China salutes US ‘Flying Tiger’ veterans and relatives on friendship mission
- Former air force members Harry Moyer and Mel McMullen are among a group visiting Beijing and various parts of the country where the volunteers fought alongside Chinese
- President Xi Jinping says the Flying Tigers can still help to foster better relations between their nations
Amid US-China tensions, Beijing on Monday saluted a group of visiting veteran American volunteer pilots to celebrate friendship between the two countries during the second world war.
“The Chinese people always remember the heroic deeds of the Flying Tigers and we will never forget our old friends,” Han said.
“More than 80 years ago, China and America fought side by side in the battle against fascism, and the great story of the Flying Tigers carries the deep friendship forged with their lives and blood of the two peoples .”
The two men are visiting with relatives of other members from the American volunteer group on a trip state broadcaster CCTV described as a journey to “enable friendship to be passed on from generation to generation”.
He Wei, vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, hosted the visitors at the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall in Beijing.
Other American visitors included Nell Calloway, granddaughter of Flying Tiger commander Claire Chennault, and Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, an organisation set up in 1998 to recognise wartime friendship between the two countries.
“I think we need to remember that we had fought together as brothers. We need to teach our children that we have created such a bond in war, and that in peacetime we should make use of our bond so we can build a happy home together,” CCTV quoted Calloway as saying.
Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote to Moyer, McMullen and Greene last month, saying “the hope and foundation of China-US relations lies in the people and the future of the youth”, a mission the Flying Tigers could still contribute to.
“Looking back at the past, the people of China and the United States stood together in the fight against Japanese fascism, endured the test of blood and fire, and forged a profound friendship,” Xi said in the letter.
“Looking ahead, as two major countries, China and the US bear even greater responsibilities for maintaining world peace, stability, and development. The two countries should and must achieve mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
The Flying Tigers were founded in 1941 as the First American Volunteer Group and became part of the newly activated 14th Air Force in 1943.
They not only engaged in air combat against Japanese forces but also ensured transport across the Himalayas from what was then British India to China’s southwestern provinces, the base of the resistance government. According to CCTV, more than 2,000 American volunteer pilots died in such missions during the war.
The visitors, which include many of the third of fourth generations of the American volunteer pilots, will also travel to Chongqing, Yunnan, and Guangxi, where the Flying Tigers fought alongside the Chinese.
Stilwell was described as a “a great friend to the Chinese people” by Zhu De, a founder of the Chinese Red Army, which later became the People’s Liberation Army.
