Profile of Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Sam

Kam Len Douglas Sam, a Chinese-Canadian was bom in Victoria, British Columbia on April 6, 1918. He attended Victoria High School. His other language capabilities, besides English, included Chinese, French and Japanese.

He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) on October 21, 1942 and served overseas as an air crew officer in Bomber Command. He was on the Nuremburg raid in which 94 Allied bombers went down, and also on a Berlin raid that cost 73 bombers. On his 28th mission, he was shot down over occupied France. He successfully evaded capture and joined the resistance movement. For his service to the French Underground, he was decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre, Silver Star.

In the early 1950's he was assigned as second-in-com- mand to an interrogation force in the Malay States. While the Korean War occupied the minds of most Canadians, he was fighting a jungle war against Communist infiltrators during the Malay Emergency, serving under Sir Maurice Oldfield, the late British master spy said to have been the model for novelist John leCarre's fictional character, George Smiley.

Continuing his service with the peace-time RCAF (Regular Force), he received a permanent commission. He held vaious high intelligence appointments at Air Force Headquarters, Air Defense and Maritime Air Command. As a Staff Officer, Intelligence, he maintained liaison with high-level U.S., British, and NATO agencies including Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Headquarters. His post-war overseas tours included a secondment to the Royal Air Force (British) and he served as a counter-insurgency specialist in Malay from 1950-1951. An exchange tour of intelligence duties at the Air Ministry in London, England fol- lowed from 1959 to 1962. During this period he visited several countries in the Far East. After 25 years of continuous service, he retired in November, 1967 with the rank of Squadron Leader, but he continued to serve in the Primary Reserve, Canadian Armed Forces, as a Lieutenant-Colonel until 1978. His duties in the Primary Reserve included a stint as a security specialist in Montreal during the 1976 Olympics.

On commencement of his retirement from the RCAF in November, 1967, he joined the Department of Immigration. Initially, he served principally in enacting the enforcement programs under the Immigration Act. From 1973 until his second retirement from Immigration in April, 1983, he served as the Chief Intelligence Officer in the Pacific(now B.C./Yukon)Region. His principal role was the detection of illegal immigration rings, alien criminals, and terrorists. Upon his retirement from Immigration, he was the first non-RCMP member to receive a Certificate of Commendation from that force for his integrity, dedication, and valuable contribution to law enforcement in Canada.

He was the most decorated, highest-ranking Chinese-Canadian officer in history, a veteran of RCAF 426 Thunderbird Squadron, fighting in the Malay States, and Chief Intelligence Officer at Immigration in the B.C. / Yukon Region. He was dedicated to serving his country. He died in Vancouver, B.C. on July 3, 1989.