Historic WWII units will reunite
By Tan Vinh
Seattle Times staff reporter
On a recent afternoon at a senior center in the Chinatown International District, York Luke and Chong Wong, both 82, sat side by side and pondered who, when they are gone, would tell the story of the first Chinese-American units that served during World War II.
There once were about 30 Seattle-area veterans from the historic 14th Air Service Group and the 987th Signal Company — men of Chinese ancestry who enlisted in the U.S. Army and were sent to China in 1944 to help fight invading Japanese forces.
Today, though, the Seattle contingent will be largely absent as about 40 surviving members of the two units, coming from as far away as California and New York, gather here for a four-day reunion that will include dinners in Chinatown, a trip to Blake Island and a bus tour of Seattle.
Many of the 1,500 members in the two units have passed away or are assumed dead. One resides at a local nursing home but is recovering from a stroke and has not been active in the group.
As active local members go, the two of us, said Luke, pointing to Wong, are what remains of the proud group.
Luke and Wong arrived in Seattle when they were about 12 and were casual acquaintances. But it was in the U.S. Army, during the days and nights they spent together refueling aircraft and transporting ammunition in southwest China's Yunnan Province, that their friendship developed.
But even they probably won't be attending most of the reunion's events, as Wong is losing his vision from diabetes and Luke has suffered two heart attacks.
"It's sad that everyone has passed way," Wong said. "But there is nothing you can do about it."
In recent years, their reunions have drawn only 40 to 60 veterans. Many are scrambling to jot down notes or retrieve their old uniforms and letters from attics and basements to pass on to their grandchildren.
"They are nearing the end, and they want to leave something behind so that the younger generation would be able to learn from their experiences," said Christina Lim, co-author of "In the shadow of the Tiger, the 407th Air Service Squadron," and a producer of KTEH Silicon Valley Public Television in San Jose, Calif. Her father, Harry Lim, served in the 14th Air Service Group.
In the history of World War II, their stories have largely been overlooked, overshadowed not just by the most famous Allied battles and troops but by other segregated groups as well, such as the all-African-American Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots, and the highly decorated Japanese-American soldiers from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, who fought in Europe.
But the two predominantly Chinese-American units — their commanding officers were white — rarely are mentioned, partly because they served supporting roles as aircraft-maintenance and communication specialists, and partly because they served in remote areas of China, Burma and India.
In 1937, the Japanese invaded eastern China, setting off the Sino-Japanese War. An ally of the Chinese, the United States recruited bilingual soldiers who helped both the U.S. and Chinese troops.
By 1944, the new Chinese-American recruits were shipped to about two dozen remote airbases, mostly in China. Many, including Luke and Wong, recovered crashed planes or repaired bullet-ridden U.S. bombers and fighters.
They maintained the aircraft flown by the famous U.S. Army Air Corps' "Flying Tiger" fleet, which shot down at least 300 Japanese warplanes.
But the Chinese-American soldiers, historians say, were left to fend for themselves — too young and naive, Wong said, to realize the danger.
Due to a manpower shortage, they flew Chinese troops and ammunitions over the Himalaya Mountains without bomber or fighter escort. They received no military ground support and were armed only with .45-caliber pistols. Luckily, they escaped any firefights.
Luke, who immigrated to Seattle in 1935 and volunteered to join the Army seven years later, said, "I wanted to serve this country and help the country I was born in."
The Chinese-American forces suffered only one casualty, Chris Chen of Seattle, who died in 1944 after jumping out of his truck when the fuel tank malfunctioned and exploded.
By late 1945, the Japanese retreated, and the Chinese-American troops were shipped to Fort Lawton in Seattle before returning to their hometowns.
Now the veterans are in their 80s and 90s. Most have only vague recollections of the war. Luke's most vivid memory was of counting the B-29s and the P-51s taking off and then seeing fewer planes landing on the tarmac the next morning.
"When you don't get the same count on the way back, it just hits you right here," he said, patting his heart.
Both men returned to Seattle after the war, married, raised families and ran businesses — Luke owned a laundry service and Wong owned several restaurants in Chinatown and surrounding areas. Both retired a decade ago.
Luke still lives in Seattle with his wife of 58 years, Arlene Luke, 77. They have four children, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. A widower whose wife passed away in 1989, Wong, too, lives in Seattle. He has three children and four grandchildren.
Sixty years after their friendship was forged, they still meet monthly for dim-sum lunches around the Chinatown International District, chatting about their families and their health, but rarely about the war. At this age, said Luke, "we just don't remember much."
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