https://www.valor-and-memory.net/film daily 1.0 2025-09-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/e36e5ffc-1f74-446c-accf-0ee26752a66e/Flying+Tiger+pilots.jpg Film - Make it stand out How is it these American heroes are largely forgotten at home, yet still celebrated in China? Valor and Memory answers that question. In the process it explores the complex historical relationship between the United States and China. It is the story of the “Flying Tigers,” American pilots who travelled to China to help its people repel a brutal invasion; the “Chinese Tigers,” Chinese pilots who earned their wings at American flight schools in places like Arizona and Texas, then returned home to defend their homeland; and what might be called the “Chinese American Tigers,” young men raised in big city “Chinatown” neighborhoods, sent by the U.S. Army to China for their language and cultural knowledge as much as their technical skills. The “Flying Tigers,” the “Chinese Tigers” and “Chinese American Tigers” have almost all passed into history. But their valor and sacrifices deserve to be remembered… Valor and Memory premiered on Public Television stations across the United States in November 2024, as part of special Veterans Day programming. Go to the “Where to Watch” tab above for information about current distribution. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/034d3957-55f2-47c5-a1bb-3f0648d916ad/Valor+and+Memory_cover.jpg Film https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/90e24604-ef44-4c02-95eb-a8d376d81654/%21VAM+5+P-40+USAF.jpeg Film - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.valor-and-memory.net/distribution daily 0.75 2024-08-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829556-7GZZFDXL6I1R35YFL81K/NETA+logo+copy.jpeg Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829559-3UM8MCC9K82PANSXSVLY/Ed+White+NASA_resize.jpeg Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829563-TBAPNGHQ2274AYMJTT3A/2+Century+Masters.png Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829566-UKMGP19AP479NUE0ZMNC/3+Shanghai+1937.png Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829570-IS580DE3YV0LSZQ96K6X/4+People+in+Motion.jpg Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829574-4RRAE0LK5FVPASIP237L/5+Beyond+Beijing.png Distribution https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772829577-KFUJJ1HLKO8VU4Q4T4GI/6+Invisible+Love.png Distribution https://www.valor-and-memory.net/classroom-activities-additional-activities daily 0.75 2024-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/8627cb14-7660-425e-b28a-801849994f6c/Flying+Tigers+title.jpeg Classroom Activities - Additional Activities - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/25aa7e86-7ea6-49a1-98cc-01b84e1483d1/The+Mountain+Road+title.jpeg Classroom Activities - Additional Activities - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/2dafa72f-2e88-4c82-aae3-d27fd1028be9/bus+stop+copy.jpeg Classroom Activities - Additional Activities - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/cbeaf479-5de2-46f4-8026-5a970e316e13/God+Is+My+Co-Pilot+title.jpeg Classroom Activities - Additional Activities - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.valor-and-memory.net/participants daily 0.75 2024-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/2bf21150-d65e-4ba3-a881-1dd827435485/Harry+Moyer+2023.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out HARRY MOYER, Flying Tiger “As one of the last of the Flying Tigers, I put myself out to be anything that can help that situation. That is my only hope. That is my primary purpose of being here at this age. To come to China and spread the story and the message of the Flying Tigers about America and China. They have to get together. Now it’s up to the new generation to do so.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/ae28e215-b013-4164-963a-54cb73082c36/RUSS+LOWE%2C+son+of+14th+Air+Force+veteran.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out RUSS LOWE, son of a 14th Air Force veteran “This is one of the missing chapters of U.S./China history, and Chinese American history. And now it is going to be incorporated as part of a bigger story of what happened in Asia during World War II.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/7400bb21-3ec5-4877-bec0-90bd2949c5bb/Hans+van+de+Ven.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out HANS VAN DE VEN, Ph.D., University of Cambridge “I think both sides have put a great deal of effort in saying, ‘Look, there is another way of thinking about US-China relations as one that is doomed to war. We have a common heritage in cooperation in the Second World War. We should not forget that there was a time when Americans put their lives at risk in order to support China.’” HEAR PROF. HANS VAN DE VEN EXPLAIN WHY, IN AUGUST 1937, CHINA DECIDED TO CONFRONT INVADING JAPANESE MILITARY FORCES IN SHANGHAI, NOT NORTH CHINA WHERE FIGHTING HAD BROKEN OUT IN JULY. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/fb0e4372-4362-48e5-b104-636dbe32ed58/Ho+Weng+Toh+SCMP+copy.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out HO WENG TOH, Flying Tiger “I was doing my exams in the Hong Kong University, and suddenly I heard the noise of boom, boom, boom. So, I was very curious, and I rushed the balcony to find out what's all the commotion. And to my surprise, I saw the bombers dropping bombs in Kai-Tak Airport in Hong Kong. I couldn't believe what I saw. I said, “This cannot be true. How come things like that had happened in Hong Kong?’” