Share on Facebook
Share on X
Share by Email
Share on Google Classroom
"If you’re caught as a spy, they don’t take prisoner of war, they would just shoot you. Or use just sword. It was a dangerous job when you’re a secret agent."
Lewis Chow served during the Second World War. See below for Mr. Chow's entire testimony.
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
![Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.]({"id":"1d760617-35ea-4a9a-8bc0-8642814441f6","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow","filename":"1007_original","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":245063,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","title":"Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.","alt":"Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1007_original.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1007_original.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","pivot":{"mediable_id":"4acdbd37-60e6-4955-a5c7-83474a4825bd","media_id":"1d760617-35ea-4a9a-8bc0-8642814441f6","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":1},"translations":[{"id":"0e087644-97ef-4361-adb5-66be9bf17a46","media_id":"1d760617-35ea-4a9a-8bc0-8642814441f6","title":"Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.","alt":"Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow"},{"id":"113af8dc-7671-48d5-a229-c994e1cd1e7a","media_id":"1d760617-35ea-4a9a-8bc0-8642814441f6","title":"Portrait de Lewis Chow en uniforme.","alt":"Portrait de Lewis Chow en uniforme.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow"}]} "Portrait of Lewis Chow in uniform.")
![Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.]({"id":"32f067f0-955c-4de4-aeb6-7431411998ea","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow","filename":"1008_original","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":404326,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","title":"Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.","alt":"Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1008_original.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1008_original.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","pivot":{"mediable_id":"4acdbd37-60e6-4955-a5c7-83474a4825bd","media_id":"32f067f0-955c-4de4-aeb6-7431411998ea","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":2},"translations":[{"id":"e570a103-d2ea-416b-a7ff-6499dad896c2","media_id":"32f067f0-955c-4de4-aeb6-7431411998ea","title":"Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.","alt":"Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow"},{"id":"ad7f08da-fd4f-4763-bd71-f51943f1a107","media_id":"32f067f0-955c-4de4-aeb6-7431411998ea","title":"Lewis Chow, le 4 novembre 2009 \u00e0 Whitby, Ontario.","alt":"Lewis Chow, le 4 novembre 2009 \u00e0 Whitby, Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow"}]} "Lewis Chow, November 4th, 2009, Whitby, Ontario.")
![Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.]({"id":"403fccaf-037b-4be2-9e58-a9239dbec1d4","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow","filename":"1006_original","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":561879,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:39.000000Z","title":"Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.","alt":"Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1006_original.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1006_original.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","pivot":{"mediable_id":"4acdbd37-60e6-4955-a5c7-83474a4825bd","media_id":"403fccaf-037b-4be2-9e58-a9239dbec1d4","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":3},"translations":[{"id":"dfb22df9-1fa8-4e80-85be-3f2813499a27","media_id":"403fccaf-037b-4be2-9e58-a9239dbec1d4","title":"Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.","alt":"Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow"},{"id":"cf8c9f29-46eb-4b21-980b-0038a12ed58d","media_id":"403fccaf-037b-4be2-9e58-a9239dbec1d4","title":"V\u00e9t\u00e9rans sino-canadiens de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale \u00e0 Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), avec le Gouverneur G\u00e9n\u00e9ral, et Mme Ramon Hnatyshun, le 10 novembre 1994.","alt":"V\u00e9t\u00e9rans sino-canadiens de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale \u00e0 Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), avec le Gouverneur G\u00e9n\u00e9ral, et Mme Ramon Hnatyshun, le 10 novembre 1994.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow"}]} "Chinese Canadians WWII Veterans at Rideau Hall, Ottawa (Ontario), with Governor General and Mrs. Ramon Hnatyshun, November 10th, 1994.")
![Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.]({"id":"91f81463-2cce-4996-9329-0d0e7139a631","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow","filename":"1005_original","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":377101,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:38.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-18T18:41:38.000000Z","title":"Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.","alt":"Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1005_original.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/LewisLouisChow\/1005_original.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","pivot":{"mediable_id":"4acdbd37-60e6-4955-a5c7-83474a4825bd","media_id":"91f81463-2cce-4996-9329-0d0e7139a631","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":4},"translations":[{"id":"14bfa082-e32e-412f-a9e6-cc68e1e51117","media_id":"91f81463-2cce-4996-9329-0d0e7139a631","title":"Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.","alt":"Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Louis Chow","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Louis Chow"},{"id":"5c671103-bbc2-46d6-b24f-a494784a526a","media_id":"91f81463-2cce-4996-9329-0d0e7139a631","title":"Certificat de la L\u00e9gion Royale Canadienne, 6 mai 2002.","alt":"Certificat de la L\u00e9gion Royale Canadienne, 6 mai 2002.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Louis Chow"}]} "Award from the Royal Canadian Legion, May 6th, 2002.")
Transcript
They really rushed us through everything training. There’s only about a few hundred Chinese Canadians that were conscripted. How they got my number is that, at that time it was the summer holiday, I worked for my brother in the restaurant and he had to pay at that time, what’s that, unemployment insurance. And that’s how they got my number, my name I guess and they conscripted me.
And we all went. We just had no choice because when the Prime Minister, he asked that we conscript the Chinese, they were valuable for working behind enemy line. And actually in the beginning, Mackenzie King refused but he insisted that he had to because it was important that they have the Chinese as well as the European, they were doing underground service, it was very valuable. Chinese, they could just blend in there.
Oh, let’s see. We had our original training in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Trained to do communicate with Ceylon and that was in Kandy, Ceylon. Nowadays, it’s called Sri Lanka. And that’s where Louis Mountbatten, our commander in chief, he was there. And we were communicating in Morse code to Kandy, Ceylon.
When you landed in Kuala Lumpur at nighttime, that’s the scary part, when you’re landing in the night, parachute at night. And only one hour training. You hope that you can steer your chute out and if you landed on a tree, it might be too bad for you. How are you going to get out of it? You might use your Ghurka knife to cut the strings and then you have to hide the parachute... And then you go and meet the Chinese. I landed, safely. I guess I wouldn’t be here today. And you landed there and they, they know when we were coming and they would receive us and take us to hide. Because it was shortly, a couple weeks I guess. And that’s when the second atomic bomb. Otherwise, if it was years I guess, we would not have lasted too long and if you’re caught, the fatality would be they say 80 percent probably. If you’re caught as a spy, they don’t take prisoner of war, they would just shoot you. Or use just sword. It was a dangerous job when you’re a secret agent.
