China's American hero pilot honored at Stadium High Memorial Day ceremony

He was almost forgotten in his hometown but never in China.

American aviator Robert Short was remembered and honored Friday at Stadium High School's annual Memorial Day Recognition.

On a balcony over the school's entrance, six horn players in formal attire played the national anthem.

Jacqueline Short Durgin, Short's niece, gave a speech about her uncle, a 1925 graduate of the school.

"Robert was shot down by Japanese imperial war planes ... near Shanghai, China on Feb. 22, 1932," she said. "Today, 86 years later, he remains an honored martyr in China."

Short was a member of the Washington National Guard while still a student at Stadium. On Friday, the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps members presented the colors at the ceremony.

Other veterans were recognized at the event. Pairs of students carried wreaths and placed them on empty chairs near the speakers' lectern. Each of the 11 wreaths honored young men from Stadium who died in World War I.

Short joined the U.S. Army Air Corps after high school. He eventually left the corps and headed to China in 1931. He got a job delivering planes from one part of the country to another.

Along the way, he befriended and grew to admire the Chinese.

“The Chinese are naturally inclined toward honesty," Short wrote on Oct. 13, 1931, "and if I’m fortunate in the future as I have been in the past, I won’t really miss much with regards to friendship, for the Chinese are very hospitable.”

During one of those delivery trips, Short encountered the Japanese squadron.

"The Japanese were preparing to bomb a train carrying Chinese refugees who were fleeing the bombing of their home in Nanking," Durgin said. "Calculating that the deaths of the refugees were imminent and unprovoked, Robert attacked the squadron."

He shot down one fighter before he was shot down and killed.

Durgin said her uncle was courageous and brave. At Stadium, he was well liked by students and teachers. His tendency to engage in action without spending too much time thinking about it beforehand was a concern for his teachers, she said.

"Robert Short went to China as just another American," she said. "His state funeral was attended by more than 200,000 Chinese citizens. He became and remains to this day, China's American hero."

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 3:20 PM with the headline "China's American hero pilot honored at Stadium High Memorial Day ceremony."