Chinese veteran Sun Yibai, 97, pauses during an interview at his home in Beijing on July 20, 2015. Sun once served as a translator with the storied Flying Tigers aviation brigade, but after the war he found himself on the wrong side of the Communist historical narrative,along with thousands of others who fought for the Nationalists. Under Communist rule, their service led to imprisonment, persecution, and often death in the years after the 1949 revolution. Sun doesn’t have much time for the Communist Party’s claim to have led China to victory against Japan in World War II. “The Communist Party didn’t fight Japan,” he said. “They made up a whole bunch of stories afterward, but it was all fabricated.” That view challenges a basic premise underpinning this week’s lavish celebrations in Beijing of the 70th anniversary of Japan's defeat: that Mao Zedong’s Communists were the saviors of the nation, battling against Japanese forces that began occupying parts of China in 1931 before launching a full-blown invasion in 1937. #

Chinese veteran Lu Chunshan, 91, holds up a certificate detailing his wartime service during an interview at his home in Beijing on August 30, 2015. Following the war, Lu found temporary employment, but was dragged before baying crowds during political campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s and denounced as an enemy of the Communist cause. “If you tangled with the Communists, then it was as if you made no contribution at all to speak of,” Lu said. “If you did just what the party said, you’d have a good life.” Despite having faded documentation confirming his national service, Lu receives no pension, surviving mainly on the 2,400 yuan ($380) per month provided by a former employer, a state oil company. China announced in 2013 that KMT veterans were now eligible for state pensions, but the government has yet to locate and verify all that still survive. #

Chinese veteran nurse Zhang Cuiping, 89, walks outside of her apartment in Beijing on July 23, 2015. Veterans such as Zhang have long found themselves on the wrong side of the Communist historical narrative. Their service with the Nationalists led to imprisonment, persecution, and often death in the years after the 1949 Communist revolution. #

Chinese veteran Sun Yibai, 97, poses for a photo at his home in Beijing on July 20, 2015. The 1966-76 Cultural Revolution was especially tough for Sun, who was labeled a spy. Sun endured beatings by young Red Guards at the Beijing middle school where he was teaching and considers himself fortunate to have survived. Two fellow veterans at the school died from their persecution. #

Chinese veteran Lu Chunshan, 91, holds up fingers gnarled and deformed from two decades of hard labor during an interview at his home in Beijing on August 30, 2015. Lu received his sentence for having signed on as a military cadet with the Nationalists in 1942. #

A calendar commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II hangs on the wall of the Beijing apartment of veteran nurse Zhang Cuiping on July 23, 2015. Formal 70th-anniversary commemorations begin Wednesday with a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People to honor veterans—at least those whose service has been officially recognized. #

Chinese veteran Sun Yibai looks at materials from his youth at his home in Beijing on July 20, 2015. Now mostly in their 90s, KMT veterans in China are living out their remaining years shunned and forgotten by all but a few who care to hear their stories. “Nobody cares about veterans like me. Nobody cares. People just forget what happened in the past,” said Sun in an interview in his apartment, which is stuffed with books and old photos. #