A 90-second advertisement about veteran Chinese Expeditionary Forces to Burma (today's Myanmar) is broadcast in Times Square in New York on Friday morning. The advertisement was shown every 30 minutes. Han Meng / for China Daily

Rather than falling to the ground at Kai-Tak to "a circle of angry J-boys", Kerr bailed out of his plane and parachuted into the mountains to the north of the airport, aided by a southern wind, according to the memoir.

About 1,000 Japanese ground troops searched for him for about two weeks, but in vain.

The memoir, which will be published in a couple of weeks in English, is believed to have been written in the days immediately following the pilot's rescue. It was first discovered by his son in 1982, five years after Kerr's death at the age of 62.

Series of events

On Thursday, in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, US Ambassador to China Max Baucus participated in a series of events commemorating the Flying Tigers.

"Flying Tigers is a symbol of working together between China and the United States to accomplish a very important objective. That was prevailing in World War II. It's important to remember that," Baucus said during his two-day visit.

"I'm worried that too few Americans remember that history today. Memories fade," he said.

"So I think it's very important to do anniversaries to make more people know the joint cooperation between two countries symbolized by the Flying Tigers."

Contact the writers at zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn and lixinyi@chinadaily.com.cn