54: 2023 Flying Tiger Spirit

2023/10/30 - "'Flying Tiger'" spirit expected to be passed on: Chinese VP." Source: Xinhua Editor: huaxia

As relationships between the U.S. and China frayed, and fears of a communist takeover of Taiwan grew, the government in Beijing conducted a propaganda event to try to repair its image by demonstrating the long bond between the two countries that existed eight decades ago when they defended the nation against Japanese aggression. 

"Chinese Vice President Han Zheng" met "with a delegation of Flying Tigers veterans in Beijing. Noting President Xi Jinping recently replied to a letter from the chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation and Flying Tigers veterans Han said the Chinese people would always remember the heroic deeds of the Flying Tigers and never forget the old friends." Han expressed "hope that the spirit of the Flying Tigers would be passed on from generation to generation. Jeffrey Greene chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation and Flying Tigers veterans Harry Moyer and Mel McMullen among others said it was a great honor to receive the reply letter from President Xi adding they will be committed to carrying forward the spirit of the Flying Tigers and enhancing the friendship between the American and Chinese people." 

Daniel Ford, the foremost authority on the Flying Tigers, was appalled, noting in his 11/1/2023 Newsletter of the WarBirdForum.com that Chennault and his men in the American Volunteer Group opposed the communist Chinese when they flew in support of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists whom Pawley consistently supported long after the Nationalists left the mainland for Taiwan.