CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- At the invitation of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a group of 36 people, including Jeffrey Greene, Chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, Harry Moyer, McMullen, and other veterans of the American Volunteer Group (known as Flying Tigers), visited Chongqing on November 1. Chongqing Stilwell Museum was their first stop in Chongqing, where the delegation relived eventful years in the war of resistance against Japan and enhanced friendship between China and the United States.

After presenting flowers to the portrait of General Stilwell, and visiting his former residence and the exhibition for General Stilwell's life and the American Air Force during World War II, the delegation members signed their on the “wall of friendship” together to renew the friendship between China and the United States.

In 1941, United States General Claire Lee Chennault set up the American Volunteer Group, which fought against Japanese fascism with the Chinese military and people and developed a profound friendship between the two nations.

General Chennault's granddaughter Jia Lanhui also visited Chongqing. She got emotional when learning about the heroic deeds of his grandfather. Influenced by her grandfather, Jia Lanhui had fond feelings for aviation and thus opened an aviation school. "When my grandpa came to aid China during the war of resistance against Japan, the first thing he did was to train pilots. That’s why I established an aviation school. I hope that students from China and the United States will study and work together for the development of the aviation industry,” said Jia Lanhui.

Since its foundation in 1998, the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation has been committed to popularizing the historic stories of the Flying Tigers and the Hump Line during the World War II period among the people of China and the United States, commemorating the friendly cooperation between the two nations during the time of war, promoting mutual understanding, and enhancing friendship.

“We expect more American students will visit and study here in the future. Maybe it should have happened 40 years ago.” Many Americans don’t know what the Flying Tigers is, but the Chinese do, said Greene. He believes that both China and the United States should strengthen exchanges between the students of the two nations, and the Chongqing Stilwell Museum offers opportunities for Americans to learn and remember this history.

Harry Moyer is the oldest member of the delegation and the last World War II pilot to fly the world-famous Curtiss P-40 Warhawk in 2018. In 2020, Moyer celebrated his 100th birthday by flying on a plane alone. This time, he visited China accompanied by his son, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, grandson and granddaughter.

The 98-year-old Flying Tigers veteran Melvin McMullen was a technical sergeant of the U.S. Army Air Corps, who served as a B-24 Liberator bomber gunner and assistant flight mechanic in the 308th Heavy Bomber Brigade, 425th Bomber Wing, 14th Air Force. In September 2015, he participated in a series of activities in China to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against the Japanese and the Victory of the World War Against Fascism. This time, McMullen visited China accompanied by his wife Jennifer, his son, and his daughter-in-law. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)