Historical Record of Chinese Americans | Tracing Chinese Americans of Arizona Who Fought in World War II

Author: William Tang

(Vice President, Arizona Chinese History Association)

Translator: Rosie P. Zhou

ABSTRACT

In 1940, 65,400 people lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Among them, only 431 were Chinese descendants. According to existing information, during the Second World War, 74 Chinese were recruited and assigned to the United States Navy, Army, Air force, and Special Forces. They fought bravely against Japanese and German enemies in Asia, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Africa. This article seeks to provide brief accounts of some of the Chinese servicemen’s war experiences. Five of them were killed in battles, six went to China to resist Japanese aggression along with Chinese military and civilians, and four joined the 14th Air Force and became flying tigers. In addition, four brothers of the Ong family fought in WWII for the United States and all survived. They were called the “Four Heroes of One Family” and their heroic deeds will inspire future generations.

Remembering the Heroic Sacrifice of the Martyrs

In the battle between the Philippines and Japan, five Chinese American soldiers of Arizona died for their country.

Don C. Tang joined the U.S. Army Air Force in August 1943 as a C-46 transport crew member, serving in the 13th Air Force, earning seven medals. On July 17, 1945, one month before the victory of World War II, due to bad weather during the mission, his plane crashed into a mountain, and he was killed, along with four other Chinese crew members. He was only 20 years old when he died.

Quon Tung Don: On May 26, 1945, Quon Tung Don was flying a transport plane and flew from the Philippines to Palau with four crew members. He disappeared in the vast sea due to an accident and could not be contacted again.

Edward Yin Ong joined the U.S. Air Force in 1942, trained as a pilot, was sent to the Pacific Theater in 1943, and joined the 55th Troop Transport Squadron of the 375th Transport Unit of the U.S. Air Force in the Philippines. He earned 6 medals of honor. Unfortunately, he died on March 26, 1945.

James Sing was an Army Airman who died on November 18, 1944, during the Zero War in the Empire of Japan. The so-called Zero War refers to the Zero naval carrier fighters of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. They were commissioned in the year 2600 of the Japanese Imperial Era, hence the name.

Sing Y. Yee’s data only records that he died in December 1944.

Flying Tigers Member Albert Ong

Albert Ong joined the army in 1941 and went to the School of Combat Machinery to study in 1942. During World War II, he was first sent to Karachi, India, and then to China. He became a member of the intelligence staff of the Flying Tigers of China’s 14th Air Force, and moved to Kunming, Hunan among other places. Because he knew Chinese, he taught Chinese soldiers to learn military combat techniques and attack the Japanese army. Four and a half years into his military career, Albert Ong was awarded 8 medals, including the Noble Medal, the Baoding Medal, and the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Medal.

Guan Weili was a Chinese military officer who served in the army for 20 years.

William K. Toy joined the U.S. Army in 1940, received prewar training in Oklahoma and Texas, was sent to Panama in 1942, and then traveled to China through North Africa and the Persian Gulf. From 1943 to 1944, he went to India to train the Chinese army. Afterwards, he went to the combat headquarters in northern Burma and fought against the Japanese in northern and central Burma during the Burma campaign. Guan Weili’s military exploits were outstanding, and he won 5 medals including the Asia-Pacific War Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Guan Weili served in the army for 20 years and was appointed to the Colonel position.

Thomas Tang, a Chinese American military officer inducted into the Hall of Fame

Thomas Tang was born on January 11, 1922 in Phoenix. After the outbreak of World War II, Tang enlisted in the army, entered the Reserve Officers Training Corps, and became a lieutenant in the United States Army. In 1942, he was sent to China to help China improve military equipment at the Sino-Myanmar border, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places, and to recover relevant facilities from the Japanese army.

Tang entered politics after retiring, and in 1962, he served as a judge for the Arizona Superior Court. In 1977, he became the first U.S. federal court justice.

