“In growing China-U.S. relations, the hope lies in the people, the foundation lies among the people, and the future lies with the youth.”
BEIJING, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) — World War II (WWII) hero Harry Moyer, on account of flip 103 in round a month, has made up his thoughts to return to China this fall when he’s nonetheless bodily capable of.
He is attending an upcoming Flying Tigers historic picture exhibition to be held in Beijing and 12 different Chinese cities to honor that chapter in historical past when Americans like himself and the Chinese fought aspect by aspect throughout wartime.
In late August, Moyer wrote a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with Flying Tigers veteran Mel McMullen and Chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation Jeffrey Greene, to mark the enduring bond between the 2 peoples.
In a reply letter dated Sept. 12, Xi paid tribute to the veterans and their households for recounting the tales of the Flying Tigers to Chinese and Americans through the years, an epitome of the deep friendship between the 2 peoples that “withstood the test of blood and fire.”
AN ENDURING BOND SPANNING DECADES
The presence of Moyer and McMullen within the upcoming picture exhibition, the letter reads, “will symbolically complete a circle representing the living memory of American and Chinese wartime cooperation and solidarity.”
Growing up, Moyer had made associates with the son of a Chinese restaurant proprietor within the city he lived in, and had yearned to go to China after studying a historic fiction depicting household life in a Twentieth-century Chinese village. So when he heard U.S. General Claire Lee Chennault was in search of pilots to serve in China in opposition to Japanese aggressors within the Nineteen Forties, Moyer signed up instantly.
In 1944, Moyer joined the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, a particular fight staff broadly identified by the identify given to them by the Chinese, the “Flying Tigers.” Moyer’s squadron was primarily liable for defending Chinese airfields and the B-29 bombers stationed there tasked with counter-attacks on Japan.
This expertise in China throughout wartime was, as Moyer himself as soon as put it, the “highlight” of his flying profession, when his squadron and the Chinese “shared with each other, flew with each other, and fought together,” establishing “a bond that really meant something.”
In an interview with Xinhua on Monday, Greene, one other author of the letter to Xi, stated that he was “extremely honored” and “humbled” to have obtained the reply letter, noting that “to have this letter from the Chinese president plainly and very openly” means “the president is very committed to people-to-people relationships, people-to-people understanding.”
“What I believe President Xi has shown us is that the Chinese people will never forget their old friends. He has shown this time after time. He’s showing it with this letter that indeed neither he nor the Chinese people will ever forget their old friends. And this is a very important message for us to share with the American people,” Greene stated.
A TALE OF GIVING AND RECEIVING
The tradition of gratitude runs within the blood of the Chinese individuals. Back in July, when Xi was assembly visiting former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, he stated: “We never forget our old friends.”
Holding expensive such bonds, Xi has at all times remembered the touching moments between the 2 peoples and recounted them on a number of events, lengthy earlier than he grew to become president.
In 2012, when visiting the United States as China’s vp, Xi shared the Kuliang story at a luncheon, a couple of home-coming journey of an American couple and the way that legacy of friendship continues until as we speak.
“I believe that among the people of China and the United States, there are many touching stories like this,” he stated, calling for strengthening exchanges between Chinese and American individuals and cultivating a strong public opinion foundation for the mutually useful cooperation between the 2 international locations.
Also throughout this journey, Xi made a stopover in Muscatine, a metropolis on the banks of the Mississippi River within the central U.S. state of Iowa, and met his outdated associates there. Xi made his first go to to town in 1985, when he was a Chinese county official.
During his reunion along with his outdated associates, Xi stated, “You were the first group of Americans that I came into contact with. My impression of the country came from you.”
Today, like Greene and Moyer, numerous people from throughout the Pacific are making unremitting efforts to protect these recollections and retell the heartening tales in hopes of carrying on the spirit of friendship and cooperation spanning generations.
In the United States, descendants of American households who as soon as lived in Kuliang shaped “Kuliang Friends,” a bunch devoted to advertise pleasant exchanges between the 2 peoples.
In 1998, the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation was established as an American civil friendship group geared toward selling the examine and commemoration of China-U.S. historic aviation occasions and rekindling the spirit of the Flying Tigers.
The spirit of the Flying Tigers, together with these pilots who flew the extraordinarily harmful Hump Route over the Himalayas to supply essential provides to the Chinese troops combating the Japanese invaders, is the spirit of “cooperation” and “friendship,” stated Greene, chair of the muse.
A LEGACY TRANSCENDING TIME AND SPACE
“We share the shared American and Chinese legacy of the Flying Tigers,” Greene stated. “So part of our activities are to remind the American people of this relationship, of this point in history, and to, again, have our veterans reconnect with the Chinese people who have, as we said, have never forgotten what they did 80 years ago.”
“I guess the most important thing we can do as a foundation is to make people think. Don’t react to the news. Don’t react to the politics of the moment. But think, understand what was important 80 years ago, what was important 30 years ago? What is important today, and what is important in the future? And that’s why we have our foundation. That’s why we work so hard to move forward.”
Notably, a rising variety of younger Americans have joined the Flying Tigers Friendship Schools and Youth Leadership Program, launched by the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation in 2022, and practically 500 Flying Tigers veterans and several other hundred of their members of the family have visited China.
Galvanized by the spirit of the Flying Tigers, these younger individuals are among the many torchbearers of a shared widespread heritage solid within the skies above China throughout WWII and a friendship spanning a long time.
“This is a seed that can bear wonderful fruit. And we believe that with our hearts. And I think that’s the most important message of the Flying Tigers for both countries,” Greene stated.
“In growing China-U.S. relations, the hope lies in the people, the foundation lies among the people, and the future lies with the youth,” Xi stated in his reply letter, noting that “a sound and steady development of the relationship in the new era requires the input and support of a new generation of Flying Tigers.”
In the longer term, the 2 main international locations shoulder much more essential accountability for world peace, stability and improvement, Xi stated. “We therefore should, and we must, respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation,” he urged.
Sharing the identical needs, Greene is raring to see nearer bonds and deeper mutual understanding between the 2 sides, and notably among the many youthful generations.
“Our students will be talking to each other on an ongoing basis. They’ll be learning together, they’ll be learning the history together. And in that process, they’ll develop friendships,” he stated.
They are displaying by instance and with their dedication that “the opportunity is there,” and when either side get right down to it, “there’s really nothing we can’t do when working together,” Greene stated.
“And that’s not only good information for us, but it’s good news for the whole world,” he added.