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/a24f62de-d0cc-4a33-8296-e8c3cb02a38b/Ann+Lee+4.jpg Participants ANN LEE, Researcher/Author “The National Chinese government, at that time, tried to recruit students, cadets, from the university. So, my second uncle want to apply for that. My grandparents know that it very dangerous, but for the country and they still let him to go. So, he just join the Chinese Aviation Academy.” HEAR AUTHOR ANN LEE EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCATING THE BURIAL PLACES OF LOVED ONES WHO DIED FAR AWAY FROM HOME DURING WARTIME. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/60a90491-c0da-48e4-b069-d30659acc996/Billy+Beck+Oakley.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out BILLY BECK OAKLEY, 14th Air Force veteran “I had… three guys in my crew. I had a co-pilot, and a navigator and an engineer. So, they give us this brand-new airplane, ‘so you all deliver this thing to Karachi, India.’ And they gave us the route, but they didn’t tell us when to get there. So, we had a good time.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/064f16c7-5f1d-44cf-9ad6-6315e718b51b/Wing+Lai.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out WING LAI, 14th Air Force veteran “(Our unit was) half American born and half China born. We call ‘em FOB and they call us ABC. Which is American Born Chinese and FOB is Fresh Off the Boat. We had a little difficulty there, but we got along pretty good.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/f7bc6e14-a726-43a2-8c70-c549cab2a2a1/Carl+Molesworth.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out CARL MOLESWORTH, Author and Historian “The Chinese American Composite Wing was probably the most unusual unit of any combatant of World War II, because it combined personnel of two different countries, who spoke two different languages, under the same command structure.” HEAR HISTORIAN CARL MOLESWORTH EXPLAIN HIS FASCINATION WITH AVIATION, CHINA AND WORLD WAR 2. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/5ef68a7b-f39c-421d-a051-b329deac1d73/Harry+Lim.jpeg Participants - Make it stand out HARRY LIM, 14th Air Force veteran “I was 19, I was ‘invited’ by the U.S. government to be in the Army. Mother was kind of sad about it, she was thinking of that old Chinese custom, your son gets in the Army and that’s it, never expect for him to come back alive.” HEAR VETERAN HARRY LIM EXPLAIN HOW CHINESE AMERICAN TROOPS OFTEN HAD TO LEAVE THEIR RURAL STATESIDE BASES TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL U.S. ARMY FOOD. https://www.valor-and-memory.net/trailer daily 0.75 2024-09-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/6047adc5-aaee-419c-8145-956199ed0fd3/image13.jpg Trailer - Make it stand out (click on image above or link below) https://vimeo.com/992191319 https://www.valor-and-memory.net/contact-us daily 0.75 2024-08-02 https://www.valor-and-memory.net/where-to-watch daily 0.75 2025-10-25 https://www.valor-and-memory.net/production-team daily 0.75 2024-07-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772834887-RYR6T8SJIHGRG9DL9Y9E/Loong_Headshot_purple.jpg Production Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772834890-74SKRK4OHPSR4SNFNTGI/Syd+Golston_2.jpeg Production Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772834894-E7S29EQKUIL8JSCHX15T/Ramos_headshot.jpg Production Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/a4c107e9-6951-4632-b66a-1a605adaa670/Min%27s+photo1+copy.jpg Production Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/001eead3-7e4a-45b5-9a08-9542e698ea30/Bill+Einreinhofer+profile+copy.jpeg Production Team https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/a1da6f9d-f9bd-49f6-b8c1-34d88180243d/Genia.JPG Production Team https://www.valor-and-memory.net/classroom-activities-media-literacy daily 0.75 2024-10-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/ea563722-96db-4f68-bd1e-d6fed4000120/Petach+headline.jpeg Classroom Activities - Media Literacy “The last communication received from him by the family was in February.” Four months had elapsed before Petach’s death. How is the communication from the military to home families different today? As the war continued, there was a huge volume of letters home to loved ones of the Greatest Generation. How did the government manage this volume? Research “Vmail.” Why was Vmail often censored? World War II Letters | National Postal Museum (si.edu) Letters from families and sweethearts at home contained lipstick kisses, graduation programs, photographs, and sometimes drawings. Choose one of the 8 pilots who died, and note the month of his death. Write a letter he would never receive from his loved one, describing what was happening on the home front. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-american-home-front-and-world-war-ii.htm TEACHERS: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HANDOUTS TO SHARE WITH STUDENTS _____________________________________________________________ What made this “The Greatest Generation”? The “Greatest Generation” is a term used to describe Americans who became adults during the desperate Great Depression of the 1930’s and then fought in World War II, or worked at home to win it. Reporter Tom Brokaw called them “a generation of towering achievement and modest demeanor, a legacy of their formative years when they were participants in and witness to sacrifices of the highest order.