Who's Who: Chop-Chop


Name: Wu Cheng
Born: 1922 - Shenyang, Manchuria
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Wu Cheng's early years were difficult. While he was still an infant, his family fled Manchuria to escape the oppression of the Japanese Kwantung Army. He was orphaned at an early age, perhaps by the conflicts raging across China at that time, and was forced to fend for himself.

It is known that Wu Cheng worked in the saloon run by Bat Lash in Shanghai (see Guns of the Dragons) for several years. It was there that he acquired his knick-name, Chop-Chop, and began to learn English. It was also where he received his first flying lessons, from Baron Hans von Hammer, one of Germany's top aces during WW I.

Wu Cheng was taken in by medical missionaries, who provided his first formal schooling. A very bright boy, Chop-Chop soon was assisting the missionaries, as well as helping out as a cook. When the Japanese bombed Shanghai in 1937, the missonaries escaped back to Europe, taking Chop-Chop with them. But Wu Cheng was not to find peace there, either.

His sponsors set up a clinic in Yugoslavia, but it was soon threatened by the Nazi invasion. Wu Cheng cobbled together an aircraft and flew to Blackhawk Island to seek their assistance in saving his friends. His mission succeeded and Cheng decided to stay on with the Blackhawks. At first, he served as a cook, but he accompanied the Black Knights on most of their missions and proved himself as both a fighter and as a pilot. He gradually was accepted as a full fledged member, though he wasn't presented with a uniform until 1941. Cheng returned to Manchuria for a time to fight the Japanese, but rejoined the Blackhawks when his mission there was completed.


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