Sixty years after victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China, American veterans John Richard Rossi and David K. Hayward, former Flying Tigers pilots, express admiration for China's peacetime achievements.

Rossi, 90, jokes that it seems everything in America is "made in China." Hayward, his fellow pilot, echoes his remark and adds that cities in China now "look nothing the same" as 60 years ago.

Modern transportation, downtown hotels and shopping malls leave John and Hayward nodding in amazement even though this is their fifth trip to China.

The war veterans said the hospitality and friendliness being extended to them by the Chinese is no different from what they experienced 60 years ago, when they fought the Japanese air force over China's southwestern cities.

Established by General Claire L. Chennault (1890-1958), Flying Tigers, or the American Volunteer Group (AVG), was at first a voluntary force helping the Chinese people resist the Japanese invasion in the late 1930s and early 1940s. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, it was formally accepted as the US 14th Air Force. It was responsible for destroying 1,800 Japanese planes during the war.

Rossi cannot forget the jubilation of the Chinese whenever the American fighters shot down a Japanese airplane. Young boys and girls would greet them on the street, he said, and ply them with flowers, fruits and other gifts.

"We depended on the Chinese people," says Hayward, adding that the Chinese not only built airports, roads and houses for them, but also established a "Chinese net," providing them with crucial information on flights and targets.

More than 200 American pilots were saved by the Chinese army and civilians, after they ejected their burning planes.

"By the grace of God, the Chinese helped them back to the force," says Hayward. In the past decade, those American pilots who were rescued by the Chinese and still alive have travelled to China to express their thanks.

David's squadron reportedly lost about 20 per cent of its pilots. The whole American air force in China lost at least 1,500 airmen.

According to Rossi, only 30 or so of the more than 300 American volunteers who served in China during the war are still alive.

As honoured guests of the Chinese Government, Rossi and Hayward, along with other American veterans, arrived in Beijing on August 31 to attend the grang commemorative activities.

Thousands of American soldiers fought in China against Japan.

More than 200 veterans from over 20 countries have been invited to join the commemorative function.

On Friday afternoon, they all signed a peace declaration in Beijing.

Rossi and Hayward, along with other American war veterans, will visit other major Chinese cities, including Nanjing, Shanghai and Kunming, where the American Volunteer Group was headquartered during the war.

Among the veterans, Rossi is probably the most well known in the Chinese media.

Born on April 19, 1915 in Placerville, California, he attended the University of California at Berkeley before joining the navy for flight training in the fall of 1939. Rossi resigned his navy commission in 1941 to join the AVG.

As a former ace pilot, he made a record 6.25 kills during his combat operations against Japanese air force planes as a leader of the Flying Tigers.

Besides fighting Japanese bombers and fighter planes, the Flying Tigers also carried freight for the Chinese army and people, as land routes were blocked by the Japanese after their occupation of Myanmar. As the air route resembled a hump, this was called the "Hump" line.

By the end of the war, Rossi had flown more than 735 trips across the "Hump," sending supplies from India to China.

After the war, he founded a freight carrier named the Flying Tiger Line in California, where he flew as a captain for 25 years,

He has served as the president of the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers Association for 50 years and is a member of the American Fighter Aces Association.

Source: China Daily