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AdamsFlying Tiger gets medal—32 years lateBy JAMES P.THEKRIEN ADAMS—“We got in trouble when we came back, for not saluting.” says World War If airman Bruno Trzcinski.At Atlantic City after the war, They kept stopping us for not saluting,” he says, Then they d find out we were with the Flying Tigersand let us go.”“You didn’t salute anybody over there,” Mr. Trzcinski said, referring to mainland China, where the 14th Air Force of Lt. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault made a name for itself during the war.A tallgunner .in a B-25 bomber, Mr, Trzcinski flew more lhan 50 missions over China between 1944 and the end of the war.For his efforts, the former airman, now an employe'of General Electric Co. living at 22 Leonard St., received an unusual medal this summer from the government of the Republic of China.The K’ang Chan Nien Chang decoration, which Mr. Trzcinski received from the commander's widow, Anna Chennaull at a 14th Air Force reu-• nion this summer, is known as the Lost Decoration of World War II.According to a 14th Air Force news release, the Lost Medal, which was awarded posthumously to Chennaull, was authorized in lfWii by the Chinese government. However, confusion reigned after defeat of the Japanese, mainly caused by the civil war that led to a Communist• takeover in 1949, and resulted in disappearance of the medal's authorization.Only a determined effort by a member of the I4tfi Air Force resulted in distribution of the medal, which commemorates service in China.(iraman Kidd, a Florida resident who served with the 14thir. China^eventually tracked down docun^tatfoh for ™n,acted theChinese embassy through Mrs. Chennault. It took him 29 years.The medal, which was noted on a few discharge papers and service records, was “generally considered a myth, according to the news'^Ger^ChenauU's Flying TlgOT were easily oneot Ihe mostronunHcM of the war — and not without reason. The commander entered against Japan as a volunteer before the regular United States Air Force arrived. He formed a squadron called the American Volunteer Group,commonly known as the Flying Tigers.This group formed the nucleus of the 14th Air Force, which was bom in 1943 The Flying Tigers earned a reputation in China of reckless bravery, which endeared it to the Chinese, and also one of independent, non-regulation attitudes which upset the Air Force establishmentMr. Trzcinski says Chennault, who sometimes briefed his bomber squad after a mission, told his men to forget salutes and oiher formalregulations and “act like me.” „ ,Among Mr; Trzclnski’s many records and photographs of China and the Flying Tigers Is a sketch in a 14th Air Force Assn. booklet. An apparent reprint from a Chinese newspaper, it depicts; two'Simple peasants walking along a beach past the ancient wreckof a F-38 Flying Tiger.The caption says in effect: 1 don't know what it is, but they say if you louch it, it will somehow keep away the evil spirit.
Newspaper Details
North Adams Transcript
North Adams, Massachusetts, US
Thu, Oct 06, 1977
Page 18
Full Page
Clipped by
Jessica W.
NA, 21 Sep 2024
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North Adams Transcript
