On Thursday, about 20
American veteran fighter pilots and their families paid a visit to
the Monument to the Aviator Martyrs in the War of Resistance
Against Japanese Aggression in Nanjing, capital of east China's
Jiangsu Province.
The American Volunteer
Group, who fought in China as the "Flying Tigers," was organized by
Claire Lee Chennault on August 1, 1941.
Between December 1941
and September 1945, the Flying Tigers shot down and blew up 2,600
Japanese military planes, destroyed 44 warships and killed 66,700
Japanese soldiers.
The monument was
completed in August 1995, and is inscribed with the names of more
than 3,000 martyrs including 870 Chinese, 2,186 Americans and 236
former Soviet Union soldiers in Chinese, Russian and
English.
Edward J. Komyati, aged
84 and a member of the Flying Tigers who flew three times across
the Camel Peak Aviation Route between 1942 and 1945, was one of the
veteran visitors to the monument.
The former colonel and
volunteer soldier has devoted much of his time to friendly
exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples since his
retirement.
He has been organizing
visits to the monument for groups of young Americans since
1996.
(Xinhua News Agency May
20, 2005)