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for American Flying Service Foundation
Speech by Miss Lee Ya Ching, Sept. 7, 1941

Ladies and gentlemen-
I have been thrilled and deeply moved by your demonstration here this afternoon. I want to extend my greetings to each and everyone of the participating flyers who have so skillfully worked together to make this event a success.

I find it all the more wonderful because it proves without a doubt that every individual American is learning more and more to assume responsibility in the defense of democracy. I know that once this spirit of cooperation and sacrifice for national good is aroused within Americans, it can be used to accomplish great things. This spirit, I feel, will guarantee the future of the kind of government and institutions which your and my people hold dear.

[[strikethrough]] I have seen my country hurt time and time again by the aggressor's strongest weapon: the airplane. And each time I watched one of those deadly pineapples, as we call them, come out of the sky, to add another bruise to my country's anguished body, I wished so very much that we could in some way be able to counteract this menace. In fact, I used to think to myself- it isn't fair that one country should have no planes to defend themselves while others have an abundance- especially since we Chinese have been so eager to meet this air challenge, but have been so lacking in equipment to do it.

But today things have changed and soon we will be enabled to put up a real fight, and to end the crude assaults of aggressors in the Far East. First of all- through the overwhelming generosity of Americans- we are beginning to receive bombers. They come in crates [[strikethrough]] over t [[/strikethrough]] on trucks over the winding Burma Road. They come ferried by American pilots from Singapore. [[/strikethrough]]

appreacation Chinese people of what America is doing

Transcription Notes:
Are the last two paragraphs strikethrough?