USS HORNET MARITIME MUSEUM
USS HORNET MARITIME MUSEUM
“Paper Son Soldiers” is now on permanent exhibit at the USS HORNET maritime museum in Alameda, California. The exhibit will have photos, videos, artifacts from WW2, and much more. It depicts the stories of two brothers who enlisted into the Army. One served overseas in China with the legendary Flying Tigers, one in Germany at the end of the war helping wounded soldiers in the field hospitals.
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PAPER SON SOLDIERS
“Paper Son Soldiers” is a multi-media project which presents the true story of two Chinese American brothers who are paper sons turned soldiers who fought for their country during WWII, built their families in the San Francisco Bay Area, one lived to 105 and the other alive at 100. The project will be built with audio and video interviews, comic book illustrations, and motion graphics. The project package will be offered on a platform to schools, educational, and cultural institutes and organizations for teaching, workshops, exhibitions, conferences, festivals, and other events. The two brothers are the father and uncle of one of the lead artists, illustrator and animator Arne Jin An Wong.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
In 2019, the U.S. Congress passed the bill awarding gold medals to the Chinese American veterans who fought in WWII (*official link?). It was the highest recognition they had given. However, only less than 300 out of the estimated over 13,000 Chinese American veterans were still alive, they were never honored for their service. Many younger generations of their families didn’t even realize that their parents or grandparents were veterans who fought and sacrificed for America.
“Paper Son Soldiers” is a multi-media project which presents the true story of two Chinese American brothers, both paper sons turned soldiers who fought for the country during WWII, came back to build their families in San Francisco, one lived to 105 and the other alive at 100.
Benson and Richard Wong came to America from China as “Paper Sons” in the 1920s, when they were young boys, who arrived at Angel Island Immigration Center, then traveled to Minneapolis to join their father and grandfather, who owned a Chinese restaurant. Their grandmother, mother, and sisters were left in China due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. They grew up in an all-white society. They joined the U.S. Army during World War II. Benson was sent to Europe as a typist, writing letters for wounded and dying American soldiers in the warzone to their families back home. Richard went to China to serve in the ground crew for the legendary Flying Tigers, who fought the Japanese. As the brothers fought for their country, the women of the family including Benson's wife and baby daughter were left in China fending for themselves. After the war, the brothers returned to China to bring Benson's wife and Richard’s new bride to America, allowed due to the War Brides Act. They chose San Francisco as their home and raised their families here. At ages 105 and 101, they each received a letter from the White House for their 100th birthdays and a special medal honoring their service to the country.
Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, only about 100,000 Chinese (77,504 recorded, some were not citizens at the time) living in America then, an estimated 13,000 -20,000 Chinese-Americans served in the American military during World War II, the highest percentage among all races (average 11.5%). In the 14th Air Force, several logistic maintenance squadrons were composed entirely of Chinese descent. While they fought for the country, their families were mostly separated, with their young, elderly, and female members not allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and left unprotected against the brutal Japanese invasion. Same was true for all Chinese American soldiers who fought for the country they lived in. Their stories and sacrifice should be told.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROJECT
The Chinese American soldiers’ stories are rarely told. To this day their sacrifice and contributions remain mostly obscure in the American eyes and conscience. With the Chinese Exclusion Act, especially during WWII, their stories were full of special challenges and poignancy—as they fought for the country, the women and elderlies of their families were still forbidden to immigrate to America, with no protection against the war by the Country they fought for.
Our project demonstrates the resilience, sacrifice, service, and contributions it took for our earlier generations to come to America and build a new life, despite overwhelming discrimination, humiliation, exploitation, and racism. For generations, by holding onto the best of our traditional values, cultures, and wisdom, our immigrants endured the challenges and injustice and became the society we call American.
This project supports the cultural preservation of our heritage for the Chinese immigrants, who came to America seeking the Gold Mountain but instead risked their lives to fight for the country they came to love and helped to build while their own families were separated and unprotected in the war, with the Chinese Exclusion Act ruling their lives for decades.
To preserve tradition and cultural heritage, Arne Jin An Wong’s father Benson Wong spent years compiling the Wong family tree and history dating back to 945 AD. Following the same tradition, we created this project to tell the older generations’ story of survival and endurance in becoming part of the grand experiment of American democracy triumphing over racism.