China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Forgotten Tigers
Photo exhibit brings WWII heroes back in the spotlight
When people think about one of the most famous fighter plane outfits in World War II history — the Flying Tigers — they usually think about the American Volunteer Group (AVG) pilots who helped China fight the Japanese.
Yet there were also some Chinese pilots who joined the Flying Tigers and fought alongside the Americans, and who are too often left out of the spotlight.
Liu Hang, a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, brought the untold side of the Flying Tigers story to Americans with an exhibit of photos displayed in North Carolina on Memorial Day.
Liu is a Chinese journalist who has interviewed and photographed more than 30 Chinese veterans of World War II over the past 13 years.
“They are forgotten heroes, and I hope their stories can be known by more people — they deserve to be remembered and honored,” Liu said. “I got this chance to show Americans their stories, which is very meaningful to me.”
Liu said one of the veterans he photographed, Chen Bingjing, was one of the first 12 Chinese pilots to join the Flying Tigers. Like Chen, most of the Chinese pilots were sent to the US and trained at an air base in Arizona before they joined the US-China joint force.
On Oct 13, 1943, Chen’s bomber engaged with more than 30 Japanese Zero fighters while returning from a mission. His plane was hit, badly damaged, and he had to jump.
A photo of Chen was taken in 2012 at the opening of the Kunming Flying Tigers Museum. At the time, he had donated his flight jacket to the museum, the same one he was wearing when he jumped out the plane in 1943.
In the photo, Chen was wearing that jacket and burst into tears in front of the big picture of US General Claire Lee Chennault, founder of the Flying Tigers, and his comrades exhibited in the museum.
Other photos in The Forgotten Heroes in US-China Joint Air Forces during WWII include portraits of Chinese Flying Tigers pilots such as Wu Qiyao, Lin Yushui and Liao Tanqing and other veterans of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). Wang Jingfang, who joined the northeast army in 1927, witnessed the September 18 Incident and participated in the battle of Taierzhuang — the Chinese army’s first frontal battlefield victory.
Li Chunyang, one of the veterans Liu photographed, was a soldier of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. He joined the army when he was 23 and carried on guerrilla operations to fight the Japanese Kanto army during that time.
“That piece of the story is something we all hold very dear in our mind,” said Gu Hongbin, a Chapel Hill Town Council member. “And for myself, it’s the first time the story of how American and Chinese pilots fought side by side during the World War II has been told.”
“It captures the bravery and the spirit of these soldiers so many years ago and will allow them to be seen for many generations in the future,” said Dave Kerr, son of Lieutenant Donald Kerr, who served in the US Army’s 14th Air Force — partly formed from the Flying Tigers squadron. “Liu has captured all those memories before we lost them forever.
“They (the Chinese veterans in the photos) were wearing the same outfits as my father, and he probably knew some of them,” Kerr said.
His father was rescued by local Chinese people after he jumped out of his P-40 fighter on Feb 11, 1944, a time when Japan’s military controlled a large part of China.
“It’s very good to see an exhibition in the US about these Chinese soldiers because here we only got to see American soldiers, and we forgot these good friends during the war years,” Kerr said. “We had that great time and friendship during the war and we hope we can continue to build on it.”
“THEY WERE WEARING SOME OF THE SAME OUTFITS AS MY FATHER.”
Dave Kerr, son of Lieutenant Donald Kerr of the US Army’s 14th Air Force