In Search of Ghosts

In Search of Ghosts is a memoir of a former Flying Tiger returning to China in search of his past as a 19-year-old B-25 tail gunner fighting the Japanese during WW II in 1944-45. Traveling alone to places he had been during the war and to the small village where he spent a year fighting the Japanese, the author recalls his combat experiences and his meetings with John Birch and Ho Chi Minh. He explains his empathy for the Chinese people in their impoverished condition during the war as compared to their improved lives in the year prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre. An excellent comparison between China’s past and present and a vision of its hope for the future.

In Search of Ghosts is a memoir of a former Flying Tiger returning to China in search of his past as a 19-year-old B-25 tail gunner fighting the Japanese during WW II in 1944-45. Traveling alone to places he had been during the war and to the small village where he spent a year fighting the Japanese, the author recalls his combat experiences and his meetings with John Birch and Ho Chi Minh. He explains his empathy for the Chinese people in their impoverished condition during the war as compared to their improved lives in the year prior to the Tiananmen Square massacre. An excellent comparison between China’s past and present and a vision of its hope for the future.

Earnest Dale Johnson was born in Colville, Wash., in 1925, and grew up in Spokane, Wash. After service in World War II as a tail gunner with the Flying Tigers stationed in China, he returned to the U.S., studied law, married and raised five children. His first wife, Ann, died in 1977. He later married Katherine Troutner, who died in 2009. He holds a B.S. (Ed.) degree from the University of Idaho. His military awards include a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal. His interests include writing, travel, hiking, fly fishing, cross-country skiing and bicycling. He is an avid reader and a student of foreign relations, especially China. Johnson lives in Boise and McCall, Idaho.