The Cold War Years
by Matthew Kavorkian
Osmund Hyukfoh Wong
October 5, 1931 – August 17, 2003
In the wake of World War II, the status of Chinese Americans had reached a new height. Seemingly gone were the days of the Chinese Exclusion Acts and widespread anti-Chinese discrimination, during which Chinese Americans were viewed by most Americans as threatening outcasts who sought to steal jobs and degrade Western values. The Second World War completely reversed this narrative, as the Republic of China’s wartime alliance with the United States against Japan won Chinese Americans the sympathy of the American public, often at the expense of their Japanese American counterparts.[1] In particular, Chinese American soldiers, who totaled around 20,000 during World War II, were treated as heroes for their bravery and sacrifice during the conflict.[2] As large numbers of Chinese Americans started to venture outside of established Chinatowns for the first time, it seemed as though they had finally been accepted into America’s cultural landscape.[3]
However, the decade following the end of World War II became a rather dark, confusing time for many Chinese Americans, inviting back discrimination and fear into Chinese communities around the country. Due to the anxiety over “Red China” in the United States during the McCarthy era, which was the result of a revived fear of communism within the United States during the early years of the Cold War, especially after the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of China in 1949, nearly every person of Chinese heritage living within America found themselves put under a microscope as federal investigations into Chinese organizations and immigrants increased on a daily basis. Despite this revived hostility, an unknown number of Chinese Americans remained undeterred in dedicating themselves to their country, serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Korean War knowing that one of the primary enemies in the conflict was the newly-founded People’s Republic of China.[4] Airman Second Class Osmund Hyukfoh Wong was one of these valiant veterans, serving in the US Air Force from 1952 to 1956.[5] Revisiting his story and service will hopefully help illuminate the valor of a forgotten group of soldiers who fought in America’s Forgotten War.
Figure 1: Yearbook photo of Osmund Wong’s class at Roosevelt High School, Honolulu, Hawaii from the late 1940s, as well as a close up of Wong.
Found at “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990.” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong. Accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
Figure 2: 1947 Honolulu directory listing Osmund Wong’s occupation and address.
Found at “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund H F Wong. Accessed May 19, 2019. www.ancestrylibrary.com.
Figure 3: Close-up of Osmund H. Wong’s sophomore yearbook photo from the 1952 University of Denver yearbook.
Found at “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990.” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund H Wong. Accessed May 19, 2019. www.ancestrylibrary.com.
The son of Chinese Americans Edmund E. Wong and Rose N. G. Wong, Osmund H. Wong was born on October 5, 1931 in Honolulu, Hawaii.[6] Also born in Hawaii themselves, Edmund and Rose were second-generation Chinese Americans, as their parents were all born in China during the late nineteenth century.[7] This made their son Osmund a third-generation Chinese American. Edmund and Rose lived in Hawaii for their entire lives, which is where Osmund also grew up during the early years of his life. Residing in a house on 735 9th Avenue in Honolulu with his parents and two older siblings, Stanley and Rosalyn, for most of his childhood years, Osmund was just like any other average American kid at the time.[8] He attended Roosevelt High School in the late 1940s, working in his spare time as an employee at a company known as CACo [see fig. 1-2].[9] Eventually, it was time for Osmund to part ways with his family and Hawaiian home for the first time, selecting the University of Denver as his college of choice in 1950 [see fig. 3].[10]
Although Wong’s childhood in particular appears rather quaint, the late 1940s and early 1950s were a whirlwind for the Chinese American community as a whole, and most likely affected how Osmund was viewed and treated by non-Chinese Americans during his late-high-school/early-college years. This largely stemmed from political developments in China at the time, which were reflected upon Chinese Americans. While the American government and public supported the efforts of Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (ROC) during the 1940s, they held nothing but disdain for Chiang’s communist rivals, who were locked in battle with the Chinese Nationalists during the long and bloody Chinese Civil War. Led primarily by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Communist Party eventually defeated Chiang’s Guomindang forces for control of the mainland, forcing the Guomindang and the ROC to flee to Taiwan, where they still exist today. In place of the ROC, Mao established the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1 of 1949, which quickly allied itself with the Soviet Union during its early years of existence.[11] As China turned red, the United States rapidly flipped its stance on China and its people, remaining supportive of the ROC in Taiwan while speaking out against communism in China.
