General Claire Lee Chennault
1893 - 1958

Claire Lee Chennault was born in Texas in 1893, the son of Stonewall" Chennault, who was named after Stonewall Jackson. Chennault was a descendant of a soldier who fought with Lafayette in the American Revolution, and reportedly was related to Sam Houston and Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Claire Lee attended school in Gilbert, a small town in Franklin Parish, north of Concordia Parish, before settling on Lake John, in Concordia Parish. His youth was spent hunting and fishing along the Tensas River that separates Tensas Parish from Concordia Parish. Frequently, he would spend days alone, on these hunting expeditions, sleeping outside, and eating small game he had killed.

Tragedy struck young Claire Lee twice, as a boy. At age five, his mother died. Then, ten years later, his stepmother, Lottie Barnes, who at one time had been his teacher, also died. Claire Lee became a loner.

Claire Lee attended Louisiana State University at the tender age of fifteen. Missing his hunting and fishing days of his youth, Claire Lee managed to get himself expelled every spring so he could go back home, and spend days and weeks camping, hunting, and fishing. Eventually he quit LSU, and attended a state teachers' college.

Claire Lee first married Nell Thompson from Waterproof, Tensas Parish, in 1911. They eventually had eight children. When World War I began, Claire Lee attended Officer's Training School, but the war ended before he saw any action. Eventually, he was accepted at flight training school.

General Chennault with Madame Chiang Kai-shek
and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek

Chennault's military career was rocky. Unafraid to buck higher officials, and to challenge old military tactics, he gained a reputation as a troublemaker". In 1936 Claire Lee was released from active duty as a result of illness. In 1937, with China at war with Japan, he accepted an invitation by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Secretary of the Chinese air force, to build the Chinese air force. Claire Lee accomplished the "impossible," working with untrained pilots, inadequate airplanes, and poor runways. Chennault even personally flew against the Japanese, downing 40 planes.

In 1940, Chennault traveled to Washington, D.C. where he met with Thomas Corcoran, a representative of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As a result of that meeting, the United States sent 100 planes and 100 volunteers to China. Additionally, Chennault personally recruited American volunteers. The result was the American Volunteer Group, an extremely effective force that flew mission after mission against the Japanese during the early days of World War II.

Chennault applied several tactics against the enemy that proved to be successful. He implored the Chinese to set up dummy targets to divert the Japanese pilots. He changed the numbers on the Flying Tiger airplanes to give the impression the force was much larger than it actually was. He painted large shark teeth on his planes in an attempt to scare the superstitious Japanese. From this came the popular term, The Flying Tigers.

The original American Volunteer Group, aka Flying Tigers, evolved into the China Air Task Force, and then the Fourteenth Air Force. Chennault himself was continuously promoted, and was decorated by every Allied country. Typically, Claire Lee ran into personality and tactic differences with United States officials, and eventually Chennault was removed from China. Rather than accept another assignment, Claire Lee resigned his commission.

Chennault and his first wife Nellie divorced, and Claire Lee married Anna Chen, a Chinese journalist. The couple had two children.

As a civilian, Claire Lee formed an airline company called the Civil Air Transport, which was later used in covert operations by the CIA. Chennault died of cancer at the age of 65. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.