By Richard Douse

    His name was Robert F. Short.  He was the first American to die in aerial combat with 
the Japanese.  He was also my father’s best friend and flying buddy.  And, while they had an
airmail run between Spokane and Seattle, Washington, both were daredevil barnstormers
on weekends.  Together, Robert Short and Carl Douse planned on starting their own airline
but it was not to be. 

    Robert was also a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Army Reserve.   As Japan began its march to dominate 
all of Asia, Robert was given the assignment of delivering an airplane to China.  It was an experimental 
fighter plane, built by Boeing and given to the Chinese.  On his flight to Nanjing on February 19, 1932 
he ran into trouble when three Japanese fighter planes engaged him in a fight.  He was able to shoot 
down one of them, killing a Lieutenant Kidokoro.  At this point the other two broke off the engagement 
and Short continued on to his destination.

    A fragile and yellowed news article from my mother’s family album tells the rest of the story that 
occurred a few days later, and includes the following printed letter to Robert Short's mother.

Mrs. Elizabeth Short

Dear Mrs. Short:

    With the greatest respect and deepest regret we beg to inform you that, when on February 23 at about 3 PM, six piratic airplanes 
from the invading Japanese Navy were circling over Soochow, dropping bombs on an entirely unarmed and innocent civilian population, 
destroying lives and property alike in a wanton fashion unheard of before, your heroic son, Robert Short, flying a Boeing plane, engaged 
in a fight with the above planes, and after a 10 minute machine gun fire, he was shot and nose-dived to death.

    It is true that Robert Short failed to bring down any of the invading planes, but he did kill the Japanese flyer who headed the raid, 
thereby preventing the Japanese attackers from carrying out their bombing raid to the extent that they originally intended.

    The best words of condolence are insufficient to express to you our sorrow and sympathy in this bereavement of yours.  But we can at 
least assure you this: No parents could have a more heroic son than Robert who gave up his own life that others might live.  He dared Might 
and died to defend Right for humanity and civilization.  To say that he was fighting for China alone would be belittling his gallant and 
humanitarian deed, because it is for humanity and justice that he died.  The name of Robert Short will live long in the scroll of honor of 
great men, and his meritorious service will ever be in the memory of all Chinese.

Yours sincerely,

(signed)           Chiang Kwang-nai  (Nominal Commander-in Chief of the Chinese 19^th Army)
                        Tsai Ting-kai  (Commander of the 19^th)
                        Tai Chi (Chinese Shanghai Chief of Police)

    Robert’s funeral was delayed a month so his mother and brother could attend what became 
in China the largest funeral ever given a white man.  Over 500,000 people filled the streets of Shanghai.  
The prominent Chinese banker, T. V. Soong, speaking for the Chinese Government, 
said, “Robert Short, a friend from a distant land, flew out of the sky and gave his life . . . to the 
Chinese people this act of courage and sacrifice was electrifying.”  Posthumously, Hero Short 
was created a Chinese Colonel.

    You will not find Robert Short's name in our history books.  Why his name and deed have been
forgotten or overlooked, I can't say.  But Robert Short was the American ideal, I think.  A young 
man whose sense of right and wrong were separated by only the thinnest of lines. A man who 
did not hesitate to run to his plane, turn the prop by hand to start it, and then, all alone, rush into 
the sky to certain death in order to save innocent people he had never met but knew were in deadly 
danger.  In Robert's world, Americans were fearless.  It is, I think, his kind of courage that identifies 
the very best of what it is to be an American and provides a shining light for the rest of us to try to follow.

But . . . the Chinese citizens of Suzhou (Soochow) have not forgotten!  They remember him 
to this very day!   Below is a picture of the monument erected circa 1986.  Also shown are
pictures that tell the story of Robert's heroic act both in English and Chinese.  These photos
were taken from the memorial museum (the Chinese call it a "Temple") located next to the 
monument.  These pictures were generously provided by Mr. Maurice Chi (pictured below) 
of Wrentham, Massachusetts, who obtained them from a cousin during a recent visit to China.