{"id":2256,"date":"2016-04-26T19:22:15","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T02:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ccmms.ca\/?page_id=2256"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:12:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T00:12:52","slug":"james-shiu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ccmms.ca\/staging\/9619\/veteran-stories\/army\/james-shiu\/","title":{"rendered":"James Shiu"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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James Shiu\u00a0was one of\u00a0the first recruits to Force 136, an invention of Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as British intelligence. SOE had had a lot of success ferreting agents into occupied Europe and wanted to do the same in South East Asia.<\/p>

In fact, Shiu\u00a0was one of a small group of\u00a0hand-picked men who were selected for Operation Oblivion<\/a> \u2013 a suicide mission with a goal to\u00a0drop men in behind enemy\u00a0lines in\u00a0Japanese-occupied China. Their initial mission was to seek out and train Chinese resistance groups and help them sabotage Japanese equipment and supply lines.<\/p>

In some ways, these first men were a bit of an experiment. No one was quite sure if they had what it took to be commandos and spies. With 12 other Chinese Canadian men, Shiu\u00a0was put through\u00a0harsh and intensive training at Commando Bay on\u00a0Okanagan Lake. Once that training was completed, he\u00a0was shipped off to Australia for further training in guerrilla warfare and jungle survival.<\/p>

Eventually, the\u00a0plans to go into China were scuttled\u00a0by the Americans who took\u00a0control over the\u00a0Pacific theatre and vetoed the mission.<\/p>

But\u00a0Shiu still wanted to serve and use his skills. So he quietly was inserted\u00a0into Sarawak, Borneo along with Roy Chan, Norman Low, and Louey King. Their small team was led by another Chinese Canadian, Roger Cheng.<\/p>

They sought out the Dayak headhunters and\u00a0helped train and arm these warriors who detested the Japanese.<\/p>

Eventually, the team’s role broadened to include river patrol; forcing the surrender of remote Japanese units; liberating prisoner-of-war camps; and minimizing retribution on the Japanese and collaborators once the war was over.<\/p>

In September, 1946 Shiu, along with Chan, Low,\u00a0and King were awarded the Canadian Army’s Military Medal for their role in Borneo. The story was covered by Time Magazine.<\/p>

\"The

Some of the\u00a0Force 136 initial\u00a0recruits\u00a0taking\u00a0a day off in Sydney, Australia: (L to r), Jim Shiu, Roy Chan, Eddie Chow, Norman Low and Hank Wong<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Shiu\u00a0was one of\u00a0the first recruits to Force 136, an invention of Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as British intelligence. SOE had had a lot of success ferreting agents into occupied Europe and wanted to do the same in South East Asia. In fact, Shiu\u00a0was one of a small group of\u00a0hand-picked men who were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2261,"parent":594,"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-2256","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