SHARES Quan Jew Louie was Vancouver-born, a member of the influential HY Louie family and a UBC soccer champion, but the government still didn’t consider him Canadian. A flying officer during the Second World War, he was hit by enemy shells in Germany and crashed into a field. He died for a country that rejected him.
Microfilm reproduction of Quan Jew Louie’s CI9 travel authorization via Library and Archives Canada.
Every Remembrance Day, Cecil Yip would shine his shoes and polish his medals. Then, putting them on with his purple beret and navy suit jacket, he’d set off for Vancouver’s Chinatown. He’d meet his brother Dick and other veterans of Pacific Unit 280 to march in the big parade, sometimes with tears in his eyes, and after, raise a glass to their fallen comrades.