The Flying Tigers

They volunteered. For a variety of reasons-patriotic, altruistic, mercenary, or just "for the hell of it"-nearly three hundred U.S. servicemen and a couple of female nurses volunteered to fight a war in a place they knew little about. Recruited at military bases around the country, the members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) set off for the unknown in the summer and fall of 1941. While U.S. support for the Allied cause was growing at a steady pace, most Americans still felt distanced from the conflict enveloping Europe and Asia and did not want to go to war. At the highest levels of the government, however, entering the war appeared inevitable. The AVG was one way of gaining experience in this vicious war, while increasing support for the nations fighting the Axis powers. Despite incredible odds against them from numerically superior Japanese forces and a near complete lack of supply and replacement parts, they took the first successful fight to the Japanese during a time of Japan's unrelenting successes. It was not pretty, and their legend has eclipsed the reality, but the reality of the AVG is still an amazing story. Led by Claire Lee Chennault, they made history.