David Lee "Tex" Hill, a renowned leader of the Flying Tigers -- a small volunteer force recruited to help defend China in the early years of World War II -- died at his home at the age of 92, media reports Friday.
Hill died of congestive heart failure at his San Antonio home Thursday with his wife and his two children at his bedside. Before he died, his wife told him, "You're free to go."
"We're going to miss him a lot, and he's definitely in a better place now," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Reagan Schaupp, Hill's grandson. "He was a hero to us and certainly to a lot of people."
Gov. Rick Perry called Hill a "genuine American hero and a Texan of the highest caliber" in a statement.
"Whether he was flying from the decks of a carrier as a naval aviator, fighting with the legendary Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group, winning a Distinguished Service Cross, or commanding the first jet unit in the Army Air Forces, he always led from the front," Perry said.
Born in 1915, Hill was the youngest brigadier general in the history of the Texas Air National Guard. In 1941, he joined what was officially known as the American Volunteer Group, a squad recruited to help defend China against Japanese aggressors.
Hill was credited with downing 18 enemy planes, making him one of the top combat aces of the Pacific battleground.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and other decorations from the U.S., China and UK for his war service.
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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