…This is the greatest generation any society has produced.” The documentary Valor and Memory traces the story of a remarkable group of young volunteer pilots who flew missions against the Japanese before the United States was officially in the war. If you can watch the film, or parts of it, the idea of a greatest generation will surely come to mind. Watch the trailer for a 1942 John Wayne film, and you will see that it certainly entered the minds of Hollywood producers. THE FLYING TIGERS (click to see video) History of the Flying Tigers These ace pilots were not members of the US armed forces during the seven months when they volunteered as the “American Volunteer Group.” They were in fact hired in by China’s leader Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Air Force in 1941 to combat better equipped Japanese aircraft, as the Japanese invaded and massacred the Chinese people. Their leader was Claire Chennault, a recently retired US Army aviator. Chennault convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to allow China to purchase 100 US airplanes. He recruited and trained flyers and support staff, including some Chinese Americans, to serve in this AVG. Based in the southern, unoccupied part of China, their most important role was to keep the Burma Road open to supply the Chinese. They are credited with downing 299 Japanese aircraft, and only lost 12 of their own. After Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers disbanded and Chennault and most of the AVG rejoined the armed forces. Some continued the mission of flying to supply the Chinese by joining the China National Aviation Corporation, carrying supplies instead of fighting Japanese airplanes. For their part, the Chinese built runways for the AVG in terrain that had never held such runways before. As you can see in “Valor and Memory,” the AVG has been honored both in the United States and in China. Why “Flying Tigers”? The airmen painted the heads of vicious tiger sharks on the noses of their aircraft. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/0bfa1a82-c058-4343-b0f0-51288129db72/Flying+Tigers+Burma+Road+newspaper+story.jpeg Classroom Activities - Media Literacy Questions Discuss in your pairs: What makes a “Great Generation”? Sacrifice, courage, empathy, altruism, opportunity, kindness, happiness, equality? Or some other values that a particular society lives by? In March of 1941. Why do you think that aviators would resign their US armed forces commissions to sign up with Chennault and the Chinese Air Force? After Pearl Harbor, many of the Flying Tigers served in Europe and won recognition as aces. Choose one of these to research his war record: Claire Chennault, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, James H. Howard. TEACHERS: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HANDOUTS TO SHARE WITH STUDENTS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/5650dfdb-9123-42b4-a340-c73903563676/Cooking+on+a+Ration.jpeg Classroom Activities - Media Literacy Based on the star symbols used on the service flag, the term "Blue Star" came into use in the United States as a reference to having a family member in active military service, while the term "Gold Star" refers to the death of a family member in the service. For example, the mother of a person who died in service is referred to as a "Gold Star mother", and the wife of an active service member is referred to as a "Blue Star wife". In President Franklin Roosevelt’s November 1940 proclamation for Gold Star Mother’s Day, he wrote that “the service rendered to the United States by the American mother is the greatest source of the country’s strength and inspiration.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1dbd4e92-d426-44f1-a906-0c51f64d96af/Rosie.jpeg Classroom Activities - Media Literacy Women whose family members served in the armed forces hung banners outside their front doors, honoring the sacrifice they made by running their households by themselves and the burden of worry that they shouldered. Rationing complicated providing food for the family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/14be5e74-ce1f-4799-a7d3-16d7c26bb0dd/blue+star+gold+star.jpg Classroom Activities - Media Literacy TEACHERS: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HANDOUTS TO SHARE WITH STUDENTS https://www.valor-and-memory.net/paradox-communications daily 0.75 2024-06-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837010-53LS9ZSKY75L94AF3V8R/Ed+White+NASA_resize.jpeg Paradox Communications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837013-0IJS2EH87OT0GRKCKO08/2+Century+Masters.png Paradox Communications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837016-E78XOAMFWD330W0DRFDE/3+Shanghai+1937.png Paradox Communications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837019-MA9QFMMRH7KQGQOMCY55/4+People+in+Motion.jpg Paradox Communications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837022-WQD286AMWO0K4GVG26I3/5+Beyond+Beijing.png Paradox Communications https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/1719772837025-Y20D5EVP5BSLB0A47SH5/6+Invisible+Love.png Paradox Communications https://www.valor-and-memory.net/bibliography daily 0.75 2024-08-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/d5e9e36c-adde-4376-91fe-d01dd26e4c9f/CACW+pilot+%26+instructor.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/f0d7d70a-398a-4523-aa90-660b3a2bce71/61x6g-iq0ZL1-4287921086.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/d190b021-a46d-4761-a9f7-f65ca14e5c8c/ubcfajjevcl-1171395128.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/b5d3f3ee-19f8-4792-9fa7-f070e5fc1e0b/2.+Flying+Tiger+Ace+cover+-+300+dpi.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/aca1cabc-9fbe-4303-a8c6-d69e5fdb5ef5/Hardcover%2BWing%2Bto%2BWing%2Bcover%2B150%2B%281%29.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6681a69baa4fb536270f65fc/434ad4db-c364-4557-9b31-1b341c522991/71qndQFOYJL._AC_UF1000%2C1000_QL80_.jpg