Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Yi Kuo-juei (Yi Guo-rui; ; March 7, 1906 – July 3, 1990) was a Chinese Air Force

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

Biography

Born in

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

China's

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

province, he was the sixth son of Yi Man-sheng (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 易滿生;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Yì Mǎnshēng) and Hu Jin-rong (

: 胡金容 ;

: Hú Jīnróng) and he studied at the

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...

's 6th class, where

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

served as Chief Commandant. He later graduated from Army University 陸軍大學畢業. Lieutenant General of the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) 中華民國空軍, he served as the commander of the Air Force, the commander of the Chengdu General Station, the acting commander of the Chengdu Military Region of the Air Force, the deputy commander of the Major General of the First Air Force of the Republic of China Air Force, and the deputy director of the

General Political Warfare Bureau The Political Warfare Bureau (GPWB; ) is the affiliated authority of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) that is responsible for all the political warfare affairs of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Histor ...

of the "Ministry of National Defense". In the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

where the ROCAF was augmented by a volunteer group of American pilots known as the

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

, Yi was involved in attacks on Japanese air and ground forces. In 1945, the Japanese surrendered in China's capital,

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

重慶. During the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, Yi engaged in combat against the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

along the

Taiwan Strait The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide. The Taiwan Strait is itself a s ...

, and assisted in the "

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western Fr ...

" of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

beginning in 1948. In 1950, he was ordered to hold one of the Republic of China's last remaining airfields in China, Mengzi airport, but it eventually fell to the communists in December. Yi and the #26 battalion led thousands of people through the jungles of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

on foot, and received political asylum in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in 1951. Yi was a recipient of the

Order of Loyalty and Valour Order of Loyalty and Valour ( Traditional Chinese: 忠勇勳章) is a military award from the Republic of China. It was created on 23 September 1944 for outstanding command in battle. It has one rank. Reference list Orders, decorations, and med ...

忠勇勳章, Exemplary Medal of the Spirit of Chu 莒光楷模獎章, Good Service Medal 優績獎章, Order of Loyalty and Diligence 忠勤勳章, and recognized as a national hero 克難英雄 by

(

: 蔣介石;

: Jiǎng Jièshí) for overcoming great difficulties at Mengzi. Yi was the head of athletic operations in Taiwan which included the

Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team The Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team is the men's basketball team representing the Republic of China on Taiwan in international competitions, organised and run by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA; ). The team was known ...

, and organized the first Asian Basketball Confederation Championship held in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

on January 16, 1960. The team required 14 players, but Loo Hor-kuay, Liu Zhong-hong, and Zheng Zheng-nan withdrew due to their academic studies. The Taiwan team finished with a record of 7-2 and placed 2nd overall. Yi died on July 3, 1990. Yi_kuo-juei_shenyang_1947

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yi, Kuo-juei 1906 births 1990 deaths Republic of China Air Force personnel Members of the Kuomintang People from Changsha Whampoa Military Academy alumni