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Recovering Pieces of China-US WWII Ties

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Recovering Pieces of China-US WWII Ties 10 SPECIAL Thursday, November 5, 2015 CHINA DAILY USA Recovering pieces of China-US WWII ties it to Chengdu. The project involved a Over 10 grueling lot of professional preparation, from the search for the plane to the cul- days, a group of tural preservation of the parts. We volunteers salvage did this with the help of volunteers sharing the same dream over the past war-era plane, LI six years.” The Jianchuan Museum covers YANG and LI YU in nearly 100,000 square meters, and has 8 million relics on exhibit, with Chengdu report. about 1,400 related to the Flying Tigers, the group of US pilots who defended China against Japanese solemn ceremony held in forces in WWII. The heaviest relic in Sichuan province on Oct 22 the museum is a stoneroller, which honored the return of the Chinese laborers used to build air- Aremains of American pilots port runways during the war. who fought in World War II. Fan Jianchuan, founder and direc- Sacrifi ces by Chinese workers tor of the Jianchuan Museum in Dayi In November 1943, then US Presi- county, Sichuan province, delivered a Nearly 60 Chinese volunteers, many from Jianchuan Museum in Chengdu, Jianchuan Museum covers nearly 100,000 square meters and has 8 million dent Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the wooden box containing the remains Sichuan province, brave treacherous mountain conditions to salvage a US relics on exhibit, 1,400 of which are related to the Flying Tigers, the group of US Chinese government to help build to James Darby, senior policy adviser transport plane used in World War II. They recovered parts of the plane in August pilots who defended China against Japanese forces in WWII. four airports and support facilities to the US Defense Personnel Account- and took them back to Chengdu. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY near Chengdu for the US air force’s ing Agency, at the ceremony. B-29 bombers to prepare for the Raymond Greene, consul general bombing of Japan. at the US Consulate in Chengdu, cov- “All the construction work was ered the box with the US national done by manpower. The runway fl ag. Afterward, Jing Quan, an offi cial for the B-29s had to be at least a at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign meter thick and the stonerollers Aff airs, and Greene signed documen- weighed fi ve to 16 metric tons. Chi- tation to hand over the remains. nese farmers pulled the rollers with “Chinese people will never forget their hands and shoulders,” said Ye the US people’s selfless assistance Dunxu, vice-dean of the Sichuan and friendship during WWII, when Bashu Anti-Japanese War History the two peoples fought fearlessly Research Institute. together for justice, freedom and Xinjin Airport, the largest airport peace,” Jing said. for bombers at the time in Asia, was Greene said the US government fi nished near Chengdu in just fi ve appreciates China’s cooperation with months. In June 1944, 68 B-29 bomb- the US in searching for the remains ers left Xinjin for Japan’s Kyushu of US soldiers who fought in WWII. Island, setting off the bombing of He said the US government will iden- Japanese territory. tify the remains and inform their “I still remember my grandfather families. told me how hard the Chinese people On Aug 16, a team of 60 volun- worked to build the runway,” said teers delivered to Jianchuan Museum Nell Calloway, granddaughter of US about 50 pieces of a US transport aviator Claire Lee Chennault, who led plane deployed in WWII that was the Flying Tigers. discovered on the 4,100-meter high During her Aug 25 visit to the for- Ruoguo Glacier in Nyingchi prefec- mer Xinjin Airport, which is now an ture, Tibetan autonomous region. aviation school, she said she hoped The WWII-era plane was found more Americans could learn that along with the remains of three of its many Chinese died to create the crew members in September 1993 by airport. The success of the US air a Tibetan. Investigators from China Nell Calloway (second right), granddaughter of US aviator Claire Lee Chennault, who led the Flying Tigers, visits the Chengdu Xinjin Airport with her family on Aug force’s counterattack against Japan and the United States confi rmed that 25 and poses in front of a stoneroller, which Chinese laborers used to built airport runways for the US air force during WWII. CHINA NEWS SERVICE would not be possible without the it was a US air force plane, with the sacrifi ce of the