When my older sister, Merrilee, was in town last week, she, my mother, and I spent time organizing old family pictures. It was a heart-opening exercise. We came across a 1972 Daily Oklahoman newspaper article that showed a picture of my late father on the front page holding a $2 bill autographed by Chinese leader Chou En-lai in 1946.

Daddy was a 21-year old 1^st Lieutenant in the Army Air Forces flying C-47 transports in China. Gen. George Marshall wanted to get Chou En-lai from Yenan, 525 miles over rugged mountainous terrain, to Chungking for an important meeting. Daddy received orders to fly from Peishihiyi, where he was stationed, to Yenan to pick up Chou En-lai. Daddy's crew loaded ten 55-gallon barrels of gasoline on board to provide fuel for the return trip because none was available at Yenan. Four hours later, Daddy and his crew arrived in Yenan after flying at 18,000 ft. in the unpressurized airplane.

On board for the trip to Chungking were Chou En-lai, his entourage of 25 people, some of whom were family members, luggage, and two gift boxes for Gen. Marshall, one weighing 150 pounds, the other one 300 pounds. Because of bad weather, the trip to Chungking had to be delayed. Chou En-lai then asked Daddy to fly them to Hs-ian. Upon arrival, transportation into Hsian was provided by the government: a single, open truck for all to ride in, standing up in 20-degree temperature.

Proceeding on from Hs-ian to Chungking, the airplane encountered icing at 12,000 ft. and the plane's de-icers were unable to prevent heavy accumulation. They had to jettison all luggage and loose equipment on board, including the expensive gifts for Gen. Marshall.

Daddy then alerted all passengers and crew to put on parachutes and prepare to bail out in the event the aircraft stalled. Just as Daddy was about to give the command to bail out, the aircraft broke into the clear at the edge of the mountain range and they landed safely back in Hsian. "Chou En-lai came to the cockpit and thanked me profusely in English for saving all their lives," Daddy said. "Before that Chou En-lai had always spoken through an interpreter but he could speak perfect English."

The second attempt to get to Chungking was uneventful except for an instrument landing because of poor visibility. While waiting for their transportation, Chou En-lai asked Daddy if there was anything he could do for him. Daddy asked the Premier to autograph his $2 bill that was given to all pilots, like my father, who flew the "Hump," the famous WWII route into China over the Himalayan Mountains.

Everyone in our family remembers that autographed $2 bill that Daddy always carried around in his billfold. (During his tour in Vietnam in the late 1960s, Daddy thought it might come in handy if he was ever shot down.) We still have the maps Daddy used to fly in China, many of the routes uncharted. The $2 bill was misplaced but our memories will never be lost.