If you were watching TV news in China during October 2023, you might have been confused by the continuing coverage given to two elderly U.S. military veterans. Both served in China as members of a unit called the Flying Tigers during World War II, a time when America and China were allies. Camera crews followed them for days as they traveled across China. They even met with PRC Vice President Han Zheng, and American ambassador Nicholas Burns. 

How is it these American heroes are largely forgotten at home, yet still celebrated in China? 

Valor and Memory answers that question. In the process it explores the complex historical relationship between the United States and China. It is the story of the “Flying Tigers,” American pilots who travelled to China to help its people repel a brutal invasion; the “Chinese Tigers,” Chinese pilots who earned their wings at American flight schools in places like Arizona and Texas, then returned home to defend their homeland; and what might be called the “Chinese American Tigers,” young men raised in big city “Chinatown” neighborhoods, sent by the U.S. Army to China for their language and cultural knowledge as much as their technical skills. 

The “Flying Tigers,” the “Chinese Tigers” and “Chinese American Tigers” have almost all passed into history. But their valor and sacrifices deserve to be remembered…

Valor and Memory will premiere on Public Television stations beginning in November 2024, as part of special Veterans Day programming. (Check local listings for day and time.)