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)
