【4/29/2021】 CAPA-NoVA Distinguished Chinese American Project
(Written by: Tian Olson）
法兰西斯 · 魏（Francis Brown Wai） (1917-1944) was a U.S. Army captain who was killed in action during World War II. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for extraordinary heroism in action. Wai is the only Chinese American soldier to ever receive the Medal of Honor.
Wai was born in Hawaii. He enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard in 1940 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1941. His commission was rare at a time when few Asian Americans were allowed to serve in combat leadership roles.
On October 20, 1944, Wai’s division made an assault landing at Leyte, Philippines. Wai arrived on the beach and found one of the rifle company commanders had been killed. Assuming command, he moved through the rice paddies, without cover. His demeanor and example inspired the other men to follow him. With deliberate disregard of his own personal safety, he advanced without cover to draw Japanese machine gun and rifle fire, thus exposing the locations of the entrenched Japanese forces. The Japanese positions were assaulted and overcome. Wai was killed leading an assault against the last Japanese pillbox in the area.
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