Wings of a Flying Tiger

by Iris Yang

  Cheers erupted from his listeners, and Danny felt the same flush of exhilaration he’d experienced at the time of the attack. His eyes sparkled. “Clouds of dust filled the air at the gorge as my friends and I kept dropping bombs. Can you imagine it? Trucks and tanks spun out of control, fell down the cliff, and exploded on the road hundreds of feet below. Rocks of different sizes rolled off the hillside and crushed the helpless Japs to death.”

  “Or buried them as they screamed!” Shitou added.

  Danny scanned the crowd. Everyone was absorbed in his story and thrilled with the result. Perching her chin on interlaced fingers, Daisy turned her face to him in a way that made him think of sunflowers turning toward the sun.

  With a dimpled smile and open admiration, Jasmine blossomed like the peony on her dress. His gaze lingered on her. He knew he shouldn’t do this, but he couldn’t help himself. Jasmine wasn’t just another gorgeous girl; she was the one who had saved his life. And he was crazy about her!

  Forcing his attention back to the story, he continued, “The better part is that our attack caused a massive landslide. It destroyed the road and cut off the enemy’s only escape route. Now the Japs had nowhere to run. No place to hide. The twisting path became a curse upon them. We passed back and forth along the road, killing anyone that moved. It was a fine sight.”

  Feeling like a coiled spring, Danny was ready to go back into action to score another victory like that one. “The explosions went on and on. Along with punctured gas tanks and secondary explosions, the road looked like an inferno.”

  He lifted his right hand and asked, “Where could the Japs go with a rocky wall on one side and a steep drop on the other? Where?”

  “Go to hell!” someone in the crowd yelled. And everyone cheered.

  “Hell is exactly where they went. And you know what? Salween River is also called Nu Jiang—Angry River…”

  Laughter filled the courtyard.

  “At one point, Jack called out over the radio, ‘O Danny Boy, are you ready for some action at the bridge?’ And I glanced at him on my left and gave him a thumbs-up. I knew what he wanted to do. ‘Count me in,’ I said. Side by side, we zoomed toward the bottom of the gorge. The Japanese engineers swarmed over the shoreline like little ants. With each of our six guns, Jack and I fired and made sure that they would never build or repair another bridge.”

  “Hao! Excellent!”

  “Wait! That’s not all,” Shitou yelled, as if he were one of the pilots, his eyes bright with enthusiasm.

  “Shitou is right. During the next few days, we returned to the gorge flight after flight and attacked the poor Japs. Within a week, no functional Japanese unit remained within a hundred miles of the gorge. We taught the bastards a lesson.”

  “I doubt the Japs will ever dare to go back to the gorge,” said Jasmine.

  Daisy agreed, “It would be suicidal. They wouldn’t be that stupid.”

  “Wonderful!” A collective roar went up from the crowd. Everyone, old or young, men or women, clasped their hands or waved their arms.

  Danny remembered seeing the same exuberant expression on faces of the Nationalist troops on the other side of the gorge. Watching the Flying Tigers’ attack unfold, the unkempt, drained 66th Division had been unexpectedly surprised by the winning battle. Along the river’s edge, the Chinese soldiers had cheered, embraced one another, and jumped up and down for joy.

  “Excuse me, Son, are you saying that no one fired at you?” asked Doctor Wang after the applause had subsided.

  Chapter 33

  “I’m glad you asked, Doctor Wang,” replied Danny. “Yes, they did engage us when we first appeared. We had to be quick. The Japs shot at us with everything they had as soon as we came into range. Speed was our only advantage. Gunfire was flashing all around me. In fact, I was hit—thirteen holes to be exact!” A collective gasp went up, and he hurried on. “Don’t worry; it wasn’t serious. Nothing we couldn’t fix later.”

  The villagers let out sighs of relief.

  “Where did you learn to fight like this?” asked the herbalist.

  “My friend Jack and I were both pilots in the U.S. Navy. Believe it or not, we’d never had any combat experiences before we came to China. None of the Flying Tigers had tangled with an enemy in the air. I wasn’t even trained to fly a P-40.”

