Gung Ho was mentioned on pages v, vi, vii, viii, 1, 15, 17, 33, 75, 76,
221 and 222 of In the Shadow of the Tiger. Available issues were
reproduced on pages 75 and from 77 to 205.
GUNG HO
No. 11, March 3, 1944
Page 1
[cartoon]
YOU CAN’T BE TOO SURE! BY CHINN
[Staff Box]
“GUNG HO” is published by and for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Service Squadron, AC, Patterson Field, Ohio. Editorial Staff: Editor, Cpl William J. Hoy; Chinese Section Contributing Editor, Sgt Fong Lee. Pvt Young Q. Ark; Staff Artist, Cpl Y. Richard Chinn; Editorial Assistants, Cpl James G. Jay, Cpl Eugene F. Szeto and Pfc Elwin W. Ong
Page 2
Casaba Notes
At the end of last week the Patterson Field intra-squadron basketball games ended. And as it ended the 407th casaba team’s official standing in the league stood as follows:
Sgt William Murphy Quan took top place for individual scoring. He played twelve games in the series and turned in a total of 154 points, beating the next highest individual scorer by nine points.
Cpl Albert Fong was also in the roster of high individual scorers, getting in 8th place. He turned in 87 total points in twelve games. The team itself participated in fifteen games in all.
In 8th place also was the team, with a total of .467%. And everything considered, it was not a bad record.
At any rate, this week the quintet was ready to participate in the Patterson Field Post League. Its first opponent will be the Base Operations team, which finished fourth place in the intra-squadron series. The 407th may even enter a second or “B” team in the post league if sufficient players could be mustered up.
Meanwhile, Murphy Quan has been drafted to play with the Patterson Field All-Stars. He chalked up 14 points in his first game, when the All-Stars played the Coca-Cola quintet at Springfield.
*****
407th High In Insurance Purchase
“The Base Insurance Office commends you and your Insurance Department on your outstanding accomplishment in protecting the members of your command.”
Thus wrote Captaincies K.T. Crum, Post Insurance Officer, to the squadron CO in a recent letter. The letter was prompted by the fact the 99.1% of the squadron EM have thus far purchased National Service Insurance. This was an unusually high percentage for any unit.
Figured by dollars, this 99.1% represents well over two million bona fide smackers. And the insurance is convertible after the duration.
*****
Continue Education While in Service
Information and application blanks for the U.S. Armed Forces Institute correspondence courses are now available. Since the verbal announcement of this fact was made more than a score of EM have made preparation to study the various courses available.
You can obtain instruction in business, scientific, technical, mechanical, industrial, liberal arts and engineering courses from some 80 colleges and universities cooperating with this Institute. In the college courses, credits may be obtained if the student so desires, whereas in the Institute courses a Certificate of Proficiency is presented up satisfactory completion of a course. In either case, the opportunity is given soldiers to pursue additional knowledge or continue their education while in the service. And the fees for the courses are pared to a minimum. See Cpl William Hoy for further information.
*****
Page 3
New “Gung Ho” Staff Members.
Sgt Fong Lee brings to the “Gung Ho” Chinese section a goodly amount of experience as a translator and as an instructor of the Chinese language. His formal education was completed in several different places: grammar school in Glenrock, Wyo.; high school in San Francisco; college in China; and post gradate work in Berkeley, Cal. He received his A.B. sheepskin in ’39, then returned to the U.S. for P.G. work at the University of California.
Lee reads Japanese, speaks the Mandarin and Shanghai dialects in addition to his own Cantonese tongue, and also knows his aeronautics. He has worked as a translator in a Chinese language daily in San Francisco, and has taught in a Chinese language school.
Pfc Elwin W Ong is responsible for most of the mechanical drawing work in “Gung Ho.” His fancy bamboo borders and lanterns give a distinctive mark to the publication not seen in other GI news-sheets. Next to his skill as an orchestra drummer, he has done plenty of drafting and poster work back home in Frisco’s Chinese YMCA.
Lastly, there is Cpl Eugene F. Szeto, whose name may sound European but who’s really a China Boy from Brooklyn. He was a linotypist for the Chinese-American Press in NY before going into the army, and it was there that he learned to be a printer’s devil. His Brooklynese shows through his write-ups, but a generous application of the editorial blue pencil usually remedies the situation. But withal he is a good reporter.
*****
The month of March has beeen [sic] selected by the American Red Cross for an intensive War Fund campaign to carry on its important work in the field and on the fighting fronts. Members of the 407th should contribute all they can toward helping to fill the quota for Patterson Field.
*****
[box]
SAYINGS of the SAGES
“In the practice of archery we have something resembling the principle in a moral man’s life. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure within himself.” —Confucius
Page 4
CHOP SUEY
.....One of life’s coincidences....Altho Pvt Young Q Ark and Cpl Ying W Chin were inducted into the Army at Maine and New York respectively, the two were once school mates together....in China. For back in Canton the pair both attended the famed Poy Ying middle school only a few years ago....until they were bombed out by the Japs....They did not meet again until both were assigned to the 407th.....
....“In the Spring a young man’s fancy turns to....” etc.,etc...which probably explains the many dazed and vacuous expressions a few EM are wearing....take Sgt Sammy Yee f’instance....since his last week end in Chicago, he’s been singing and whistling “Flo”....and Pfc Henry “Sling” Wong, whose inspiration is down Cincinnati way....his song of the moment being “On the Isle of May”....which may be a clue to her name....then there’s the cute little eyeful Cpl Richard Y Wong was chit-chatting with at a Dayton skating rink....but it was at the Chungking eatery that he felt Cupid’s darts....there were four in the party, Cpls Richard Y Wong and Kenneth Mah and gal frans....the food and ev’rything was so-o good....Cpl Wong walked out into the cold, cold nite forgetting his gloves....didn’t even miss ’em...
….Very appropriate for this Spring season of swooning are the discussions appearing in “Gung Ho’s” Chinese section dealing with the use and origin of that popular phrase “love and kisses’….the Chinese interpretation of love and kisses brought out some very, very interesting views and ideas….as f’instance, why are kisses?…..
….Excuse-It-Please dept: Cpl James G Jay usually does a good job of preparing the stencils for “Gung Ho”….but in our last issue he made a few mistakes….Imagine our editor’s surprise in reading that…“Cpl Albert Fong…..belonged to the Chinese Drum, Fife, and Bungle Corps back home”….Cpl Fong assures us, there’ll be no bungling.
….And Cpl Yow R Chinn was similarly amazed to read in the American Edition of the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury that “Gung Ho’s” staff artist was Cpl Yow R China!….This typographical error occurred in that paper’s write-up of our Squadron weekly in its Feb 25th issue…..
….Cpl Earl Jung has successfully out-talked all comers in barracks One….anyone wishing to challenge him to a duel of words can find him in his corner of the barracks….
….They tell us Cpl Arthur Lee is still looking for that “ball” everybody talks about getting on….
....Pvt John S Leong has been complaining for weeks about not get- [sic] enough mail….but not anymore tho….because he got one the other day he couldn’t read….
Page 5
….on account it was in Chinese....so Pvt Young Q Ark was prevailed upon to read and interpret the ideographs to him....
....On the musical front: S/Sgt Henry Leung and Ton G Lum run neck and neck in their daily race to the mandolin....both are lovers of the old Chinese classics....but since Henry Leung always seems to get to the instrument first, Ton G Lum has to be satisfied with vocalizations only....And Cpl William Hoy has a tough time getting the mandolin away from them long enough for band practice....
....The lot of an umpire is a hard one....Pvt Ing [sic] Y Wing learned that the hard way....he ump’d a friendly little game of softball t’other day and almost got mobbed....so he has graciously declined the honor of refereeing the fracas in our intra-barracks league....
....A mystery is solved!...To those inquisitive GI’s who wanted to know what happened to the pen and ink drawings Cpl Yow R Chinn had been working on for the past few weeks, we can report that a very pretty nurse at the station hospital now owns them....
....You day-room generals will be interested in the orientation maps Mr. Egnoski has installed in the Engineering Offices....They are equipped with pins and gadgets to enable accurate postings of all the world battlefields in this war....
....Strictly by accident, Pfc Henry Wong (30) gave himself a hot-foot....while cleaning the ashes from the furnace, he dropped some hot coals on the floor....yeh, and stepped on one of ’em....
....Lt Bowers was having quite a time cleaning a very dirty soccer ball, employing the approved method of saddle soap and elbow grease....it was a very dirty ball, and it promised to be a long and tedious process....so when he delegated Pfc So Tak to this detail, he expected him to be busy for a few hours....So Tak tackled the assignment and in ten minutes short reported the job finished....he had dispensed with the saddle soap in favor of good old GI soap and water....
