16. Stranded in Hong Kong
Bill Chong traveled to Hong Kong in 1941, but probate took much longer than expected. Weeks turned into months, and Chong was still in Hong Kong in December, 1941, when Japan kicked off WWII in the Pacific and Asia by attacking American, British, and Dutch colonial possessions. Japanese forces invaded Hong Kong Island, whose garrison included Canadian units, on December 18th, 1941. After a week of heavy fighting, during which thousands of civilians were killed, the Japanese forced the defenders to surrender and secured the island. Like many who found themselves living under Japanese occupation, Bill Chong was appalled by the brutality and rudeness of the conquerors. He grew particularly incensed after he witnessed a Japanese soldier execute a wounded Canadian officer, and decided that he would do something about it. Chong sold all his possessions in Hong Kong, burned his Canadian passport, and set out for mainland China.
Chong wanted to join Chinese guerrillas. However, a British military intelligence officer convinced him that spies were desperately needed, and that he would be more valuable as a clandestine agent. The Canadian military had scorned Chong when he tried to enlist, but the British eagerly snapped him up. Fluent in both English and Chinese, Chong was ideally suited for intelligence work, so he was assigned to the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Section MI9. When volunteers were sought for hazardous work with an MI9 subunit, the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), Chong stepped forward. Throughout the war, BAAG sent spies into Japanese occupied southern China and Hong Kong, to gather intelligence and help POWs escape from Japanese clutches. The escapees were then guided to Chungking, China’s wartime capital, where they were debriefed, before rejoining the war effort. Chong was given the codename Agent 50, and sent to operate behind Japanese lines.
