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Chinese woman who was a pioneer
by Rishi Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:45 pm
In November 1944, Lee was delivering a P-63 from the Bell Aircraft factory at Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Great Falls, Mont. She was cleared to land just after 2 p.m., as a large number of P-63s approached at once, and in the confusion, her plane and another P-63 collided. She was pulled from a burning airplane, her flight jacket smoldering, and two days later, on Nov. 25, died from her injuries.
Soon afterward, her family learned that her brother, Victor, had been killed in combat in France, where he was serving with the U.S. Tank Corps. But when the family prepared to bury them alongside each other in a Portland, Oregon, cemetery, they were told that Asians were not permitted in the white section. The cemetery relented only after a fight.
Though they flew under military command, the women were classified as civilians and received no military benefits.
Another former pilot, Jean Harman, remembers the women taking up donations when one of their roommates was killed.
"They didn't even pay for our funerals," she said. "We had to pass the hat to ship her body home."
But Harman, who did not know Lee, shared her love for flying
"It was a passion," she said. "And to be able to do it for a patriotic reason was just icing on the cake."
The women finally received military status more than 30 years later, when the House and Senate voted to make them eligible for veterans benefits.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-35277_162-57609711/first-chinese-american-woman-to-fly-for-military-died-in-fiery-crash/
Soon afterward, her family learned that her brother, Victor, had been killed in combat in France, where he was serving with the U.S. Tank Corps. But when the family prepared to bury them alongside each other in a Portland, Oregon, cemetery, they were told that Asians were not permitted in the white section. The cemetery relented only after a fight.
Though they flew under military command, the women were classified as civilians and received no military benefits.
Another former pilot, Jean Harman, remembers the women taking up donations when one of their roommates was killed.
"They didn't even pay for our funerals," she said. "We had to pass the hat to ship her body home."
But Harman, who did not know Lee, shared her love for flying
"It was a passion," she said. "And to be able to do it for a patriotic reason was just icing on the cake."
The women finally received military status more than 30 years later, when the House and Senate voted to make them eligible for veterans benefits.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-35277_162-57609711/first-chinese-american-woman-to-fly-for-military-died-in-fiery-crash/
Rishi- Posts : 5129
Join date : 2011-09-02
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