Congressional Gold Medal Recipients

We wish to honor our Moy World War II veterans by sharing their stories and accomplishments. These Moy veterans officially received the Chinese American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal in December 2020. The CGM was presented to the veteran or their next of kin at a national award ceremony and gala on September 30, 2021, and at multiple regional events around the country.

The Chinese American World War II Veteran Congressional Gold Medal Act was enacted on December 20, 2018 and is the highest honor that Congress can bestow. This medal recognizes the sacrifice and bravery of Chinese Americans who served in every branch of the United States military during World War II.

More information about this Congressional Gold Medal can be found at www.caww2.org

Steward's Mate First Class, Coast Guard

Moo Gew Moy served in WWII as a Steward’s Mate First Class. His duties included serving the officers their meals, doing laundry, and cleaning the decks. He also had a war fighting role training as a gunner, loader, and ammunition passer. 

Moo Gew/Moy Wah Moo grew up in On Fen, San Ho, Hong Soon Village in Hoisan, Guangdong Province, China. He came to the United States as a student at the age of 16. Two years later, he registered for the military. His honorable service inspired his three children to later serve in the Marine Corp, and US Navy. After the war, he returned to China to marry Hui Sue Yip under the War Brides Act. His children are Perry, Evelyn, and James. 

StM1c Moy was awarded the collective Chinese American WWII Veterans Congressional Gold Medal which was passed into law on December 20, 2018. He died in 1999 leaving a proud legacy of service to country.

Technician Fifth Grade, Army

Eugene Moy enlisted in the Army in June 1945. He was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Highland Park (a suburb inside Detroit) as a teenager. At Highland Park High School, he got his varsity letter on the track team as a pole vaulter and was a Golden Gloves boxer in 1933. He was very active in his community both before and after the war.  He was a member of the American Motorcycle Association and a state level champion of dirt track racing and hill climbing competitions. In 1953 "Our Boy, Moy" as reported in The Michigan AMVET News, won the national election for Provost Marshal in AMVETS. He graduated from the Detroit School of Photography and had one of the first home color photography darkrooms in the 1960's.  He was the first Chinese American to be named Grand Marshal of Detroit's Veteran's Day Parade. He was recognized for his participation on many community service boards for the City of Highland Park. After 40  years of service at the Ford Motor Company, he retired  as a quality assurance representative. 

Private First Class, Army

Henry K.L. Moy was born and raised in New York City, growing up on Mott Street in Chinatown. He played stickball in the streets and was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. He was one of seven siblings. Due to the Great Depression and the need for more income, his father moved the family to Hong Kong in 1934. Henry attended Lingnan University for 3 years and returned to the United States to complete his undergraduate studies at New York University, earning a B.S. degree in business in 1939 and a M.S. degree in economics in October 1941 at Columbia University.

He was working at the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, D.C. when he was inducted, at the age of 26, into the Army in July 1942. He trained at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 194th Field Artillery. The 995th FA BN was formed with part of the 194th FA BN in February 1943. The 995th FA BN was deployed to Algeria, North Africa in August 1943 and he subsequently fought in campaigns in Naples, Foggia, Rome, Arno, Southern France, the Rhineland, and Central Europe. One of the major battles he fought in was the Battle of Monte Cassino. Cassino valley was known as "Purple Heart Valley". He served in active duty from August 1942 to October 1945.

His brother, Harry Hann Mon Moy also served his country, from January 1943 to June 1946 in the Navy, operating landing crafts in the Pacific Theater.

After the war, his mother Moy Chin Shee, a United States resident for 25 years, tried to return to the United States in 1949 or 1950, but was unable to re-enter the country because the Chinese racial quota was oversubscribed. Henry Moy had to solicit the support of his United States senator to help her get back into the country. Senator Herbert Lehman authored a bill in 1951 and was signed by President Harry Truman. It took an act of Congress to grant her a visa to return to the United States and rejoin her children in 1952.

Henry Moy married Kathryn (Choy Mui Kit) in 1947 in Hong Kong and raised a family with three sons in Silver Spring, Maryland. He made a career working for the Departments of the Air Force and the Army at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Private First Class, Army

Moy Doo Pon was born on August 15, 1909 in the Moy village of Mei San, located in the Toishan region of China. He came from a family of 5 siblings. In 1922, he arrived in the United States with his "father” Moy Bart Art from Vancouver through Boston according to immigration papers. In Boston he attended its public schools through the 6th grade until 1925. Most of his life revolved around the Chinese restaurant business. Despite his limited education, he was able to speak and write English and Chinese to conduct business. Before 1943, he worked in the restaurants of Boston, New York City, and eventually, Washington, DC. In 1935, he worked for the Lotus Restaurant of Distinction. The Restaurant was known for its Chinese cuisine, floor shows, and dance floor. He was the kitchen supervisor, in charge of the maintenance of the kitchen, the staff, and the food inventory and ordering. Besides the kitchen, he was the light, sound, and camera man for the shows and the dance floor.

