Our Veterans
Ming K. Wong - Army
I was born in 1926 in Palo Alto, California. My father died when I was four and my mother took our family back to live in China. My mother died in 1937, the same year the Japanese started the Second Sino-Japanese war in China. I spent those war years living in a farming village with relatives. With borrowed money, I took the last passenger ship out of China in 1941. I arrived in San Francisco not speaking any English and my plan to live with relatives fell through. I lived alone in Chinatown and worked as a busboy to support myself. In the fall of 1944, I was drafted and received four months of military training before boarding the Queen Elizabeth bound for England. I joined the Third Division after the unit crossed the Rhine River. Our unit advanced daily on German soil. I spent my 19th birthday engaged in street fighting in Nuremberg. Seven days later, I was wounded by shell shrapnel in my back and leg for which I was awarded the Purple Heart. After a one-month recuperation in Nancy, France, I rejoined my unit in Salzburg, Austria. The Third Division’s assignment after World War II was to perform occupation duty along the Russian and American Zones. Our unit moved to a small town in Germany and quartered in a group of civilian houses. I served there for over a year until I was discharged in August 1946.
Taking advantage of the GI Bill, I completed my high school requirements in two years and then earned my mechanical engineering degree from the University of California at Berkeley. I enjoyed over thirty years as a research engineer in the energy field working for companies including Aerojet Nucleonic, GE Nuclear Division and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I am very grateful to Uncle Sam for helping me complete my education which enabled me to have a productive career.
I married Sallie Tom in 1952 and we raised three girls and one son. They all graduated from college; three with advanced degrees. Sallie passed away in 1987 and I married Annie Ho in 2000. Presently, we live in a large retirement community in Walnut Creek, California.
The first twenty years of my life, I lived in a time of war. I am blessed to have lived the next seventy plus years in a time of peace free to pursue my education, my work, and family life.
Austin C. Wah - Navy
Austin C. Wah was the son of immigrant parents from Tsishan, China, the 3rd of 8 children.
He was inducted into the United States Navy on December 7, 1943. NTS, Bainbridge, Mechanic at NTS NOB Norfolk, Welding School in San Francisco. Assigned to the USS Breese to perform minesweeping operations in the Pacific.
Austin participated in the Battle of Okinawa, WWII. The USS Breese led the fleet in an attempt to clear the seas in advance of the invasion. He and his fellow sailors were among the first to encounter the Japanese kamikazes of which they encountered daily. Actively looking for Japanese war planes Austin recounts noticing a Japanese plane flying very low, barely above the water, headed rapidly towards his ship. Recognizing the kamikaze, he sounded the alarm. As the plane grew closer Austin and his shipmates frantically attempted to shoot it down. In mere moments before the plane connected with his ship he suddenly saw its wing tilt down, hit the water and disappear in to the Pacific.
Just 3 days after the Battle of Okinawa, Austin recounts being on the ship’s bridge, exposed to the full force of a typhoon. His job was to look out for Japanese warplanes despite of the treacherous weather. Austin and his ship’s crew felt completely helpless against the power of the typhoon. He remembers wedging himself into a niche on the bridge which saved himself from being swept overboard. He will always remember alternatively high on top of the waves and then plunging deep between 100 foot walls of water.
Having survived the Battle of Okinawa, the USS Breeze was now headed for the invasion of Japan when word was received that Japan had surrendered in August 1945.
Austin continued his military service until May 4th, 1946.
Wong Shing Kuel - Navy
Wong Shing Kuel born on May 15, 1927 in Canton, China. He emigrated to the United States as a young boy and enlisted on his 18th birthday with the US Navy. He served in the Pacific as the ship's cook. After being released from the Navy he went back to Birmingham, AL and worked as a cook in a restaurant.
He met his wife, May, married and moved with his young family to Memphis, TN. He went into the restaurant business and eventually opened the first Chinese restaurant in Downtown Memphis. He was a self-made entrepreneur and became the very successful owner of Joy Young's restaurant. He later opened two other successful restaurants in Memphis. His businesses were hubs of innovation. His inventive approach to cuisine made him a head of his time.
In his free time, Wong Shing Kuel loved to hunt, fish and be with his wife, six children, and their families which eventually grew to include six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren with branches across the country and around the world.