WWII photos depict US-China alliance

On the Salween front in China's Yunnan province, US signal corps photographer George Kocourek of Los Angeles was writing a letter home on a makeshift table with his wife's photo at his side. In his little tent "home", a Chinese boy sat beside him, looking through a magazine.

The photo capturing this cozy moment on Oct 24, 1944 in the China-Burma-India Theater, a crucial battlefield during WWII, is being presented in the San Francisco Bay area along with more than 100 other historical photos taken at that time.

The exhibition, entitled National Memories: US-China Collaboration during WWII, which opened on Aug 7 at the Nan Hai Arts Center in Millbrae, California, depicts soldiers, combat medics and civilians from both countries, from a US sergeant instructing a Chinese soldier on the 30-calibre machine gun to an American major handing out candy to girl workers and a Chinese artist teaching US officers brush techniques of traditional Chinese painting.

The photos, taken between 1942 and 1945 by US Army signal corps photographers of the 164th combat camera company, bring to life the unique and seldom celebrated camaraderie that existed between Chinese and US soldiers as their countries joined forces during WWII.

The United States and China were allies during the war, and more than 250,000 Americans served in the China-Burma-India Theater under Army Gen Joseph Stilwell. From tropical jungles to arid hinterland, and from populous cities to remote villages, they fought and died and survived and eventually helped win the war through their tenacity and sacrifice.

National Memories, organized by the China Overseas Exchange Association, is an "expression of thanks to the American people for the assistance extended to China during WWII and for the friendship that existed between the Chinese people and Americans during that period," retired Army Col John Easterbrook, one of the curators and the grandson of Gen Stilwell, wrote in the foreword to the exhibition's brochure.

"It is hoped that the exhibit will provide the American people, just as it has provided the Chinese people, with some visibility to the friendships that existed between Americans and Chinese some 70 years ago," he said.

"This is a tremendously important exhibition for Chinese to see the connection between America and China, and the sacrifice Americans made to help China fight against aggression," said Gordon Chang, history professor and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University, at the exhibition's opening. "As a part of history, it's widely underappreciated in China, too."

"It's also important for Americans to see this exhibition because many of them don't know about the suffering of China under Japanese aggression and the connections the Chinese and American governments made during those war years," he added. "It's an important relationship we should be reminded of today."

The exhibition first went on display in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in 2010, and then toured through the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, the exhibit was brought to the US for the first time in Washington, DC, last October.

The show carries three messages: Chinese people's war against Japanese aggression as part of the global war against fascism; war and peace; and the friendly relationship between China and the US, said He Yafei, vice-chairman of China Overseas Exchange Association, at last year's opening ceremony in Washington.

The future depends on the collaboration between China and the US, he said. "I hope the exhibition will leave us with more good memories, so that we will pursue the right course," he said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 08/10/2015 page2)