On September 3, 2024, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng delivered remarks at the opening ceremony of “Remember the Heroes — Historical Photo Tour of the Flying Tigers (Nanjing)” via video link. He pointed out that the spirit of the Flying Tigers, which remains relevant as ever, has been and will continue to be our common treasure.

Ambassador Xie said that the spirit of the Flying Tigers is about upholding justice and defending peace. In the toughest days in China’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression, a group of American pilots put themselves in harm’s way and headed to the battlefield in China, to defend justice and peace together with the Chinese people. They fought heroically against the Japanese invaders, shot down over 2,600 Japanese fighter jets, and opened up the Hump Route for transporting emergency supplies. More than 2,000 members of the Flying Tigers laid down their lives in the war. Today, in Chongqing, Kunming, Guilin and other places where the Flying Tigers fought, monuments and memorial halls stand as testimony to the touching stories of our two peoples standing with each other in the noble cause of peace.

The spirit of the Flying Tigers is about helping each other and uniting as one. In the WWII, thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians sacrificed their lives to rescue over 200 American pilots. To save a pilot who was forced to make an emergency landing, local people in Xinxiang, Henan Province, built a 1000-meter temporary runway overnight against all the odds for the rescue plane to land on. 

And in the Doolittle Raid in 1942, 64 American pilots were saved by people in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces in a miracle rescue operation, undaunted by the ruthless revenge from the Japanese invaders. The profound friendship established between the Chinese people and the Flying Tigers in the flames of war should be passed down and stay evergreen.

The spirit of the Flying Tigers is also about valuing and renewing our friendship. The Chinese people never forget their old friends. When attending the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco last November, President Xi Jinping invited Chairman Greene, Mr. Moyer and other representatives of the Flying Tigers for a friends’ reunion. In China, we believe “The virtuous live a long and blessed life.” During his trip to China last year, Mr. Moyer climbed the Badaling Great Wall, celebrated his 103th birthday, and sang Auld Lang Syne with Chinese kids. All those moments just warmed our hearts, he said.

Ambassador Xie noted that there would be a special ceremony at the event, to add the name of Lieutenant Jack Hammel, a Flying Tigers pilot who gave his life in China, to the Monument of Heroes. Heroes live on forever. Just as General Chennault wished, the sign of the Flying Tigers still remains aloft on both shores of the Pacific till this very day.

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