By Brenda Hee Wong, CHCP Director

During World War II, about 20,000 Chinese Americans served in the United States Armed Forces as well as other aspects of the war effort across all theaters of conflict. According to the 1940 Census, this represented over a quarter of the 77,000 Chinese people living in the United States at the time. Just over 60% were U.S. native-born citizens. Those born in China were denied citizenship, while all Chinese Americans faced discrimination and challenges to property ownership, voting, and other rights. Despite these barriers based on discrimination and racism, many Chinese Americans answered the call to serve.

For the Spirit of '45 event in History Park, to honor, celebrate, and preserve the legacy of the patriotism, sacrifice, and valor of the Chinese American WWII veterans, CHCP's Chinese American Historical Museum (CAHM) displayed brand new banners featuring the WWII China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater and also Chinese American military participation throughout U.S. history. A short clip of CHCP's film, "Our Story of War and Remembrance," featuring the stories and contributions of four Bay Area Chinese American WWII veterans of the Fourteenth Air Force, successor to the Flying Tigers, was also shown on the big screen TV.