Unfortunately, just as the Sino-US alliance during World War II boosted the status of Chinese Americans during the late 1930s and the 1940s, America’s new rivalry with China caused many in the United States to suspect Chinese Americans as being communist empathizers. It certainly did not help that a variety of left-leaning Chinese organizations and newspapers had been founded over the course of the early twentieth century. Most of these community groups and media outlets were born out of the frustration Chinese Americans had with the Guomindang’s influence in the United States. When the Guomindang was still in power, it exerted great influence over Chinese American Chinatown communities, encouraging the dominance of wealthy, corrupt Chinese American merchants who supported the ROC within Chinese American community organizations.[12] Seeking freedom from the power of these merchants, leftist Chinese American groups became more outspoken. Although they did not all necessarily support the Chinese Communist Party’s platform, they were united in opposing what they saw as Chiang’s unethical, controlling regime, which had increased its propaganda efforts in Chinese America during World War II.[13]
The fear of communist infiltration and the prominence of leftist organizations in Chinese America led to a harsh crackdown on Chinese American community organizations and channels of Chinese immigration throughout the United States, which Wong and his family would have certainly been subject to prior to and during the Korean War. The FBI and Immigration Naturalization Services (INS) were the primary aggressors against Chinese Americans at the time, surveilling liberal Chinese publications and organizations such as the China Daily News, Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance, and Chinese Workers Mutual Aid Association, shutting down many of these groups, and arresting prominent members who were designated as “pro-communist.”[14] This censorship and observation severely limited the kind of information that the average Chinese American, such as Wong, received on a daily basis. Even more frightening for people like Wong was the INS’ establishment of the “Chinese Confession Program,” which encouraged Chinese Americans to both inform the INS if they had illegally immigrated into the United States and identify other undocumented Chinese immigrants who they knew.[15] Incentivized by government stipends for their cooperation, many Chinese Americans participated in the program, creating widespread fear throughout the Chinese community over the fact that anyone within the community itself could very well be a government spy or informant, not to mention that many were well aware of the fact that FBI wiretaps had been placed in a multitude of Chinese American community centers.[16] With FBI and INS agents having permission to knock on doors and ask for the immigration papers of any Chinese American at any time, Wong and other Chinese Americans consistently faced prejudice and discrimination during the early years of the Cold War.[17]
Figure 4: Photo of a B-29 bomber striking a target in North Korea in February of 1951.
Found at “Korean War, 1950-1953: Teacher Resource Guide.” National Museum of the United States Air Force. Accessed May 19, 2019. www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.
The increasing hostility against Chinese Americans in the early 1950s makes Osmund Wong’s decision to join the US Air Force during the Korean War all the more inspiring. Wong and his fellow Chinese American Korean War veterans willingly chose to serve a government that in many circumstances suspected them of sympathizing with the enemy. The position of Wong and other Chinese Americans in the Korean War was unique, as after October 13, 1950, the U.S. military was fighting Chinese troops on the battlefield.[18] However, this dichotomy did not stop Wong and others from fighting for their country. As an airman second class, Wong, alongside other U.S. airmen, played an especially important role in the war effort. The Korean War was the first major conflict that the USAF participated in as a separate branch of the armed forces, symbolizing how the Korean War was a conflict that saw the incorporation of air support in new, innovative ways. The first years of the war were mostly focused on establishing American/UN air superiority. Outside of a brief struggle with Soviet MiG-15 fighters in late 1950, the USAF dominated enemy forces in the sky, using its F-86 Sabre jet fighters to win a number of important aerial battles.[19] The purpose of the USAF in Korea had largely changed by the time Wong enlisted in the war, however. As the war turned “static” after the first years of fighting, the primary goal of the USAF from 1952 to 1953 was to engage in what is called “interdiction,” also known as an “air pressure campaign.”[20] This meant that U.S. aircraft carried out strategic missions to inhibit the enemy’s ability to transport arms or mobilize its forces by targeting supply lines and major infrastructure instead of directly aiding U.S. ground troops during battles [see fig. 4]. Such missions were key in holding back the communists and preventing further offensives.
