Sino-American non-governmental culture exchange activities commemorating the 82nd Anniversary of the Great Rescue of Doolittle Raid with the theme “Let the friendship forged by blood and flame be passed down from generation to generation” took place in the Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid at No. 9 Shuiting Street, Kecheng District, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province between April 17 and 19.
“There is a Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid in Quzhou, Zhejiang. The descendants of the American soldiers who were rescued that year often come here to pay tribute to the righteous and courageous Chinese people.” On November 15, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech at the joint welcome banquet hold by American friendly organizations in San Francisco, specifically talking about the story of Chinese soldiers and civilians bravely rescuing American pilots during the Anti-Japanese War and the descendants of rescued American soldiers returning to the Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid in Quzhou.
After the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on April 18, 1942, 80 pilots such as Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle of the United States flew 16 modified B-25 “Mitchell” bombers to attack Japan. Due to problems such as insufficient fuel on the way back, the pilots abandoned their planes to jump over China, where the Chinese military and civilians bravely rescued them. As a result, the Japanese army launched the Battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, killing 250,000 Chinese civilians.
Since the 1990s, the pilots that are still alive of the “Doolittle Raiders Association” as well as the pilot descendants from the Association “Children of Doolittle Raiders” have returned to China many times to search for the rescuers.
On the morning of April 17, Susan Ozuk, the daughter of navigator of the plane No. 3, Ozuk, once again came to the depths of the mountains in Zhangcun Township,
Jiangshan City, Quzhou, and revisited the rammed earth room located at “Xiaonankengkou No. 3”. Eighty-two years ago, the villager Liao Shiyuan’s family took good care of her father here. In 2018, she donated $15,000 to renovate the old house.
Since 2016, the Association Children of Doolittle Raiders has set up scholarships in Quzhou Second Middle School and organized English essay competitions around the “Doolittle Raid” for many times, sowing the seeds of peace-loving in the hearts of young students. On campus, a “friendship tree” jointly planted by Sino-American friends in September 2015 has been leafy and vibrant, and the stone tablet beside the tree is engraved with the message – “Succeeding the Doolittle Raid, a memorial to the legend and a new page in the Chinese-US friendship”.