Air Interdiction in China in World War II

Dr. Joe Gray Taylor, Sr. ( February 14th, 1920 - December 8th, 1987 ) was born in Tipton County ( north of Memphis, Tennessee, United States ). He was educated in public schools and attended Memphis State University, then Memphis State College ( 1937 - 1939 ). After graduation, he taught in a one - room school in Tennessee ( 1939 - 1941 ). 

After December 7th, 1941, following the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor ( Hawaii, United States ), Joe G. Taylor joined the Army Air Corps ( the U.S.A.A.F. ). Trained as a Bombardier - Navigator, he flew seventy missions on North American B - 25 Mitchell with the 81st Bombardment Squadron ( 12th Bomb Group, 10th U.S.A.A.F. ) in the China - Burma - India theatre ( 1944 - 1945 ). He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and three Battle Stars. 

After the war, Joe G. Taylor obtained his B.A. ( Bachelor of Arts, 1947 ) and M.A. ( Master of Arts, 1948 ) degrees from Memphis State College. He thereafter obtained the Ph.D. degree ( Philosophiæ doctor : Doctor of Philosophy ) in History from Louisiana State University ( L.S.U. ) in Baton Rouge ( 1951 ). Joe G. Taylor taught at Nicholls State University ( Junior College at the time ) in Thibodaux ( 1950 - 1953 ), prior to a four - year commitment as the historian at the U.S.A.F. Historical Division, Research Studies Institute at Maxwell Air Force Base ( near Montgomery, Alabama, United States ). 

Joe G. Taylor returned to teaching at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond ( 1957 - 1958 ). Then he returned to Nicholls State University from 1958 to 1963, when he became professor at McNeese State University in Lake Charles ( Louisiana ), a position that he held until his death. 

In 1967, Joe G. Taylor was elected President of the Louisiana Historical Association. At McNeese, he chaired the History Department ( 1968 - 1983 ), and then he was the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts ( 1983 - 1987 ). He received the McNeese " Distinguished Teaching Award " in 1979. He received the " Award of Merit " from the American Association for State and Local History in 1984. He was a member of the executive council of the Southern Historical Association for the last two years of his life. He was named Louisiana " Humanist of the Year " in 1986. 

Joe G. Taylor died in Lake Charles, at the age of 67. 

As a writer, Joe G. Taylor produced five monographs and four essays on Air Force history. Otherwise, he concentrated on Louisiana and the South. His works included Negro Slavery in Louisiana ( 1963 ), Louisiana Reconstructed, 1863 - 1877 ( 1974 ), Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South ( 1982 ), Louisiana : The Pelican State ( with Edwin Adams Davis and Raleigh A. Suarez, 1985 ). 

( sources : military.wikia.org, books.google.be, www.cbi-history.com, Wikipedia, www.amazon.com )