  The audience shook their heads.

  “In fact, one of my friends left his gun switched off the first time we were in the air.” Danny chuckled, remembering his colleague’s crestfallen expression. “Things like this happened a few times before we learned our lessons.”

  “Unbelievable!” exclaimed Doctor Wang.

  “That’s why the Japs thought so little of us at first. They already had four years of fighting experience. They had a more maneuverable aircraft. The odds were against us. But we gave those arrogant bastards a surprise!” Danny beamed. With sheer determination and courage, the Flying Tigers had turned the tables on Japan in China’s skies.

  “Were you ever afraid?” someone in the crowd asked.

  “You bet!” Danny felt like he was giving an important press conference. “But we didn’t have time to acknowledge our emotions.”

  Everyone grinned at him.

  “One time Jack and I were alone in the air for about fifteen minutes. We had to face two dozen enemy fighters. The Japs took us by surprise. Most of our pilots were away from the base that day. Some had just come back and landed. And the rest of our planes were in the middle of maintenance or repair. Actually, Jack and I were enjoying our days off. I was reading a book. He was writing a letter to his fiancée, my sister.”

  “Jack married your sister?” Shitou exclaimed.

  “He was going to, but married men were not allowed to join the American Volunteer Group. So they postponed their wedding. He… was…killed during our last mission.” Bitterness crept into his voice. “We were going to be brothers-in-law.” He lowered his head to hide the hurt in his eyes.

  Daisy touched his arm.

  “I’m so sorry,” murmured Jasmine.

  Others offered their sympathy.

  Danny lifted his head, acknowledging their words. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Anyway, when we heard the report that the Japs were coming, we dropped whatever we were doing and raced for our airplanes. Luckily, two planes were ready to go. We jumped into the cockpits and took off.”

  The herbalist was tongue-tied: “Are you saying that the two of you were going to fight twenty-four enemy fighters?”

  “For about fifteen minutes, yes.”

  “Why? Why did you take the risk?”

  “We had to. It would have been a disaster if the Japanese had gotten through to our base. The planes on the ground were defenseless. They would have destroyed every single one of them. We had to hold them long enough so that the other Flying Tigers had time to refuel and take off.”

  The listeners shook their heads as Danny continued: “Jack was an excellent pilot. I couldn’t have picked a better partner.” He wondered if he would ever have another great wingman like Jack.

  Daisy touched his sleeve.

  Danny tipped his head and said, “Soon two dozen Japanese fighter planes showed up. They were ready to tear up our base. Side by side, Jack and I roared down on them, opening our guns. We broke their rigid formation and sent them scattering in all directions.”

  “What happened then, Dan Ni?” Shitou took a nervous breath.

  “I snapped off bursts of fire as I dived. One Jap plane was hit and spun out of control. But I didn’t have time to check on it. There was another in my line of fire, so I jumped at the chance. A stream of bullets hit its tail and fuselage. It turned into a fireball and plunged toward the ground.”

  “Wa!”

  “After that, I climbed to a higher altitude, ready for another dive. Jack did the same. He zoomed down, opened fire, pulled away, climbed, and dived back down. Again and again, the two of us repeated the maneuver, catching several Japanese fighters by surprise
. We held up the line and blocked their advance—”

  “So, instead of destroying your base, they had to deal with the two of you?” Jasmine asked.

  “Yes. Fifteen minutes later, more Flying Tigers joined the fight. These pilots didn’t have time to leave their cockpits before they were airborne again. I’m sure they urged the ground crew to hurry.”

  Shitou wiped his forehead in relief.

  “By then, the Japs had lost their advantage. It wasn’t their day. They’d already lost five planes. During the next twenty minutes, they lost three more. Believe me, the Japanese are not bad flyers; they have good training. They’re not cowards, as some people think. But after eight planes had been destroyed, they’d had enough, and they fled.”

  “Thank goodness!” The crowd let out a sigh of relief.

  “During the fight, both Jack and I were hit multiple times.”

  The audience tensed again.

