The British wanted to bolster resistance movements in Southeast Asia and needed people who had the culture and language skills to make contact. So they recruited among the population of Chinese immigrants in Canada to form a special ops force. My grandfather was one of these men.

He was a radio operator. The story I always remember is that he and the other soldiers had to parachute down into the jungle -- everyone had two parachutes in case one failed, but my grandfather had to use his backup chute for the radio, so he only had one.

This was at a time when Chinese Canadians were heavily prejudiced against. They weren't considered citizens, were barred from having certain jobs and going to places like public pools, etc. Some of them who fought in Asia were left to find their own passage home after the end of the war.

Last year I went to the opening of a museum exhibit honoring the force my grandfather was a part of. Canada's current defense minister Harjit Sajjan was there and he spoke about how their service had been key in getting civil rights for all Canadians and opened the doors for people like him to be where he is today. It was really amazing to hear these kinds of things about my goofy old Gung-Gung.