The following is an excerpt from 11/01/25 Ding Ding TV:

By Gerrye Wong, Ding Ding TV Columnist and CHCP Co-Founder/Trustee

Congratulations are in order to my favorite 100-year-old Wing Lai who received a prestigious gold medal at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall in the center of Chinatown on Sacramento and Grant Avenues recently. San Francisco native born and bred Wing is a United States veteran who served in the China-Burma-India War during World War II. Wing was honored at this 80th Anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the return of Taiwan and Penglu Island to China. In honor of service during the China-Burma-India skirmish while stationed near the Burma Road, Wing was presented the 80th Anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Victory Commemorative Medal from the Government of the People’s Republic of China by San Francisco Consul General Zhang Jianmin. Following the ceremony he and wife Dorothy were able to see the many exhibits chronicling this sad history of China during those turbulent years preceding and during the China/Japan Wars.

Following his service in the war, which drafted him when he was only 18 years old, he took over the family business, Ralph & Sons, selling merchandise to retail stores throughout the Greater Bay Area. Always active, he has supported the Chinatown YMCA annually during its fundraising golf tournament drive and yearly Crab Feast. Still active in his 100th year, he continues to play golf and bike for exercise. He is happy people are finally giving recognition to those Chinese Americans who served the United States in times of war. The China/Japan War Museum is situated in the former Asian Week business office, where I was formerly a weekly columnist in this only English language newspaper which serviced the Chinese American readership all over the United States 1980s-2000s. The museum was established by Asian Week’s former publisher, Mrs. Florence Fang.