....Apropos of approaching Easter-tide comes this amazing bit of ignorance, which rates our lichee nut of the week....Cpl Richard E Gee was chatting with Pfc Herbert J Lee in their barracks nook about rabbit life, and in the course of their discussions, the question arose as to what rabbit “eggs” looked like!!...Both of these teenaged soldiers admitted they’ve never seen one before....Should we tell them?....now?....
....Everything-Happens-To-Me dep’t: S/Sgt Duey S Leong was bothered with a painful tooth...so he moaned his way over to the dental clinic....Before he knew it, the bothersome molar was out. That was what he thought until he came out of the local anesthetic....Yep, you’ve guessed it: the wrong tooth was extracted....Oh, Doctor!!....
Page 6
A CHINESE EDITOR’S REJECTION SLIP
Illustrious Brother of the Sun and Moon:
Behold thy servant prostrate before thy feet. I kowtow to thee, and beg that of thy graciousness thou mayst grant that I may speak and live. Thine honored manuscript has deigned to cast the light of its august countenance upon me. With raptures I have perused it. By the bones of mine ancestors, never have I encountered such wit, such pathos, such lofty thought. With fear and trembling I return the writing. Were I to publish the treasure thou has sent me, the Emperor would order that it be made the standard of excellence and that none be published except such that equaled it. Knowing literature as I do, and that it would be impossible in ten thousand years to equal what thou has done, I send thy writing back by guarded servants.
Ten thousand times I crave thy pardon.
Behold, my head is at thy feet and I am but dust.
Thy servant’s servant
Wang Chin, Editor
[The above dates back to the March 1, 1895 issue of The New York Times on page four, column seven, “Declined with Thanks” in Chinese. https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1895-03-01_44_13580/page/n3/mode/2up?q=%22Behold+thy+servant+prostrate+before+thy+feet%22 Scores of publications published slight variations of it.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A MATTER OF TIME.
Once upon a time, on a Memorial Day, a California Chinese old-timer wended his way to pay respects to a deceased kinsman in the town’s cemetery. For the occasion, the Celestial brought along several sacrificial offerings to be placed in front of the departed one’s grave, in accordance with ancient native rites. These included a large slice of roast pig, boiled chicken and fish, and a dish of native vermicelli. And of course there were incense sticks and sacrificial paper money........
While the Chinese was busy in performing the rites, an American came along, stopped by an adjacent grave, and placed thereon a bouquet of flowers. The latter, seeing the unusual manner in which the Celestial was making his offering, decided to have a little fun. He walked over to the Chinese.
“Say, John,” he asked, “how soon do you think your friend will come from below to eat all this food you’ve got spread out here?”
Quietly, and without even turning around, the Celestial said: “Just as soon as your friend comes up to smell the flowers.”
****
THE CHINESE HOME
If you are invited to a Chinese home, follow your host’s lead: If he is modern and informal, you may be informal. If he is old-fashioned and stiff, then you can get plastered, too!
You can admire generally, but don’t admire one object especially. For then courtesy requires your host to give you that object you are admiring.
In other words—DON’T KEEP STARING AT HIS WIFE!
—The Upton Nooz
Camp Upton, NY
GUNG HO
No. 12, March 10, 1944
Page 1
[cartoon]
YOU CAN’T BE TOO SURE. BY CHINN
[Staff Box]
“GUNG HO” is published by and for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Service Squadron, AC, Patterson Field, Ohio. Editorial Staff: Editor, Cpl William J. Hoy; Chinese Section Contributing Editor, Sgt Fong Lee; Staff Artist, Cpl Yow Richard Chinn; Editorial Assistants, Pvt Young Q. Ark, Cpl James G. Jay, Cpl Eugene F. Szeto, Pfc Elwin W. Ong[,] Pfc Stanley W. Tom.
Page 2
Basketball
The squadron casaba team’s activities for the past week are as follows:
Playing its first game last week in the Post League tournament the 407th quintet was defeated by Base Operations team by a score of 41 to 27. Murphy Quan scored highest with 10 points, followed by Albert Fong with 8 points.
The second game, played last Monday, was against the 478th Squadron Officers’ team. At the end of the game the score was tied at 29 to 29. A three minute overtime pay was given, at which time the 407th team added 4 more points to its score, held the opposing team to its 29 points, and emerged the victor. Murphy Quan scored 14 points.
As the squadron team is now playing in the consolation flight, there remains only one more game to go to determine the victor of this tournament. This game will be played Friday night against the 478th Air Base Squadron.
*****
Red Cross Drive On.
This week the current Red Cross War Fund drive is well under way, with thousands of soldiers in Patterson Field sending in their voluntary contributions.
EM of the 407th may give their individual contributions to 1st/Sgt Edward W. Chan in the orderly room anytime from now till the end of the month. The contributions are entirely voluntary, but this fact should not prevent us from giving generously to a fund in which, one way or another, we have already received benefits. A few of these benefits have included issuance of woolen sweaters and scarfs, loans for emergency furloughs, aid in placing long-distance telephone calls and sending telegrams.
These services would not have been made possible without adequate funds at the Red Cross organization’s disposal. Remembering this fact, contribute all your GI pocketbook can allow.
*****
407th In The News.
This past week or so has seen men of the squadron making some front page news in at least two papers.
First, the Illinois State Journal (Springfield, Ill.) gave an entire page in its issue of February 28th to pictures of 407th EM at work. There were 8 photographs in the full-page spread and showed such EM as Koonwah Lim, Sing Y. Yee, Wilbert Chung, Woo Niy, Bot Wong, and Wong Yuey at work and training.
The other front page picture was that of our newly organized ten-piece orchestra, shown in a practice session. It was published in the Patterson Field Postings, the official Post weekly.
The orchestra also came in for a writeup in the San Francisco Chronicle. It appeared in the popular column, “San Francisco,” written by columnist Robert O’Brien.
*****
“Gung Ho” Is Getting Around.
As the squadron paper starts on its fourth month of life—still in its infancy as such things go—we find that it had quite a few readers in various corners in the country and across the seas as well.
A recent V-mail letter from a Chinese-American soldier in North Africa told of his receiving copies of “Gung Ho” and how much he enjoyed reading them. Copies of “Gung Ho” have reached (Cont. on page 6)
Page 3
Men of the 407th—
PFC CHAN HAS SEEN THE CHINA WAR
Of war and the ravages of war not a few EM of the 407th have had first-hand glimpses in their ancestral homeland in China. Most of these men saw its wanton cruelty and its terrific toll of human lives while they were students in high school and college in Canton. They saw the war as they fled their schools and homes, unarmed and totally unaided, before the juggernaut of the invading Japanese. In anger, in fury and in fear they witnessed the bombing of their village homes—homes that had weathered natural calamities for generations but couldn’t stand up in face of Japanese bombs. They saw their kins killed or maimed by bombs and strafing along open country because there weren’t any bomb shelters to protect them.
Pfc Thomas Chan also saw the war in China from a different angle. In fact, he did a few things to help many Chinese soldiers keep on fighting as they slowly retreated into the interior.
But Chan speaks little of his experiences between 1936–40 when he was in China. Like many others whose lives have been too much involved in the war, he takes refuge in silence. You realize why when you learn that his family, consisting of his mother, wife and two small children, are somewhere in the big district of Toyshan, in Canton—a spot constantly harassed by the Japanese invaders. Part of it is already occupied by the Japs, and the other part is extremely dangerous to the Chinese. The invaders have blockaded all supply routes into the district and have confiscated all the foodstuffs they could find. This fact, plus China’s uncontrollable currency inflation, have caused death by starvation of 40% of Toyshan’s population. The road into the mountainous vastness of Free China is long and hazardous, and few families are able to make the trek from the south.
At any rate, Chan was far from his Toyshan home in those years when Japan moved into China. Having taken a course in Diesel engineering in San Francisco, he returned to China and immediately got himself a job in a governmental unit up north. In ’37 Japan began its current assault on China, and Chan, still a civilian, moved into military units and became an expert repair and maintenance man for mobile Diesel engines.
He had more work than he could handle, for technical men were few. He also doubled in other capacities. For a time he was assistant to a Russian engineer in removing detonators from unexploded bombs released by Japanese airmen. At other times he assisted government scholars in translating engineering and technical terms into understandable Chinese. His knowledge of Mandarin dialect came in handy, and he moved all over the north, dodging the Japs with the same skill as the Chinese guerrillas. For a time he instructed a class of soldier-technicians so that more Diesel engineers could be made available.
Chan is in the U.S. Army now, but when the war ends there’s a job waiting for him in China, for a private concern with U.S.-China connections has offered him a job. And tentatively he has accepted.
—W. H.
