Religious Figure, Social Reformer Chinese Patriot. He was considered the "Eyes of the 14th US Air Force" during World War II. Murdered by Chinese Communists at the end of the war, his name was used by American ultra-conservatives to name their Anti-communist John Birch Society. However, he was not anti-communist, only pro-Chinese and Christian, and anti-Japanese. Born of American missionaries in India, the son of George Snider Birch Jr. and Ethel Mae Ellis, and raised in Macon, Georgia, he became a Fundamental Baptist minister and requested China as his missionary post. Sent there in late 1939, he quickly became fluent in Chinese, mastering both the spoken and written language. When the US entered the World War II in December of 1941, the Japanese ordered the arrest of all American missionaries in China, and he went underground, adopting Chinese dress and manners. In April of 1942, he aided Doolittle Raiders by leading them out of China, and he requested an assignment to help fight the war. He was sent to General Claire Chennault, Commander of the 14th United States Air Force, the famous Flying Tigers, who made him a lieutenant and had him organize intelligence services and downed pilot rescue services behind Japanese lines. Over 90 percent of the American pilots shot down in China during the war were rescued by Birch's covert group. His organization was so effective that he was quickly promoted to Captain. At war's end, he was ordered to accept the surrender of a Japanese Airfield at Suchow, China. When he arrived, in US military uniform, he discovered it to be in Chinese Communist hands. Taking him prisoner, the Communists executed him. John Birch was buried in a raised mausoleum, on a hillside on the outskirts of Hsuchow, overlooking the city. The site had been selected by 1st Lt. Miller, a friend and colleague that had worked with him in China. He was buried next to the body of another 14th Air Force man, Flight Officer Samuel Evans.