Even after the armistice that ended the Korean War was signed in 1953, Osmund Wong continued to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force. It was not until 1956 that Wong left the military, choosing to return to civilian life and start a family.[21] He ultimately did so in 1960, marrying Agnes L. “Huey” Wong from Asheville, North Carolina.[22] Together, Osmund and Agnes eventually established their home in Colorado, with the earliest available records listing them in the greater Denver area as early as 1966.[23] Here, they lived out the rest of their lives, excluding a few years in the 1990s when they were recorded as having been in Seneca, New Mexico.[24] When Agnes passed away on February 19, 2001 and Osmund passed away on August 17, 2003, they left behind a large family to carry on their legacy.[25] In 2001 alone, Osmund and Agnes are recorded as having had four daughters, three sons, twenty grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. They are buried side-by-side at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado [see fig. 5-6].
Figure 5: Photo of Osmund H Wong’s gravesite at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
Found at “Osmund H Wong.” Find a Grave. Accessed May 19, 2019. www.findagrave.com.
Figure 6: Photo of Agnes L Wong’s gravesite at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
Found at “Agnes L Wong.” Find a Grave. Accessed May 19, 2019. www.findagrave.com.
Although he lived through a trying time for the Chinese American community, Osmund Hyukfoh Wong refused to turn his back on his country, instead serving with honor and dignity for four years in the United States Air Force. Wong represents the resiliency of Chinese Americans during the early years of the Cold War, as well as the sacrifices they made to support their nation. Even though the Korean War is often called the Forgotten War, the bravery and resolve of soldiers like Wong will forever be remembered as part of America’s story.
Footnotes ↓
[1] For more information on the status of Chinese Americans around the time of the Second World War, see Matthew Kavorkian, “Biography of Paul Gaw Chow,” University of Denver Veterans Legacy Program (2019).
[2] Enlistment data found in China Daily, “Search for WWII Chinese-American Veterans is a Race Against Time,” Wall Street Journal, n.d., https://partners.wsj.com/chinadaily/chinawatch/search-wwii-chinese-american-veterans-race-time/.
[3] The trend of Chinese American migration out of traditional Chinatowns is described in Xiaojian Zhao, Remaking Chinese America: Immigration, Family, and Community, 1940-1963 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 94-104.
[4] The number of Asian Americans who served in the Korean War is unknown mostly due to the fact that the Department of the Army stopped labeling soldiers as “Asian-Americans” after the military was integrated post-World War II. This is explained in New Jersey State Government, “Asian-Americans in the United States Military during the Korean War,” Military Fact Sheet, accessed May 19, 2019, https://www.nj.gov/military/korea/factsheets/asian.html.
[5] “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[6] “U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Hyukfoh Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[7] “1930 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry database, entry for Edmund E Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com and “1930 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry database, entry for Rose N G Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[8] “1940 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry database, entry for Edmund E Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[9] See “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com and “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund H F Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[10] Wong was listed as a sophomore in DU’s 1952 yearbook. See “U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund H Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[11] For more on the Chinese Civil War, the ROC’s move to Taiwan, and the founding of the PRC, see chapters 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19 of Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, 3rd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013).
[12] For more on the influence of the Guomindang on Chinese America, see chapter 5 of Zhao, Remaking Chinese America.
[13] Ibid., 124-125.
[14] Ibid., 160-166.
[15] Victoria Moy, Fighting for the Dream: Voices of Chinese American Veterans from World War II to Afghanistan (Los Angeles: Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, 2014), 151-152.
[16] See Zhao, Remaking Chinese America, 165-168.
[17] Ibid., 168-170.
[18] For more on China’s decision to enter the war, see Spence, The Search for Modern China, 3rd ed., 469-478.
[19] See “Korean War, 1950-1953: Teacher Resource Guide,” National Museum of the United States Air Force, 4-6, accessed May 19, 2019, www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.
[20] Ibid., 12.
[21] “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[22] See Agnes’ obituary in “Agnes L Wong,” Find a Grave, accessed May 19, 2019, www.findagrave.com.
[23] “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
[24] “U.S. City Directories, 1993-2002,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com. For more on the experience of Chinese Americans like Osmund H Wong after the 1950s, see Matthew Kavorkian, “Biography of George Choy Wong Chang,” University of Denver Veterans Legacy Program (2019).
[25] “Agnes L Wong,” Find a Grave, accessed May 19, 2019, www.findagrave.com and “U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010,” Ancestry database, entry for Osmund Wong, accessed May 19, 2019, www.ancestrylibrary.com.
More Stories
