Flying Tigers veterans revisit China, honoring wartime friendship; Xi urges carrying forward the spirit of peace and unity.
Beijing, China, Sept. 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On October 30, 2023, in Beijing’s late autumn, sunlight shines on the square in front of the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression near Lugou Bridge, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge. Nearly a centenarian, Flying Tigers veteran Melvin McMullen walked slowly toward the statue of US General Claire Lee Chennault, holding a white chrysanthemum, which he gently placed at the statue’s base. Taking a deep breath, he straightened his stooped back and gave a standard US military salute.
That same day, a young student from a primary school in Beijing, dressed in a navy-blue and crisp white shirt uniform, solemnly returned a Chinese Young Pioneers salute to the visiting Flying Tigers veteran. At 103, Harry Moyer smiled, stepped forward, and high-fived the student, their hands meeting with a clear clap – a resonant echo of the wartime camaraderie between Chinese and American people, 80 years later in a time of peace.
This scene was part of the 2023 visit to China by a delegation of Flying Tigers veterans and their descendants, organized by the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation. Over 10 days, more than 30 members revisited Beijing, Chongqing, Kunming in Yunnan Province, Liuzhou in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Zhijiang in Hunan Province – places where the Flying Tigers fought and shed blood alongside the Chinese people.
In 1941, a group of young American pilots, led by General Chennault, formed the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force to fight alongside the Chinese against invading Japanese troops. Known affectionately as the “Flying Tigers” for their winged tiger insignia, they courageously battled Japanese invaders in China and Myanmar. During the war, 2,193 Flying Tigers members lost their lives in combat, while over 200 were rescued by Chinese civilians, with thousands of Chinese sacrificing their lives in these efforts, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
‘Chinese people’s wartime perseverance and sacrifices fill me with deep admiration’
In China, the name of the Flying Tigers is widely known, an important memory for many Chinese people in their understanding of the US and history.
During the war, McMullen served as a gunner and assistant mechanic on a B-24 bomber of the 425th Bombardment Group, 308th Bombardment Squadron of the 14th Air Force, carrying out missions against Japan.
“I admired and respected the Chinese people for many reasons,” McMullen told the Global Times during his visit to China in 2023. Although he was not personally rescued, he repeatedly heard his comrades recount how Chinese civilians, despite the brutal retaliation of the Japanese army, resolutely hid and protected US pilots who parachuted down, moving them at night and concealing them during the day until they safely rejoined their units. The villagers knew that if the Japanese army found out they were helping the Americans, they would be cruelly tortured. “I admire them; the Chinese people are a brave people.”
McMullen said this might well be his last visit to China. Being able to return to this country of extraordinary significance filled his heart with comfort. “People in China and people in the US speak different languages, but they have the same desires that all people should live in peace,” he said.
Also traveling with McMullen was fellow Flying Tigers veteran Harry Moyer. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Moyer resolutely joined the US Army Air Forces and became one of the few surviving World War II pilots.
In 1944, Moyer’s squadron was incorporated into the 23rd Fighter Group of the 14th Air Force, tasked with defending the airfields used by B-29 bombers. “Our memories of China and the friendships made among the people have been in so many ways the defining experience of our lives,” he recalled. The perseverance and sacrifice demonstrated by the Chinese people during the war deeply impressed him. “We must keep the bond between the US and China alive, as it was forged in blood and honor,” Moyer said firmly.
In a September 2023 reply letter to Jeff Greene, president of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, and to Flying Tigers veterans Moyer and McMullen, Chinese President Xi Jinping said “a sound and steady development of the relationship in the new era requires the input and support of a new generation of Flying Tigers.” President Xi said he hopes that the spirit of Flying Tigers will be carried on from generation to generation among Chinese and American peoples.
Volume II of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China includes part of President Xi’s speech, “Remember the Past and our Martyrs, Cherish Peace and Build a New Future,” delivered at the Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World War II.
President Xi stressed that “During the war, through huge national sacrifice, the Chinese people held their ground in the main Eastern theater of World War II, thus making a major contribution to overall victory. In their war against Japanese aggression, the Chinese people received extensive support from the international community. The Chinese people will always remember how the people of other countries contributed to the victory in their War of Resistance.”
The experience of war makes people value peace all the more. “The best way to honor those heroes who gave their lives to the cause of freedom, justice and peace, and to mourn the loss of innocent lives brutally taken during the war, is to make sure that this historical tragedy will never repeat itself,” President Xi said.
For 82 years, many have quietly preserved this history, poring over archives and interviewing survivors to piece together its fragments. Jeff Greene is one such guardian.
President Xi’s exposition on the profound significance of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War deeply resonated with Greene. Greene believes the immense sacrifices made by the Chinese and American people for freedom and peace must never be forgotten, and the light of peace illuminated by war should be cherished all the more. The foundation he leads serves as an educational bridge, passing this positive historical memory to the next generation.
In an interview with the Global Times, Greene expressed his anticipation for the military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. As a former US Marine, he is interested in the military display but values its deeper significance even more – an acknowledgment of all who contributed to the war effort and a tribute to the Flying Tigers veterans.
