Every year we do a tour to China, always in March for better weather and lower prices. Over the last several years we have been honored to have Flying Tigers with us. Our tour is a one of a kind aviation oriented tour which goes to an airfield that the Flying Tigers operated out of in WW11. Located on this airfield is a cave that General Claire Chennault ran his operations from. It is accessible but not restored, and the only evidence of its importance is a couple of plaques put up by the Chinese and Madam Chennault. In years past we have been able to look out over the old airfield and recognize scenery which we have seen in archival film of the Flying Tigers. Last year the old field was being turned into housing and town sites. We realized that we would be the last Americans to view this historic sight and the thought crossed our minds that if we didn’t do something to preserve the cave it would be lost too. We asked the Chinese to give us a proposal for turning the cave into historical, memorial, and tourist site to honor the Flying Tigers, General Chennault, and the Chinese who fought so bravely against the Japanese invaders. We offered to raise the funds if the Chinese would do the design and development work. The Chinese readily accepted the offer and we are presently working towards our goal. We are not yet at the stage of soliciting funds for this project, but I will keep you updated on our progress via this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment