My dad and I went to pick up my brother at the Denver airport sometime around 1970 and we were waiting at the gate. Dad, who had served in the China-Burma-India Theater of War saw a Flying Tigers plane and got a kick out of it.
My dad, born in 1906, was a bit too old to step forward in 1942.
He had flying experience and was recruited into the Hump Pilots in ‘43.
He flew as a civilian pilot and he was not the only civilian in the CBI.
He wore an officer’s uniform with the CBI patch but without rank insignia.
He was referred to as “captain.”