Page 4
CHOP SUEY
.....Chop Suey—a purely American viand; an epicurean’s horror; a gastronomic concoction assembled by the throwing together of a dozen Chinese vegetables, plus chicken and meat for added flavor.... A melange of bean sprouts and celery, onions and almonds, water-chestnuts and mushrooms....a delightful dish to those who know not the real delights of cuisine....yet at the same time it is tasty and wholesome and nourishes the inner man.... Such is Chop Suey in essence and such are the items appearing in this column....they are tidbits of news and trivia....written for light consumption, not to be taken too seriously by the multitude, but only with a sense of good humor....
…..For a case of flicker jitters take “The Uninvited” pic which was viewed in the area picturehoude [sic] the other eve….what with its eerie ectoplasm and shrieks in the nite it was calculated to chill the spines of the most courageous….Pfc Fong K. Eng, at least, succumbed to the ghostly spell and many a stifled scream emanated from his lips as the picture progressed….On the other hand, Pfc Albert F. L. Fong waved the whole pic aside as something to scare the children only….Yeah, until he went outside and a cat scurried across his path….and he jumped almost out of his GI boots….
S/Sgt York M. Kao just got out from a short spell in the station hospital.... While confined therein he gave an informal chat on things about Chinese to 250 patients...said chat being sponsored by the Convalescent Training Program.... There was quite an interest in China among the GI’s, Kai reported....
…..Which reminds us that Cpl (and baritone) Ray K. Fong is spending a short spell in ze hospital right now…..but the incarceration isn’t stopping him from warbling….His arias are filling the ward daily to some patient’s dismay…But not to a certain General’s wife, who heard him and for-with did a recording of one of his—ah—renditions….
.....Some Dee-troitism:... At least 3 EM’s almost froze in last weekend’s blizzard there....[on] account they didn’t don their GI overcoats....for Pvts Ralph Wong and Ng Y Wing and Pfc Henry Hsiang it was their initial reconnaissance to the Wolverine state’s big town... For hours they dodged the icy wind and swirling snow looking the place over.... Other first-times were S/Sgt Yang F. Lee and Pvt Guey S. Yep....Pfc Kwack J. Fong, a perfect gent carried the luggage for a pretty miss from the train station to the taxi stands….followed by several goggled eyed buddies who thought the age of chivalry had been interred…. Pfc Henry Hsiang, going into a coffee shop with the boys for some breakfast got a greeting in the form of an impromptu dousing by a waitress whose hand slipped....Pvt Ng Y. Wing wasn’t hungry, so ordered a light breakfast of liver and scrambled eggs and fried potatoes and grapefruit juice and coffee and toast and jelly..whew
.....Still at Detroit: Sgt Tommy Yee called on his date Saturday nite....and found her preoccupied with....yeah, two other “buddies”. ....One of ’em was Cpl Harry G. King, who grinned at Yee with the wide and
Page 5
vacuous grin that only his countenance could fashion....which reminds us: which orderly room commando has been getting those long-distance hellos from Detroit?....
.....Everything-happens-to-me-dept: Right after his teeth had been worked on, Pvt Yot G. Ing tripped and stubbed his toe....so for once he no can talkie, no can walkie....
.....Sa-ay, several would-be GI Don Juans have been busy flipping the pages of a tome called “Modern Love Letters”....to improve their correspondence maybe.... Pfc Nem S. Yung owns the volume, but seldom gets to use it....which calls to mind the fact that the discussions aneut [sic] love and kisses in the “GUNG HO’S” Chinese section has veered off in another direction....which was to be expected becuz you can’t explain such a thing as Romance to some of our China-borns whose native language doesn’t even have the equivalent of such a word.... Is true, so help us.
.....“Make me a copy of this in duplicate,” Capt Brown to an orderly room clerk t’other day, indicating a page from the book....said page contained a poem exotically titled “The Ballard [sic] of Yukon Jake,” or “The Hermit of Shark’s Tooth Shoal.” Ah, such poetry!....
Oh, the North Countree is a hard countree, That mothers a bloody brood; And its icy arms hold hidden charms For the greedy, the sinful and lewd.
.....yep, that’s a sample of this ballad of the wide open spaces, O brethren....for further stanzas, see us....
.....Newest EM to become a papa is Cpl Stephen J. Ing [sic] of N’Yawk..it’s a girl....
…..Oh, oh, what a shiner S/Sgt Grey K. Toy collected t’other day!….a present from S/Sgt Toy G. Lum, incidentally….the two were in a camouflage class and accidentally Lum hit Toy, with a tree branch….and forgot to ask, till afterwards: “Did I hurt you?”..
…..Add Idiosyncracies [sic]: Cpl Kim W. [sic] Wong always combs his hair before starting out to do anything..anything from going to town to hitting the hay….And Pfc Robert H. Jung always sleeps in the raw, gentlemen—even in the freezing weather of winter….what rugged physique!….
….We take this item from the China Mail Call, of the Central methodist Church in Detroit, word for word; as written by one Pvt Byron Lim: “My form of transportation from Italy was a transport plane...and it sure was thrilling!...Gee, it must have been, Byron ole boy, to judge from the scrambled verbiage....
….Glimpses: Pfc Thomas Chan found a quiet nook to read a book in—a mobile unit truck....he was catching up in the old country by scanning a “short History of the Chinese.”....Pvt Wing S. Wong propped up on his bunk gazing at a charcoal pic of a pretty lass....Pvt Chris Y. Chen also reading, but in bed, from a copy of Sun Tze’s tome on war—one of the world’s greatest books on military strategy....S/Sgt Hong S. Wee perpetually blowing smoke-rings....but good ones....and Pfc Glenn Chin [sic] studying his Armed Forces Institute lessons on bookkeeping....and Cpls John B. Chuck and Jean Shing, and Pfc. Ben Louie
(Cont. on page 6)
Page 6
“Gung Ho” Is Getting Around.
(Cont. from page 2)
other was theaters, including India.
Hundreds of friends and relatives of the squadron EM, from San Francisco to New York, are also avid readers of the paper, as evidenced by appreciative letters received by the men. Many after reading each issue, are preserving the copies for future reference. As for inquiries for back issues, we regret to announce that outside of the first number no others are available.
Meanwhile, latest publication to mention “Gung Ho” in its pages is the American edition of the Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury, published in New York, which gave the squadron paper a 5-inch writeup on the front page of its February 25th issue. https://archive.org/details/ldpd_11033152_002/page/56/mode/2up
*****
(Chop Suey (Cont’d from page 5)
racing to the proximity of three WAC’s in the mess hall….
….On the Musical front: S/Sgt Henry Leung having the time of his life with a Chinese fife....he can really toot it too, by gosh! Since this has displaced his fondness for the mandolin, one Cpl Hoy has been able to lay his hands on the instrument for his own practice...holding a one-man musicale in his staff-room....
….A visitor to the squadron this week was Cpl Stephen Tom of San Francisco....who came all the way from Camp Roberts to see brother Pfc Stanley Tom....
….A “Snafu” casaba team has been organized, migosh....with Cpl Eugene MonGoy and Pfc James Wong as co-managers, and captained by Cpl Kenneth Mah, with Sgt George Woong as alternate captain....Red shirts and black trunks are the colors of its uniform....But, oboyoboy, the Sanfu’s lost its debut game with the squadron official team by the tune of 40 to 4!!..
“Sleep”
By Pfc Stanley W. Tom.
Sleep…“a periodic diminution of sensation and thought (which is normal but exceedingly temporary in the Army) culminating in heavy slumber, to almost a complete cessation of conscious life.”
Guards and CQ’s find its effects overwhelming…in a deluge as full and overflowing as the sick call lists on weekdays. To the KP’s sleep in something accomplished between roll-calls, a real achievement if successful.
A word of pity and sympathy to those unfortunate GI’s awakened mistakenly by an erring CQ, whose sad duty it is to arouse the KP’s. “Many are called, but few are chosen,” the fewer the better…
Reveille brings with it the end of our physical inactivity, Edison’s Mazda shattering the veil of darkness with its intense brilliance..the organs of sight suffering..and the hated exhortations to “Hit the deck!” [“]Get up!” “Let’s go, men!” “Up and at ’em!” etc., etc.
The proposal that we wake up one of these days ahead of the 1st/Sgt and bugler and yell, “Surprise” at them as they prepare to summon us to Reveille, is a wonderful thought. Those sharing the same miewpoint [sic], please contact the author.
****
Author’s Note: The foregoing item is a surefire cure for insomnia.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
If one takes the wrong road he can retrace his steps but a thing spoken in error is irrevocable.
—Chinese Proverb
****
GUNG HO
No. 13, March 17, 1944
Page 1
[cartoon]
G.I. WANG. By CHINN
[Staff Box]
“GUNG HO” is published by and for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Service Squadron, AC, Patterson Field, Ohio. Editorial Staff: Editor, Cpl William J. Hoy; Chinese Sect Contributing Editor, Sgt Fong Lee; Staff Artist, Cpl Y. Richard Chinn; Editorial Assistants, Pvt Young Q. Ark, Cpl James G. Jay, Cpl Eugene F. Szeto, Pfc Elwin W. Ong, Pfc Stanley W. Tom.