  “My plane wasn’t too bad. There were a dozen holes in it, but nothing critical. Only my ammunition ran out. Jack had taken a bad hit. The Japs had punched several big holes in his plane. I shouted over the radio for him to bail out.” The phrase rang such a familiar bell. How many times I’d yelled at him like that? And how many times he’d barked at me in the same way?

  “He jumped out of his plane, right?” asked Shitou, leaning closer.

  “He didn’t.”

  “But you said he was hit badly.”

  “His cockpit was riddled with shots. His engine sputtered and coughed. Smoke shot back along his fuselage. He—”

  “So why didn’t he bail out?” Daisy implored.

  “Because he was trying to save his plane.”

  “Giving his life?”

  “Yep. I could hardly breathe when I heard his engine quit.”

  “What did he do?” Shitou’s eyes widened.

  “He stayed with his P-40 and did a damn good job putting it in a river. Our ground crews fished it out of the water later. Believe it or not, they were able to repair it. Jack—”

  “How was he?”

  “He was all right. He came out of it in one piece—only minor injuries.”

  “Thank God!” both Jasmine and Daisy cried.

  Everyone nodded their agreement.

  “So, back to your question. Was I scared? You bet I was scared! But there was no time for feelings. We were on a mission. To keep fighting is all that matters.”

  “You’re so brave,” the two cousins said in unison.

  “Jack always said that bravery didn’t mean a lack of fear.” Danny lifted his chin, his voice rising. “It was knowing that something else was more important than the fear. What I like to say is: Courage is doing something when you’re scared half to death.”

  Doctor Wang spoke up: “It is the highest honor to meet you. I’m sure that there isn’t one of us who doesn’t want to thank you.”

  The crowd murmured its agreement.

  With a gleam in his eye, Doctor Wang slapped Danny’s back. “Hao yang de. Excellent!” The herbalist raised his bowl again. He waited until everyone followed suit before offering another toast. “To Jack! We’ll never forget his sacrifice.” He clinked his bowl with Danny’s. “And to you, wo men de Fei Hu!”

  Tears welled in the American’s eyes.

  The tiger was considered the owner of great strength and vitality in Chinese culture. Fei Hu—a Tiger with wings—symbolized unparalleled power. Danny was touched by being called Wo men de Fei Hu—our Flying Tiger.

  Chapter 34

  After the party ended, Jasmine accompanied Danny back to his room. “Best birthday party ever,” he told her. The next time he opened the guns or dropped bombs, he knew that he’d have his Chinese friends in mind.

  “Hold on. Not done yet.” Jasmine lifted her right index finger then spun around and ran out of the room. Before Danny could blink, she returned with a homemade purple-and-black patchwork bag. She handed it to him, apologizing in her soft voice, “Sorry, I can’t find any gift wrapping.”

  “No, no, no,” he said. “No need to give me a gift.” He opened the bag. Inside, there was a white silk scarf. He didn’t know what to say.

  By now he knew that Jasmine had used both his scarf and hers to bandage him that night. She had apologized for shredding his scarf. But she hadn’t related any details. No matter how much he pressed her, she only smiled, her fingers twisting a strand of her long hair.

  “I know it’s not as good as yours,” she said. “I asked Linzi to buy one. This is the best he could find in Anning.”

  “This is beautiful.” While it was true, the quality of the new scarf wasn’t as good as the old one, the kindness of her gesture overwhelmed him. “I don’t know what to say,” he repeated. He was rarely tongue-tied. “You are the one who saved me; I should give you a gift—”

  “It’s not my birthday.” A shy smile created two dimples. She pointed to the bag. “There is another…” Her voice was almost inaudible.

  Danny put his hand into the bag and fished out a red sachet. “This is so pretty.” A white jasmine flower was hand stitched on one side, and a cute little tiger was embroidered on the other. A mischievous sparkle came into his eyes. “Isn’t he a bit chubby?” He pointed to the tiger. Its tiny wings seemed almost comic. “I doubt this fat little tiger can fly very high.”

  “It’s my...first time. I…” She lowered her head.

  “You mean you made this?”

  She nodded. The redness on her cheeks deepened, but she lifted her head as her dark eyes blazed with pride. “Smell it.”

