Maax Curtis Hammer, Jr. was born on April 27, 1916 in East Saint Louis, St. Clair County, Illinois. He was the son of of Maax and Ruth Akins Hammer. Maax graduated from East St. Louis High School and attended college at Washington University (St. Louis), Univ. of Mo. (St. Louis) and LSU (Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA). He studied military science and obtained his private pilot's license while living in LA.

On December 23, 1939, he enlisted in the US Army and went into the US Army Air Corps. He attended Basic Flight Training at Randolph Field, Texas. He graduated from Advanced Flight Training in May, 1940 with Class 40-E and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the US Army Air Corps. He became a P-40 fighter pilot and was likely stationed at Mitchel Field, NY and assigned to the 8th Pursuit Group.

On July 15, 1941 Maax resigned from the USAAF to join the American Volunteer Group which was a group of civilians signing up with CAMCO to fly as part of the Chinese Air Force and defend the Burma Road against attack by the Japanese.

Along with 27 other volunteers Maax went to San Francisco, CA, stayed in the Bellevue Hotel and then boarded the Dutch liner Bloemfontaine. They sailed on July 24, 1941 bound for Rangoon, Burma but they changed ships in Singapore and arrived at the Port of Rangoon aboard the Penang Trader on Sept. 15, 1941. They boarded the train and arrived at Keydaw Airfield late that night. Maax was assigned to the 2nd Pursuit Squadron, known as the Panda Bears.

On a familiarization flight on a stormy Monday morning, September 22, 1941 Maax's P-40 aircraft entered an inverted spin from which he could not recover. He crashed in the jungle approx. 8 miles from the airfield. He was buried on Sept. 24, 1941 in Grave #2 of the Airmen's Cemetery at St. Luke's Anglican Church in Toungoo, Burma. He is now buried in the Oakland Cemetery, Carbondale, Jackson County, Illinois, USA .

Maax was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com