Page 2
SQUADRON QUINTET WINS CONSOLATION TROPHY
By defeating the 478th Air Base Sqdn to the tune of 28–26 the 407th basketball team this week won the consolation trophy in the current Post league tournament.
There was double satisfaction in winning this game, for the 478th had beaten our team in the previous intra-squadron tournament.
The starting lineup for the 407th included Murphy Quan, Albert Fong, Ben Louie, Henry Wong (30), and Henry Leong.
Almost at the end of the game, with only 4 minutes to go, Henry Wong fell and sprained his ankle. David Fong substituted for him and helped to sustain our team’s speedy playing. Murphy Quan piled up 13 points to maintain his high scoring record.
The consolation trophy has been awarded to the team. The quintet has played its second and last tournament for the season but by no means has it played its last game. Meanwhile, Murphy Quan continues to play forward with the Patterson Field All-Stars. This group was honored last Saturday evening with a special banquet at the service club.
★ ★ ★ ★
THE ARC—A PEOPLE’S PARTNERSHIP
The Red Cross War Fund needs $20,000,000 this year to keep doing the vast and countless projects and services it is now rendering to Americans in this country and all over the war theaters. Just a glimpse of its work:
Many Red Cross hands have extended on American welcome at clubs and other Red Cross facilities to our airmen, soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, nurses, and WAC’s in foreign lands.
“Other hands reached across the sea through a Red Cross communication system to check the well being of friends and relatives in enemy occupied countries.”
“Clothing and medicines and food by shiploads were distributed to United Nations civilians in distress.”
In truth, the Red Cross is a “People’s Partnership.” So give all you can during this month’s campaign. Contributions may be turned in to 1st Sgt Chan.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
PVT LEE IS “COVER BOY”
This week Pvt Alfred H. Lee was surprised to see his own likeness gracing the cover of the March issue of “Plane Facts,” a technical magazine published by the Air Service Command, Patterson Field.
The picture showed Lee at work in the welding section, dressed in the GI fatigues and wearing goggles. Put Lee could hardly recognize himself at first glance.
Pvt Lee hails from New York, was born on Armistice day 20 years ago, and came to this country in 1937.
★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★
“GUNG HO”
means to
WORK TOGETHER!
Page 3
THE HILLS OF HOME
“Spring has almost come to San Francisco and the California hills—.”
Thus began a communique from a correspondent. To scores to 407th men, these are words redolent with significance. They evoke deep longings, nostalgia, thoughts of home..and sweet memories of a life once lived and enjoyed...Spring in the California hills...verdant with firs and pines and poplars, with the eucalyptus and giant sequoias.
“The almond and peach trees are beginning to bloom in the orchards—..” In the valley of the Sacramento ten thousand trees stand expectant, ready to give forth of their fruits.
Spring! The Chinese festival of the Vernal Equinox, heralding the resplendent season, is but a few days off. The hearts of San Franciscans in the 407th turn inevitably to memories of the City by the Golden Gate and to their beloved Cathay-by-the-Bay—Chinatown it is otherwise known to the multitude. Port of the Seven Seas and City of the Seven Hills! In this portal of the Pacific Chinatown is an ever exciting corner, glowing with the colors and pageantry of the Orient and teeming with the human life of a Chinese town.
San Francisco in Spring...When you are far away from her portals you remember poignantly how beautiful she looks in her Spring raiment. You remember Inspiration Point, atop the Presidio hills, where on such days you gaze far out into the blue Pacific. Sometimes vagrant wisps of fog would roll in from the sea, shrouding the surrounding hills in a thin gossamer veil of mist.
You remember Telegraph Hill and its Coit Tower, where the azure water of San Francisco Bay ripple below you...and the great bridges that span the water, a touch of architectural magic. In the distance gleams the Golden Gate.
San Francisco lies below you on the other sides of the tower, with all its quiet charm and old world atmosphere. Chinatown is down there, with its fascinating Grant avenue that cuts through the center of the quarter. The national colors of America and China, and Chinese banners wave in many rooftops, with their curving Oriental eaves and lantern-studded balconies.
Russian Hill, Nob Hill[,] Twin Peaks—all with their own beautiful vistas and own particular charms. The cocktail route from Fisherman’s Wharf to Hunter’s Point, and backward and upward to the Top O’ the Mark, where the kaleidoscope of San Francisco by night gives you an unforgettable thrill.
But always you think most of Chinatown, of Cathay-by-the-Bay where the best in life could be found if one seeks it with diligence and wisdom. Chinatown—where modern America meets olden Chia, where the Orient smiles at the West and bargain over merchandise. Chinatown: native viands for real gourmands, ng ka py and Dew of Roses for the bibulous, Chinese operas and movies starring Cantonese glamour girls, temples where
(Continued on page 6)
Page 4
CHOP SUEY
.....Of all the GI’s who are trying to sprout mustaches S/Sgt Gene Wong seems to be doing the best job so far....It’s really growing....but look allee same Fu Manchu....
....Don’t ask us why, but this reminds us of shoe polish....On this score a certain Sergeant wants to know why some GI’s don’t bother to buy this essential item but insist on—ah—mooching from their buddies....We pass....
....During a swimming session t’other afternoon Sgt Murphy Quan and Pfc Howard Quan vied to see which one had the more shapely calfs...with other members of their flight as judges....Murphy won....Such inanities....and such legs....
....At last, at last!...Because we, mentioned t’other week that Sgt Fulton Yee hasn’t been favored with a single letter from a gal since he joined the army, a kind-hearted lass down Kentucky way has written him...yassuh....a nice friendly letter. The young lady used to work at Patterson Field...“We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home” etc.....
....Since this (Friday) is St. Patrick’s day, Pvt Ralph Wong has blossomed out with something green....Only it sho’ isn’t a Shamrock. It’s a bright green cigarette holder!...You’ll have to see Wong smoking with it to appreciate the hilarious spectacle he presents....
….Cpl Stanley Chinn returned to his barracks late one nite….and got scared silly to discover in his bunk—a dog!…He turned on all the barracks lights, upstairs and down, and had a wild dog chase….No he’s looking for the responsible prankster(s)….Do we hear somebody say doggone?….
....Don’t forget to add your mite to the Red Cross War Fund, boys....whatever you give you’ll probably reap ten-fold benefits from later on....
....A pic of a bevy of Chinese gals in Washington DC’s USO Jasmine Chapter appeared in the Shanghai Eve Post & Mercury (NY) last week....and looking at the pic set Sgt Woody Chan’s heart fluttering....for why?...becuz ont [sic] of the lassies in it was his fiancee....
….S/Sgt Donald “Yehudi” Louie all alone with his date on a bus going Cincinnati way….and attempting to avoid M/Sgt Floyd Sam, who was maneuvering for an intro….but in vain, for Sam, bold and unabashed, introduced himself….
….S/Sgt Henry Leung is velly, velly proud of his sartorial appearance these days....Reason is a brand new OD blouse he wrangled out of supply....Also a brand new overcoat...Sez Henry: “After 26 months in the army, I finally got myself a blouse that fits!”...Something’s screwy some place, if you ask us....
….Duty sectiin [sic] czar Cpl Stephen Ng has our two buglers listed on his roster as “burglers”....Is so?....
(Cont. on page 5)
Page 5
CHOP SUEY
….Pfc Herbert J. Lee is seriously contemplating taking an Armed Force Institute course on biology....Could it be that our revelation of his rabbit “eggs” the other week has stirred up an interest on the, ah, facts of life?....
....Overheard at Dayton’s Chungking dinery t’other eve between two 407th Jokesters—
1st Insane Asylum Inmate: “Why are we all here?”
2nd Insane Asylum Inmate: “Because we’re not all there.”
….A practical demonstration on how to fashion a pair of slippers was given t’other noontime by Pfc Albert FL Fong….It’s a transformation act actually….You merely take a sharp knife and a pair of worn civvies and proceed to whittle down the top parts off of ’em…and you get a pair of sturdy slippers in no time, brethren….
....Glimpses: Pfc Wah Louie learning to tap dance....from a how-to-do-it book....Cpl Harry G King scribbling letters after “lights out”—inside the shower room....Cpl Paul C Fong downing a triple helpings of spaghetti at mess....
....Pfc Elwin W Ong just parted with his tonsils....but he didn’t entirely escape from working while convalescing....not as far as “Gung Ho” was concerned...The mimeoscope and so forth were dispatched to him at the hospital so he wouldn’t be deprived of the joy of drawing up bamboo borders and decoration on the stencils....Which brings to mind Sgt Tommy Yee........he probably has the biggest individual “Gung Ho” mailing list in the squadron....Last week he only sent out 63 copies to friends and friends!!
