Five Chinese-American Veterans were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at VA’s Central Office in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony celebrating their service. The Veterans were selected to represent more than 20,000 Chinese Americans who served during World War II.

The five honorees were:

Elsie Chin Yuen Seetoo, who trained Chinese soldiers in India;
Robert M. Lee was an engineer with the famous “Flying Tigers;
James L. Eng served as an electronic technician in the Navy;
Harry Jung served as a rifleman and runner in the European Theatre; and
Henry Lee supervised POWs in the Pacific.

Co-chairs of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao delivered remarks during the event hosted by James Byrne, VA’s General Counsel, performing the duties of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary.

The ceremony follows President Trump’s signing of the Chinese-American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act last month, a bipartisan legislation that was passed unanimously by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

If you have a Chinese American relative who served during WWII but is not recognized, please visit www.caww2.org/preservation