Just a little bit odd to see a reference to China in a small Texas Panhandle town?
In 2002 a gift was sent to the Texas panhandle town of Dalhart. The type of a gift meant for someone highly respected, a bronze bust of a man. You see, James Fox was killed along with two Chinese pilots when they were attempting to deliver weapons to the resistance forces fighting the Japanese in China. Weather seems to be taking its toll on the statue. I really hope at some point, it is restored and moved inside. A gift of this magnitude from a country …. should be well cared for and revered. Personally, I am in awe that such a gift, exists. I feel compelled to stop, whenever we pass through Dalhart, and pay my respects …
James Fox Monument Inscription Wording:
On the Front: “He was an American Pilot who valiantly sacrificed his life in China for the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. The Chinese people will forever remember his name, Jams R. Fox, Jr.”
“President Jiang Zemin
The People’s Republic of China
October, 2002”
On the Reverse: “James R. Fox, Jr. was born March 16, 1919 in Dalhart, Texas. In order to support the war of resistance to Japanese aggression in China, in November, 1942, he volunteered to fly for Pan American Airways, then a joint US-Sino airline, transporting the anti-Japanese supplies to China through the dangerous hump route. On March 11, 1943, Fox and his two Chinese co-pilots were killed on such a mission when the Douglas C-53 cargo they were flying crashed. In 2002, the Information office of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China especially made the bronze bust in his memory.”
The wording on this particular monument is powerful. The world is deeply indebted to this man, as well as, others like him who were part of the greatest generation the world has ever known.