World Battlefronts: When a Hawk Smiles

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Now the General has only one ambition: to beat Japan. He well knew what Roosevelt, Churchill, the Gissimo meant when they said this week that "serious and prolonged operations" would be necessary (see p. 32). Chennault's hatred of the Jap is deep and fierce. He broods over his hard task, listens sympathetically when his officers say: "The way to kill flies is to pour gasoline on maggots where they breed. Flyswatter stuff isn't going to win the war." Chennault knows that maggots breed within the great cities of Japan, and that the only place from which they may now be reached is China. But he smiles his hawk's smile and says: "I've been sitting here taking it for six years, and I guess I'll just keep taking it until I can give it back."