Portrait of Hazel Ying Lee in her uniform

Born in Portland, Oregon, Hazel Ying Lee earned a pilot’s license in October 1932 at the age of 20 and became the first Chinese American female pilot to fly for the United States military. At the time, less than one percent of pilots in the U.S. were female. A pioneer in women’s aviation in both the United States and China, Lee was one of two Asian American members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), an elite group of female pilots who flew fighter planes for the United States during World War II. Hazel Ying Lee tragically lost her life in the line of duty at the age of 33; however, she remains a trailblazer of Chinese American history and an American hero.