500 Chinese American WWII veterans and families received the gold medals in SF

(SAN FRANCISCO) By the efforts of Chinese American leaders and organizations across the nation since 2018, the Congress passed the Chinese-American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act to recognize and honor the service of an estimated 20,000 men and women of Chinese Americans who served during World War II.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, joined by the congressional leadership and other members of the Congress, presided over a virtual congressional gold medal ceremony last December, honoring Chinese American veterans for their bravery and service.

Chinese American Citizens Alliance (CACA), a national civil rights organization for the Chinese Americans, has organized the congressional gold medal presentation ceremonies all over the nation.

500 Chinese Americans and their families who reside in the Bay Area and Northern California received their gold medals in the three-day July 4th Independence Day long weekend in the CACA's headquarter auditorium located in San Francisco Chinatown.

"We have to hold eight presentation ceremonies in total over the long weekend to accommodate 500 veterans and their families. In addition to the WWI congressional gold medals, there will be four veterans with special contributions to receive the Bronze Medals," said Sherman Tang of the CACA in the ceremony.

There were only a small number of the WWII veterans who are still alive attending the ceremonies in person. Most of them were represented by their spouses or children to receive the medals. They were excited to receive the belated honors for almost 80 years. In the meantime, they were saddened by the unfair treatments and discrimination to the Chinese American veterans during WWII while the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in place.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law on May 6, 1882. The Act prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. It was repealed on December 17,1943 after WWII ended. WWII lasted for six years from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945.

According to the data, 40% of the Chinese American veterans serving during WWII were not U.S. citizens. They still served the country with pride in spite of discrimination.