Major Kurt Lee, USMC addresses the audience.
At the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae, CA on Sunday, February 16, the members of American Legion Cathay Post #384 of San Francisco hosted a ceremonial luncheon to honor Major Kurt Chew-Een Lee, U.S. Marine Corps, a legendary hero of the Korean War. This luncheon came one day after Major Lee, a native of San Francisco, served as Honorary Grand Marshal in the city’s fabled Chinese New Year’s Day Parade.
Close to one hundred Cathay Post members, other veterans, and friends attended the event. Joe Owen, who as a Marine lieutenant fought alongside then-Lieutenant Lee, spoke to the gathering at length about their ordeal in the Chosin Reservoir campaign of 1950 during the so-called “Forgotten War”. In vivid detail that sixty-three years hadn’t diminished, Joe described his comrade’s indomitable and inspirational leadership in the face of overwhelming odds and the unimaginably harsh Korean winter conditions. For his valor in that brutal campaign, then-Lieutenant Lee received the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor.
Major Lee then addressed the audience. With a noble strength and calm authority that defied the passage of time, he told the audience about his early life in California and his entry into what was then virtually an all-white Marine Corps. He was born in San Francisco and grew up in Sacramento. He made history in 1946, when he became the first-ever Asian-American to receive a commission as a regular officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
When the Korean War broke out, then-Lieutenant Lee was assigned to a rifle company. He encountered some initial resistance from the Marines he commanded, many of whom had never even seen or spoken with a Chinese person, and some of whom considered any Asian to be the enemy. The Marines also chafed under his strict discipline and rigorous, demanding training regimen.
From left to right: John Stevens, LtCol, USMC (Ret) and KWMF Secretary; Major Lee; and Gerard Parker, Capt, USMC and KWMF Executive Director
That all changed once Lieutenant Lee and his men got into combat. From then on, every man who served with him learned to respect and admire his capable and aggressive leadership, and his courage under fire. “Certainly, I was never afraid,” he observed some six decades later. “Perhaps we Chinese are all fatalists. I never expected to survive when I entered service at 18. Hence, I was adamant that my death be honorable, be of some consequence to my race.” Fortunately for his family, Corps, country, and all of us, Major Lee did survive.
In his distinguished 25-year career in the Marine Corps, Major Lee was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, two Navy Commendation Medals with Combat V, six Presidential Unit Citations, and one Navy Unit Citation. Following his Marine Corps service, Major Lee worked for New York Life and then the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. His legendary bravery was recounted in the Smithsonian Channel documentary special “Uncommon Courage: Breakout at Chosin,” which first aired on Memorial Day, 2010. Semper Fi, Major Kurt Chew-Een Lee.