Person

Jung, Yat Ching

• 鄭悅精

• Jang, Chan
• Chan, Jak Jing
• Jong, Chan

[1879]-1962

JUNG Yat Ching appears in Chinese Immigration records under many different spellings. He entered Canada in 1900 as 21-year-old labourer, Chan JONG, paying the $50 head tax.

Yat Ching was lured to Canada by stories of wealth associated with the Klondike Gold Rush but it ended just as he arrived. He worked as a carpenter and labourer in Victoria and married his wife through the Victoria Chinese Presbyterian Church where she taught kindergarten. While he never became fluent in English, he was active in the Church.

However, his three children all achieved significant career success and all three served in WWII.

The eldest son, Ross Jung, an excellent student, was sponsored by the Canadian Presbyterian Church to attend Medical School at University of Toronto and finished his internship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He volunteered and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps but was later seconded to the US Army Medical Corps and then served with the CIA in Shanghai. After the war, he became an accomplished doctor in the United States; he delivered John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of future U.S. President John F. Kennedy, at Georgetown University Hospital in 1960.

The second son, Arthur Jung, also volunteered in WWII and trained as a pilot in Saskatchewan as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Golden Wings, an award given to the most accomplished pilot of his graduating class. Posted to England, Arthur piloted the Lancaster bomber and successfully completed all his missions over Germany unscathed. He continued to fly commercially after the war as Captain and pilot of both passenger and cargo jets with Pacific Western Airlines.

The youngest son, Douglas Jung, also volunteered in WWII and was trained as a commando serving with Force 136 in the Pacific. After the war, he studied Law at UBC and then in a huge upset in 1957, won the Vancouver Center riding defeating the incumbent Liberal Cabinet Minister Ralph Campney, thereby becoming the first ever Asian Member of Parliament and first ever elected Asian federal politician in the British Commonwealth. He was also picked by Prime Minister Diefenbaker to represent Canada at the United Nations.

Yat Ching passed away September 9, 1962.

Jung, Douglas Hin Wah (1924-2002)

Description supplied by collector/curator