USS Hornet Book Launch
On August 31, 2025, we, the co-authors of Peace Beyond the Frontlines and Healing a Nation, traveled to the USS Hornet Sea, Air, and Space Museum to participate as panelists in the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War II memorial event, where we presented our research on Sino-American collaboration in air transport over the Hump and medical operations during World War II.
We presented a summary of our co-authored books, beginning with Healing a Nation, co-authored by three girls, followed by Peace Beyond the Frontlines, co-authored by three boys. Each of us spoke for five minutes about the sections we had researched and written.
We presented our co-authored books for sale at the event and answered attendees’ questions about them.
While we were walking around, we met an old man who told us about his life. He talked about how he was the only Asian in his entire school. He had a bully during high school who came up to him during a reunion and apologized for him. He explained how back when he was younger, you had to physically type in the IP address of the website you wanted to go to if you wanted to go somewhere on the internet. You couldn’t just open up google and search up a site because google didn’t exist yet.
Attendee Steven Loane showed us a photo of the airplane his father, Ernest William Loane, piloted over the Hump. Ernest Willian Loane was a distinguished pilot with experience across some of the most pivotal air operations in WWII-era Asia. He had completed 226 round-trip flights over the "Hump".
One of the event attendees was showing us details from a book he had brought with him.
On the flight deck, there were several planes on the deck, along with a group of people using a drone to take group photos. We went up to the front of the flight deck to take a group picture ourselves. While up there, we talked about the movie Titanic, specifically the scene where the male main character is standing behind the T-posing female main character. We thought about recreating it, but decided not to. We then walked around the flight deck, taking photos with the many planes before going back down.
When we got back to the book stand, we were able to watch a performance commemorating the Flying Tigers, American fighter pilots who flew in China during the 2nd Sino Japanese War. The performance involved a band, which played some extremely energetic and loud songs. The second song in particular used the cymbals so much, it felt like my ears were going to fall off. The songs were quite enjoyable to listen to, despite the volume.
After a long day aboard the USS Hornet, we were finally able to go home. We loaded our unsold books into our cars, then drove home to eat dinner. We had a very productive evening, selling many books and meeting interesting people. In the future, I hope to visit the USS Hornet again, maybe for an event like this.
