U.S. veterans ‘proud’ to attend China’s V-day parade

Among those honored at Thursday’s military parade in Beijing was a delegation of American World War II veterans from the California-based Flying Tigers Historical Organization. 

在那些参加3日北京阅兵式的人当中，有一个来自美国加利福尼亚州飞虎队历史组织的二战老兵代表团。

The U.S. veterans attending included Robert Lee, 87, of 14th Army Air Force; plus a number of retired servicemen in their nineties: David Thompson, P-51 pilot who flew out of Xi’an; Paul Crawford, another P-51 pilot; Jay Vinyard, a pilot who made 87 round trips across the infamous "Hump" bringing supplies; and Frank Losonsky, who was a member of the original Flying Tigers founded prior to Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.

出席北京大阅兵的美国抗战老兵包括现年87岁的飞虎队成员罗伯特·李，还有许多年过九旬的退役军人——驾驶P-51战机执行任务的戴维·汤普森和保罗·克劳福德；曾87次驾机飞越著名的"驼峰航线"运送物资的飞行员杰伊·维亚德；还有弗兰克·洛松茨基，他也是1941年日本轰炸珍珠港之前组建的飞虎队的成员之一。

Also in the group were David Hayward, a B-25 pilot; another veteran, Leroy Parramore; and 101-year-old Maude Pettus, whose late husband, Dr. William Winston Pettus, was a surgeon in China for a decade during wartime. Maude Pettus, who worked as a nurse in China, recently had abook published about her experiences —  "Ten Good Years," written by Linda Bordner. 

代表团成员还有B-25轰炸机飞行员戴维·海沃德、抗战老兵勒罗伊·帕拉莫尔以及现已101岁的莫德·佩特斯。佩特斯的丈夫温斯顿·佩特斯战时在中国住了十年，是一名外科医生。莫德·佩特斯当时在中国是一名护士。她最近以自己的经历出版了一本书。

"Everybody in our delegation was proud to be there and happy to be there." said Flying Tigers Historical Organization President Larry Jobe, 74, a retired pilot for United Airlines who lives in Groveland, Calif., near Yosemite.

飞虎队历史组织主席拉里·乔布说："我们代表团的每一位成员都为来北京参加阅兵式感到骄傲。"74岁的乔布是美国联合航空公司的退休飞行员，他住在加利福尼亚州的格罗夫兰。

Jobe and his group have been working with local Chinese government officials in the southern city of Guilin for the last decade on a Flying Tigers museum and park. The museum was dedicated in March. The U.S. nonprofit group is currently raising $400,000 to help restore the cave used by Gen. Clare Chennault as his command and operations center. 

过去十年里，乔布和飞虎队历史组织一直在配合中国南方城市桂林建立一个飞虎队纪念馆和遗址公园。该纪念馆今年3月落成。这个非营利组织目前正筹资40万美元，帮助修复飞虎队创始人陈纳德将军当年的指挥部。

"There’s an anti-China paranoia in the U.S., much of it generated by the news media," Jobe said after the parade. "People will feed on that and will grasp this as a provocative act. This was a ceremony to mark the end of a terrible war, and a military parade is entirely appropriate."

乔布在阅兵式后说："在美国国内有一股反华情绪，其中大多是由新闻媒体造成的。人们听信它们，把这次阅兵式当成一种挑衅行为。实际上这是纪念一场可怕战争结束的仪式，因此举行阅兵式完全合适。"

The Chinese People’s Assn. for Friendship with Foreign Countries helped underwrite the delegation's stay in China.

中国人民对外友好协会帮助安排了该代表团的中国之行。

Jobe said he regarded China as a powerful nation and predicted it would soon be not only on par with the United States but overtake the United States in the not too distant future.

乔布说，他认为中国是一个强大的国家，很快将与美国平起平坐，并且在不远的未来将超过美国。

"I don’t look as a strong Chinese military as a threat, but I see it as something that would prevent the kind of conflict in we had in World War II. It’s weakness that can lead to wars like that," he said. "I don’t sense a tendency among the Chinese to be territorial or expansionary."

他说："我不认为强大的中国军队是威胁，相反，我认为强大的中国军队将有助于防止发生二战期间我们遭遇的那种冲突。正是弱小才可能导致遭遇那样的战争。我没感觉到中国有领土扩张的倾向。"

 Jobe said he regarded anti-China sentiment in the U.S. as akin to McCarthyism.

乔布表示，他认为美国国内的反华情绪与麦卡锡主义类似。

"There are people that want to make you afraid of communism and China, but  the rest of the people will look at it for it what it was — a ceremony to mark the end of a miserable time."

他说："有些人想让你对共产主义和中国产生恐惧，但其他人会认真看看究竟是怎样——这是一场纪念一个悲惨时代结束的仪式。"