Ordie
10-03-2009, 02:31 AM
WWII all-Chinese American unit reminisces
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/09/30/dd-flyingtigers0_0500647981.jpg (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2009%2F09%2F30%2Fdd-flyingtigers0_0500648004.jpg)
Harry Lim (from left), Paul Ngim, Tom Luey and Wilfred Eng get together once a year to reminisce about their days serving in one of only two all-Chinese American World War II units. The four grew up in Oakland's Chinatown.
Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer (jguthrie@sfchronicle.com)
Friday, October 2, 2009
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&o=3&type=printable)
Harry Lim, Wilfred Eng, Tom Luey and Paul Ngim grew up in Oakland's Chinatown, riding their bikes in the quiet streets and graduating from high school together. In 1943, these sons of Chinese immigrants received letters that would change their lives, letters that began simply with "Greetings."
They were drafted into World War II and ended up together again, this time serving in the same all-Chinese American unit supporting the 14th Air Force's famed Flying Tigers. The fighter squadrons, flying the shark-faced P-40s, defended China against Japanese forces and will be the subject of a forthcoming film by action director John Woo.
More than six decades later, the Oakland boys are now octogenarians. Once a year, they get together to share stories, photos and memories - of flying "the hump," the aerial supply route over the Himalayas, and of returning after the war to a changed Chinatown and as changed men.
"When I got out of the service on Jan. 8, 1946, I was no longer a kid," chuckled Harry Lim, 84, at the Flying Tigers' recent reunion in Oakland. "I'd been around the world. I was proud I had served my time. We kind of proved we were not 'coolies.' "
His friends nodded. Before the war, discrimination against Chinese Americans was rampant, he said.
"The 'coolie' term was used because the Chinese had come to America and done the lowest-wage jobs," Lim said. "The war made things better for us."
An estimated 13,000 Chinese Americans served in World War II, but there were only two all-Chinese American units: the 407th Air Service Squadron and the 987th Signal Company, both providing service to the 14th. They were based in the China, Burma and India Theater.
New appreciation
Lim said that being in China for the first time during the war made him appreciate his parents' decision to come to America.
"I remember a transport plane carrying Chinese soldiers crashed at an air base in Xian, and we went to rescue the soldiers," Lim said. "Some were burned pretty bad. We rushed them to hospitals, and the hospitals refused them. They viewed the Chinese soldiers as expendable."
Paul Ngim, who was a company clerk and truck driver during the war, remembers being "scared to death" flying over the Himalayas.
"We all had parachutes," he recalled. "But if you have to jump and parachute there, you'll never be found again. We all knew that."
Ngim added, "I also remember loading those bombs into the airplanes. That was something." The men of the 407th serviced and fueled the fighter planes, made them mission-ready, did crash detail and trained Chinese soldiers as mechanics and engineers.
Eng viewed his service as an opportunity to create a strong image for Chinese living in America.
'The backbone'
"We were the support squadrons for the Flying Tigers," Eng said. "We were the backbone. We all wanted to do a good job."
Sitting together in a room at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland, where the Flying Tigers reunion was held, the men looked at one another and shared smiles.
"Sixty years goes by pretty quick," Lim said. "Seems like yesterday I got that letter. I still have it - my so-called invitation to service."
Luey said he was actually relieved when he learned he would be a part of the 407th.
"I had thought I was going to be in the ground troops," Luey said. "I was so happy to get a transfer and be told I was going to be in an all-Chinese unit going to China. I was trained as a mechanic. I was ready to service the fighter planes."
After the war, several of the men went to college on the GI bill and then found jobs as aircraft electricians at the Naval Air Station in Alameda and at Lockheed Martin.
Eng, who worked in the engineering department at the Naval Air Station, scanned the faces of his friends: "It means something that we ate and slept and survived together."
Source:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&type=printable
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2009/09/30/dd-flyingtigers0_0500647981.jpg (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2009%2F09%2F30%2Fdd-flyingtigers0_0500648004.jpg)
Harry Lim (from left), Paul Ngim, Tom Luey and Wilfred Eng get together once a year to reminisce about their days serving in one of only two all-Chinese American World War II units. The four grew up in Oakland's Chinatown.
Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer (jguthrie@sfchronicle.com)
Friday, October 2, 2009
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&o=3&type=printable)
Harry Lim, Wilfred Eng, Tom Luey and Paul Ngim grew up in Oakland's Chinatown, riding their bikes in the quiet streets and graduating from high school together. In 1943, these sons of Chinese immigrants received letters that would change their lives, letters that began simply with "Greetings."
They were drafted into World War II and ended up together again, this time serving in the same all-Chinese American unit supporting the 14th Air Force's famed Flying Tigers. The fighter squadrons, flying the shark-faced P-40s, defended China against Japanese forces and will be the subject of a forthcoming film by action director John Woo.
More than six decades later, the Oakland boys are now octogenarians. Once a year, they get together to share stories, photos and memories - of flying "the hump," the aerial supply route over the Himalayas, and of returning after the war to a changed Chinatown and as changed men.
"When I got out of the service on Jan. 8, 1946, I was no longer a kid," chuckled Harry Lim, 84, at the Flying Tigers' recent reunion in Oakland. "I'd been around the world. I was proud I had served my time. We kind of proved we were not 'coolies.' "
His friends nodded. Before the war, discrimination against Chinese Americans was rampant, he said.
"The 'coolie' term was used because the Chinese had come to America and done the lowest-wage jobs," Lim said. "The war made things better for us."
An estimated 13,000 Chinese Americans served in World War II, but there were only two all-Chinese American units: the 407th Air Service Squadron and the 987th Signal Company, both providing service to the 14th. They were based in the China, Burma and India Theater.
New appreciation
Lim said that being in China for the first time during the war made him appreciate his parents' decision to come to America.
"I remember a transport plane carrying Chinese soldiers crashed at an air base in Xian, and we went to rescue the soldiers," Lim said. "Some were burned pretty bad. We rushed them to hospitals, and the hospitals refused them. They viewed the Chinese soldiers as expendable."
Paul Ngim, who was a company clerk and truck driver during the war, remembers being "scared to death" flying over the Himalayas.
"We all had parachutes," he recalled. "But if you have to jump and parachute there, you'll never be found again. We all knew that."
Ngim added, "I also remember loading those bombs into the airplanes. That was something." The men of the 407th serviced and fueled the fighter planes, made them mission-ready, did crash detail and trained Chinese soldiers as mechanics and engineers.
Eng viewed his service as an opportunity to create a strong image for Chinese living in America.
'The backbone'
"We were the support squadrons for the Flying Tigers," Eng said. "We were the backbone. We all wanted to do a good job."
Sitting together in a room at the Marriott Hotel in Oakland, where the Flying Tigers reunion was held, the men looked at one another and shared smiles.
"Sixty years goes by pretty quick," Lim said. "Seems like yesterday I got that letter. I still have it - my so-called invitation to service."
Luey said he was actually relieved when he learned he would be a part of the 407th.
"I had thought I was going to be in the ground troops," Luey said. "I was so happy to get a transfer and be told I was going to be in an all-Chinese unit going to China. I was trained as a mechanic. I was ready to service the fighter planes."
After the war, several of the men went to college on the GI bill and then found jobs as aircraft electricians at the Naval Air Station in Alameda and at Lockheed Martin.
Eng, who worked in the engineering department at the Naval Air Station, scanned the faces of his friends: "It means something that we ate and slept and survived together."
Source:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/02/DDK419L9T6.DTL&type=printable