Doolittle Raid commemoration held in east China to honor peace, friendship

HANGZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) — A China-U.S. people-to-people exchange activity was held Thursday and Friday in Quzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province, to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the Doolittle Raid.

Some 20 international guests, including representatives of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, the USS Hornet Museum and the Children of the Doolittle Raiders, and over 30 Chinese experts participated in the event honoring peace and friendship, held by the Quzhou Museum and the Quzhou Society for the History of the Doolittle Raid.

The USS Hornet Museum, a retired U.S. aircraft carrier-turned-museum in California, gifted an original film reel of a 1942 Doolittle Raiders training exercise to the Quzhou Society for the History of the Doolittle Raid. The society donated the wreckage of a B-25 bomber from the raid to the museum.

On April 18, 1942, a group of 16 U.S. bombers, led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, took off from the USS Hornet and raided Japan during World War II as retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor. On their way back, the planes ran out of fuel over various localities in the Chinese provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang, and airmen had to parachute to safety, and were later rescued by locals.

After the Doolittle Raid, the airport in Quzhou was subjected to intense bombing by Japanese forces. Japan also waged biological warfare in Zhejiang, resulting in massive civilian deaths.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

During the two-day event, the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation also established a partnership with Zhejiang Quzhou High School. The school becomes a participant of the program of the Flying Tigers Friendship School, which aims to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between young people in the two countries.

The Flying Tigers, officially known as the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, was formed in 1941 by U.S. General Claire Lee Chennault. They came to China to help the Chinese people fight the invading Japanese forces.