62 Chiang Kai-shek Japanese movements The Chinese government paid the AVG salaries and bonuses for downed Japanese planes In all, the AVG had 299 confirmed kills and damaged 153 planes so badly that they probably could not fly again, in addition to many destroyed on the ground It also destroyed thousands of tons of Japanese supplies and many trucks A total of 29 AVG men would become aces for recording five or more enemy kills It lost 12 planes in combat, 61 planes on the ground, 13 men in action, and 10 in operational accidents Although the U.S government could not honor the AVG members, the Chinese government decorated many for heroism, as did the British government for their actions over Rangoon Many of its men joined the regular U.S Army Air Corps after the AVG was disbanded Chennault also continued to serve in China, but for the U.S armed forces The AVG lasted for less than two years and saw action for nine months Chennault’s skill, temperament, and courage were essential for molding its members into a great fighting unit that inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese, boosted Chinese morale, and contributed to Allied victory in World War II Following the war Chennault remained in China to assist the Nationalist government against the Communists During that time he organized an airline called Civil Air Transport (CAT), which would later become a major resource for the U.S Central Intelligence Agency in South Asia Chennault died on July 27, 1958, in New Orleans, Louisiana Chiang Kai-shek led the Nationalist forces in the Northern Expedition and was ultimately defeated in the Chinese Civil War See also Sino-Japanese War Further reading: Chennault, Anna Chennault and the Flying Tigers New York: Paul S Ericson, 1963; Chennault, Claire Way of a Fighter New York: Putnam, 1949; Ford, Daniel Flying Tigers Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991; Schultz, Duane The Maverick War: Chennault and the Flying Tigers New York: St Martin’s Press, 1987 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) Chinese military and political leader Chiang’s proper name was Chung-cheng, but he is better known by his courtesy name, Kai-shek The son of gentry parents from Fenghua in Zhejiang (Chekiang) Province, Chiang was raised by a widowed mother, graduated from the first class of Paoting Military Academy, and then studied in a Japanese military school, where he joined Dr Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary move- ment, later called the Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party [Guomindang]), in 1911 It became his lifelong cause He fought in the wars that overthrew the Manchu Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty in 1911 and with Sun out of power in 1912, became a businessman in Shanghai In 1922 Chiang answered Sun’s call in Canton Sun sent him to the Soviet Union in 1923, where he spent three months studying Red Army techniques and in talks with Leon Trotsky (father of the Soviet Red Army) This trip made him deeply suspicious of Soviet intentions in China Back in China he founded the Whampoa Military Academy, which trained officers in Sun’s Three People’s Principles and in modern military techniques In 1926 Chiang led the Northern Expedition to unite China under the Kuomintang His rapid victories led to the capture of southern China and the Yangzi (Yangtze) River valley by 1927, whereupon he broke with the Soviet Union, expelled its advisers, and purged the KMT of its left-wing elements, led by Wang