- [Narrator] Hazel Ying Lee was the first Chinese American woman to ever fly for the U.S. military.

This is the story of how she lived up to her name.

Hazel was born on August 24th, 1912, in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Chinese immigrants.

She grew up in a small walkup apartment on Fourth Street in Chinatown with eight siblings.

And Hazel was a scrappy, competitive kid.

- [Narrator] She ran races, played sports, learned to drive, and in general enjoyed breaking the mold.

Her mom would say, she's not afraid of the wind, (speaking Cantonese) she's not afraid of the water.

(speaking Cantonese) When Hazel was a teenager, she went with a friend to an air show where she took her very first ride in an airplane, and it changed her life.

Hazel knew she had to fly.

To save money for flying lessons, Hazel got a job as an elevator operator at Liebes Department Store downtown.

- [Narrator] At the time, it was one of the only jobs available to Chinese American women.

- [Narrator] Hazel and her friends grew up under the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law that banned immigration of Chinese laborers into the U.S.

It was a reflection of widespread anti-Chinese racism at the time.

But nothing could stop Hazel.

She saved up enough money and by the time she was 20, she graduated from elevator operator to certified pilot.

But Hazel earned her wings just as the world was descending into violence.

In 1931, Japan invaded China.

This was the beginning of a long conflict that turned into one of the most brutal wars in history and left an estimated 20 million people dead.

The war eventually bled into the larger global conflict that became World War II.

It would be another 10 years before the U.S. got involved, but Hazel wanted to help, and she wasn't the only one.

Hazel's piloting skills led her to join what became known as the Portland Group.

They were a class of Chinese American pilots, specially selected by Portland's CCBA to train in military combat maneuvers under veteran Pacific Northwest Pilot Al Greenwood.

Their ultimate goal, travel to China and volunteer to join the Chinese Air Force.

But wait, why did a community of Chinese Americans in Portland, Oregon, turn to flight as a way to help China?

Well, a few things converged.

Aviation became culturally important to Chinese Americans as a path towards the future.

This was encouraged by prominent Chinese political leaders like Sun Yat-Sen who founded the Republic of China.

He coined the phrase, "Aviation to save the nation."

(speaking Cantonese) Meanwhile, Oregon had become an early hub of American aviation.

It was the first state in the country to develop a state board of aeronautics in 1921, and aviation was just super popular here.

The Oregonian even had an aviation editor, and there were multiple airports within miles of downtown.

So going to air shows would've been a pretty common activity for Portlanders at the time.

This was also before aviation became a legitimate profession.

So rules and stereotypes around who could or couldn't be a pilot weren't really written yet.

Because of all that, three of the first four Chinese American women to earn a pilot's license in the U.S. were all from Portland including Hazel.

So Hazel and her classmates left the US and traveled to China.

But despite a need for pilots, women were not allowed to fly.

when all her friends get a chance to fight.

- [Narrator] Hazel's mom, her sister Frances, and best friend Elsie, all eventually joined Hazel in Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, and they were in the city when it was bombed by invading Japanese forces.

- [Narrator] In the chaos, they escaped to Hong Kong.

Hazel felt powerless.

- [Narrator] Back in New York, Hazel took a desk job and tried to find a different way to help.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was fighting in Europe and the Pacific, and there was a shortage of pilots.

So a woman named Jacqueline Cochrane proposed an idea for a new pilot training program, one that would enlist women and train them to fly for the U.S. military.

These pilots eventually became known as the WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots.

The symbol of the WASP featured the shield of the Greek goddess, Athena, flanked by two silver wings.

They trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.

As soon as Hazel learned about the program, she applied and got in.

Hazel became the first ever Chinese American woman to fly for the United States military.

WASP served on bases across the country and worked long hours, seven days a week.

They were often the first to fly planes right off the assembly line, and they transported old war-weary planes to stations where they could be repaired.

They tested aircraft, ferried supplies, and trained other pilots.

And Hazel was the best of the best, one of around a hundred women out of more than a thousand who qualified to fly the most high powered fighters.

Hazel was a natural leader in the WASP and well loved by her comrades.

She was well known for her kindness, wit, humor, skill, and tenacity.

The WASP were tough, but the military considered these women civilian employees, even though they wore the same uniforms, went through the same training, and were expected to follow orders just like an enlisted soldier.

The nature of flying the newest, oldest, and recently repaired planes, made forced landings a pretty common experience in the WASP.

Hazel only had two forced landings in her career.

The first time her engine failed over a field in Kansas.

She landed safely and was able to call for help.

Later, Hazel was beginning her descent to an airfield in Great Falls, Montana, when she got an order over the radio to pull up.

Another plane above her was coming in for a landing at the same time.

The two planes were too close for safety.

Hazel pulled up.

The pilot above her received the same order, but his radio was broken, and he never got the message.

The two planes collided in the air.

Hazel was pulled from the burning wreck.

She survived the initial crash and was taken to a nearby military hospital, but her injuries were too severe.

On November 25th, 1944, Hazel became the 38th and last WASP to die in service.

She was 32 years old.

Three days later, Hazel's family received another telegram.

Hazel's younger brother, Victor, a soldier in the U.S. Army, had died in combat in Europe.

- [Narrator] Less than a month after Hazel's death, the WASP were disbanded.

The United States military would not even pay to transport Hazel's body home, and she was not honored with a military funeral.

So Hazel's family brought her back to Portland.

They picked out a spot for her to be buried on a hill overlooking the Willamette River.

- [Narrator] Hazel was buried next to her brother, the shield of Athena engraved on her tombstone.

It took more than three decades, but in 1977, President Carter finally recognized the WASP and granted them veteran status and benefits.

And in 2010, over half a century later, all WASP received the Congressional Gold Medal for their service record and revolutionary reform in the armed forces.

(peaceful music)