- A fierce anti-Communist throughout his life.
- Was tee American general most highly decorated by China.
- Was given his third star (retired) two days before his death.
- Headed the Flying Tigers during World War II.
- A heavy smoker, his health declined rapidly in 1956. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 1957 and given six months to live. He made a final trip to Europe and visited Taiwan in January 1958, although he was extremely weak by that time. By the end of his life the cancer was found to have spread to his other lung.
- He believed the Communists had won the Korean War.
- He smoked two packs of Camel cigarettes a day, and already suffered from bronchitis by the mid-1930s.
- Despite his love for China, he never learned to speak its language.
- He advised against using American troops to subdue Communist uprisings in Asia and Europe, but urged the US to support clandestine operations in the People's Republic of China.
- His year of birth is often incorrectly given as 1890.
- He devised secret plans to pre-emptively bomb Japan in 1940 using US planes with Chinese markings and US bombing crews. The military situation in China meant this was impossible at the time, although Japan was later bombed very heavily in 1944-45 using Chennault's original plan.
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