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Pacific Historian
His bravery against numerically superior Chinese army troops at the Chosin Reservoir was the subject of a Smithsonian Channel documentary.
Like many Americans of his generation, Kurt Chew-Een Lee was eager to fight in World War II. He left college at age 18 to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Beyond a deeply felt patriotism, Lee had a personal motive: "I wanted to dispel the notion about the Chinese being meek, bland and obsequious," he told The Times in 2010.
Rather than a combat billet, he was assigned as a language instructor in San Diego. He was deeply disappointed but decided to remain in the Marine Corps after the war.
Then came the war in Korea and Lee got his chance to fight: as an infantry platoon leader in the brutal, frigid battle against numerically superior Chinese army troops at the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.
"I was never afraid," Lee said. "Perhaps the Chinese are all fatalists. I never expected to survive the war."
Kurt Chew-Een Lee dies at 88; decorated for bravery in Korean War - latimes.com
Like many Americans of his generation, Kurt Chew-Een Lee was eager to fight in World War II. He left college at age 18 to enlist in the Marine Corps.
Beyond a deeply felt patriotism, Lee had a personal motive: "I wanted to dispel the notion about the Chinese being meek, bland and obsequious," he told The Times in 2010.
Rather than a combat billet, he was assigned as a language instructor in San Diego. He was deeply disappointed but decided to remain in the Marine Corps after the war.
Then came the war in Korea and Lee got his chance to fight: as an infantry platoon leader in the brutal, frigid battle against numerically superior Chinese army troops at the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.
"I was never afraid," Lee said. "Perhaps the Chinese are all fatalists. I never expected to survive the war."
Kurt Chew-Een Lee dies at 88; decorated for bravery in Korean War - latimes.com
