“The All-American Crew,” penned by the son of World War II aviator Loren Low, is a paean to the patriotism of Chinese Americans who overcame racial prejudice while fighting for the United States in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

The second novel written by physician and La Jolla resident Russell N. Low celebrates the heroism of Chinese Americans like his father Loren, and his uncle Stanley Low, who served aboard WWII B-24 Liberator bombers. Loren returned after the war. Stan didn’t. Both men’s families have since been honored with the presentation of Congressional Gold Medals.

“The All-American Crew,” out April 5, tells of Stan Low’s transformation from a Chinese-American boy not yet old enough to vote or buy beer, into a B-24 Liberator nose gunner. He experiences loneliness, racism, his first beer, his first romance, and the horrors of war: All themes as relevant now as 80 years ago. 

“My second novel tells their stories as part of a much larger narrative of our nation composed of many different groups pulling together for a common purpose,” said Russell Low. “Our strength then as now lies in our diversity.”

Low’s father and uncle were both war heroes.

“My dad ended up saving a whole company of men by extinguishing this massive fire the Japanese had started to try and blow up an airfield where they had a 500,000-gallon tank of aviation fuel,” said Low. “The fire had come within just a few feet of that tank.”

Stan Low was among a crew of 10 men who disappeared without a trace in New Guinea on Jan. 23, 1943. At russlow.com, Russell Low notes that neither his father nor his uncle “intended to be heroes and would not welcome the description.” He added they were Chinese Americans integrated into crews comprised of men answering to all descriptions and backgrounds.

“Theirs was an American story of a crew of 10 men all from vastly different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds who learned to serve and fight together,” said Low. “In diversity, they found strength.’”

Low’s second novel is a continuation of the exploration of his family’s past begun in his debut novel, “Three Coins,” the true story of his ancestor, Ah Ying, who was kidnapped and brought to America as a 9-year-old child slave in 1880. That was two years before The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed – and not rescinded until December 1943 – which prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers.

Low said his first two novels about Chinese Americans explore “the courage it took to come to this country where they were not wanted” adding, “Americans have benefited from the genes these people brought.”

Concerning the genesis of “All-American Crew,” Low said: “My family, we all knew about dad coming home with the Silver Star, and that his brother didn’t come home. We never heard from him again, he was never found, and we’ve never had closure.

“I wrote this book in a narrative, non-fiction way, so they (characters) have dialogue that brings them to life.”

Noting the bombardier crews his relations fought alongside included “a Jewish boy from the Bronx, a navigator schooled at Notre Dame, and an Irish pilot, Low concluded, “They all had to fight together to survive.”

Low’s father Loren returned after the war, moved his family to Stockton in Northern California, and became a carpenter. He died in 2008 and was interred at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma.

Low talked about the rationale behind his family going to war.

“My uncle and my dad were going to war for their country,” he said. “They didn’t care about the Chinese Exclusion Act that targeted Chinese immigrants. They were Americans. They were ready to die for their country. Stan was willing to take the risk and give his life.”

Low said men like his father who returned home after the war unfortunately found many things, like racial prejudice, hadn’t changed. “Those who came home were still faced with discrimination,” he said. “A lot of Chinese Americans weren’t allowed to buy a house in America in the 1950s.”

Of his father’s and his uncle’s war experiences, Low concluded: “This is an American story, not a Chinese story, about men who found strength in their diversity.”

Russell Low lives with his wife Carolyn Hesse-Low, an avid and well-known Plein air artist, in La Jolla where they raised their two sons, Ryan and Robert.