A little History

This picture is showing what is called a blood chit.
I have it hanging on my wall in the living room.
Sorry for the flash but I do not want to remove it from the frame.
Now,for a little bit of history.
The Blood Chit,officially called a rescue chit,was originally used by those famous Flying Tigers of WW II.
Later all American flyers carried these or had them sewn on or into their uniform flight jackets.
The message written on them varied somewhat over the course of the war but remained basically the same.
I am an American Flyer. I have come to your country to fight the Japanese. If you help me you will receive a reward.
The actual literal translation did vary as I mentioned.
These blood chits have been used in all conflicts since that time.
The idea is, If I get shot down or have a mechanical failure I can produce this chit and hopefully you will help.
History tells us they have had limited success but any lifeline in an emergency !

My father was the flight engineer on B-24 bombers during WWII. He operated in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.
This blood chit was his and he brought it home after the war and placed it with his other mementos from that great conflict. It lay folded up in the attic for many years. My dad rarely spoke of the war only to talk about the airplane which he loved.
Never did I hear him complain about his time in the service. Nor did I ever hear him boast about it either.
It has been said that his was the greatest generation. I believe that to be true.

I lost my father,at least his physical presence,in 1990. My father is with me every day. I have his blood chit hanging on my wall and sometimes when I start feeling I have it a little rough I look at it.
How must it have felt to fold this small piece of rayon material with these fogien characters printed on it and place it in your pocket when you left for today's job. Knowing full well that piece of material could mean the difference between life and death.
Maybe I don't have it so rough after all.