[BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhuanet) --] I'm glad we won the war, ... otherwise we would be speaking Japanese or German. |
[Davis touched many lives and left behind a legacy of good works. In good times and bad, he was always involved. John Rossi, a North Merrick Board of Education trustee, met Davis in the wake of the 2003 Mepham High School football scandal.] I remember that on a cold night in December 2003, as disturbing revelations continued to unfold about the Mepham football camp, a diverse group of community members gravitated to each other inside a church in Bellmore, ... Emotions spilled in every direction, and someone asked, 'Where are our school board members in all of this?' and John Davis stood up and said, 'I'm a school board member.¹ |
[That was the first time Rossi met Davis, but he said that from that moment on, Davis was a controlling voice and a leading figure in helping to found Bellmore-Merrick Parents for Change, an organization committed to changing state school-safety laws.] John provided a sense of direction -- he was a compass and a lighthouse during a very stormy period, ... John was a natural and gifted leader. |
Chinese people are very friendly. When we shot down the Japanese fighters on the first mission, people gathered around and brought us flowers, fruit and decorations. It's quite touching because they really didn't have much else. |
I don't have time to think about fears, ... I have to concentrate. I flew over 700 trips in China, it's hard to say which one was more dangerous than the other. |
I thought the war would be over in six months, ... if I knew it would last as it did, I would be going back to the navy. |
I'm glad we won the war, ... otherwise we would be speaking Japan ese or German. |
John inspired me to 'take a run' at the board in North Merrick. 'I think you could do it,' he said, ... John was in my life a short time, but he was like the older brother I always wanted. |
Sometimes several (of us) were shooting the same Japanese fighter.Who knows which one took it down, and we just shared the result, |
Sure I was excited when shoot down the Japanese planes. I also felt I was lucky to get back, ... I didn't get injured. Only one bullet slipped through the edge of my finger. |
There is real trouble in the sector. We're looking at a pretty tepid market this year. |
there was a saying that goes you could follow the crashed airplanes across the Hump. |
We hoped there came more Japanese airplanes, ... then we can shoot more down. But it never happened. |
We were not fighting the Zeros, ... our P-40 were better than the Japanese 97 fighters. We could run faster, far enough to turn around to come back and shoot them. |