When Lt. Kurt Chew-Een Lee was named commander of a machine-gun platoon at the outset of the Korean War, some of his men had never before seen a person—let alone an officer—of Chinese origin. The Marines’ first nonwhite officer ever, he was called “Chinese Laundry” and worse until his unit came under its first attack by a much larger Chinese force in November 1950. To pinpoint the enemy, Lee took off alone, firing sporadically and drawing fire. His shout of “Don’t shoot, I’m Chinese!” in Mandarin confused the enemy, allowing his Marines to launch a counterattack. “I never expected to survive the war,” Lee, who was wounded in the episode, later said. “So I was adamant that my death be honorable, be spectacular.”
Lee was born in San Francisco to an immigrant family that soon moved to Sacramento, said the Los Angeles Times. He started community college there but enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 18. “I wanted to dispel the notion about the Chinese being meek, bland, and obsequious,” he said. But instead of the combat he sought, he was given duty as a language instructor in San Diego. “Then came the war in Korea, and Lee got his chance to fight.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Days later Lee sustained wounds from machine-gun fire that ended his Korean exploits, for which he received the Navy Cross and the Silver Star. He later trained Marine officers and was promoted to major before serving as a combat intelligence officer in Vietnam. The honorary grand marshal of this year’s Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco, he “was really proud to be a Marine,” said his niece. “He was a Marine to the very end.”
-
Scott Adams: The cartoonist who mocked corporate lifeFeature His popular comic strip ‘Dilbert’ was dropped following anti-Black remarks
-
The 8 best animated family movies of all timethe week recomends The best kids’ movies can make anything from the apocalypse to alien invasions seem like good, wholesome fun
-
ICE: Now a lawless agency?Feature Polls show Americans do not approve of ICE tactics
-
Bob Weir: The Grateful Dead guitarist who kept the hippie flameFeature The fan favorite died at 78
-
Brigitte Bardot: the bombshell who embodied the new FranceFeature The actress retired from cinema at 39, and later become known for animal rights activism and anti-Muslim bigotry
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Frank Gehry: the architect who made buildings flow like waterFeature The revered building master died at the age of 96
-
R&B singer D’AngeloFeature A reclusive visionary who transformed the genre
-
Kiss guitarist Ace FrehleyFeature The rocker who shot fireworks from his guitar
-
Robert Redford: the Hollywood icon who founded the Sundance Film FestivalFeature Redford’s most lasting influence may have been as the man who ‘invigorated American independent cinema’ through Sundance
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
