This is what John Wong told me over lunch in September 2006. Louis G Wong and John Wong (no relation) met around 1942 while both were in training at Patterson Field Air Force Base in Ohio. After 4 months, they left the USA in a convoy of over 100 ships from Norfolk, Virginia. According to John, the boat was a USS Liberty type boat, manufactured by Kaiser. The company they were in was THE FLYING TIGERS 407TH SERVICE GROUP. He said that the Flying Tigers was made of many outfits, most whom were of Chinese descent.
Their destination was GUILIN, China. Enroute, their ship had a minor collision so it became necessary to stop in Africa for a few days to repair the damage. After that, they went on through the Suez Canal and were near Egypt. During the night, the sound of torpedos / mine explosions out at sea was constant; John said this was unnerving.
During their journey, the Japanese had invaded Guilin and were now in occupation. Their plan to travel to Guilin was dropped and instead, they went to INDIA. During the 4 or 5 months they were there, they trained and had a ‘vacation’ according to John. (I remember that Louis told me that it was there that he saw the British officers walk down the street and without provocation, kick over/disrupt the stalls of the Indian street vendors – John confirmed this).
From India, they went onto to BURMA where they stayed for another 4 or 5 months. Then the unit went by truck over the HIMALAYAN mountains to KUNMING where the US base was headquartered. They were there for 6 months and during that time, they would be dispatched to other cities for 5-6 days at a time, such as Hangzhou and a place that sounded like “Oak-san” (which is what John said). When it was time to leave, they departed via an aircraft carrier from SHANGHAI back to the USA.
