Editing Claire Chennault (section)

==Personal Life:==
Born on September 6, 1893, in Commerce, Texas, to John Stonewall Jackson Chennault and Jessie Lee Chennault, Claire’s birth year was often misstated as 1890 due to his father adjusting his age for college eligibility. Raised in rural Louisiana (Gilbert and Waterproof), he developed self-reliance through hunting and exploring the bayous. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1901, and he was raised by his aunt, Louise Chase, and later his stepmother, Lottie Barnes.

Chennault briefly attended Louisiana State University (LSU) as a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadet but left due to financial constraints. He completed a teacher’s training program at Louisiana State Normal School (now Northwestern State University) in Natchitoches in 1910, becoming a teacher in Louisiana.

Chennault married Nell Thompson in 1911, with whom he had eight children: John Stephen, Max Thompson, Charles Lee, Peggy Sue, Claire Patterson, David Wallace, Robert Kenneth, and Rosemary Louise. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946. In 1947, he married Chen Xiangmei (Anna Chennault), a Chinese reporter, and had two daughters, Claire Anna and Cynthia Louise. Anna became a prominent Republican lobbyist for Taiwan in Washington, D.C.

A heavy smoker, Chennault suffered from chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. He underwent surgery to remove part of his lung but succumbed to the disease on July 27, 1958, at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, at age 64. Nine days earlier, he was promoted to the honorary rank of lieutenant general. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with a headstone inscribed in English and Chinese.