Common grounds

At a commemorative event attended by the US delegation in Beijing on Oct 30, Yang Wanming, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, quoted from Way of a Fighter, a memoir of Flying Tigers founder Chennault, when delivering a speech.

"It is my fondest hope that the sign of the Flying Tigers remains aloft just as long as it is needed, and that it will always be remembered on both shores of the Pacific as the symbol of two great peoples working toward a common goal in war and peace," Yang quoted from the memoir.

Nell Chennault Calloway, Chennault's granddaughter, said her grandfather's story and bonds with China began in 1937, when he arrived in the country in June, six weeks ahead of the Lugou Bridge Incident in Beijing on July 7 — the start of Japan's full-scale invasion of China.

"He saw and heard that Chinese people were being tortured, and the Japanese were also doing things to him," she said.

"He didn't look at their politics, he didn't look at their ideologies, but he looked at (the fact) that there were people who needed him and the skills he had been working on for 20 years."