  Danny put the sachet under his nose and inhaled deeply. A pleasant fragrance he’d already detected became stronger. “So sweet. What did you put in here?”

  “As many flowers as I could find. I added a couple of herbs good for repelling insects. I checked with Doctor Wang. Hopefully, mosquitos won’t bother you anymore. You can’t afford to get malaria again.”

  Once again Danny was speechless. “Another bout of malaria would kill me. I’ll keep this with me at all times. Thank you, Jasmine!”

  Such simple words didn’t come close to his feelings. Bending closer, Danny picked up her right hand and lightly planted a chaste kiss on it. From the night he’d caught a first glimpse of her, it was love at first sight—something a tough man like Danny had never expected. He fought the urge to pull her into his arms, because he knew that a full embrace might be too much for her comfort.

  Even in the faint light, stars danced in Jasmine’s eyes. She bit her lip. But she didn’t pull her hand away as she’d done the first time he’d taken it that night. Her heart fluttered as if it had sprouted wings and flown into her throat. She longed to stare into his eyes, but she was afraid he would see the blush on her cheeks. Neither broke the silence, each mindful of everything that went unsaid.

  Her hand was still in his when Daisy burst into the room. Immediately, Jasmine stepped in front of him, trying to hide the red sachet.

  But Daisy paid no attention to what they were doing. Blood had drained from her face, and fear shone in her eyes.

  “What is it, Daisy? What’s wrong?”

  “The Japs are coming!”

  Chapter 35

  “Oh, my God!” gasped Jasmine. “The Japanese troops are looking for you, Danny.” She grabbed his right hand and flung his arm over her shoulder, ready to take him away. But where could they go? Where could they hide him?

  “Wait!” Danny gestured with a wave of his other arm. “How many are there? Where are they now?” If they were close, he couldn’t allow the young women to stay with him. That would be too dangerous. He would order them to run. But where could they hide? The village was so small, only a dozen houses. It would be easy for the enemy to find them. Perhaps he should tell them to run up the mountainside and into the forest. The Japanese wouldn’t know that area.

  Daisy was breathless. “They captured Anning yesterday. Linzi just came back from the town.”

  “Are they on their way to the village?” Danny
was surprised that the Japanese had seized the nearby town so quickly. They’d been hundreds of miles away when he’d checked just a few days ago. Through Daisy’s father, General Chennault had told him to stay put and take care of his injuries and his illness. If the enemy troops were closing in, then the General wouldn’t have taken the chance—for his safety and everyone else’s. Japanese were notorious for punishing whoever assisted American pilots. The tragic news of an entire village being slaughtered simply because they’d saved a Flying Tiger flashed through his mind and sent chills down his spine.

  “I don’t know,” replied Daisy. “I left when I heard the Japs were in town. I’ll go back to—”

  “No need.” Doctor Wang entered the room, his thin face hard. “They’re not here, not yet. But we have to go. We can’t take any chances.”

  “That’s right,” Danny agreed. “We can’t afford to… But where are we going with so many people? Where can we find a safe place?”

  “Not the whole village. Just you and the girls—”

  “What?” chorused all three.

  “There’s nowhere for us to go. This is our home.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t worry about us. We’re just farmers, villagers. They can’t kill everyone in the country.”

  “No, it’s too risky.” Danny shook his head. His stomach was tied in a knot. “What if they find out an American pilot is here?”

  “I told everyone not to mention you to any outsiders. No Japs will know you’re here. Besides, this village is tiny and remote. There isn’t an official road, only a footpath known by the locals. It’s hard to find. I doubt the Japs will even come up here. Sending you away is just a precaution. No need to worry about us.”

  “But—”

  “Danny!” interrupted Jasmine. “Listen to Doctor Wang. Where can an entire village hide? This is their home.”

  “Where are we going?” Daisy asked. Worry knitted her brow.

  “A small cave. A secret hideout. No one except my family knows the place.” Doctor Wang shifted his gaze to the cousins. “We’ll meet here again shortly. Take clothes, food, and medicines. I don’t know how long you’ll have to stay there—at least a few days.”