....That box of succulent fried chicken which made a brief—very brief—appearance in lower barracks three one day was Cpl Harry King’s....His Mama in Dee-troit prepared it and he brought it back with him on his last pass there....Mrs. King sho’ is a swell cook, said the hungry buddies who gobbled up most of the poultry, leaving Harry with a few bones to chew on....
....More on diminutive Pvt Ralph Wong....He’s taking bowling lessons from Pvt Ng Y Wing un [sic] the hope of improving on his initial score of—34?....An interested spectator was Cpl Zach Wong....who used to play with the Angelus Bowling team in Los Angeles, Calif....Cpl Wong bowls a mere 279....
.....Pfc Bot L. Wong is giving a few pointers on dancing to Pvt Seam H. Wong....with Cpl Homer KH Fong [sic] as a velly interested spectator....
.....Some humans put their noses to the grindstone...but Cpl Eugene MonGoy puts his to the typewriter carriage—literally... There’s nothing wrong with his glimmers, but the way he rests his proboscis on the carriage when he types might make one think he’s half blind....
(Continued on page 6)
Page 6
(Irvin S. Cobb, one of America’s best loved humorists, died recently in NY. As our humble way in paying tribute to his memory we print the following short tale. It is typically Cobbian in its humor, narrated in his own style, and was one of his favorites. Incidentally, the “Foggy Tale” we published in “Gung Ho” several weeks ago was also one of [missing text]
Three’s Emough [sic]
★ ★ ★ ★
Every time the government takes a census this story is revived, which means it enjoys a rejuvenated popularity at intervals of ten years. When I catch myself laughing at it, I know another decade has slipped by.
The story has to do with the enumerator who called at a humble home and there found the head of the family humped up over a large volume. It developed, in the course of conversation, that the householder some months before had been induced by a traveling agent to invest in an encyclopedia. To get the worth of his money he had been reading the books of the set pretty constantly ever since. In reply to the caller’s questions he gave his name and age and his wife’s name and age.
“How many children have you?” Asked the census taker.
“I’ve got three,” said the citizen. “And that’s all there ever will be, too you take it from me.”
“What makes you so positive about that?” Asked the visitor.
“I’ll tell you why there won’t never be but three,” said the man. “It’s wrote down in this here book that every fourth child born in the world is Chinese!”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Hills of Home (from p.3)
incense is burnt to the pagan gods, and Christian churches where Chinese ministers preach the gospel of a great Oriental from Judea.
Chinatown: where gold-lacquered wood signboards vie with garish neon lights, where the raucous din of night clubs contrast strangely with the calm and splendor of family tong houses, where elders smoke their bamboo water pipes and the young generation chew their cigars, where funerals are big parades and big parades are colorful as the Arabian Nights.
That’s a bit of the Chinatown every Chiantownian loves. And in Spring the yearning to walk its streets once more surpasses description.
“Lifting my head I gaze at the bright moon above;
Bowing, I thought longingly of home.”
So wrote a poet of T’ang, who was also an exile from home.
—W. H.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Chop Suey (continued from page 5)
…..Cpl William Hoy is doing some talking these days….But not in the manner you’d think….We mean he’s been doing some more speechifying. One eve he was a panel discussion resource leader before a YMCA group in Dayton….devoted to post-war U.S. problems….next eve he talked before a church youth group on Christianity in modern China…all velly intelesting….Addenda on Cpl Stephen J. Ng….he’s got his moniker corrected officially to read Cpl Stephen J. Chan….We began this Chop Suey column [with] S/Sgt Gene Wong….now we end it with him. The lug has shaved off his mustache!
….Goodbye now…..
GUNG HO
No. 14, March 24, 1944
Page 1
[cartoon]
G.I. WANG. BY CHINN
[Staff Box]
“GUNG HO” is published by and for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Service Squadron, AC, Patterson Field, Ohio. Editorial Staff: Editor, Cpl William J. Hoy; Chinese Sec Editor, Sgt Fong Lee; Staff Artist, Cpl Y. Richard Chinn; Editorial Assistants, Pvt Young Q. Ark, Cpl James G. Jay, Cpl Eugene F. Szeto, Pfc Elwin W. Ong, Pfc Stanley W. Tom, Pfc Louie Woon.
Page 2
CARICATURES By Pfc Glenn Chinn
Pfc. Henry S.Y. Wong
“The Oakland (Cal.) Mole”
Cpl Fred Ko
“The Chinese hill-billy from Arkansas”
Sgt. Hing BunLo
“The Hong Kong Flash”
Page 3
Men of the 407th—
THREE SCHOOL BOYS FROM PUI CHING
They are buddies in the same outfit now and know each other pretty well. But not so long ago when the three were in the same school together in Canton they didn’t know each other at all. Which is something that happens not infrequently in China. But Sgt Joseph Lee, Pvt Chris Y. Chen and Cpl Thomas W. Lee all have their interesting stories to tell about that.
The school these three all attended was the famed Pui Ching residence middle school in the city of Canton. It was a large institution, divided into sections, which accounted for the fact that hundreds of students attending the same school never meet each other. Today it is operating in a neighboring province, for the Japanese invaders have taken possession of Canton.
Pvt Chen was in school with his brother during the fateful year of 1937. He was there when Jap airmen first bombed the city in September. He saw them bomb one entire section of the metropolis, destroying schools and libraries.
By river boats Chen and his brother escaped south to the Portuguese colony of Macao. Their parents in Bremerton, Washington cabled for the boys to come to the U. S. In December of 1937 they went to Hongkong, and from that port took passage to America. Today Pvt Chen is in the army, but his brother is with the Seabees.
Sgt Joseph Lee was at Pui Ching 6 years when he graduated in the summer of 1937. He returned to visit his folks in a village near Canton. Then on a day in September he went up to Canton to clear up his residence fee with the school. But the day he reached the city was the day the Japanese airmen came over.
Lee never paid his account, but returned to his village immediately. There, while the people waited for the Japanese invaders to come, he helped by teaching the village children. He received no salary, but the villagers paid him a token fee of ten dollars a month.
A year later he left home with a cousin in order to come to the U. S., where relatives had sent for them. In February, 1939 he arrived in New York, where he went to American school and worked until he joined the army last year. Meantime, his village had twice been taken by the Japanese, and twice recovered by regular native soldiers and guerillas.
Cpl Thomas Lee was also at Pui Ching when the Japs came to Canton. But he didn’t return to his village immediately. Instead, for a month he joined the Chinese Boy Scouts and helped with rescue and first aid work throughout the much-bombed city. When he did return to his folks in the village he continued helping, for by that time the Japanese were trying to take the large district of Toyshan where his family lived.
Late in ’37 Lee left China to join his father in San Diego, California, arriving two months later.
Today, Lee’s mother and sister are still living in the Toyshan village, which has also been twice occupied by the Japs and twice retaken. His elder brother is a pilot in the Chinese Air Force, somewhere near Chungking when last heard of.
—W. H.
Page 4
CHOP SUEY
….Music in the nite: The squadron orch is really putting in some super practice sessions these days—we mean nites….with Cpl William Hing at the clarinet, Pfc Elwin Ong at the drums, and with three sax’s in hands of Cpls Al Fong and Wilfred Eng and Pfc Henry Leong, they’re getting in the groove….even tho the violinists and pianist weren’t there….they had several spectators t’other nite, tho they didn’t know it,….the latter were some EM from another nearby sqdn..peeking in thru the windows….
….Paging Dr. Morpheus: 1st/Sgt Edward Chan has to resort to reading to lull himself to slumber these wintry nites....with a tome by Carl Crow called “The Chinese Are Like That”....But we maintain that there are few Chinese who are like the 1st/Sgt when it comes to snoring in cadence....
….On the t’other hand we find Lt. R.E. Byrne on the hunt for an alarm clock....he’s been sleeping to good it seems....Capt “Doc” Lau says the “best cure for insomnia is to get plenty of sleep”....for thr [sic] luvva mike, but how?....
....Sgt Woody Chan was the excited recipient of a long distance phone buzz t’other eve....from Washington DC....“from my mama,” he said afterwards....yeah, only his folks are in N’Yawk....so the Long islander was fibbing, thassall….Cpl Homer KH Eng long distanced on his own hook…buzzing his way to Dee-troit, where, they say, a gal named May hello-ed back.
….Almost half of the male customers at the Dayton Skateland t’other not-so-blue Monday were 407th EM...yassuh....’twas free nite for servicemen for one thing....and there were plenty of gals for another thing....Some fancy skaters we’ve got, tho....Pvt Guey S Yep, who could roll backward or forward or cut figure 8’s with the greatest of ease....or free-and-easy rollers like Sgt Mon K Fong and Pvt Kay W Chin....or a model of nonchalance like S/Sgt Hong S Wee, who does it with both hands in his pockets....Pfc Chong A Fong chose the backward steps....while just a mere tyro was Pvt William Wong, who stayed on the outer circle most of the time....it’s safer anyhow....
