Lexington Books
Pages: 164
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9⅛
978-1-4985-0264-1 • Hardback • April 2015 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-4985-0266-5 • Paperback • April 2019 • $46.99 • (£36.00)
978-1-4985-0265-8 • eBook • April 2015 • $44.50 • (£35.00)
Edward T. Chang is professor of ethnic studies and founding director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California at Riverside.
Woo Sung Han is advisor to the Republic of Korea Air Force Chief of Staff and board member of the Korea Center for United Nations Human Rights Policy.
Preface: Koreans in America: from Farmers to Independence Activists
Introduction: Journey to Willows: Korean Independence, Nationalism, & Exile
Chapter 1: Establishing the Willows Aviation School: Battling Three Fronts
Chapter 2: Setting the Record Straight: the School and its Members
Chapter 3: Korean and American Aviation History
Chapter 4: Notable Korean American Pilots, Independence Activists, and Organizations
Chapter 5: Furled Wings: Carrying on the Mission
Epilogue: From Willows to Seoul: Last Flight of Park Hee-sung
The saga of the Willows airmen is an interesting one that needed to be told, and in doing so, Chang and Han add significantly to our understanding of Korean American history and the Korean nationalist movement.
— Korean Studies
[This book] examines the little-known history of the school that trained more than 30 combat pilots, its place in the fight to free Korea from Japanese rule (Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945), and its significance in Korean American history.
— UCR Today
Edward Chang and Woo Sung Han nicely piece together various historical documents to show how Korean immigrant leaders established and operated the Willows Korean Aviation School/Corps in 1920 to train fighter pilots in the independence movement against Japan. This book not only sheds much light on the pioneer Korean immigrants’ transnational independence movement, but also on their economic adaptation, racial experiences, community organizations, and military services in the U.S. during World War II.
— Pyong Gap Min, Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
In this superbly researched study, Edward T. Chang and Woo Sung Han provide valuable information about an oft-cited but little-known chapter in the histories of the early Korean American community and the Korean independence movement. Chang and Han ably bring together these two histories in this fascinating study of the Willows Korean Aviation School/Corps.
— Richard S. Kim, University of California, Davis
Chang and Han shed light on and bring new evidence to a little known, but fascinating dimension of Korean American history and experience.
— David K. Yoo, University of California, Los Angeles