China Focus: Expeditionary soldiers' remains to return to China

Two of Miao Kun's life goals may be realized by the end of this year.

The first is to return to the battlefield in Myanmar where he fought with the U.S. Army against the Japanese during World War II. The second is to locate the remains of his cousin and bring him back home.

Miao, 89, who lives in Gejiu City, Yunnan Province, is a Chinese Expeditionary Force veteran.

In 1942, China sent 100,000 expeditionary soldiers to Myanmar and India to fight the Japanese forces with the Allies. During the war, nearly half of Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.

A search for the remains of the expeditionary troops who fell during the war was launched this April by the Shenzhen Longyue Charity Foundation. As of Aug. 30, the remains of 347 soldiers have been discovered in Myanmar's Myitkyina.

The organizer hopes a ceremony marking the return of the soldiers to the Mother Land can be held before November.

Miao will be invited to return to his former battlefield in Myanmar to attend the event. It will be the first time he has been back since 1945.

"I look forward to visiting an old friend," Miao said. "He chose to stay since he was injured in Myitkyina."

In 1944, the battle of Myitkyina broke out. In late April, an American and Chinese combined-assault team started to move toward Myitkyina to reclaim the city.

On a night in May, Miao left Ramgarh Base, where he and other Chinese soldiers were trained by American officers, and arrived at Myitkyina early the next morning.

"As soon as we got off the plane, the Japanese soldiers came straight at us," he recalled. "About a dozen of us forced them to retreat to a trench and killed them with a rain of grenades."

Miao was born in 1927 in Miaojiashidong in Yunnan Province. In 1943, he joined the young volunteer team of the Chinese Expeditionary Forces and headed for Kunming, capital of Yunnan. There he met his cousin Miao Kexun, who had joined the army, too.

Later, they flew to Ramgarh Base in India for training via the Hump, the name of the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which the Allied pilots flew military transport aircraft.

"At Ramgarh Base, we learned the essentials of fighting: how to attack and crawl etc. We had classes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The American officers taught us strategy and tactics and they provided us with equipment," Miao said.

The two-month siege by U.S. and Chinese forces on Myitkyina ended in success, though more than 6,000 American and Chinese soldiers died or were injured in the war, including Miao's cousin.

Three years ago, a charity group found Miao and he was recognized as a veteran. Miao has never given up hope of bringing his cousin's remains home.

This new project has reignited Miao's hope.

Ge Shuya, an expert on the China-Burma-India Theater of WWII, said it took him 15 years to locate the Chinese soldiers' tombs in Myitkyina.

"In 2000, I visited Myitkyina and the tombs had been destroyed," he said.

Ge went on to visit the area over 20 times, and collated lots of materials in the U.S. and Hong Kong to confirm the precise location of the tombs.

All the remains collected so far have been sent for DNA tests, said Liu Yaxin, a Longyue Charity Foundation project manager.

"The work is difficult as the remains have degraded due to the hot and humid environment."

But thanks to Fudan University, DNA tests on 27 have been completed and the identity of some have been confirmed, said Liu.

"The Embassy of the United States to China contacted us several months ago, hoping to find Chinese expeditionary veterans who fought together with the U.S. army," said Sun Chunlong, chairman of the Longyue Charity Foundation.

"This [project] is the witness of former friendship between the Allies, and the continuation of the friendship between the people of both countries." Endit