....S/Sgt Duey S Leong is the latest gent to team up with the mustache-spouters’ fraternity....right now it looks Grouchy Marx-y, but may improve with age and tender care....He’s unusually patient about the whole thing....which makes it news, for Leong is about the most easily excited and quick-tempered GI in the outfit....He can work himself up to a frenzy on any given subject in record-breaking time....
....Now it’s M/Sgt Floyd Sam who wants to take up a collection....to buy a new ditty for Sgt George Shue....the latter has been warbling, whistling, and humming “You’ll Never Know” and nothing else since last December....when he returned from DS to Orlando, Fla....To add to his repertoire we suggest “Shoo Shoo Baby”....we shoo do, Shue....
....Dept of Romance & Similar Nonsense: It wasn’t windburn you saw on Pfc Henry Hsiang[’s] face t’other day....he was actually blushing....
Page 5
CHOP SUEY
Y’see, he upped and wrote to a gal in Dee-troit....and she reciprocated, to his surprise....and all those letters you see Pvt Gee [sic] Y Lee writing are dispatched to a Violet in Noo Joisey....and Cpl Harry G King, he of the silly grin, has been inflicting “Roses are red, violets are blue,” pomes [sic] to a Margie in N’Yawk....And we have it straight from postal-packin’ papa Cpl Mack Pon that Cpl Elwood Lew has all of a certain Irene’s communiques filed in chronological order....Any cross index, Elwood?....
….At 4:30 t’other ayem, S/Sgt Grey K. Toy, the Caballero from Casa Grande (Ariz.), suddenly dreamt out loud and woke up half the barrack with: “Mickey, oh Mickey, you’re not Mickey!”….okay, we aren’t….
....Sgt Donald C Poy, who’s so proud of the dee-rightful pin-up gals and good books his staff-room contains, sez he reads the Bible before turning in each nite....Cpl Woo H Niy could do likewise, since a femme down Texas way sent him a Bible recently....
....Add monkey-shines in barracks #2: Sgt Joseph K Lee, Cpl Wellie Chinn [sic] and Pvt Wong K Yuey found themselves short-sheeted on going to bed....
....11 EM went over to neighboring Wright Field last week to remove a few gadgets from 3 planes....and did a good snd [sic] fast job, making the supervising Lt velly glad indeed....
....Since last week is China Book Week in libraries all oved [sic] the land Cpl William Hoy was invited to the Dayton public library to tell ze staff something about literature in modern China t’other day....which he did—at 8 ayem in the mawning...
....Sgt Fulton Yee, making a maiden hop on a B-17, learned how to clean up the bombardier’s compartment....he “spilled his cookies”...that’s why....
…And Pfc Kwack J Fong reluctantly parting with his worn GI boots for new ones…’cause the old ones were so well polished….
....If you’ve noticed the recent typographical improvements in “Gung Ho” be informed they are done on Vari-Typer composing machines, for which thanx sre [sic] due Mary Harmon for their use....
....Pfc York Q Luke is velly unhappy over his recent short haircut...[on] account he can’t fashion that cute lil wave over his forehead....now Pvt Yee T Yook has a clear field in vieing [sic] for the best-groomed cranium....Meanwhile Sgt Joseph K Lee likes his spring haircut, short tho it is....
....On Second Thought dept: Cpl Fot Y Moy, all dressed to po [sic] a-towning Sunday nite....till he stepped outside the barracks door and felt the icy winds blowing in his moon-face....He beat a hasty retreat and returned to his game of solitaire....
Glimpses: Cpl David Chen bouncing his 225 lbs up and down catching baseballs....Sgt Tommy Yee propped up on the floor writing letters with his every free moment....Pfc Fong K Eng getting serious and reading Carey McWilliams’ “Brothers Under the Skin”....Sgt George Woong trying out his Chinese calligraphy....by writing his own moniker....
Page 6
My Blue Heaven
When the whip-poor-wills call
And evening is nigh
I hurry to My Blue Heaven.
A turn to the right,
A little white light
Will lead you to My Blue Heaven.
You’ll see a smiling face,
A fireplace, a cozy room,
A little nest that’s nestled
Where the roses bloom.
Just Molly and me
And the baby makes three.
We’re happy in My Blue Heaven.
If You Please
Did I see moonlight
And magnolia trees?
Smile again, my darling
If you please.
Did I hear music
On a warm spring breeze?
Speak again, my darling,
If you please.
Did I feel cool September
rain just then?
If you please, touch my cheek
with your hand again.
When you are near me
I can dream with ease,
And I’m yours, my darling,
If you please.
Tonight We Love
Tonight we love, while the moon
Beams down in dreamlight tonight
We touch the stars, love is ours
Night winds that sigh
Embrace the sky.
Tonight we love in the glow
That gleams so softly I know—
This wasn’t meant to borrow
But tomorrow will it be gone,
Or will it always live on,
Tonight We Love.
Stardust
Sometimes I wonder why
I spend the lonely night
Dreaming of a song?
The melody haunts my reverie,
And I am once again with you,
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration,
But that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song.
Besides a garden wall
When stars are bright,
You are in my arms.
The nightingale
Tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grow.
Tho’ I dream in vain,
In my heart, it will remain,
My stardust melody,
The memory of Love’s refrain.
Chinatown
Chinatown, my Chinatown,
Where the lights are low,
Hearts that know no other land,
Drifting to and fro.
Dreamy dreamy Chinatown,
Almond eyes of brown,
Hearts seems light
And life seems bright
In dreamy Chinatown.
My Melancholy Baby
Come to me, My Melancholy Baby
Cuddle up and don’t be blue—
All your fears are foolish fancy may be
You know, dear; that I’m in love with you.
Ev’ry cloud must have a silver lining,
Wait until the sun shines thru—
Smile, my honey dear,
While I kiss away each tear,
Or else I shall be melancholy, too.
GUNG HO
“Somewhere in India”
India Edition, No. 2, July 15, 1944, Reg Series No. 20
“GUNG HO” is published by & for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Servicer Squadron, APO, 487, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y. Contents Censored by unit censor.
—————————————————
Page 1
.....Well, comrades, here’s our little squadron paper again. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a printed issue. To keep the record straight, we’ve had several typewritten issues preceding this one. The first was turned out at the port of embarkation. Then there were three we pounded out in North Africa. And last week we typed our first India edition. Of course, from here on the paper will be a lean and shadowy counterpart of the Gung Ho we used to turn out back in the States, for reasons that should be obvious to all.
********
.....To start off, here is some useful and informative items from our own Gung Ho guide to India, or the India that you don’t read about in the GI guide books...
F’instance, everywhere you in this vast country you hear about the dread disease malaria and how it kills off people like flies, etc. But do you know that the malaria-carrying mosquito was first discovered in India half a century ago, making it one of the greatest medical discoveries of modern times? It was spotted by a British medial [sic] officer after years of patient search, aided by mosquito-catching native named Mohamed. It all happened in Calcutta.
India is the birthplace of one of the world’s three greatest religions. This is Buddhism, founded by an Indian prince named Gautauma Buddha centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. Of all the world’s religions, Buddhism claims the greatest number of believers, no less than 500,000,000....
The so-called modern “science” of sexology in the West was known over a thousand years ago in India. The world’s oldest book on the subject of sex is a Hindu classic entitle “Kama Sutra,” compiled from various sources during the sixth century and translated into English only a short time ago. The book was originally written in Sanskrit, one of the world’s oldest and most difficult languages to master...
In the sphere of mathematics, India gave the world one important branch of this science—trigonometry.
Indian curry is the hottest, the most pungent and aromatic, the most tasty curry there is. Which to say that it’s the world’s best curry, suh...
The pervasive influence of Indian Buddhism permanently transformed the technique and content of Chinese art, especially in the realms of painting and sculpture. Buddhism also changed the style of Chinese architecture. The pagodas and dagobas and the bells hanging on curved eaves seen in all Chinese monasteries are direct importations from India. The romanticist school of Chinese landscape (“mountain and water”) artists also derived their inspiration and form from this great religion.
One of China’s greatest literary prose classics, “Travels to the West,” (Hsi Yu Chi), a book comparable to “Pilgrim's Progress,” took its inspiration directly from the Buddhism religion. The novel is considered a Buddhist allegorical tale by many and the latest English translation of it is by the eminent sinologist Arthur Waley, who gave it a new title. He called it simply “Monkey.” The reason for this is natural because the chief character of the story is not a human being but a mischievous monkey who had all the attributes of a human. Around him are written more funny situations than in “Don Quixote”.......
