China's Victory Day events will be joined by representatives of the Flying Tigers, also known as the 1st American Volunteer Group. They played a key role in China's victory and are highly respected in the country.

Flying Tigers veterans to join China's Victory Day events

On Thursday, Larry Jobe is set to lead a group of Flying Tiger veterans in Beijing. Jobe is a retired civilian pilot. He learned about the Flying Tigers' history during a trip to China in the 1990s. He then decided to establish the Flying Tigers Historical Organization.

"They went to the war not because they wanted to, but because they felt they had to. And they are very proud of what they did. And they are extremely pleased that people recognize and remember it today. It makes them feel good about what they did," he said.

Jobe learned that in the regions occupied by Japanese, Chinese people did everything they could to save the Flying Tiger pilots shot down. He found that pilots taken in by local Chinese had a 95 percent chance of getting back to their brothers-in-arms.

Jobe told of one US pilot sheltered by a Chinese community. When the Japanese came, the villagers gave away nothing, even when they were tortured.

The invaders finally left, after finding footprints of US boots that led outside the village. In fact, a villager wearing the boots left the trail.

"And their answer was simplicity itself. They said, 'When the Japanese come, we see fear in the eyes of Chinese. When the Flying Tigers come, we see fear in the eyes of Japanese,'" Jobe said.

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