Winston Churchill once said, “All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.” In Tom Brokow’s book The Greatest Generation, he emphasizes characteristics and values developed by the men and women who came of age in the Great Depression and fought in World War II (Pumpherey). In A Flying Tigers Diary, it is clearly documented how Charlie Bond – as well as his future wife Doris Walker, the nurses serving the AVG and his comrades – represent the greatest generation,;a generation that fought for freedom and justice, with honor and hope for a better future.
Bond pursued a military career and spent his life serving his country in the most destructive war of the century. He was a man with a high standard of personal responsibility and an incredible sense of duty to serve his country. Born to immigrant parents in the midst of the depression, Bond struggled through poverty to get an education, and earned membership in the National Honor Society. Throughout his life he showed his dedication to excellence. Unable to afford college, he enlisted in the arnmy for a year in hopes to eam an appointment at West Point, but was unsuccessful so he returned home to v the family business.
However, he refused to give up. He knew from an early age that he was destined for aviation, and what’s more, to be a fighter. He succeeded in becoming a flyving cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps, learned to fly and was assigned to the Second Bomb Group. While disappointed, he diligently leaned the ins and outs of that aircraft. In 1941, he learned of and leapt at the opportunity to get back to fighters by joining the American Volunteer Group. His goal was to get a regular commission for a career in the Air Corps, but that was a long time coming. It wasn’t until 1948 that he got that commission and in the meantime he got a lot more than he bargained for. He signed a contract with the AVG for a year and got shipped overseas. He kept in touch with his future wife and his family, whom he loved deeply. In those months, he also itched for action with the Japanese.
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During training at Toungoo, Bond and the other pilots dedicated countless hours to becoming familiar with the P-40 and the Japanese Zero to ensure the best results possible for the AVG when in combat. Despite poor conditions of planes, limited resources, stressful conditions and sometimes irritating lapses in-between spurts of action, most of the pilots persevered. Morale was lowest when there was nothing for the men to do and Bond himself had to break up a few fights. He also became a subtle leader. He was given more and more responsibilities as time passed and men often came to him with concerns. When squadron bickering and dissatisfaction is at an all time high, particularly with Sandy Sandell, Bond recognizes how unhealthy that is for the group as a whole ad works to make relations better. Bond, and his fellow comrades realize how stacked the odds are against them, that it is only a matter of time until the Japanese defeat them.
However they refuse to give up. They even stage impressive, and vital, raids on the headquarters of the Japanese Air Force at Chiang Ming that buy precious time for the British. While disheartened by losses they endure and rally together to fight with even more spirit. Even after being shot down on two separate occasions, “Old Hard Luck Bond” was anxious to get back in the cockpit and return the heat to the Japanese. His loyalty to Chennault was impressive, especially when the general consensus of the men was resignation from the AVG. Bond was one of the few who pushed on and volunteered to stay another two weeks. He didn’t do it because he wanted to, but because he understood that it needed to be done. He saved thousands from his time overseas and once home, he took care of his parents then started a family of his own before rushing back into uniform. Over the next twenty or so years, Bond served the United States and rose to the rank of General. He also received a degree from Texas A&M in two years and fathered three children. He was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Medal and in 1967 old Flying Tigers comrades selected him to receive the Flying Tiger AVG Trophy for Outstanding Aviation Achievement. The next year, Doris barely survived an illness and Bond realized it was his turn to support the woman who had faithfully supported him over the years. He retired to live out the rest of his days with her and his children.
Doris Bond is revealed through bits and pieces in Bond’s diary. He mentions that he’s fond of her, how they met in Dallas and that he was courting her while he flew with his bomber outfit before he volunteered for the AVG. He thinks of her often and misses her quite fiercely. While bond primarily writes of his day-to-day activities he mentions Doris sporadically in 14 different entries. The first time is in early September of 1941. He is questioning his departure and thinking seriously about her. By late November he comments freely that he is “sure she loves [him) as much as [he] knows [he] loves her” (Bond, 47). While Bond certainly does appreciate the beauty of the foreign women, he remains faithful to Doris and buys her silk pajamas and jewelry in his time off the boat and on his days off. It’s a good thing he remained faithful too, as many of the other men contracted venereal diseases from their lack of discretion. In his entry after Pearl Harbor, he realizes for the first time that this is truly war, that they “may be bombed before daylight” (Bond, 52) and that he wants her to be with him. The first thing he does whenever he would set up his room was put her picture where he could see it. He also kept one folded in his wallet at all times (Bond, 90). By March of the next year, he writes that he “will marry her when [he] gets back” (Bond, 123).
Their frequent communication greatly helps his morale and desire to make it home. Doris’ dedication is expressed as well when he writes of her wishing to come overseas and stay with him if she could (Bond, 126). When Bond returns to the States, he first goes to ask about his regular commission and when that was denied, sets up a job before going to see her. However, as soon as he gets home, they are married by her father on September 14″, 1942. By Christmas of that year, she is pregnant with their first child. It is remarkable how she stood faithtully by a man married first to his military career. Her willingness to sacrifice time with him and practically raise their three children on her own as he worked to rise in the ranks, steamroll through college and then move their family around for years. Bond reciprocated her selflessness when she nearly died and he retired to be with her. She took the qualities of personal responsibility to a whole new level. She respected her husband’s urge to serve his country. She honored him through her faithfulness, dedication and perseverance. She was a woman of the greatest generation.
Emma Jane “Red” Foster and Jo B. Stewart, were mentioned sparsely in A Flying Tiger’s Diary, but their role as nurses for the AVG was significant and they are also women who represent this generation through their actions. The extent of their service went beyond maintaining the physical health of their patients, but also their morale. Whether the men are restless from lack of action, antsy at the anticipation of the next bombing siren or disheartened by the reminder of the threat of death lingering at every empty place at the table, the nurses are there to ease the tension by heading up a good “bull session.” Every time they are mentioned, it is with a positive connotation. The two nurses are housed separately from the men but come to their dining hall often and have the habit of cheering them up through simple talk of other things. Bond himself makes time to be around them to talk and refers to them as “great gals” (Bond, 47) and of Jo specifically, that “she is a terrific person, loved by all of the men” (Bond, 150). She even sneaks him some sherry when he is in the hospital after being shot down. He was very appreciative of how good, kind and considerate they were to him during his stay. The bond between the nurses and the men was strong particularly between Red and John Petach who married. Petach was one of the few men who volunteered to stay an extra two weeks and was tragically killed in a plane explosion during a bombing dive, leaving his new wife an unborm child alone. In a way, Red gave everything she had to the war effort.
Brokaw asserts in his novel about the greatest generation that those men and women developed values of “personal responsibility, duty, honor and faith.” As a result of that character building, they were able to defeat Hitler, build the American economy, make advances in science, and implement visionary programs such as Medicare (Pumphrey). The women at home, nurses in the field and men in the sky “[at| every stage of their lives were part of historic challenges and achievements of a magnitude the world had never before witnessed” (Brokaw). Charlie Bond, Doris, the nurses, and his fellow men exemplified attributes of perseverance, courage and remarkable action under fire in A Flying Tiger’š Diary and were crucial in slowing the Rise of the Red Sun on China. They fought neither for fame nor recognition. They fought because it was the “right thing to do.”
