China said farewell to the man who had fought for her so long with so little. Major General Claire L. Chennault, genius of the Flying Tigers and commander of the Fourteenth Air Force, was going home.
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek gave him a dinner and the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. Lieut. General Albert C. Wedemeyer, commander of U.S. forces in China, gave him an Oak Leaf Cluster for his Distinguished Service Medal. In mass tribute, 163 grateful Chinese organizations gave him 500,000 Chinese dollars ($12,500 U.S.), a gold key to Chungking, an embroidered umbrella, a souvenir book and a scroll.
U.S. generals, back from the European war and now at liberty, saw in China a theater where action was promised and there was room at the top. Lieut. General William H. Simpson, commander of the U.S. Ninth Army, who perhaps will become Wedemeyer's deputy, toured part of the China front last week. Bald "Texas Bill" was impressed. Said he: "From what I've seen and heard in the past ten days I'm convinced of one thing—the China theater is making a grand contribution toward speedy conclusion of the war."
Soon to arrive for duty still unspecified was able, leather-lunged Lieut. General Lucian K. Truscott Jr., late of the U.S. Fifth Army in Italy.