The Experience China: A Symphony of Stories on China-US People-to-People Friendship event was held at the Chinese Embassy in the United States and the Chinese Consulate General in New York on Aug 27 and Aug 29, respectively.

The event aimed to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War and to celebrate the enduring China-US people-to-people friendship.

The event highlighted five stories of China-US people-to-people friendship during wartime, underscoring the emotional ties between the peoples of the two nations.

One of the stories was about the Doolittle Raid Rescue, shared by Tong Lijuan, director of the Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid in Quzhou city in East China's Zhejiang province, and representatives of the descendants of the Doolittle Raiders, Mr and Mrs Kantenberger.

Tong Lijuan, director of the Memorial Hall to the Doolittle Raid in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, shares a touching story from the Doolittle Raid Rescue. [Photo/WeChat account:quzhoufb]

In 1942, after a daring bombing raid on Japan, 75 US airmen led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle were forced to bail out or crash-land in China after running out of fuel. The Chinese people rescued 64 of them, including those who recuperated in Quzhou.

Tong recounted how injured airman Charles Ozark, navigator of No 3 aircraft in the raid, was rescued by and received meticulous care from local villagers in Quzhou.

At the event, items from a Doolittle Raid Rescue-themed image exhibition and the newly published Heroic Mountains and Rivers: Quzhou's Promise in 1942, a non-fiction work that is based on the Doolittle Raid Rescue, were also displayed.