Celebrating the New Year
Personnel of the 3rd Bomb Squadron stationed at Peishiyi (Baishiyi) ended 1944 with three consecutive nights of Chinese opera. Afterward, all American officers and enlisted men of the Chinese-American Composite Wing stationed at Peishiyi were invited to attend New Year's celebrations hosted by several Chinese civic organizations that banded together to honor the men who came from far away to aid in their war against the Japanese aggressors. They held separate dinner-dances―for officers on Saturday evening, December 30, and for enlisted men on Sunday evening, New Year's Eve. Both parties took place in Chungking (Chongqing) and included buffets and music, and "many girls of all nationalities were present and available for dancing.” My father, then Sgt. James H. (“Hank”) Mills., remembered attending with TSgts. Ewell F. Wilkerson and John P. Barge.