Page 2
“CHOP SUEY”
....Herewith once more is our usual dish of il-literary beansprouts...It’s a far cry from Patterson Fld, Ohio to India, but chop suey is still chop suey wherever the locale..so here goes nothing...
...The harmonica pipings of James B Wong is strictly honey to the ear when things seem dull ’n drab...especially his renditions of “Stardust” & “Begin the Beguine.” On the other hand, we haven’t heard a squawk from Henry W (for Whiskey) Leung who took the mandolin from us t’other eve...The strings are rusty, said he...Congrats are in order to the 30 EM who were up-graded last week, from Pfc’s to M/Sgt’s....T/Sgt Henry Wong didn’t even know he was promoted M/Sgt...for the simple reason he was busy in the hospital battling with chills & fever...And did diminutive Lawrence Fong inflate his likewise dimunitve [sic] chest when, during initial tent inspection the tepee he occupies with Duey Leong & Henry W Leung came out with A-1 rating...And So Tak is having the time of his life these days going up in the air with our C.O....
...The sight of the week was Eugene Mongoy, So Tak & Kwong D Hom, who went out on a bamboo hunting expedition... Somebody told the hunters they had to wade into a nearby jungle to get at their object...so what did they do? Hom armed himself with a carbine...Mongoy took along his first-aid kit...Precautions, said they. Well, the only “jungle” they traversed was a field of tall elephant grass...ho hum...Which reminds us that the 1st/Sgt went out monkey-hunting the other day, but brought only himself back...No simpletons, these simians...
...Believe it or not, but a traffic policeman in West New York (NJ) is looking high ’n low for Hing G Ng...Yessuh...in fact he’s been looking for the guy for some time. We hasten to report, however, that it’s all in friendship, for the policeman used to know Ng when the latter was a school boy back in the ole hometown and he was a junior traffic cop...
...Well, our boys who were DS (being left behind at our last station) have all returned to the fold..According to Paul C Fong, he had a good time...but according to motor pool boss Henry Lew he was anything but happy there. He pulled guard constantly, he was bit right ’n left by insects, he was soaked by rain ’n baked by the sun...altogether he was only too glad to rejoin us....
...Wah Louie, who seems to be fortune’s special child, went over to the theater last Sat. eve to play a few bingo games..& came away with nothing but the first prize—a gasoline stove...And the first thing he did with it the next nite was to brew rice congee for his pals...succulent broth seasoned with dried shrimps & mushrooms...Meanwhile, Jimmy G Choy, Jan Wong, Kwong Lee ’n company have been brewing congee almost nitely...& one nite they even got hold of a fresh meat bone to throw into the pot...They sho’ know how to forage, is all we can say...
...After a short stay in the hospital rotund David Chen’s figure is now streamlined...his weight-decreasing process started ever since he first laid eyes on India & a pic of Mahatma Ghandi. Park C Chin has undergone a little operation & is recuperating okay, thank you...And Henry Hsiang, taking a shower t'other eve by the water pump, slipped on ze wet planks... ’n came up minus half of an upper front tooth...now he’s got to have the other half yanked out...
Our new latrine is super, according to consensus of opinion & ’twas Duey Leong who supervised as construction engineer. Now Duey’s gone ’n fixed up a real honest-to-goodness shower...the boy’s good, we tell you...he deserves all those beers he drinks...& as we go to press we Gung Ho editor & janitor Bill Hoy is racking his—ah—brain trying to think up a few good points for a talk on China he’s going to give at the theater. The talk is part of an orientation program just started at this base...
As a parting word for this week, comrades, we’d like to remind you that we have quite a few good books in our “library” ’n you should read some of ’em...See you all later...***
GUNG HO
“Somewhere in India”
India Edition, No. 4, July 22, 1944, Reg Series No. 22
“GUNG HO” is published by & for the Enlisted Personnel of the 407th Serv Sqdn, APO, c/o PM, New York, N.Y. Staff: Editor, Cpl William J. Hoy. Assts: Cpl Eugene Szeto, Pfc’s Earl Jung, Louie Woon, Pvt Young Q. Ark.
Contents passed by unit censor.
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CHINESE NEWSMAN GIVES VIEWS ON CHINA.
“The military situation in China is very critical at present—but not hopeless.”
Such was the opinion in a nutshell on the China front given by a correspondent of the CNA (Central News Agency) of China, who visited the 407th last week. The newsman was Paul Feng, accredited to Lt Gen Joseph Stillwell’s Hqs and at the moment covering the jungle fighting in Burma.
Feng said that the Jap forces have Kwangtung province under their control for the time being, but have been prevented from getting across the province into strategic Kweilin.
Regarding the strategic sector of Changsha, center of China’s “rice bowl,” Feng said that although the Japs have captured the capital they are unable to occupy it entirely due to constant counter-offensive assaults by Chinese troops. The Japanese took Changsha only after making extensive use of poison gas, and are hoding [sic] it with the same weapon. Consequently the enemy have slaughtered thousands of Chinese soldiers by this inhuman method of warfare. China, adhering to international convention, has never employed poison gas as a retaliatory measure against the invaders.
The correspondent said that Chinese and American troops under Gen Stilwell continue to gain grounds in the jungle and rain soaked terrain of northern Burma. It is now only a matter of time, he continued, before the vital Burma Road will be opened again. Japs have practically conceded and are only fight in a last ditch delaying action. The enemy has already revised its miliary [sic] strategy in China as a result of what has happened and is still happening in Burma.
Thirty-six year old Paul Feng is an American-trained Journalist. A genial Cantonese from Hawkshan district, he graduated form NYU and returned to China five uears [sic] ago. After a sting with the United Press he got on the well-known China Press at Shanghai. There he was interned by the Japanese along with fellow workers when the paper refused to became a propaganda tool for the enemy. Released a little later, he went on to Chungking and into the Central News Agency. During the past two years he has covered the CBI fighting, traveling from Chengtu in North China to the tropical jungles of Burma with occaisional [sic] trips into India.
(More on Paul Feng in “Chop Suey” column.)
.... W.H.
CPL HENRY LUKE, R.I.P.
The following squadron memorandum dated July 21, 1944 speaks for itself:
“It is with regret that the Enlisted Personnel of this organization is advised of the death of Cpl Henry Luke on 27 May 1944.” “A former member of this command Cpl Henry Luke was a good soldier in every respect and a credit to the Armed Forces of his country.”
Well-liked by everyone in the squadron, Henry passed away after a lengthy illness at another station. He hailed from New York City and had been a member of the squadron from its inception.
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Page 2
.....Unanimous nomination as Happiest Man of the Week goes without dispute to Lt Bowers, our genial Adjutant...’N with excellent reason, for he’d just been informed by Mrs. Bowers that on July 11th he became the papa of a 7 1/2 lb baby boy...yup, Bowers Jr was born way back in Illinois...Daddy Bowers jumped up & down the sqdn area yelling with pride & joy...Our PX supply of cigars was gone, so he passed out chocolate candies...later he pulled out a treasured bottle of-ah-fire water...did we sample it? How could we forego the opportunity to rejoice with our adjutant in the proper manner?...especially since the potent liquid was our favorite brand of poison...As we say back in the USA Chinatowns—Gung hay! Maan jee mann suen, (Congratulations! May you have ten thousand sons & grandsons!)
....’N surprise visitor of the week was Paul Feng, correspondent of China’s big Central News Agency...cane [sic] straight out of the clouds from somewhere in Burma’s fighting front...Paul was a stranger to all except ye GH editor, who last saw him way back when in San Francisco when Paul was preparing to return to China to begin his journalistic career..The newsman spent the nite in the tepee occupied by Homer Eng, Al Fong, Albert F.L. Fong & Stanley Chinn...who were thrilled no end to talk with a real war correspondent, & plied him with food and questions.
....After all these months packages, newspapers and mags by the hundreds finally came to the APO..Wan H. Ching got his Easter eggs plenty smashed...’n Sammy Chang rec’d his Chinese sausages, in a slightly odorous state…Later James Chan got his long awaited wish—a pair of maroon & Yellow-hied suspenders from his sis in Santa Rosa…Now he doesn’t have to loosen his belt every time he makes a chowhound of himself…
....After a short stay in ze hospital, postal packin’ papa Mack Pong is back...In his absence Florida Flash (in the pan) Eugene Mongoy subbed as mailman & made himself the most sought after EM...also the most cussed guy when he didn’t bring in any letters.... Meanwhile Howard Loo is in a dither becuz his gal fran has sent him a letr [sic] in several parts ’n he’s got only the first part so far...
...Sight of the week: in one corner of ze orderly room Yong [sic] Q. Ark, fiddling with a clock, suddenly set off the alarm...In a flash Chor Y. Law, in another corner, grabbed the phone, answered it in his most officious manner...’n then sat there for minutes wondering whyinheck there was no response..ho hum.
