From Flying Tigers to Kuliang hills, US family treasures friendship with China since WWII

KULIANG HILLS BOND

After the war, Donald returned to the United States. In 1947, upon learning that Fujian Union University needed foreign teachers, he returned to Fuzhou with his wife and son and worked there for a few years. Then in early 2000s, he once again worked in Fujian as a volunteer in a local college.

Donald's legacy has lived on through the people he inspired. "Teacher Mu's spirit of internationalism and selfless dedication has guided me throughout my life," reflected 101-year-old Chen Shiming, one of Donald's students in China.

Through the tireless efforts of Chen, Mu Airen became the first foreign name engraved on the memorial wall in 2018 — joining the Chinese soldiers whom he fought alongside all those years ago.

Donald's love of China has been passed down to Peter MacInnis, his second son and Elyn's husband. Peter was born in Fuzhou during Donald's stay there after the WWII, and was brought to Kuliang — then a summer retreat for the city's foreign community nestled in the mountains east of the city — when he was just a month old.

Peter and Elyn met as graduate students at Harvard University and later fell in love and got married. Hoping someday to go to China, Elyn added Chinese to her other studies. More than ten years later they moved to Nanjing, in East China's Jiangsu province, with their two daughters, and that was the start of their 30 years' stay in China.

In 2015, Elyn and Peter brought Donald's ashes to Fuzhou and scattered them into the Minjiang River, fulfilling the old man's final wish.

During that trip, Elyn explored Kuliang, and that led her to uncover many stories from Kuliang's American community — such as Dr Harold Brewster's teaching of life-saving surgical techniques.