Our Veterans
Seto G. Feun - Army Air Forces
Born in Canton Province, Hai Ping County, China in 1913, Seto G. Feun attended Pui Ying High School in Canton and went on to continue his education in Michigan. He enlisted in the United States Army and reported for active duty on April 25, 1941, prior to the United States entering World War II. By 1943, he rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and became a skilled carbine sharpshooter and radio operator. He attended radio operator school, maintenance radio school, communications school, as well as Officers Training School, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. Seto Feun fought in the China Offensive Campaign and later in the New Guinea Campaign in 1944. As part of the 14th Air Service Group, he provided ground support for the Flying Tigers, utilizing his skills as a radio communications specialist and technician. As a 1st Lieutenant, he served with the 5th Army Air Corps in the China and India-Burma operational theaters and was later assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a wartime intelligence agency of the United States which later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He worked with the OSS Deer Team and the Vietnamese to help keep Japanese military units from entering China. The team's mission included sending intelligence reports to OSS agents in China and helping to train Vietnamese guerrillas as they fought to drive enemy soldiers out of French Indochina. After the war, he worked undercover with the OSS to prevent American aid from being used by the Communists to overthrow the French in Indochina. First Lieutenant Feun was discharged from active duty on June 29, 1947. His decorations and citations include the Bronze Star, 5 O/S Silver Bars, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon and Medal, and the Breast Order of Yun Hui with Ribbon presented and/or signed by Chiang Kai-shek. Seto G. Feun loved his country and family and throughout his life was patriotic in every sense of the word.
Abel W. Lem - Army Air Forces
The Lem family arrived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin around 1926 after John C. Lem, the American born son of a Chinese immigrant, returned from China with his wife, Lun Fong. As Oskhosh’s only Chinese family, they opened a Chinese restaurant and raised a family of nine children. Four sons, Abel, Paul, John and David served as officers in the Army and Army Air Corps during World War II. Abel W. Lem was born in Canton, China in 1911. He attended Oshkosh State Teachers College for two years, Central Y.M.C.A. College in Chicago for two years and Northwestern University for one year. He majored in foreign trade and marketing and after his education was in charge of the Chinese section of a large Chicago retail store, Marshall Field’s. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 19th School Squadron at Chanute Field, Illinois for training and duty as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and then Captain while stationed in France and England as an Air Supply Officer during World War II. After World War II, Abel continued his military career with the Air Force, finally serving at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. He eventually retired with a rank of Lt. Colonel and settled in Los Angeles with his wife Esther. He passed away in Los Angeles in 1997.
David George Lem - Army Air Forces
The Lem family arrived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin around 1926 after John C. Lem, the American born son of a Chinese immigrant, returned from China with his wife, Lun Fong. As Oskhosh’s only Chinese family, they opened a Chinese restaurant and raised a family of nine children. Four sons, Abel, Paul, John and David served as officers in the Army and Army Air Corp during World War II. David George Lem was born in Chicago in 1924. He graduated from Oshkosh High School in 1942 and also attended Oshkosh State Teachers College. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in October 1942 and was inducted in February 1943. According to family history, shortly after he enlisted, David received a letter from the U.S. Military Academy indicating that he was accepted to West Point, the first Chinese American to be invited. He was stationed at several air fields in Arizona and California and graduated from the Pecos Army Air Field in Texas in 1944. He was then sent to Columbia, South Carolina for further training and left for the China-Burma-India Theater in the Fall 1944. He was a 2nd Lieutenant and co-pilot in the 499th Bomber Squadron, Air Apaches 345th Bombardment Group flying B-25 Mitchell bombers. His parents received a telegram indicating David was killed in action on March 6, 1945. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal and is memorialized in the Walls of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in Taguig City, Philippines.