I was recently listening to a program commemorating the invasion of Normandy or "D-Day" as it has come to be known. June 6, 2014 marked 70 years since allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France in what would be a decisive event in bringing about victory over Nazi Germany. As I listened I recalled a person whom I knew personally who had been one of the soldiers who waded onto the beach that day.
Larry Su had been a member of the Chinese-American church of which I was pastor during the 90's. He would be very old now if he was still living. I decided to make some enquiries. I secured his phone number.
Larry Su (I have changed his name to maintain his privacy) was retired and in his 70's when I first met him. He had operated a Chinese Restaurant in Norfolk, VA for many years. He was somewhat of a pioneer of the "Chinese Carry-Out" style which is now ubiquitous. Once, he laughingly told me, he was closing his restaurant late at night when someone came in wanting to eat. All he had left was the crusty blackened rice burned onto the bottom of the rice cooking pot. He decided to see what he could do with it, mixing in a few spices and serving it to the customer who ate it happily. A few days later the same customer returned requesting another order of the same concoction and "Black-Rice" became a popular item on his menu from then on.
I learned of Larry's military service one day when I was chatting with several of the retired Chinese church members when one of them said, "Did you know that Larry was part of the invasion of Normandy on D-Day?" This was not something that would have occurred to me. Larry spoke broken, heavily accented English. I had assumed that he had come to America much later in life. When I asked Larry about this he replied in his warm and humble manner, "Yes, I was there. We were real lucky. The Marines went ahead of us and we didn't have it too bad."
Larry was born in 1922 in a poor area of Canton, China called Toisan. Many Chinese who came to the U.S. during the 19th and early 20th century had come from this part of China. Originally they worked on building the railroad. Later they operated laundries and restaurants. He told me once that when he was growing up children would find pieces of wood and fashion shoes by threading a piece of rope through a hole in order to secure them to their feet. Families searched for opportunities to secure better lives for their children.
At age 17 Larry arrived in America. Like a number of the immigrants in those days, he came under what he called 'false papers.' One of the ways that this was done was that each time a person who already had U.S. residency papers returned from a visit to his home country, he would declare that he had fathered a child while there. This name could later be used for someone whose family was desperately searching for a chance to send their child to America.
There were no 'English as a Second Language' classes in those days. So, when Larry enrolled in school in Norfolk, Virginia he was placed in the first grade, at age 17! Every few months he would advance a grade or two as he gained language skills. When he was 21 years old, before he could complete high school, He was drafted into the military. World War II was raging. Larry at age 23, would be among the solders who invaded France, freeing it from German control ultimately leading to Germany's surrender.
During the years that I served as pastor of the Chinese church in Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Virginia I presided over dozens of funerals for the generation of Chinese who had come during the first half of the twentieth century. On more than one occasion, as I conducted the grave-side service for one of these men who like Larry had been a restaurateur and spoke broken English, a representative of the United States Military would rise and present an American flag to his survivors in recognition of service to 'his' country.
Yesterday, I dialed the phone number that I had been given for Larry not knowing whether he was capable of talking on the phone at what must be an advanced age. A familiar voice answered, the 92 year-old sounded just like the day I met him more than 20 years ago. I asked him again about his experience in the U.S. military. He said that he had learned so much during his time in the U.S military. He again told me that he was very lucky that they were able to march all the way through France to Germany while encountering very little combat.
When he went into the Army, Larry said, he spoke very limited English. When he was discharged several years later he had forgotten a lot of his Chinese. Like so many who seek opportunity in America, Larry was ready to do everything that was expected of an American, whether it was being a 17 year-old first grader or fighting in a foreign land for his adopted country.
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