A 400-member tour group comprising former American "Flying Tigers" veterans, their family members or their admirers arrived in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province on Sunday to visit various places in memory of their past.

 

 

The tour group was organized by the American Flying Association which had organized such tours many times before in helping some "Flying Tigers" veterans, who aided China during World War II, their family members, supporters and organizational sponsors to come to China to trace the previous routes where those veterans had fought. The tours have promoted cultural exchanges between the peoples of the two countries.

 

Four "Flying Tigers" veterans might have joined the group. However, since some of them are now in their 90s and are not in good health, only one came finally. Another veteran soldier sent his son to China to fulfill his dream.

 

The tour group flew to China in two passenger planes and then took a luxury vessel to arrive in Wuhan. They first visited the Hubei Museum and then climbed to the top of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, where the soldiers beat the Japanese flight crews in the sky over the famous historical pavilion during World War II.

 

Sixty years have passed. For Haigler Eldon, an old "Flying Tigers" member, he couldn't believe what he saw during the China visit.

 

"China has changed rapidly. It is so different from the old China in my mind," Haigler Eldon said.

 

According to their itinerary, the tour group should first arrive in Beijing and then fly to Wuhan to visit the Three Gorges. They will later visit Shanghai, Xi'an and Guilin. The whole trip will last for 18 days. The places they are going to visit were once the battling fields for "Flying Tigers". In Guilin, the members of the tour group will build a park in the previous "Flying Tigers" Airport to commemorate those who lost their lives in China in the anti-Japanese war.

 

(Chinanews March 21, 2007)