A memorial hall for the Flying Tigers opened Wednesday in central China's Hunan Province to commemorate the heroes fighting at the anti-Fascist battlefields in China during World War II, known in China as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The memorial hall, located at the Zhijiang Airport that used to host US General Claire Lee Chennault's Flying Tigers and the Sino-US Air Force, keeps a Sino-American Joint Air Force control tower and many relics and documents about the Flying Tigers.

About 100 Chinese, American and Russian World War II veterans visited the memorial hall on its opening day.

"In 1941, I and my fellows, led by General Chennault, came to assist the Chinese to fight against the Japanese invasion. Our fighters took off from this airport, to combat the Japanese and to get them out of China," said Clifford Long, former president of the Flying Tigers of the 14th Air Force Association."

"I'm looking for my best friend," said US Hump route Pilot William Maher, trying to find "Embury Richard J" among the names listed on a wall commemorating the Flying Tigers who died at China during the World War II.

The veterans came to Zhijiang for the second China Zhijiang International Peace Culture Festival to mark the 60th anniversary of China's victory in the war.

The Flying Tigers were a voluntary flying group made up of 300 young US servicemen under the leadership of retired US Army Air Corps' captain and air advisor to China, Claire Lee Chennault.

Their main task was to protect the Burma Road, which linked southwest China's Kunming and Burma's Rangoon, the only land supply route open to bring war materials into China.

Source: Xinhua