EDWARD “Eddie” FUNG (1922-2018)
US Army
Private
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California
Service: When young, Eddie went to Texas to be a cowboy. After signing up for the National Guard, he was assigned overseas to the US Army. Eddie became the only Chinese American soldier captured by the Japanese in World War II. He was among the thousands of prisoners who spent sixteen months under brutal slave conditions to build a railroad in Burma.
Post-War: Eddie enrolled at Stanford University on the GI Bill and refused to apply for his diploma even though he qualified to graduate. He then worked on research projects on high-melting-point metals at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.