William Gun Chong ( zh, 鄭根; 1911–2006) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

spy who served in the British Military Intelligence unit MI9 during World War II. He is the only

Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...

to be awarded the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

, the highest honor that Britain awards to non-British citizens. alt=Image of medals received by William Gun Chong, Chong's medals exhibited in the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, Chinese Canadian Military Museum.

Life

Chong was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

on July 15, 1911. He had little formal education and was employed as a cook and houseboy. Chong was visiting Hong Kong when Japan invaded in 1941. He escaped to free China where he joined the British Army Aid Group, a paramilitary unit of

MI9 MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) held b ...

. Chong then was a British spy, known as Agent 50, who operated behind Japanese lines in occupied China. After the war Chong returned to Canada and operated a cafe on Vancouver Island.

Wartime experiences

Chong travelled back and forth between free and Japanese-occupied areas of China. Chong's main tasks were to smuggle medical supplies into the occupied area, and smuggle people and intelligence out. He dressed as a beggar and always travelled on foot, often walking per day. His walking cane hid medicines and documents. The people Chong smuggled were British and Commonwealth subjects and stranded Allied aviators. Chong did not recognize two of his charges as the chief justice and prosecutor of Hong Kong, until after the war when he was called as a witness in a trial of a collaborator. Chong was captured by the Japanese and escaped twice. One time he escaped from the hold of a fishing boat. The other time he escaped immediately before execution when his compatriot spoke in Japanese and displayed the business card of a Japanese officer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chong, Bill Canadian soldiers Canadian people of Chinese descent 1911 births 2006 deaths Canadian recipients of the British Empire Medal