The China History Podcast · Laszlo Montgomery

Ep. 367 | The Unsung Chinese Heroes of D-Day

·29 min·2 clips

On June 6, Lam wrote that three torpedoes narrowly missed the Ramillies off Sword Beach.

1. The China History Podcast episode centers on Lam Ping Yu’s diary and the Chinese officers who served at D-Day and Operation Dragoon. 2. Laszlo Montgomery hosts the episode, while Hong Kong curators John Mack and Angus Hoi matter because they brought the exhibition Lost and Found in Hong Kong, the Unsung Chinese Heroes at D-Day to public attention. 3. The episode asks what Lam Ping Yu’s life says about China’s role in World War II beyond the usual Pacific War narrative. 4. A diary and personal papers were found in Western Court in Sai Ying Poon after the building was slated for demolition in 2015. 5. Amateur researchers posted the materials online, and Angus Hui began digitizing the documents in 2017-2018. 6. The team later traced official documents, ship logs, registries, photographs, relatives, and acquaintances to corroborate the diary. 7. Lam Ping Yu was born in 1911 to an overseas Chinese family on Java, and his father came from Xinhui near Taishan. 8. He studied in Guangzhou at schools affiliated with Lingnan University and later enlisted at the Whampoa Military Academy in 1930. 9. Montgomery reads Lam’s 1933 diary complaint about “national humiliation, war, failure, women, etc.” and his line that China was a “sleeping lion.” 10. In September 1936, Lam and others petitioned Chiang Kai-shek to send them to England for naval training, but the request was turned down. 11. On February 20, 1942, Chiang sent a telegram from Chongqing to the London Foreign Office and Roosevelt about sending 30 to 50 junior naval officers abroad. 12. More than 400 applicants in Chongqing were screened down to 74, with 50 sent to the United States and 24, including Lam, sent to Britain. 13. The Chinese officers traveled from Chongqing to Kunming, then by Flying Tigers flight over the hump to Calcutta, before continuing by train, ship, and canal to Liverpool and Greenwich. 14. They trained in England from October 1943 to May 1944 and learned naval etiquette along with their other classes. 15. Lam’s diary from May 28, 1944 records his move from the gunnery school to Glasgow and his uncertainty about the ship assignment. 16. On June 2 and June 5, Lam wrote about speculation over a second front, landing craft “as numerous as ants,” and the mission that would become the Normandy invasion. 17. The Ramillies was a dreadnought-class battleship commissioned in September 1917 and assigned to the Eastern Task Force at Sword Beach with British and Canadian landings nearby. 18. Lam’s June 6 diary entry says the Ramillies opened fire before 6 a.m., three torpedoes were fired at the ship, and the crew rationed bread, sausages, tinned beef, and tea. 19. The episode has a documentary, research-driven tone, with Montgomery quoting the diary at length and moving through dates, ships, and locations in a lecture-like format. 20. Listeners interested in Chinese military history, Hong Kong history, or D-Day will get the most from it, while listeners wanting light entertainment or a short recap may skip it.

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