Tang was inducted into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame for his outstanding service to the country and his outstanding contributions to society. Only three Chinese soldiers in the state were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Aviation Martyr James Sing

James Sing was the uncle of Thomas Tang, a former U.S. federal court justice. James served in the United States Army Air Corps in June 1942. He started going to the North American Aviation School in Texas for technical training on the B-52 bomber. Four months later, he and the flight crew went to California for further training.

In April 1943, their 345th Bomb Squadron was ordered to set off for the South Pacific. On November 9, 1944, on Leyte Island in the Philippines, James and 345 other ground echelon soldiers spent two weeks aboard the U.S.S. Thomas Nelson Liberty, waiting to unload the ship’s cargo. On November 18, 1944, the Kamikaze commando of the Japanese Empire attacked with a Zero plane. The plane dropped a bomb on the door of the cabin, and the 30-ton main arm that was blown off fell to the side. The fuel-filled plane then slammed into the deck and exploded, splashing gasoline all over the ship and immediately burst into flames. Of the 345 officers and soldiers, 89 were killed or burned to death, and more than 100 others were injured. The gasoline that burned James took his young life.

Jack N. Yee, bilingual correspondent

During World War II, there were many unsung heroes among the Chinese soldiers in Arizona, and Jack N. Yee was one of them. Yee joined the U.S. Army in February 1942. After training, he became a food logistics sergeant.

In July 1944, General Joseph Stilwell, the then Chief of Staff of the Allied China Theater and the U.S. Commander of the China-Burma-India Theater, needed Chinese soldiers who could speak Chinese well to go to Kunming, China to do communication work between Chinese and American personnel. Thus, 400 Chinese soldiers were sent to Camp Crowder in Missouri to receive communications training. Yee was one of them.

In July 1944, after Yee completed his training, he was sent to Signal Service Company No. 3137 along with 400 Chinese soldiers. Afterwards, they sailed through the Suez Canal and went to India via China. After arriving in Mumbai, India, he was sent to Calcutta. Among them, 300 well-trained Chinese soldiers were sent to China as correspondents, while Yee and the remaining 99 were sent to New Delhi, the capital of India, as backup. While they waited for orders, World War II was declared to be over. Yee won 3 medals in World War II and retired on September 8, 1945.

Bombing and Flight Control Special Forces member Grey Toy

In 1942, Grey Toy joined the special forces unit of the United States Army Air Forces. He was an expert in bomb targeting and flight control. In January 1943, Toy entered the famous Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio to study aircraft instruments related to navigation – bombsights and automatic flight control. He was assigned to the North African Theater in 1943. From 1944 to December 1945, he served in China on the 14th Regiment of the Chinese and American Air Forces and became a member of the Bomb Command of the 20th Group, assisting the Chinese military and civilians in fighting the Japanese invaders. He received five medals in areas including the European-Middle East Theater and the Atlantic-Pacific Theater.

Frontline operator Douglas Dong

Douglas L. Dong joined the U.S. Army in January 1942 and went to the front line after only two weeks of training at the California base. He departed from Newport, Virginia, traveled across the Atlantic and Pacific to Mumbai, India, and then flew to Kunming, Yunnan, China, where he was stationed in the U.S. 14th Air Force as a front-line operator. After 10 months, he went to Guiyang, Guizhou for 8 months, then to the front line in Hengyang, Hunan for 2 months, and then to Chongqing for 9 months, until China’s victory in the war. Dong was honorably discharged at the end of 1945.

Army Aviation Mechanical Engineer Don Woo

Chinese soldier Don Woo joined the army in 1943 as an Army Aviation Mechanical Engineer. In the same year, he was dispatched to Australia and then to the Philippines, where he assisted the troops in shooting down Japanese Zero fighter jets and won the Bronze Star Medal.

