Posted on 11/14/2004 6:38:02 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
At 89, famed Flying Tiger Tex Hill is as quick as ever with an Aggie joke, and still likes his Scotch whiskey.
Thin and frail now, his kidneys failing, the old warrior knows the years are closing in on him as no enemy could during his many aerial duels in the sky over China. But it doesn't seem to bother him.
"I never even think about it," Hill said. "But as far as being frightened, I'm not."
David Lee "Tex" Hill is as unaffected by fear as he is by fame, so some might not realize he's a retired one-star general who inspired John Wayne's character in the 1942 film "The Flying Tigers."
A Navy carrier pilot, Hill traded his tailhook for the chance to help lead the volunteer Flying Tigers in the months before Pearl Harbor.
In his first dogfight, Hill shot down two Japanese fighters but limped home to find dozens of large bullet holes in his P-40 Warhawk. He never even saw the plane that put 33 rounds into his cockpit and wing root.
During the war, Hill shot down more than 18 planes and earned about 20 medals, including the Silver Star, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and six from China.
He earned the Distinguished Service Cross for an Oct. 25, 1942, battle in which he and seven other Americans took on 24 fighters. Hill shot down one fighter, winged two more, and was credited with forcing a Japanese retreat.
As he talks of those aerial duels, Hill moves his hands in the air and his eyes stare into space.
"I can see the action clear as day," said Hill, who has logged 4,000 hours, virtually all of it in single-engine planes. "One bomber I got exploded, and it knocked a hole in my wing."
The Flying Tigers' exploits were about the only good news in a depressing 1942 marked by one defeat after another, as the Philippines, Indochina and Singapore fell.
Throughout it all, the Flying Tigers were the first Americans to defeat the Japanese, racking up a 15-to-1 kill ratio and likely stopping them from conquering China and then threatening British-held India.
"They had a very big impact on both American and Chinese morale," said T.R. Fehrenbach, a San Antonio historian and author of "This Kind of War," a widely acclaimed history of the Korean conflict.
"Up to the time they got there, the Japanese air force could just go bomb at will, anywhere," he added. "(The Flying Tigers) provided the Chinese with the only air force they had, and an effective one in the sector in which they operated."
The Flying Tigers started out as an all-volunteer group of Americans serving in China and Southeast Asia before the United States entered the war. Some served only until the disbandment of the unit in 1942; others, like Hill, were commissioned into the U.S. Army Air Corps in China.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager hasn't forgotten the day Hill dropped by his Nevada air base, where he was a fledgling flight cadet, and talked of tangling with the Japanese.
That day inspired Yeager, who would go on to became a double ace in Europe and break the sound barrier in 1947. They later became hunting buddies and still make appearances together.
"Man, we were in awe," Yeager wrote in his autobiography. "Shooting down an airplane seemed an incredible feat."
There was hero worship aplenty recently as the University of Texas' Institute of Texan Cultures made a big deal out of an old pair of standard-issue Navy flight boots. A crowd of 120 gathered as boots Hill wore about 50 years ago were placed in the "Texans: Footprints and Imprints" exhibit.
In a town where the defenders of the Alamo died with their boots on, it is perhaps fitting — if a bit quirky — to showcase the footwear of famous Texans. They range from a pair of black stitched western alligator boots worn by President George W. Bush to house shoes used by the late U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan.
"Shoes represent the whole of a person," said Shirley Boteler Mock, the exhibit's creator. "They're always moving."
So, too, is Hill — if not quite as fast. He likes to fly as much as ever and actually misses combat. Though nearing 90, he "shot down" Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan three times in a mock dogfight in Houston earlier this year. Hill thinks Cernan let him win, saying, "he's a hell of a lot better pilot than I am."
That isn't false modesty.
"Tex won't tell you four things if there were only 31/2," said his wife of 62 years, Mazie. "He just tells it exactly like it is."
Indeed. A little more than two minutes into his speech at the institute, Hill voiced his support for President Bush and Gulf War II. He said "to not stay the course (in Iraq) would be absolutely unthinkable," and that terrorists fear they can't survive if democracy sweeps the region.
Hill told the crowd that attempts "to downgrade our efforts over there, I just think is treason to me."
That tough talk is directed at the media, which he believes has played up the bad side of the war — including the rising GI death toll. That, in his view, undermines the morale of our troops and their families.
Almost 60 years after the end of World War II, he appears at military reunions and book signings 20 to 30 times a year. Hill fears the history of his Flying Tigers isn't taught in school and wants to pass it on to a new generation.
Those showing up at these events often are middle-aged suburbanites with kids in tow. He's appeared in a lot of television documentaries as well, and puts in the time for one reason.
"If you don't know what your mistakes were or what your successes were, you're going to repeat your mistakes," he said.
When at his one-story home in Terrell Hills, Hill often spends his days in an office crowded with Flying Tigers memorabilia. An inflatable shark floats over Hill's head as he turns to his desktop computer, where he occasionally sends out e-mail messages.
He presses on. There are evening walks to take, books to sign, tales to tell. A lifelong sportsman, he continues to hunt and fish, and enjoys the chance it gives for solitude and contemplation. If Hill no longer makes history, he still embodies it with the tenacity of a Flying Tiger.
"My doctors said, 'Tex, you're going to live, but you're not going to get well,'"Hill said. "Whatever that means. I'll fight it, for sure."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sigc@express-news.net
Wow. What a great story.
What an awesome gentleman, I hope his remaining years are filled with love and laughter.
God Bless you Tex, and thanks..
for keeping us safe!
Another Texas legend.
Bump
(hand salute)
Carry on!
±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." 
Toward FREEDOM
Thanks for the ping!
I read about this on armyairforces.com
Tex was my hero when I was growing up. (He still is)
The feats of the AVG and Claire Lee Chennault in the BCI theater are unforgettable.
Also, I read that Maj. General John P. Henebry has died.
http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m_133028/tm.htm
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