.... Floyd Sam has dragged out his precious radio, and jive-hungry EM have been treated to jive from the states after all these months, & Allen K Pang, getting news of a hometown (Seattle) at last, learned that his brother S/Sgt Sun Pang was in on the D-Day invasion of Europe as a waist-gunner on a B-17..
....We started a Bingo game of our own t’other nite..with Hong S. Wee & Andy Kan walking away with the coveted cigarette lighters...The next eve at the theater our boys played more bingo...& grabbed 7 out of 12 prizes...Chinamen’s Charge in reverse, that’s what...’N for lovers of low-brow humor we give you Eugene Szeto...the lower the humor the better he likes it...A typical NY Bronx character...
...Short Shorties: Calvin Huie said it wasn’t Albert F.L. Fong who gave him the bloody nose in the little boxing tilt as reported last week, but plain Albert (NMI) Fong...When we opened the mess hall as a dayroom t’other nite the first patron was Harding Wong...Henry W. Leung does butterfly chasing down the line when he isn’t otherwise occupied....Kern Lee is a fortune teller ’n told Elwood Lew some things about his future...And as a chicken catcher Raymond K. Fong is a good draftsman...Warren Lee is enjoying some sky races these days...& for the record, July 10th starts the sqdn’s second year of life...
....No news re the 1st Sgt’s monkey hunting expedition this week...he’s got a monk to play with right now, that’s why...the 1st/Sgt feeds it...Kwong D. Hom & Wah Louie walk it...Herbert Wong disciplines it...’n we cuss it becuz the so ’n so has gone & chewed up some Gung Ho drafting utensils...
.....Be back with yo’ all next week.
GUNG HO
“Somewhere in India”
India Edition, No. 5, August 5, 1944, Reg Series No. 23
“GUNG HO” is published by & for the enlisted personnel of the 407th Serv Sqdn, APO 487, c/o PM, New York, NY. Staff: Editor, Cpl William J Hoy. Assts: Cpl Eugene Szeto, Pfc’s Earl Jung & Louie Woon.
Contents passed by unit censor.
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Page 1
CHENNAULT ENCOURAGED BY TURN OF WAR IN CHINA.
Maj Gen. Claire Chennault appears to be the only big warrior who is currently cheerful over the China campaign.
Gen. Chennault told NY Times’ correspondent Brooks Atkinson that the Japanese attempt to reinforce the inner defences [sic] of Japan by driving through central China cannot succeed now that Saipan has fallen. The inner defence ring within a 1500-mi. Radius of Japan was broken by this Allied victory.
The 14th USAAF will continue to inflict casualties on Japanese personnel, blast vulnerable supply lines , and harry attempts to use the railroad, Chennault said.
“I have always thought that it would be more advantageous if we could have large concentrations of Japanese forces in the interior of China, where we could tear them down,” the general observed. “The Japanese casualties at Hengyang involve a considerable percentage of their total forces. We will turn a large percentage of their remaining forces into casualties. Chinese opposition around Hengyang has already delayed the Japanese campaign which, I believe, they wanted to conclude within two months before good flying weather returns to this part of China.
“In my opinion, Gen. Hsouh Yueh’s handling of Chinese troops has been masterly. He has not permitted them to be trapped or destroyed. He has followed the old Chinese strategy of giving way at the front and attacking them from the flanks and rear. It would have been foolish to risk frontal battle.”
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CHINESE WREST 8,000 SQAURE MILES FROM JAPANESE.
Chungking—AP correspondent Spencer Moosa reported that since launching the Salween River offensive May 11 Gen. Wei Li-huang has wrested from the Japanese over 3,000 square miles of the would’s toughest fighting country. Wei’s American-trained and equipped Chinese troops are attempting to join Stilwell’s force in Burma for reopening the over land supply route to China.
Nine weeks of fighting on the worlds highest battlefield, precipitous trails, drenching monsoon rains, mud and sleet, clammy heat—all have combined to test the hardness of the troops. The Chinese have driven the enemy from fortified positions in the 12,000-foot Kaoli Mt range, a spur of the Himalayas, and have liberated over 100 populated places.
The terrain is so difficult as almost to forbid movement. The monsoon made the earth a nightmare of mud, mountain tops a hell of snow and sleet. A battalion in these mountains is the equivalent of a division in open country, and the destruction of 500 men is a sizable victory.
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CHINESE EXPERTS DUE SOON IN U.S.
Forty Chinese exports in various professional lines will arrive in the U.S. shortly to receive special training in relief and rehabilitation, the UNRRA (United Nations Relief & Rehabilitation Ass’n) has announced.
The group was chosen by their government to study how procedures in agriculture, medicine, welfare, irrigation, flood control and fisheries.
Page 2
Chop Suey
.....Sight of the Week: a crowd gathers around the 1st/Sgt in front of the orderly woom...all eyes were focused downward... ’n there were howls & yells...We elbowed our way thru ’n saw—the spectacle of our foot-high monkey learning to walk erect like a human & responding to the top kick’s orders like an obedient off-spring...if the monk can type might there be a replacement in the orderly woom? ...
.....T’other eve in a nearby village Hong S Wee, having tire trouble with his jeep, found a Chinese shop where he could make the repair...he approached a crewman & tried out the Mandarin he’s been learning, clarifying doubtful pronunciation with appropriate gestures...The repairer looked blank... We tried harder gesticulated more vigorously...Then the other broke out in a volley of Cantonese....
.....Our bingo soiree this week had the kind of awards hungry GI’s of Cantonese descent like—live chicks, winter & bitter melons...’n a stove & pot to brew the vittles....we’ll have better & bigger prizes next week, gents...
.....Did Johnny Luong [sic] fly out of bed fast t’other morn when he found a 1 1/2 foot s-n-a-k-e was sharing his bunk! ... Ng Y Wing gave the reptile the coup de grace..both swore it was a cobra...Which reminds us that things are anything but dull in our newly-established combination Gung Ho—Special Service—PX tent...One nite a prowler (cat? dog? GI?) soft-footed in in the early ayem & walked off with a roast chick left over from a late snack....then for days foot-long earthworms pushed their way up from the ground & used the tent for a rendezvous... ’n finally, during the torrent t’other day it was—you’ve guessed it—flooded...boy! did we dig some ditches fast...
.....The time has come to sing a word of praise for Henry SY Wong’s super shower..plenty of homemade showers are in evidence now, but Henry’s was one of the first & about the most slick...the way it’s constructed on a tree trunk, with a pulley system ’n real faucet—well, it’s so good we’ve been using it daily thass all...for another kind of shower without any fixain’s you just wait till it rains, then jump out of your clothes out under the dark clouds...just the way pill-roller Yow R Chinn did during that monsoon special t’other morn...
Harding Wong glued together the wings of two dragon flies...just to see if they could fly in formation: man’s inhumanity to insects...’N Donald Poy, fixing an oil line, was drenched with the stuff...so he soaked his clothes in gasoline ’n out they came, white as snow...
…..Short Shorties: Mon K Fong, Wm P [sic] Wong, Hong W Lowe, Suey W Jue, Soo J Wong, et al, are all emulating Captaincies “Doc” Lau’s style of smoking now—with ivory holders…Stan Chinn (sax) Henry Leong (sax) & Wm Hing (clarinet) are keeping their instruments from getting rusty by occasional practice sessions.. their jive rhythm is being slowed up by this Indian summer...Howard C Loo is a beer drinker now, by gosh, depriving us veteran members of Alcoholics Synonymous of much needed additional rations...’n Johnny Leong, down at reclamation, is getting a lot of cigars from somebody...Eugene Mongoy’s sky-blue T-shirt harmonizes nicely with Lt Bowers’ sea-blue trunks......There sho’ are plenty of helmet liners around painted with the CBI emblem...did somebody say the hel-met that?...“General” So Tak, a mechanic of the unorthodox school, is able to fit carbine bullets into .32 revolvers...’N Lawrence Fong, who hails from Oakland, Calif., has discovered an Oakland in India...’n if you San Franciscans want to shed a few real nostalgic tears just scan the May overseas issue of ze Cosmopolitan (came in t’other day) and read “What’s New in SF” by Bob O Brien, columnist of the SF Chronicle…’N Mack Pong has finally broken down & sent in a subscription to the said Chronicle so we can keep up with what’s cooking back in Bagdad-by-the-Bay...Chinatown is still there, we understand, tho’ few bother to write us about it anymore....’n Tom H Yee burns up his tent’s rations of candles in double quick time scribbling letters nitely to the folks back home...his tent mates, in desperation, have gone & bought miniature kerosene lamps so they could have lights during the nite when the candles are gone.....thass all now...
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Introduction
(Next post: Group 34: Demographics)
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