General Stilwell is an old friend of the Chinese people. He has given active support to China's liberation and progress and made positive contributions to the friendship between the two peoples. The Chinese people will never forget this.
This news brings back memories of General Stilwell's grandson, Mr. John Easterbrook, who made his peace trip many years ago.
In 2005, Yunnan Bailian Heshun Tourism Culture Development Co., Ltd. built the Yunnan-Myanmar Anti-Japanese War Museum in Heshun at the former site of the 20th Group Army Headquarters of the expeditionary Force. The museum is the first museum funded by the people and collected by the people in China, with the theme of the War of Resistance between Yunnan and Myanmar, which has had a great impact. In 2013, the museum was moved to the public Memorial Hall of the Western Yunnan War of Resistance. On April 28, 2009, General Stilwell's grandson Joseph Stilwell and grandson John Easterbrook visited the Museum of the Yunan-Burma War of Resistance at that time.
What impressed people deeply was the scene when the party visited the "Tragic Expedition" exhibition hall, which showed the historical facts of the Chinese expeditionary force's first battle in Burma and its eventual defeat in the wild mountain. With the introduction of the docent, the original few words of the people began to talk more, when they walked in front of an old photo, everyone was frozen, this is an old black and white photo, frozen is an American soldier with carbine gun walking in the jungle scene. He was General Stilwell, who was famous in the Yunnan-Burma battlefield. In front of the old photos of their grandparents, everyone rushed to take photos, and the excitement was overwhelming.
Born in Palatka, Florida, Stilwell was a general in the United States Army and graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1904. Fought in the First World War. He worked in China from 1920 to 1923. From 1926 to 1929, he served as commander and acting Chief of Staff of the Huamei Barracks in Tianjin, China. He served as military attache to China from 1935 to 1939. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, he served as chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek, commander of the China-Burma Indian Theater and commander of the China Theater, commanding the Allied forces against the Japanese invasion of Burma. In 1943, he was also the Supreme Deputy Commander of the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia, commanding the Sino-American counteroffensive in northern Burma.
This old photo was taken in May 1942, when the Chinese Expeditionary Force failed to enter Burma, Stilwell refused to take the plane that had come to pick him up, and led more than 200 men on foot out of the jungles of northern Burma into India. On the way to the retreat, the American hatched a "Tarzan Plan", referred to as "XY Plan", which was later the Yunnan-Burma counteroffensive.
In recognition of Stilwell's contribution in the War of Resistance against Myanmar and Yunnan, the Chinese government named the Sino-Indian Highway from Ledo, India, to Kunming, Yunnan, China, via Myitkyina in northern Myanmar, opened to traffic in early 1945 as the "Stilwell Highway".
In 2009, General Stilwell's grandson, Mr. John Easterbrook, and his delegation visited China at the invitation of the Chinese government. They also had the opportunity to come to Hishun. When they saw many objects used by American soldiers in the war of Resistance in Yunnan and Myanmar, Seeing that the Chinese people still remember the grandparents who came to China to help fight after more than 60 years, and feeling the gratitude shown by the Chinese people, they left messages to express their heartfelt feelings.
   
Mr. John Easterbrook wrote: "I respect and admire the efforts of the people of Tengchong to commemorate the history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. It is important for us to never forget the history and the close relationship between the Chinese and American people."
 Looking ahead, China and the United States also have every reason to achieve mutual success and prosper together. The foundation of China-Us relations lies in the people, and the source of strength lies in friendship between the people. The two peoples should strengthen exchanges, enhance understanding and expand cooperation to inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations.
This gives us all the more reason to believe that the friendship between China and the United States, which Mr. John Easterbrook gained in Heshun many years ago, will be able to pass through history and continue from generation to generation between the Chinese and American people until the distant future after the baptism of time and rain.