{"id":2028,"date":"2016-04-05T11:08:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T18:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ccmms.ca\/?page_id=2028"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:22:32","slug":"george-lee-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ccmms.ca\/staging\/9619\/veteran-stories\/air-force\/george-lee-hamilton\/","title":{"rendered":"George Lee (Hamilton)"},"content":{"rendered":"

George\u00a0Lee (R-168494) was born on December 29, 1915 in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of\u00a0Wong\u00a0Lee\u00a0(who came over from\u00a0China).<\/p>\n

When the Second World War broke out, Lee\u00a0was working as a restaurant\u00a0manager at the New Era Grill in Port Colborne, Ontario (1938-1942).\u00a0By the time he decided to enlist, Lee\u00a0was already 26 and still single. He signed up at the RCAF branch in Hamilton on\u00a0June 9, 1942.<\/p>\n

Lee was rated by the recruiters as\u00a0“sincere, intelligent” and having a “good personality”. However, unknown\u00a0to Lee\u00a0or the RCAF recruiters, he\u00a0had terrible night vision. After several tests and tryouts, Lee\u00a0was told he\u00a0could not join aircrew and\u00a0he was\u00a0re-mustered to Electrician in April 1943.<\/p>\n

\"George

George Lee RCAF circa 1942<\/p><\/div>\n

Now as a\u00a0Leading Aircraftman (Air Crew Electrician), Lee took many courses and\u00a0achieved top grades. He trained at various locations in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. While stationed on the east coast, he got into a bit of trouble. Lee was caught gambling in the barracks and was sentenced to ten days in correctional custody.<\/p>\n

By January 1944, Lee\u00a0was on his way to England where he did a six-month orientation before heading to continental Europe.<\/p>\n

He arrived at a promising time in France: June 29, 1944 — a few weeks after the successful D-Day invasion. Lee would\u00a0serve in Europe until August 15, 1945 when he was sent back\u00a0to RAF Dunsfold in England.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0December 1945, Lee was on his way back to Canada. He was\u00a0honourably released from the RCAF and transferred to the Reserve, General Section, Class “E” on February 7, 1946.<\/p>\n

By this time, restaurant work no longer appealed to Lee. In his final interview with\u00a0Veterans Affairs, he told officials he wanted to get an engineering degree in the U.S. \u00a0Lee\u00a0was now\u00a030 years old and Veterans Affairs was sceptical.\u00a0Their comment in\u00a0Lee’s files:<\/p>\n

“Only because of this man’s age is it difficult to full (sic) recommend his aspirations\u00a0…\u00a0Restaurant work does not appeal to him now. Would be suitable for salesmanship where people of his own race are being contacted.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We don’t know if Lee ever achieved his dreams. We only know that he passed away in Hamilton, Ontario on June 18, 1966. He was only\u00a050 years old.<\/p>\n

If you know more of George Lee’s story, please contact our museum at: info@ccmms.ca<\/p>\n

A special thank you to B.W. Shandro who supplied\u00a0our museum with George Lee’s story and donated Lee’s\u00a0photos and medals.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George\u00a0Lee (R-168494) was born on December 29, 1915 in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of\u00a0Wong\u00a0Lee\u00a0(who came over from\u00a0China). When the Second World War broke out, Lee\u00a0was working as a restaurant\u00a0manager at the New Era Grill in Port Colborne, Ontario (1938-1942).\u00a0By the time he decided to enlist, Lee\u00a0was already 26 and still single. He signed up at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2033,"parent":378,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-nosidebar.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2028","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post-preview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t