Thank you so much for your comments. I want to express my sincere appreciation for your grandfather’s contributions to the rebuilding of China during the difficult years of the first half of the 20th century, and for his ultimate sacrifice from Japan’s bombing in Yunnan.

Your grandfather Y.Y. Wong and my father King Tow might have known each other since they were both students at MIT and lived in the Boston/Cambridge area, although your grandfather was a few years earlier than my father. My father was in Civil Engineering and graduated from MIT in 1930. Their paths might also have crossed while they were working in China, since your grandfather was an architect and my father was a civil engineer.

Don Tow

My grandfather Y.Y. Wong was injured during the May 4th bombing of Baoshan and killed while hospitalized during a subsequent bombing raid.

He was an MIT-educated architect from Guangzhou and Hong Kong who was in Yunnan at the time helping the Chinese government to construct airstrips and other military installations.

http://chinacomestomit.org/yy-wong

I am writing a series of articles of the Chinese crossing of the Salween in May 1944 and the battle at Songshan. They are under the name “Ramou” which is the name the Japanese have given for this battle.

If you know of any other sources I would be very much interested.

Sincerely,
Rod

Thanks,
Gordon Mathieson, USAF
gordonmathieson.com

I have recently been watching a Chinese soap opera, with sub-titles, named Snow Leopard. The story depicts the era you so remarkably described and having a love of history I wanted to learn more about China’s involvement in WW II.

As you described, there seemed to be so many elements involved, the Bandits, the KMT, the Communists, the cruelty of the Japanese and, of course, the aid they received from the locals. The Chinese writers and producers of the above mentioned, Snow Leopard, involved peoples’ lives during that horrible time and didn’t make the story sloppy or emotional, as USA television tends to do when they depict similar stories.

I just wanted to complement you on a terrific story.

Jack A

What a refreshing website!!! One of the more readable history of the Battle of Songshan (or Sungshan). My father, Col. John C. Young, then a major, was there in 1944 (served in CBI from 1942 to 1945). I even have a 1946 comic book depicting that battle where his junior officer, Capt. Peter S. Hopkins was given credit for the victory.

My uncle, Ming Young, made the supreme sacrifice, leaving his birthplace, San Jose, California, he volunteered to train Chinese fighter pilots in 1936. While on a reconnaissance mission to scout for potential airfield locations in bad weather, he crashed into a mountainside “somewhere in China.” Although an American volunteer, he attained the rank of colonel before his death in 1939.

I also have a letter from my father’s interpreter (even though my father was fluent in Cantonese, he often needed help with village dialects) who describes the battle in a letter he sent to my mother when he reached Stateside (my father didn’t rotate back to the states until the later part of 1945).

If you are interested in any additional materials and photos, let me know. You all are to be commended for keeping this history alive.

Sincerely,

Al Young
son of the late: Col. John C. Young, and nephew of George Ming Young.