Our Veterans
Hong Ngoon Woo - Army
Hong Ngoon Woo was born in the village of Nam Cheong, Toishan, China. At the age of 16, Hong emigrated to the U.S., as “Hung Ngoon Woo,” aboard the S.S. President Cleveland, landing at San Pedro, California on August 1938. He lived with his father and worked on the farm in Anaheim, raising vegetables for the local markets while completing his high school education. Hong enlisted in the Army March 1945. After basic training, he was sent to Luzon, Philippines where he worked as a cook and eventually as a welder with the 745th Engineer Heavy Shop. Due to his familiarity with farm equipment, he was assigned to help clear the jungle in order to built roads. It was here in Manila where he met Mary Cho (Cho Chuy Jou) who later became his wife. In recognition of his military service in the Army Corps of Engineer as a Tech 4, Hong Woo received the Asiatic Pacific Campaign medal, Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the Philippine Independence Ribbon. After being honorably discharged in October 1946, Hong returned to the family farm with his wife. In 1948, Hong and his family brought a farmland in Norwalk, California, where he raised his 5 children and involved them in the daily operations of the chicken farm, supplying eggs to the local markets, until the farm was sold in 1966. After leaving the farm, Hong started a Chinese restaurant in Orange County, California. Hong worked long hours to support his family while establishing their roots in Monterey Park. Hong was very proud of his children who fulfilled the family’s dream of graduating with a college degree. Retiring from the restaurant business, Hong enjoyed his later years, working in his garden and spending time with his 10 grandchildren. Hong N. Woo passed away at the age of 76 in 1998.
Sick Goon Gin - Army Air Forces
Sick Goon Gin, age 17, arrived in San Francisco, CA in 1939 from his village in Hoiping, (Kaiping) in 1939. He had taken a bride, Gim Won (nee Yee) a year earlier. His father, Gin Lai, who was on the household staff of the Sutro family (of the law firm, Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro) had sponsored his passage to America.
When World War II started, Sick Goon was working as a welder at the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, CA. In 1943, he enlisted into the Army Air Force. After advance training at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri and Kellogg Field in Battle Creek, Michigan, he was assigned to the 64th Air Service Group as an ordnance specialist and saw action in New Guinea and the Philippines with the 5th Army Air Force in the South Pacific.
He achieved the rank of Tech/Sgt. and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Philippines Liberation Ribbon with 1 Bronze Star.
In 1948, Sick Goon settled in Oakland, CA and operated a grocery store in Oakland’s Chinatown for nearly 40 years. He was a charter member of the VFW Chinatown Post and his children had careers in public service in the fields of social work and higher education administration and they also served on the local school board and the community college board as well as serving as President of the Chinese Benevolent Association (Chinese Six Companies) in San Francisco.
Sick Goon Gin died in 2006 at the age of 84 and was buried with military honors.
Donald Sam Wong - Army Air Forces
Donald Sam Wong was born in Chicago, IL on April 11, 1909. More than anything, he wanted to fly. After obtaining his single passenger pilot license, mastering multi-passenger planes, and ferrying cargo, he joined China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) as the first certified Chinese-American pilot. He flew the routes between China and India from 1933 to 1937, and was enlisted to fly one of the first “lend-lease planes” from Miami, FL to Calcutta, India on February 2, 1942. Prior to that major stepping stone, airplanes had been transported piecewise to Calcutta, with assembly upon arrival and relocation to Dingzhau in northern India, the major CNAC center during World War II. Planes flown by CNAC were unarmed, but American planes were equipped for both longer distance and higher altitude (15,000-18000 ft) flight. Because of their flying skills and their planes’ capabilities, Chinese-American pilots were able to contribute to WWII efforts by training USAF pilots; continuing to fly the “Hump”, transporting weapons, ammunitions, and gasoline into China and scarce materials such as wolfram, tin, and mercury from China to India; and by transporting refugees and wounded soldiers from Rangoon, Burma to Southeast Asia. The Hump runs into China were extremely dangerous, entailing flying through narrow gorges, then climbing to over 10,000 feet and over a section of the Himalayas to avoid Japanese air patrols. On February 23, 1995, Chinese-American octagenarian Captains Donald S. Wong, Quock M. Chin, Moon F. Chin, Arthur T. Chin and Harold T. Chinn, were recognized for their contributions on behalf of the United States during WWII. They were retroactively inducted into the USAF, awarded the revered Distinguished Flying Cross, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, and the Honorable Service Lapel Button, and officially received Active Duty Honorable Discharges.