In March 1943 Moy Doo Pon, a non-US citizen, was drafted into the US Army. During his military service, he became a Private First Class and became a naturalized US citizen. He served in the 446 Engineer Supply Base Depot Company of the China-Burma-India Theater. The company was stationed on the Ledo (Stillwell) road in the jungles of Assam, near the Burma border. He was the labor foreman who was responsible for the inventory, the ordering, and the delivery of construction material at the Depot. During his service, he earned the CBI Theater Ribbon with 1 Battle Star, the ETO Ribbon, and the Good Conduct Medal. In October 1945, he was discharged from the service and returned to work at the Lotus. Eventually, he became part-owner of the Restaurant.

In March 1946, he married Helen May Ying Lee of Washington, DC. During their marriage of 25 years, they had 3 children - Rita, Nancy, and Howard. Besides the restaurant work and a young family, he was an active member of the On Leong Benevolent Association of Washington, D.C. In 1954, he was elected the secretary of the Association and was known as the unofficial “mayor” of the Washington Chinatown community. His duties of the secretary were numerous. For the Chinese community, he was the Chinese-English translator and the contact to get services. For the Association, he was the peace maker to settle disputes and to ensure obligations were fulfilled and a DC Association representative at functions. After the Lotus closed in 1962, he opened and managed the New Asia, a Chinese-American restaurant, in Hyattsville, Maryland until his death in November 1972.

He was never too busy to enjoy his family. On his Tuesday day off, he would cook a dinner which was equivalent to a mini-Chinese banquet. Moreover, he took his children to see a baseball game, especially between the Washington Senators and the New York Yankees. As for vacation, the family would visit Moy relatives in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City. During the Chinese New Year holidays, the family would travel to the DC Chinatown to see the street celebrations, to visit the family associations, and to dine at the restaurants.

His name of Moy Doo Pon was changed officially to Pon Doo Moy. He was a cordial, outgoing person who made many personal contacts while in the service, in the restaurant business, and in the Chinese community. He served his country and his community well. He was loved by his family, his friends, and all whoever met him. Everyone called him Pon.

Corporal, Army and Army Air Corps

October 9, 1924 – August 30, 1980 (56 years old)

Hamm Moy was born in Canton, China and came to the United States when he was about 12 years old to join his father, who lived in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia and later moved to Washington, D.C. where his father owned the Utah Grill restaurant located on U Street across from the famous Ben’s Chili Bowl.

He served in active duty from December 1943 to July 1946. In July 1944 he was deployed to Europe and fought campaigns in Normandy, Northern France and the Rhineland. He was awarded the Purple Heart in October 1944. His decorations and citations also include the European African Middle Eastern and the 3 Bronze Star Campaign medal. At one point he transferred to the Army Air Corps and was in the Enlisted Reserve Corps when he was discharged from the military.

After his service in the military, he went back to China and married Chu O. Woo. In 1947 he brought his bride to Washington, D.C., where they raised their 5 children in DC Chinatown. He was an ambitious and hardworking businessman and a dedicated family man. He opened Veterans Market Grocery Store and accumulated real estate throughout Washington, D.C. during his career. He was one of the founders and a president of the Moy Family Association, DC. a social and cultural group, and a member of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of D.C., CCBA. He was a member of the Disabled American Veterans Organization for over 25 years and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

After Hamm Moy's passing in 1980, Chu Moy raised her children and continued operating the grocery store and managing the family real estate business until her passing in March 2012. Hamm and Chu Moy are survived by their children, Wellington, Diana, Eddie, Teddington (victim of 9/11 Pentagon attack), and Beatricia Moy Goon. The children continue to live in the DC/MD area. In loving memory, we dedicate and salute our endless gratitude to our Dad in serving our country and making our lives better. With love and total respect, we are forever grateful to him and for his receiving the well deserved Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Chinese American veterans.

Technician Fourth Grade, Army

Po Hong Moy served in Battery A, 223rd Field Artillery Battalion in New Caledonia from September 1942 to February 1946. 

He continued his service in the Army and after 28 years, he retired with a rank of Sergeant First Class in April 1970, and having served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade at Fort Ord, California.

Captain, Medical Corps - Army Air Corps   

Dr. Grant Moy served as Chief of Orthopedics at Keesler Army Airfield in Mississippi near the end of World War II. He was born in Chicago in 1917 and except for a few years as a teenager studying in China, grew up, went to college and medical school, and married his sweetheart, Betty, in Chicago.  

While he was studying medicine at the University of Illinois, the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dr. Moy enlisted in the Army but continued his medical school studies in Chicago. Upon graduation, he was commissioned First Lieutenant with the Army supporting his medical internship training at Cook County Hospital. Because of his extensive practical experience in treating bone injuries during his internship, the Army assigned him to serve as Chief of Orthopedics at the hospital at Keesler Airfield. The airfield was a major training site for airmen and bone fractures resulted in a great need for orthopedic surgery. While assigned to Kessler, Dr. Moy was promoted to the rank of Captain.   

After his Army Air Corps service, Dr. Moy returned to Chicago to complete his specialty training in general surgery. He and his family then moved to California, where he established a surgery practice in San Francisco in 1952. In addition to his practice, Dr. Moy served as an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of California Medical School and helped found the Chinese Community Health Plan.   

Dr. Moy died in January 2021 at the age of 103. His beloved wife, Betty, died in 2016. They had five children, nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.