Students place chrysanthemums on the tombstone of U.S. Flying Tiger pilot Glen Beneda in Hong'an County, central China's Hubei Province, July 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)

WUHAN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- In a cemetery shaded by towering pines in central China's Hubei Province, a line of over 80 Americans, most of whom are high school or college students, stood silently on Monday. One by one, they placed chrysanthemums on the tombstone of U.S. Flying Tiger pilot Glen Beneda.

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 to help China in its fight against invading Japanese forces.

Over eight decades later, the legacy of the Flying Tigers was revisited by a new generation -- the descendants of its veterans, along with students and teachers from several U.S. Flying Tigers friendship schools. Led by Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, the visit honored an extraordinary wartime bond.

Beneda's stories and enduring friendship with China were recorded in a documentary titled "Touching the Tigers."

In 1943, Beneda, then aged 19, was dispatched to China as a fighter pilot in the 14th U.S. Air Force. During an attack on a large Japanese army base in central China's Hankou the following year, the tail of Beneda's plane was hit and the aircraft crashed into Xiafeng Lake in Jianli County, Hubei Province. Beneda survived by parachuting into a nearby rice paddy, but he was severely wounded and barely able to move.

Soon surrounded by local farmers, he used an emergency English-Chinese phrase book to try to communicate with them. The farmers finally realized that the man in front of them was an American soldier, and decided to save him. They carried him to a nearby farmhouse and, to prevent Japanese troops from locating the aircraft wreckage, tied heavy stones to his plane and sank it to the bottom of the lake.

A perilous rescue story thus began. Farmers and soldiers risked their lives to transfer the injured American pilot on a stretcher across Japanese-controlled areas under the cover of night.

"They couldn't have treated me any better," Beneda recalled in the documentary decades later. "When they fed me whatever they fed me, if I ate it all, by the next time, they would give me more. I learned that if they gave me two eggs and I ate them both, the next day they'd give me three."

After 23 grueling days, Beneda finally arrived at the Fifth Division of China's New Fourth Army led by Li Xiannian, who later served as Chinese president from 1983 to 1988. There, the U.S. pilot slowly recovered and formed deep bonds with Chinese soldiers, even playing games of ping pong with them.

After he was back in the United States, Beneda became a firefighter. His eldest son, Edward Beneda, said that his father had wanted to help those in urgent need, just as he had once been helped by the Chinese people.

Glen Beneda later traveled back to China several times with his family.

He was 81 during his trip to China in 2005. When he visited Xiafeng Lake, residents of Luojia Village -- the site of Beneda's wartime rescue -- made a makeshift sedan chair from bamboo poles and old chairs to carry him across the muddy fields his rescuers had once carried him over on a stretcher.

At the age of 86 and knowing his heart was failing, the veteran returned to China once more in 2010, this time making the long journey with 10 loved ones from three generations of his family.

"Because I believe that I owe a debt to the Chinese people who have been so good to me. It's so huge, there's no way I can pay it back," Beneda said in the documentary.

On Oct. 20, 2010, Beneda suffered a heart attack and passed away three days later. In accordance with his wishes, some of his ashes were interred at the memorial park of the former residence of Li Xiannian in Hubei's Hong'an County -- the very land that had once sheltered him.

The Flying Tigers' sacrifices were stark. A total of 2,193 members of the Flying Tigers lost their lives while supporting China and Myanmar during World War II. During battles, more than 200 downed pilots were rescued by Chinese civilians, and thousands of Chinese people died aiding them.

This week, Jeffrey Greene encouraged the American students visiting the cemetery to share their experience of China with family and friends. "You guys are part of this history. When you go home, you tell them there is a remarkable relationship between the United States and the people of China. You tell them that it is strong."

Among the students was Lili Li, who was visiting China for the first time with her mother Anna Li, who is the daughter of Lieutenant Kuo Ching Li, the only Chinese-American Flying Tiger.

The girl described the trip as "eye-opening" and said she couldn't wait to share her photos with people back home, echoing her mother's hopes for the visit.

"This trip exists for one reason, and that is to support the relationship between America and China, and we believe that it takes one child at a time," Anna Li said.

In 2017, Luojia Village merged with two neighboring villages and was renamed Flying Tigers Village, in honor of Beneda and the treasured Sino-U.S. friendship. Beneda's grave has been carefully maintained over the years, and the memorial park in which it lies receives an average of over 900,000 visitors annually.

"Our hope is that as we continue to do this, in a few years, maybe America will understand China a little bit better and come and believe with a more open heart," Anna Li added.

U.S. students watch a documentary titled "Touching the Tigers" at the library of the former residence of Li Xiannian in Hong'an County, central China's Hubei Province, July 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)

This photo shows the former guesthouse of the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division in Dawu County, central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhu Weixi)

This photo shows the former guesthouse of the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division in Dawu County, central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhu Weixi)

This photo shows the former guesthouse of the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division in Dawu County, central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhu Weixi)

An aerial drone photo shows the former guesthouse of the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division in Dawu County, central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)

This photo shows the former guesthouse of the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division in Dawu County, central China's Hubei Province, July 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhu Weixi)

Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, places chrysanthemums on the tombstone of U.S. Flying Tiger pilot Glen Beneda in Hong'an County, central China's Hubei Province, July 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)

Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, speaks at the library of the former residence of Li Xiannian in Hong'an County, central China's Hubei Province, July 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Du Zixuan)