Frank Bing Wong
Home Town: Vancouver, British Columbia Conflict: World War II Branch: Army
“Your blood, our freedom.” That’s how they think of the Canadians.
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As far as I was concerned, the military was very good to me, I felt confident. For the first time in my life, I felt that I’m somebody, I’m a regular Canadian citizen with no discrimination when I was in the Armed Forces. When I was as a civilian, there was a lot of racial discrimination. But as far as I’m concerned, there was no discrimination in the Armed Forces.
I was very happy, and I remember when I was in the service, I used to get a lot of invitation into people’s home for dinner and everything. Hard to believe, here I was Chinese and I’m supposed to be inferior to the Caucasian and everything and yet, I was invited, I’m in Ottawa, I was invited to their home for Christmas dinners. And you live too far away, come and join us for Christmas.
Our unit is the 2nd National Workshop. And it’s a mobile workshop and our main function is to follow the artillery, the aqua. Wherever they go, we’re right beside them, repairing their guns. So we came under enemy fire.
And in France there and after [the battle of] Falaise [gap], we went into Caen [France], the city of Caen. I remember, and that city was supposed to be taken by the Ally on D-Day. But it wasn’t taken until six weeks later, six or seven weeks later, so it took a lot of fighting on that area. And I went in there, oh God, the stench was so bad that I vomited. So many people dead, you know, not buried and everything, oh, God, the smell was, ugh. That’s the first time I vomit there. And going through France, when the Germans pulled in retreat it was very nice, you know. Every time we stopped, the French people would come out and the wine and the food and then the, there’s one small little village in France called Equeurdreville. We were the first unit to enter that town. And the people were so happy that later on, we got a letter from them, that they put a plaque right in the town’s square, and they didn’t get the unit number, but they got my Commanding Officer, Major Thomas Quan, officer and men.
Being the only Chinese, I was treated the same. I was surprised when after we landed in Normandy on Juno Beach, that they, I think a week or ten days after that, they made me a corporal. And I said, “Wow, I’m surprised,” I said, “I’m the only Chinese!” And yet, I was made corporal. So I have no problem with our unit. The people respect me. It’s kind of sad, you know. I remember in Holland, when we first moved in there, people were starving. And I do remember some young kids, we would put some of the garbage in the garbage can, they were fighting over the garbage. So naturally, we’d eat half of our meal, and then we gave the other half to the kids. And then when our officer found out what we were doing, then he put a guard around the whole, like our kitchen and prevent these kids from coming in through our line to pick up, because they said, “You need the food.” We say, “We have an organization bringing the food in to defeat the civilian.” They say, “You need all the food.”
At that time, while we were in Holland, we were at the end of our supply line. All the supplies had to be shipped from the Juno Beach in France, back up, it was about 300 or 400 miles. And then at that particular time, our three ton trucks was more important than the tank, they say the priority was ammunition and petrol. And so as a result of the food, they, they cut our ration by so many calorie per day because it takes time to ship all that stuff out. Once we got to Antwerp [Belgium], that was the main Ally supply bay and that became our main, it’s one of the largest harbours. That was when all these ships could be used because it’s closer, so all our supply, even for the American Army were coming in from Antwerp.
I have another experience, in Vancouver about two, three years ago, so at this time, I have my overcoat and I have all my medals on, a young fellow came up to me, he said, oh, I, “You were serving in Holland.” I say, “Yeah.” He said, “I want to thank you for liberating our country.” I felt that the people in Holland, the school kid in Holland knows more about the Canadian Army than the people back home. I think we went to the military cemetery and every grave and ever year that there, they got the school kid lining up beside each grave. And then they put flowers in there at a certain time and they put flowers. So the kids when they finished, they would ask us for our autograph and I had a book so I asked the kid, ”Can I get your name and autograph?” And I can still remember, she put down, “Thank you for liberating our country,” and then she put one sentence there, “Your blood, our freedom.” And that’s, I didn’t, I can still remember that sentence saying, “Your blood, our freedom.” That’s how they think of the Canadians.
I was very happy, and I remember when I was in the service, I used to get a lot of invitation into people’s home for dinner and everything. Hard to believe, here I was Chinese and I’m supposed to be inferior to the Caucasian and everything and yet, I was invited, I’m in Ottawa, I was invited to their home for Christmas dinners. And you live too far away, come and join us for Christmas.
Our unit is the 2nd National Workshop. And it’s a mobile workshop and our main function is to follow the artillery, the aqua. Wherever they go, we’re right beside them, repairing their guns. So we came under enemy fire.
And in France there and after [the battle of] Falaise [gap], we went into Caen [France], the city of Caen. I remember, and that city was supposed to be taken by the Ally on D-Day. But it wasn’t taken until six weeks later, six or seven weeks later, so it took a lot of fighting on that area. And I went in there, oh God, the stench was so bad that I vomited. So many people dead, you know, not buried and everything, oh, God, the smell was, ugh. That’s the first time I vomit there. And going through France, when the Germans pulled in retreat it was very nice, you know. Every time we stopped, the French people would come out and the wine and the food and then the, there’s one small little village in France called Equeurdreville. We were the first unit to enter that town. And the people were so happy that later on, we got a letter from them, that they put a plaque right in the town’s square, and they didn’t get the unit number, but they got my Commanding Officer, Major Thomas Quan, officer and men.
Being the only Chinese, I was treated the same. I was surprised when after we landed in Normandy on Juno Beach, that they, I think a week or ten days after that, they made me a corporal. And I said, “Wow, I’m surprised,” I said, “I’m the only Chinese!” And yet, I was made corporal. So I have no problem with our unit. The people respect me. It’s kind of sad, you know. I remember in Holland, when we first moved in there, people were starving. And I do remember some young kids, we would put some of the garbage in the garbage can, they were fighting over the garbage. So naturally, we’d eat half of our meal, and then we gave the other half to the kids. And then when our officer found out what we were doing, then he put a guard around the whole, like our kitchen and prevent these kids from coming in through our line to pick up, because they said, “You need the food.” We say, “We have an organization bringing the food in to defeat the civilian.” They say, “You need all the food.”
At that time, while we were in Holland, we were at the end of our supply line. All the supplies had to be shipped from the Juno Beach in France, back up, it was about 300 or 400 miles. And then at that particular time, our three ton trucks was more important than the tank, they say the priority was ammunition and petrol. And so as a result of the food, they, they cut our ration by so many calorie per day because it takes time to ship all that stuff out. Once we got to Antwerp [Belgium], that was the main Ally supply bay and that became our main, it’s one of the largest harbours. That was when all these ships could be used because it’s closer, so all our supply, even for the American Army were coming in from Antwerp.
I have another experience, in Vancouver about two, three years ago, so at this time, I have my overcoat and I have all my medals on, a young fellow came up to me, he said, oh, I, “You were serving in Holland.” I say, “Yeah.” He said, “I want to thank you for liberating our country.” I felt that the people in Holland, the school kid in Holland knows more about the Canadian Army than the people back home. I think we went to the military cemetery and every grave and ever year that there, they got the school kid lining up beside each grave. And then they put flowers in there at a certain time and they put flowers. So the kids when they finished, they would ask us for our autograph and I had a book so I asked the kid, ”Can I get your name and autograph?” And I can still remember, she put down, “Thank you for liberating our country,” and then she put one sentence there, “Your blood, our freedom.” And that’s, I didn’t, I can still remember that sentence saying, “Your blood, our freedom.” That’s how they think of the Canadians.
