VARIOUS PHOTOS TRIPS TO CHINA
Various photographs from trips to China.
These photographs are from various trips to China when we were accompanied by returning veterans. All were given warm and hearty welcomes as returning heroes wherever they went by the Chinese people and officials alike. The Chinese do not make a distinction between those who served as to what they did (pilot, ground crew, etc.), but rather consider them all to be “Flying Tigers” who came to their country to help them fight a brutal enemy.
A small example of the esteem and gratitude the Chinese people have for the Flying Tigers can be gauged by the picture of Paul Crawford and Mark McDonnell saluting the Clay Soldiers in Xi’an. That photograph made the front page of most newspapers in China. It was taken after the two gentlemen had been interviewed by print and video media on the 60th anniversary of the ending of hostilities in 2005. After the interviews, they were led down into the pits where the clay soldiers are being restored. It was only later that we learned what an honor that had been. Up to that time only 37 world dignitaries had been allowed in the pits and which included only two Americans, Presidents Geo. H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
NOTE: Click on a photo to enlarge, and click on the letter “i” at the bottom of each photo (in gallery mode) for information listed on each photo.
These photographs are from various trips to China when we were accompanied by returning veterans. All were given warm and hearty welcomes as returning heroes wherever they went by the Chinese people and officials alike. The Chinese do not make a distinction between those who served as to what they did (pilot, ground crew, etc.), but rather consider them all to be “Flying Tigers” who came to their country to help them fight a brutal enemy.
A small example of the esteem and gratitude the Chinese people have for the Flying Tigers can be gauged by the picture of Paul Crawford and Mark McDonnell saluting the Clay Soldiers in Xi’an. That photograph made the front page of most newspapers in China. It was taken after the two gentlemen had been interviewed by print and video media on the 60th anniversary of the ending of hostilities in 2005. After the interviews, they were led down into the pits where the clay soldiers are being restored. It was only later that we learned what an honor that had been. Up to that time only 37 world dignitaries had been allowed in the pits and which included only two Americans, Presidents Geo. H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
NOTE: Click on a photo to enlarge, and click on the letter “i” at the bottom of each photo (in gallery mode) for information listed on each photo.
