Interview by Samuel Hui, February 2019

Born in the spring of 1925, his father was an officer serving under General Long Yun. He was from Yimen county of Central Yunnan. In 1942, he became a cadet of the Whampoa Military Academy to avoid conscription

Lee felt that the life in the Whampoa Military Academy boring, so he volunteered to join the Chinese Commando in 1944. He was assigned to the 2^nd Squad of 2^nd Commando Group. The Chinese Commando was trained by the OSS Operational Groups to infiltrate the occupied China through parachute jumping. In fact, they were the first generation of Chinese paratroopers. By 1949, the 3^rd Parachute Regiment was forced to defect to the Communist because its commander was secretly working for Mao. With the help of 3^rd Parachute Regiment, the People’s Liberation Army established its own paratrooper units. Some of those paratroopers forced to remained in PRC were also Chinese Commandos.

On July 26^th, 1945, the 2^nd Chinese Commando jumped into Henyang of Hunnan province from their 14 C-47 cargo planes. They soon established their base inside Mu Yun Temple in a hill. While the American lived in the second floor of the temple, the Chinese were responsible to guard the first. Some local Chinese came to warn the Chinese Commando on July 29^th, that an American pilot named Charlies Tapp was caught by two traitors in their village. Under the command of Squad Leader Chiang Chien（姜鍵）, the Deputy Squad Leader A. E. Cook led a 50-men team to assault the village. They successfully rescued Charlies Tapp and arrested those two traitors who wanted to sell Tapp to the Japanese.

Both traitors were sentenced to death for treason. When one of them walked outside of Mu Yun Temple for execution, he confronted Lee and told him that, “See you in the afterlife”. Lee’s reply to the traitor was, “Fuck you asshole”. Then on August 5^th, they launched the attack against the Japanese position in Tai Yuan Temple. It is the only battle Lee participated in World War II. Many of Lee’s comrades including his Squad leader, Chou Chien-Ti （周劍敵） were killed by the Japanese.

Chou was shot right next to Lee. Lee said he was ready to sacrifice for his country, but it was not up to his choice of who to die on that day. However, the Chinese Commandos successfully destroyed the Japanese positions in Taiyuan Temple with the advanced weapons including flame throwers provided by OSS. A group of Japanese soldiers tried to hide inside a bunker, but Lee and his comrades were able to burn them like barbeque. Within just 10 days, World War II would come to an end when Japan announced its surrender to the Allied.