WWII Chinese military officers honored

Defense

New Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Six Chinese military officers finally came back to Austin to receive honors for their bravery during World War II. The six were members of the elite FAB-100, officers brought over from China in 1945 to serve as interpreters for Chinese pilots.

The United States worked to train the pilots for a top secret mission.

"I think the top secret part was before we came down to train the
cadets. I think they had something else in mind for us to do," FAB-100 member Tommy Cheng said.

To this day, nobody knows what that something was. The U.S. military stationed officers across the nation for the classified project. The six are all that remain of those at Bergstom Air Force Base, which is now the city's airport.

When the officers arrived back in Austin, they were overwhelmed.

"Going to a totally new country, you have no knowledge of it, no
understanding of it except in a very vague sense, particularly
during war time. A lot of it was hush-hush," FAB-100 member Eugene Wu said.

The end of the war cut their project short. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and the FAB-100 mission was all but forgotten.

But this weekend Austin city leaders remembered the men and honored their efforts at a special ceremony at the Airport Hilton.

A permanent exhibit of the FAB-100 now stands inside the
airport as a testament to their bravery.

Members of the FAB-100 received Medals of Freedom from President Harry S. Truman following the war.
 
Top