HONG KONG — A key piece of a little-told chapter of World War II history almost ended up in a landfill. That diary is now believed to be the only known primary source documenting the involvement of Chinese naval officers in the D-Day landings at Normandy. The 24 British-trained Chinese naval officers were forced to choose between the two sides, with many of them going on to have distinguished careers in the Chinese or Taiwanese militaries. Instead he settled down in Hong Kong, a British colony at the time, where he worked as a merchant seaman until the late 1960s. A page from Lam’s journal on display at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong last month.

---

Persons: Lam Ping, Chiang Kai, Lam, “, ”, ” Lam, John Mak, Chiang, Mao Zedong’s, Peter Parks, Mak, Angus Hui, crackdowns, Lau Suk Yin, ” Hui, ” Mak Organizations: Pacific, U.S, Royal Naval College, Allied, Fringe Club, Getty Locations: HONG KONG, Hong Kong, Normandy, Indonesia, China, United States, Britain, France, Norwegian, Germany, Japan, Mao Zedong’s Communist, Republic of China, Taiwan, British, Brazil, AFP, Greater China