graves of flying tigers found in china

http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-08/567742.html

Flying Tigers' bones found among weeds
Source: Global Times
[02:59 August 27 2010]
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By Zhu Shanshan and An Beijie

The graves of fallen Chinese and foreign Flying Tigers under the command of legendary US airman Claire Chenault, who defended Chinese territory in Southwest China against Japan in World War II, were raided in the late 1980s in a village of Southwestern Yunnan Province. The robbers left their bones exposed, sparking a recent call for a dignified reburial in the Flying Tigers Cemetery site.

As the first American volunteer air force to assist China in fighting against Japan in 1941, the Flying Tigers had both American and Chinese pilots. 3,360 died in China, 800 of whom were buried in Yunnan Province, Yang Fengming, deputy secretary general of the Yunnan Flying Tigers Research Institute, told the Global Times.

The reason for the nearly 10-year delay between the desecration of the graves and the recent announcement was not revealed.

"Scattered in the weeds, the coffins of the soldiers were dug up and some of the bones can been seen on the ground," Yang recalled of the scene he saw three years ago when he first sought the whereabouts of the graves, adding that the situation has not changed much since then.

After the war, about 300 graves of American pilots were brought back to the US, he said, urging that those remaining here, about 500 pilots, to be respected and at least be given a final resting place.

The graves of the soldiers were relocated in 1954 from Xiao Maqie village to Changchun Hill after the previous graveyard was reclaimed to build a warehouse, Yang said.

Gravestones of the martyrs were stolen to help build the Chayedi reservoir during the Great Leap Forward (1958- 60), and the identities of those heroes became untraceable, said Yang, whose institute started to collect information on the Flying Tigers in Yunnan Province in 2007.

The indignity did not end there, as tomb raiders desecrated the graves of the soldiers in the 1980s when the bones were scattered.

"Those earth graves cannot stand long and could be easily destroyed by weather after decades. And without gravestones, the robbers took it for granted to dig into the graves," Huang Xunbing, party secretary of Puzhao Village where the graves are located, told the Global Times.

In August 2008, the executive Vice Governor of Yunnan Province, Luo Zhengfu, paid a visit to the cemetery and said that it would be a betrayal to history and their descendants if the graves were not respected.

Huang said the remains of the soldiers have been reburied, and the graves were repaired to some extent, but he also admitted that the work is not good enough, as all of the graves could still be easily torn down.

Zhou Xueying, a history professor at Nanjing University, told the Global Times that the fact that the cemetery was ignored and improperly protected in the past was largely because of the prevailing views during that period of history.

"People were reluctant to squarely face the history of China in the past, and recognize the contribution of American and Kuomintang soldiers made in fighting the Japanese invaders," he said.

Yang, with the Yunnan Flying Tigers Research Institute, said his group has been urging authorities to tackle the problem as soon as possible and give the peace back to the soldiers that they deserve.

"It's not only for the heroes but also for their descendents to learn from the past and carry forward their spirit," he said.

Fundraising is underway for the gravesite, according to Huang, who said a cemetery of revolutionary martyrs would be built to remember those pilots who sacrificed their lives.

Graves in China have been frequently raided throughout the county's turbulent history. However, current laws prohibit grave robbing with severe punishments, including the death sentence.

Song Shengxia contributed to the story