Harry Ong, Providing Food and Drink Service for the Flying Tigers

Harry Ong enlisted on February 2, 1942, as a U.S. Army air force serviceman and trained in Texas. In April 1944, he departed from Newport, Virginia, to Mumbai, India, and then transferred to Kunming to join the 14th Air Force’s Air Force Task Force in China. He was later assigned to Shanghai, China, where he met his future bride Jean. Although Harry never fought in the field and his rank was only sergeant, he nevertheless contributed greatly to the war effort and won 6 medals.

Four Heroes of the Ong Family in Phoenix

The four brothers of the Ong family in Phoenix were all drafted into the U.S. military during the Second World War.

The four brothers of the Ong family, in order of eldest to youngest, were Robert Ong, Fred Ong, Henry Ong and Frank Ong. Robert Ong and Fred Ong joined the U.S. military reserve team, stayed in the United States, and did not go overseas.

Henry Ong joined the army in 1942 and was sent to Missouri, Florida and other places to study military communication technology. He was then assigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, as a radio operator on a B-24 bomber. After his final training at Alamogordo Air Force Base in New Mexico, he was sent to England, assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group, and stationed in south London. The B-24 was a heavy bomber at the time, with as many as nine Air Force personnel on board. They often operated at night, usually lasting 8-10 hours for deep enemy bombardment. Once, a B-24 bomber was hit by German anti-aircraft fire and it resultedly lost an engine. The Air Force had planned to fly to the nearest country, Switzerland, which was a neutral country during World War II. Any Allied soldiers who landed in Switzerland would not be handed over to the Germans, but would have to stay there until the end of the war. Therefore, they decided not to fly to Switzerland and ventured to spend more time flying back to England in order to return to the battlefield.

Henry Ong participated in the famous Normandy landing campaign. Later, he fought with B-17 bombers. On August 6, 1944, Frank Ong performed his 30th mission to bomb the engine factory in Berlin, Germany. After this mission was completed, the soldiers could return to the United States for reorganization. After the bomb hit the target, the plane was unfortunately hit by anti-aircraft fire, the plane crashed, and the crew was ordered to parachute, but all American soldiers were captured. Henry suffered multiple injuries. A comrade-in-arms, Edward Reichel, suffered the worst injuries because he was Jewish, and the Germans refused to treat him, so he died the next day.

Henry was sent to a prison camp in eastern Germany. The two rail cars were crowded with prisoners of war, who were given barely any food or water and were tortured.

In February 1945, in order to escape the Soviet offensive, the Germans decided to relocate the entire POW camp on foot. Henry embarked on a death journey with more than 10,000 prisoners of war, walking a thousand miles from eastern Germany to western Germany. Due to the unfavorable situation of the German army, the entire prison camp was turned back from the west to the east. They walked for more than 100 days. It was a cold winter, and many prisoners of war died of starvation and disease along the way. Although Henry did not die, he suffered a lot. On May 4, 1945, he was rescued by the British army and regained his freedom.

After the war, the U.S. government awarded Henry many medals, including the War Vanguard Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. After he retired, he contributed towards creating a better society and served as a leader of the Arizona chapter of the U.S. Retired Military Prisoners of War. He was inducted into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame in 2005 (one of only three Chinese individuals inducted in the state). In recognition of Henry’s contributions during World War II, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon designated January 16 as Henry Ong Day in 2007.

Frank Ong joined the U.S. Army in October 1943 as a field gunner. In 1944, he was sent to the Philippines, where he fought on Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. He participated in the battle on Okinawa. The day before the Battle of Okinawa, Frank’s artillery unit had landed and mounted artillery on a small island only five miles away from Okinawa. The cannon was powerful – the shells could hit targets 17 miles away, and the firepower covered many Japanese military targets. On March 26, the Okinawa General Offensive Campaign began, and artillery units cleared obstacles for the landing of the U.S. military. After that, Frank landed on the island with the troops and participated in the battle to capture Okinawa throughout the process. He won four medals in World War II.