Chinese people, she serial number 4124688, that crashed said. in the winter of 1943 during a trans- Duan Yu, a historian at the Sich- port mission on the Hump course. uan Academy of Social Sciences, said The remains are believed to be of about 900,000 farmers in Sichuan three men who served on the plane. province mobilized to build 18 air- There are 28 bones in all and an air- ports for the US air force from 1937 man’s boot. to 1943. Throughout the war, 33 busy Although the remains of the air- military airports in Sichuan served as men recovered from the crash site the backbone for Chinese and allied were handed over to the US after forces after 1943. the recovery, most of the plane was Among the museum’s famous rel- left at the scene because the site was ics is a special frame with the photo diffi cult to reach. of a young woman. “It is from a Fly- The Hump course was one of the ing Tiger pilot named Robert Glau- most important air routes connect- ber,” said Fan. ing China with allied forces in South Fan said Glauber told him on a vis- Asia. During WWII, about 850,000 it to the museum in 2005 at the age metric tons of supplies reached Chi- of 84 that the former pilot had made na through the route, though about Children from Sichuan province participated in building the airport runways An unnamed US military offi cial in charge of building of Xinjin Airport during the frame from parts of a Japanese 1,500 US planes crashed along the for the US air force from 1937 to 1943. WWII speaks with Chinese laborers. fi ghter jet’s wreckage during WWII route that is above formidable moun- and was planning to give it to his tain ridges of the Tibet-Qinghai Pla- girlfriend in the US (the woman in teau and is known for its fi ckle and the photo) but lost contact with the nasty weather conditions. Pilots said woman during the war. He remained the huge ridges looked like humps, single after his return to the US. thus the moniker. Glauber brought some items he used in the war to Fan in 2005 and Diffi cult mission said he hoped to “fi nd a home for Nearly 60 Chinese volunteers, them”. many from the museum, partici- “Robert thought he spent the most pated in the salvage project named beautiful time of his life in China, and “Memory and Salute” with several he did not want to see the people local guides. It took them 10 days, forget that period of history,” Fan from Aug 5 to Aug 14, to find the said. “He asked me ‘Everything in wreckage and take the plane parts your big house is all stuff used by back to Chengdu. the US army?’ I said yes. He cried, Tibetan Tsering Tsuza, the head of Exhibits in Jianchuan Museum in Chengdu. and gave me a military salute in his security of the Jianchuan Museum wheelchair.” and one of the volunteers, said diffi - Fan is especially proud of a paint- cult transport conditions and limited ing of two winged tigers by Zhang manpower left them little choice but Shanzi (1882-1940), the elder brother to choose the most valuable pieces of painter Zhang Daqian (1899-1983). from the wreckage. Parts of the plane Fan bought the painting in the 1990s. printed with letters and logos as well Based in New York during the war, as the main parts of the plane, such Zhang Shanzi sold his paintings and as the instrument panel, the engine donated the earnings to the Chinese and wings, were carried down the army fi ghting against Japan. mountain. He made the painting in 1940 “When I saw the wreckage, I when he heard that Chennault was thought that all the hardships and organizing volunteer pilots to help diffi culties in carrying the plane parts China fi ght the war against Japan. down the mountain would be worth Zhang Shanzi gifted the artwork to it,” said Hu Zhiyang, a volunteer who Chennault, who then reportedly used said he was almost struck by a falling the painting of the winged tigers as a boulder during the ascent. “Although Sculptures of a Chinese and US soldier symbolize the friendship between Approximately 900,000 farmers in Sichuan province mobilized to build 18 logo for the fi ghter jets. we had detailed search plans, the dif- China and the United States at Jianchuan Museum. airports for the US air force from 1937 to 1943, according to Chinese historians. In the museum is another prized fi culties we encountered were much relic: A notice printed by the US more than we expected.” Department of War on June 1, 1945, Yang Jianchao, vice-director of that asks for asylum for US pilots the museum and commander of the who were shot down or forced to search team, said the most diffi cult land in North China.
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