. He said, Moss he's ruined me. And five I believe is the number that joined. The rest decided to come state side. And on the way out, 17 of us stopped over for the money involved with CNAC. And I was one of the 17. And Duke Hedman and I matched to see who would have seniority. We were both ready to check out the same day after the first time we'd ever been in motor engine equipment, 2 weeks and 1 day, we managed to see who took off first, who would have seniority - and I lost. So Duke was the only one senior to me in that organization - in that part of the organization. FRANK BORING: What you said about the conversation you had with Chennault, did you talk to him in any detail after that meeting? ROBERT MOSS: I didn't talk to him in detail, I furnished a shoulder for him to cry on a little bit, person to person he just felt like he'd been castrated. He was hurt deeply because he was planning to rotate these people home and give them a program of rotation and come right back, knowing they'd be ready to come back as soon as he got a break of any kind, and all that was eliminated in Bissell's speech. And it hurt him. He never got over it. FRANK BORING: What was your personal...? � 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_Moss_Robert_1991-06-09_v09 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moss, Robert C. "Moose" Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-06-09 Title A name given to the resource Robert "Moose" Moss interview (video and transcript, 9 of 11), 1991 Description An account of the resource Interview of Robert "Moose" Moss by filmmaker Frank Boring for the documentary, Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers. Moss was a Flight Leader for the American Volunteer Group (AVG) 2nd Squadron "Panda Bears." In this tape, Moss discusses the morale within the AVG during the latter part of their existence in addition to the meeting with General Bissell and how it affected General Chennault. 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