"It captures the bravery and the spirit of these soldiers so many years ago and will allow them to be seen for many generations in the future," said Dave Kerr, son of Lieutenant Donald Kerr, who served in the US Army's 14th Air Force — partly formed from the Flying Tigers squadron. "Liu has captured all those memories before we lost them forever.

"They (the Chinese veterans in the photos) were wearing the same outfits as my father, and he probably knew some of them," Kerr said.

His father was rescued by local Chinese people after he jumped out of his P-40 fighter on Feb 11, 1944, a time when Japan's military controlled a large part of China.

"It's very good to see an exhibition in the US about these Chinese soldiers because here we only got to see American soldiers, and we forgot these good friends during the war years," Kerr said. "We had that great time and friendship during the war and we hope we can continue to build on it."