“This is the victory of the Chinese people, and also their victory!” he said, eager to share the grandeur of the parade with Flying Tigers veterans and their descendants, reminding them that their sacrifices have never been forgotten.
‘I am not a hero; the real heroes are the Chinese people’
On May 11, 2011, a special ashes interment ceremony took place at the memorial park of the former residence of Li Xiannian in Hubei’s Hong’an County. Gray-haired Elinor Beneda, supported by her son, stood solemnly before a new gravestone marking the resting place of her husband, former Flying Tigers pilot Glen Beneda.
In 1943, Beneda, then aged 19, was dispatched to China as a fighter pilot in the 14th US Air Force. During an attack on a large Japanese army base in central China’s Hankou the following year, the tail of Beneda’s plane was hit and the aircraft crashed into Xiafeng Lake in Jianli County, Hubei Province. Beneda survived by parachuting into a nearby rice paddy, but he was severely wounded and barely able to move, Xinhua reported.
Beneda later recalled how local villagers cautiously approached him, and he immediately showed them the American flag and a chit inscribed with “Foreign ally aiding China’s war effort” – a life-and-death pact between the Flying Tigers and the Chinese people, promising rescue at all costs. Local farmers and China’s New Fourth Army guerrillas then transferred him to safety, bandaged his wounds, provided food, and escorted him through Japanese blockades to the Fifth Division of China’s New Fourth Army led by Li Xiannian in Dawu County, the Hubei Daily reported.
Under the care of Division Commander Li Xiannian, who later served as Chinese president from 1983 to 1988, and medical staff, Beneda recovered and rejoined his unit. Before departing, Li gifted him a pistol and a signed photograph, entrusting him to deliver a sword of a Japanese officer captured in battle to General Chennault.
After the war, Beneda returned to the US and started a family but never forgot the Chinese people’s life-saving kindness. He made three “gratitude journeys” to China with his family. In October 2010, facilitated by the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, 86-year-old Beneda, in a wheelchair, returned to China with his family. Reflecting in Hubei’s Jianli County, he said, “I first came to China as a pilot fighting alongside the Chinese people; 66 years later, I return as a grateful man. I am not a hero; the real heroes are the Chinese people,” according to the Hubei Daily.
Greene, who accompanied Beneda on this “homecoming,” was deeply moved. Later, he led 100 students to the “Flying Tigers Village” in Jianli for a commemorative ceremony and seminar, where they paid respects at Beneda’s grave. “Seeing American students lay flowers for my dear friend Beneda was profoundly meaningful; I was moved to tears,” Greene told the Global Times.
He also coordinated the production of the documentary Touching the Tiger and a 47-episode series, narrating the precious bond between Beneda and Li Xiannian, hoping to make this cross-border history a shared memory for both nations.
‘Americans know too little about the China battlefield’
As a steadfast guardian of this history, since its founding in 1998, the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation has been dedicated to “rekindling the spirit of cooperation and educating young people about the Flying Tigers.” The foundation not only promotes research and commemoration of shared aviation history, but also builds bridges of understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
In 2022, under Greene’s leadership, the foundation launched the “Flying Tigers Friendship Schools and Youth Leadership Program,” with over 110 schools from both countries participating, providing a stable platform for youth to understand the Flying Tigers’ spirit and foster friendship. Through online courses and summer camps, approximately 15,000 students have engaged in cross-border exchanges.
Greene said that many Americans know very little about what happened in China during WWII. “They watch Top Gun and Band of Brothers, knowing about the European Theater, Normandy, Pearl Harbor… but they know little about events on the Chinese battlefield such as the Nanjing Massacre,” Greene said. “So the mission of my foundation, both in the US and in China, is to get people to scratch their heads and say, ‘tell me more.’”
This summer, the foundation organized a Flying Tigers summer camp delegation to visit Guizhou Province, Beijing, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Hubei, retracing the wartime footsteps of the Flying Tigers and feeling the warmth of history through on-site visits.
Over the past 30 years, the foundation has facilitated the trips of over 500 Flying Tigers veterans and nearly 100 family members to China, visiting more than 30 cities. “I am deeply honored to be part of this work,” Greene said, noting its profound significance for both nations. “We share a precious memory that only our two peoples can carry together.”
Friendship, which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. The repeated visits by Flying Tigers veterans and their descendants not only rekindle the friendship forged in blood and sacrifice, but also send a clear signal of promoting Chinese-American civilian goodwill.
On November 3, 2023, at the Kunming Foreign Language School, Moyer and students watched a musical which recounts the Flying Tigers’ Hump Route operations, and sang Auld Lang Syne together. The typically jovial and humorous 100-year-old veteran couldn’t hold back tears.
“During WWII, our cooperation led to victory; today, this history still offers strength to both nations,” Moyer told the Global Times. He firmly believes that China and the US must preserve this bond forged in blood and honor, “overcome differences, cooperate, and coexist peacefully.”
Source: Global Times:
Company: Global Times
Contact Person: Anna Li
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://globaltimes.cn
City: Beijing
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