"We are here to celebrate the friendship between China and the US," Jeff Greene, director of the Sino-American Aviation History Heritage Foundation, said at the opening of an exhibit entitled "Welcome Home, Flying Tigers, From Beautiful Yunnan, Second Hometown of Heroes" in Washington on Tuesday.
"I hope people understand how important this is to both of our countries," Greene said.
The program, which includes a display of 300 items once used by the soldiers and a performance of Yunnan traditional dances, celebrates the memory of the Flying Tigers as well as the culture of Yunnan.
The collection includes helmets, belts, badges, compasses and shaversand around 20 model aircraft, all on loan from collectors, according to Greene.
In 1941, Claire Lee Chennault, a retired US military officer, formed the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan. It recruited pilots from the US Army Air Corps, Navy and Marine Corps.
They helped the Chinese fight the Japanese occupation forces during WWII, with most of their battles taking place in Yunnan.
"We want to be good citizen-ambassadors," Wei Xiuning, president of Yunnan Flying Tigers Research Institute, said.