Milestones: December 20, 2023

December 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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THE FLYING TIGERS — The U.S.-LED FIRST AMERICAN VOLUNTEER GROUP (AVG) OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE saw its first combat mission on Dec. 20, 1941, almost two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nicknamed the Flying Tigers, with a fleet of planes decorated with Chinese symbols, the volunteer corps consisted of pilots serving in the United States Army Air Corps, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps under the command of military aviator Claire Lee Chennault. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had authorized the recruitment of the AVG months before Pearl Harbor for the mission of defending the Republic of China from Japan and for bombing the latter nation. However, a series of delays occurred before that first mission after Congress had declared war on Japan on Dec. 8, 1941. During the early war years, with the United States suffering defeat in battles against Japan, the Flying Tigers were able to achieve certain inventive tactical victories, giving some hope to the Allies that they could defeat Japan.

There are several exhibits in the United States honoring the Flying Tigers. The National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, has an extensive display dedicated to the AVG.

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BERLIN WALL OPENS…BRIEFLY — THE BERLIN WALL OPENED TEMPORARILY ON DEC. 20, 1963, some two years after it was built, to keep East Germans from escaping a communist regime. The Berlin Wall’s construction in 1961 during the Cold War divided not only Germany but families that lived on either side of it. As part of an agreement between West Germany’s and East Germany’s governments, almost 4,000 West Berlin residents were permitted to cross into East Germany to visit relatives during the Christmas season. Eventually, more than 170,000 one-day passes were issued to the citizens of West Berlin wishing to visit family in communist East Berlin.

However popular this reprieve was with the impacted families, whose members were tearfully reunited with parents and siblings, it was widely criticized as communist marketing propaganda. Each visitor was also given a brochure that explained the wall was built to “protect our borders against the hostile attacks of the imperialists,” a sign that the Cold War was still in full force.

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DIDN’T SHIRK MILITARY DUTY — ROCK STAR ELVIS PRESLEY HAD JUST SETTLED DOWN FOR THE HOLIDAYS AT HIS NEW TENNESSEE MANSION, CHRISTENED GRACELAND, when on Dec. 20, 1957, he received a sobering letter. Uncle Sam, not a relative but the government, had sent him an army draft notice. Presley had already become a worldwide icon, and hordes of his fans sent letters to the U.S. Army, imploring them to exempt him from military service. Elvis Presley refused to shirk his duty but was granted a deferment so that he could complete his movie, “King Creole.” Presley was sworn in as an army private in Memphis on Mar. 24, 1958, and underwent basic training before being granted an emergency leave to visit his dying mother, Gladys. After being stationed at the Brooklyn Army Terminal for a short time, he sailed to Europe on the USS General Randall and served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armored Division in Friedberg, Germany, where he attained the rank of sergeant.

Meanwhile, Presley’s shrewd manager, Colonel Tom Parker, kept the revenues coming in by releasing previously-recorded singles. This way, Parker kept Presley in the forefront of the public mind.

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LEFT COLLEGE FOR A ROCK BAND AND RETURNED — SHE WAS A NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR AND MATHEMATICIAN WHO WAS LURED AWAY FROM THE ACADEMIC WORLD TO JOIN A BAND. Jackie Fox, born Jacqueline Louise Fuchs, on Dec. 20, 1959, joined The Runaways as a 15-year-old bass player and toured with them for two years before deciding that academics was her first love. She returned to U.C.L.A. (after having been accepted early-entry) and, this time majoring in Italian and linguistics, graduated summa cum laude. Fox then earned her law degree at Harvard, where future U.S. President Barack Obama was her classmate.

One reason for Fox’s leaving The Runaways was that she was also reportedly disenchanted with the other band members’ inability to get along. She would later use her experience with the band in her work as an entertainment lawyer.

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PUBLISHED POSTHUMOUSLY — BRITISH AUTHOR JANE AUSTEN’S last completed novel, “Persuasion,” was published on Dec. 20, 1817. Considered one of her most popular works, “Persuasion” is the story of a mature heroine with the theme of second chances. She began writing this work on Aug. 8, 1815, with a draft completed nearly a year later. However, dissatisfied with the ending, she rewrote the novel, adding two chapters. She completed “Persuasion” at age 40. Austen, who died on July 18 of that year, bequeathed to her sister, Cassandra, the unpublished novels and the copyrights to “Sense and Sensibility,” “Mansfield Park” and “Emma.” An arrangement was made to publish the remaining manuscripts as a four-volume set. “Catherine,” which was renamed “Northanger Abbey,” and “Persuasion” were part of that set.

Four months before she died., Jane Austen mentioned the novel “Persuasion” in a letter to her niece Fanny Knight on Mar. 13, 1817: “Miss Catherine [Northanger Abbey] is put upon the Shelve for the present, and I do not know that she will ever come out; but I have a something ready for Publication, which may perhaps appear about a twelvemonth hence. It is short, about the length of Catherine.”

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CHRISTMAS MIRACLES — THE HOLIDAY CLASSIC “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” debuted in theaters on Dec. 20, 1946. This enduring fantasy film is about a small-town businessman who is discouraged over unfulfilled dreams and always being there for others, a hapless angel named Clarence Odbody and a Christmas Eve miracle. James Stewart, in the lead role of George Bailey, learns how life would have turned out if he had never been born. The ensemble cast included Donna Reid as Mary Hatch Bailey, Lionel Barrymore as the curmudgeonly “richest man in town,” and Henry Travers as Clarence The Angel. “It’s a Wonderful Life” may not have won any of the five Academy Awards for which it was nominated, but became a classic, a critically acclaimed movie and a Christmas-season viewing tradition.

The movie is based on “The Greatest Gift,” Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story.

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See previous milestones, here.