Writing this book and telling the story of the Flying Tigers has been the privilege of a lifetime, and I am thankful to everyone who made this possible. I am indebted to my grandfather Herman Kleiner for sparking my early interest in World War II as he told me about serving as a navigator on a B-25 in the Pacific. He and my grandmother Barbara Kleiner were invaluable supporters of my interest in history, taking me on countless visits to Fort Nisqually when I visited them in Tacoma. My other grandfather, Otis Miller, taught me about history through his passion for stamp collecting. I am grateful to them all.
I was fortunate to grow up in a family that nurtured my love for history: my parents, Jan and Rick, packed our vacations with visits to museums and battlefields. As a monthly pilgrimage, they’d take me to the used bookstore Bookmans on Campbell Avenue in Tucson and would encourage me to pick up out-of-print tomes on one subject or another. I was lucky to grow up with a sister, and best friend, Emma Kleiner, who shared my love of reading. Thanks also to our family dog, Soda, who provided many years of support and love to us all—we miss her dearly.
I grew up attending great schools in Tucson and then was fortunate to go to Northwestern University, the University of Oxford, and Yale Law School, where I learned from amazing professors. I will never forget my first visit to an archive as part of an American studies course in college—I’ve been addicted ever since.
I’m grateful to have the best agent in the business, Gail Ross. She saw something in my ruminations about the Flying Tigers long before there was a book. Along with her colleagues Dara Kaye and Howard Yoon, she helped me develop this into a real book project. I was fortunate to have Rick Kot as an editor: he believed in this book even at moments when I struggled to, and he had a real vision for what this story was about. Viking has an incredible team that I was privileged to work with. Assistant Editor Diego Núñez was an invaluable guide on this journey, not only ensuring that the project made it to the finish line, but answering my endless questions along the way. The cover is thanks to the incredible Colin Webber and the layout is thanks to Nancy Resnick. Senior Production Editor Ryan Boyle did a phenomenal job transforming the manuscript into these finished pages. I’m grateful to Jeff Ward for helping to give this far-flung story a sense of place through his cartography. Tony Forde from Viking’s publicity team has done a fantastic job of ensuring this story gets told to new audiences. Jane Cavolina was a wonderfully detailed fact-checker and copy editor on this project. I am thankful to Dan Jackson, one of the best historians of the aerial war in China, for reviewing the manuscript. Of course, all errors are my own. Independent editor Tom Shroder was an invaluable colleague in developing the narrative for the book and ensuring that the story was being told in an artful way. Thank you to Grant Giles, for his many years of friendship and for designing the exceptional website. These brief acknowledgments fail to do justice to how much I relied on this team.
As I was working on this book, I had the incredible fortune of being invited to attend the Flying Tigers Association reunions, and I owe a great deal to that incredible group of men and women who are keeping the memory of the Tigers alive. They shared documents and photographs that allowed me to bring this story to life. Having the privilege to deliver the keynote to their 2017 reunion was one of the highlights of the book-writing process. I could go on for pages to thank each and every individual I met through these reunions and other relatives of the Tigers who helped me along this journey, but I wanted to mention a few: Billy McDonald III, Ed Boyd and the Harrington family, Reagan Schaupp, Edward Reed, Janet Alford, Lou Hoffman, Jr., Brad Smith, Ed and Nancy Stiles, Amelia Smith Lucas, Shiela and George Irwin, Audrey C. Smith, Tripp Alyn, Nancy and Mike Engle, Lydia Rossi, Ward Boyce, Lee and Michelle Clouthier, Keith Lee, and Joseph W. H. Mott. I’m especially grateful to Frank Losonsky, the last surviving Tiger, and his son Terry Losonsky. I had the privilege of interviewing Frank at the 2015 reunion, and when Terry started to tell me that we were discussing aspects of the Flying Tigers that “Pops” had never mentioned before, I knew that I had to write this book. Nell Calloway, the director of the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum, shared a great deal about her grandfather and was a major believer in telling this story. I’m thankful to Cynthia and Anna Chennault, as well as Roger Waddell, for providing access to the papers at the Chennault Foundation. These individuals, and many more, helped me to envision this tale as one that involved real people and drove me to tell the human story of the Flying Tigers. I am also indebted to the other World War II veterans who were gracious enough to tell me about their experiences: Chuck Baisden (who was an armorer in the AVG), Abe Schumer (who was stationed in India), Paul Crawford (who was shot down in China) and Fiske Hanley (who was imprisoned at Omori). I want to thank the many archivists who helped to make researching this history a joy, especially the staffs at the Yale Divinity School, Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, Grand Valley State University, and the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
I am fortunate to have wonderful colleagues at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, and I am grateful for their support as I completed this book.
Lastly, I couldn’t have finished this book without Laura Temel. Even when our dining table was covered with notes and every surface in our apartment was overflowing with volumes on World War II, she was excited about this project, and that meant everything to me. Laura, I am lucky to have you as a partner—not only on this book, but also in life.