A funeral will be held Thursday for a Chinese American veteran who served in WWII in a Company under General George S. Patton.
The family of the 96-year-old Fred Cheong Lee announced the Portland, Oregon native died from prostate cancer on August 12.
Last year on his 95th birthday, while wearing the same uniform he wore with the 680 Technical Services Typographic Company, the Chinese American WWII Veterans Recognition Project surprised him with a Congressional Gold Medal, according to KPTV.
Lee drew maps detailing troop formations and determining battle plans for General Patton. He did it at a time of extreme prejudice, when immigration of Chinese to the United States was limited to 105 per year and just a year after the U.S. lifted the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
“You got to be active – you got to be active. I was a tennis player. Be careful of what I eat and what I do. And I was pretty active playing tennis all the time,” said Lee to KPTV.
His parents who immigrated from Canton, China named him after the doctor who delivered him in Portland Chinatown.
“He was born here, but the amount of prejudice that he received was incredible,” said his daughter Connie Tuchman.
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