Chinese Navy Officer Dong M. Hom

Dong M. Hom joined the U.S. Navy in February 1944. After 8 weeks of training at the Idaho Boot Camp, he became a member of the Navigation Signal Corps. Afterwards, he went to the Pacific battlefield, and helped refuel the fighting fleet in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Iwo Jima.

U.S. Artillery Commander Robert E. Ham

U.S. Army Artillery Commander Robert E. Ham made great achievements in combat and participated in the whole journey of World War II, visiting many European countries such as Britain, France and Belgium. He participated in many major battles, including the Battle of Normandy, and won 8 medals.

Bomber Maintenance Mechanic Kun Dan Gong

Kun Dan Gong was a B-24 heavy bomber maintenance mechanic who traveled to the European theater to maintain fighter planes in England, Greenland, Montreal, Canada, Iceland and other bases. He participated in the European air offensive, the Italian campaign, the Sicily campaign, and the Normandy campaign.

Quan, Wing Yip, a Chinese paratrooper in the Battle of Normandy

Quan, Wing Yip was born in 1907 and joined the U.S. military during World War II. His unit was the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which was established on August 15, 1942. When it was created, it was an airborne force and an air commando of the U.S. Army. It was sent to the European battlefield in World War II, first participating in the Battle of Normandy.

On the night of June 5, 1944, the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division belonging to Guan Rongye went into battle and parachuted down the coast of Normandy between the Caten and Cherbourg peninsula. Their task was to ensure the safety of bridges and cut short German army communications and supplies.

In the early morning of June 6, nearly three million Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel, and the largest naval landing operation in history was launched in Normandy, France. Quan, Wing Yip was a first-class soldier in the 101st Airborne Division. After the victory of World War II, he won four medals, including the European-African Campaign Medal.

Tom Bon Yee, gunner of the USS Missouri

Tom Bon Yee enlisted in 1943, trained at the San Diego Naval Base, and was later assigned to the South Pacific to serve on the USS Missouri as a gunner. On March 18, 1945, the USS Missouri, in conjunction with Mitchell’s fast carrier task force, attacked airfields in the Kyushu region and Japanese ships in the Seto Inland Sea, and then took part in the attack on Okinawa.

After the End of World War II, Chinese officers and Soldiers Were Stationed in Germany and Japan to Carry out Missions

After the end of World War II, Chinese officers and soldiers of Arizona were still stationed in Germany and Japan to perform tasks. Technician Francis Wong was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. Staff Sergeant Joe Quan was stationed in Japan with the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Warrant Officer Benjamin Joe’s 95th Infantry Division stayed in Japan. Staff Sergeant Quin Fung was stationed in Kobe, Japan. Jimmy C. Tang of the 65th Combat Engineering Battalion was dispatched to Osaka, Japan.

Francis Wong

After World War II, Technician Francis Wong was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany.

Joe Quan

Staff Sergeant Joe Quan was stationed in Japan with the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Warrant Officer Benjamin Joe’s 95th Infantry Division stayed in Japan.

Quin Fung

Staff Sergeant Quin Fung was stationed in Kobe, Japan.

Jimmy C. Tang

Jimmy C. Tang of the 65th Combat Engineering Battalion was dispatched to Osaka, Japan.

From the end of World War II in 1945 to this year 2020, the wheels of history have rolled forward for 75 years. The anti-fascist heroes who were brave and brilliant like stars in those days have gradually faded away. However, their immortal achievements and contributions to the United States and the progress of human society, will go down in history forever and inspire future generations.

Zhang Zhaohong (left), president of the Arizona Chinese Historical Association, and Henry Ong (right), a hero of World War II.

The author of this article, Tang Xiaoxian (middle in the back row), took a group photo with Frank Ong, a hero of World War II (first from the right in the front row) and his wife (first from the left in the front row).

Reference:

1. “Flying Tiger Fighting Spirit”, edited by Zhang Zhaohong

2. Chinese Americans in Arizona by Dennis Yee, Frank Ong and Jennifer Yang