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S1C Winifred Eng Lee Oral History
Publication date: 31 July 2024
File metadata
Dublin Core Metadata
title:
S1C Winifred Eng Lee Oral History
creator:
Lee, Winifred Eng (1923 February 26 - )
subject:
Navy WAVES
description:
Winifred Lee (formerly Eng) was born on February 26, 1923 in Stockton, California to an immigrant father and American mother. She graduated from Los Angeles Polytechnic High School in 1942. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she wore a badge labeled “Chinese American” so people wouldn’t think she was Japanese. All of her Japanese friends were taken to internment camps, and she lost contact with them from then on, and she wonders why German and German American families weren’t also interned. After high school she wanted to go to college and become a teacher, but her father needed help on their farm. She started looking at recruitment materials, and her parents supported her choice to join the Navy WAVES, which she picked because she preferred the blue to khaki. She joined in 1943 and was called in at the very beginning of 1944. She went to basic training at Hunter College, New York for six weeks, where she was the only Chinese woman present. After training, she was assigned to the 12th Naval District Radio Station in San Francisco, California, working in Local Delivery by taking messages and doing clerical work. Since she worked at the radio station, she heard the news that the war had ended very quickly. Her mother was due for hip surgery soon after, so she was discharged in January 1946 and returned home to take care of her. She married in 1948 and had three sons. When she left the service Lee had reached the rank of seaman 1st class, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. No transcript of this interview is currently available.
publisher:
Military Women's Memorial Foundation
contributor:
Scott, Kate M.
date:
2005-07-04
type:
Moving Image
format:
Hi-8
identifier:
553; 2005.553
source:
SNIC | CLIR - Recordings at Risk
language:
English
relation:
359069
coverage:
World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46
rights:
Unrestricted