China Gives Solid Gold Medals to 5 Surviving Flying Tigers

[vikingBerserker]

from China Gives Solid Gold Medals to 5 Surviving Flying Tigers | Military.com

Associated Press | Sep 21, 2015
MONROE, La — China has given solid gold medals to five surviving members of the Flying Tigers, a volunteer fighter group formed in China before the United States entered World War II.

"The Flying Tigers is the trailblazer of China-U.S. cooperation," Li Qiangmin, consul general of the People's Republic of China in Houston, told people gathered Saturday at the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum in Monroe. "With the blood we shed together, we achieved the victory against Japan and built the new world order which aimed to bring peace and prosperity to all mankind."

Richard Sherman, Frank Burnside and J.V. Vineyard were able to attend the ceremony, The News-Star reported. Charles Baisden's son, Daniel Baisden, and Carl Kice Brown's daughter, Becky Brown-Hogan, accepted medals for their fathers.
Charlie Yao, president and CEO of Yuhuang Chemical Co., gave the museum $10,000.

Li, Yao, Wang Jinshu, chairman of Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd. and U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham presented the medals.

The ceremony also opened "Way of a Fighter," an exhibit based on the 1949 memoir by Gen. Claire Lee Chennault, who created the group while a civilian adviser to the nationalist Chinese government.

The museum reverted to the parish this year after being part of the secretary of state's museum network for more than a decade.

 

[bobbysocks]

even tho the country was communist they held the flying tigers in very high regard and hailed them as heroes. there is one tiger p40 at the bottom of a lake that they have been contemplating trying to recover. the water isn't very deep but it under 20 foot of silt and mud....

http://www.warbirdforum.com/lake.htm

 

[GregP]

Hey, I'd volunteer to go dive and help! ... if expenses were covered, that is.

 

[syscom3]

Is it the last five surviving members, or just five members?

 

[GrauGeist]

even tho the country was communist they held the flying tigers in very high regard and hailed them as heroes. there is one tiger p40 at the bottom of a lake that they have been contemplating trying to recover. the water isn't very deep but it under 20 foot of silt and mud....

http://www.warbirdforum.com/lake.htm

China was divided into warring factions at the time of Japan's invasion...at the top of the warring factions were the Communists (CCP) and the Nationalists (KMT).

The U.S. was training and supplying Nationalist forces and the AVG flew for, and co-ordinated with, Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

 

[bobbysocks]

I am sorry I didn't make my statement clear. and of course you are correct GG where the AVG operated mao and his factions did not occupy. my comment has to do with current day china as a whole being communist/socialist. where they bashed everything capitalistic and American they refrained from doing that with the men of the avg. they celebrate them...have memorials to them....have museums about them....and hold them in high esteem, even tho they are dirty American dogs....lol.

 

[Gnomey]

Good to see.

 

[Airframes]

Good news.

 

[GrauGeist]

I am sorry I didn't make my statement clear. and of course you are correct GG where the AVG operated mao and his factions did not occupy. my comment has to do with current day china as a whole being communist/socialist. where they bashed everything capitalistic and American they refrained from doing that with the men of the avg. they celebrate them...have memorials to them....have museums about them....and hold them in high esteem, even tho they are dirty American dogs....lol.

Gotcha...

And yes, it is a little surprising that Communist China is not only recognizing and decorating the AVG pilots, but that they admit the evil Yankees helped them during the war

 

[razor1uk]

Good news, but shouldn't the delegation main 'commeration' be in Taiwan, where the KMT still are, not with the PRC, but it is true about both/all Chinese sides admiring their exploits just the same. - I just don't agree with the PRC using it to make positive feelings so they can do a 'Sochi' style bad things afterwards.

 

[Shinpachi]

Ancient China was a great country based on its own philosophy like Confucianism which respects honesty, patience and generosity.
No Confucianism, No Chinese in my mind like No Shintoism, No Japanese or No Democracy, No Americans.
What makes me happy yet is that this good Chinese tradition is still alive in Taiwan - Yes, it's China too.

 

[bobbysocks]

US Flying Tigers veterans to join China's Victory Day events | CCTV America

Memory of Flying Tigers honored|Cover Story|chinadaily.com.cn