Congressional Gold Medal given to last living Chinese American WWII veteran in Ventura County
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – A tremendous honor was bestowed upon one of our nation's heroes this month.
Arnold Jue, 94, from Santa Paula received the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.) Congressional Gold Medal Committee on April 11. Jue is the last living Chinese American WWII veteran in Ventura County.
Jue grew up in Parlier, California in Fresno County. He began his military service after graduating high school in 1944.
Jue went through basic training at Camp Roberts near Paso Robles.
After completing his training, he was assigned to Military Intelligence and which led him to Yale University to learn Mandarin. After completing the course study, he was scheduled to go overseas to Japan. But when Japan surrendered in 1945, Jue was reassigned to the Counter Intelligence Corp at Holabird, Maryland.
In 1946, he was in Shanghai with the 415th Detachment where he assisted in the investigation of sabotage, sedition, espionage and subversive activities including raids against vice activities and loyalty/character investigations.
Jue conducted security surveys, army installations and prepared memorandum reports of cases under surveillance. After four months in China, he went to Kagoshima, Japan with the 441st Detachment for another four months doing similar investigations before finally returning home.
In 1946, Arnold was honorably discharged in Fort Lewis near Seattle.
Jue then attended San Francisco City College in 1947 and later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geophysics in 1952.
Jue moved to Ventura County in 1956 with his wife, now residing in Santa Paula.
Jue was one of the original founders of the Ventura County Chinese American Association, serving as its first President in 1972 and also in 1975 and 1978.
The Chinese American Citizens Alliance Congressional Gold Medal committee presented Jue with his Congressional Gold Medal.
Local dignitaries were in attendance of the 94-year-old's big day including Congresswoman Julia Brownley of the 26th Congressional District, Manuel Minjares the Representative for Supervisor Kelly Long of the 3rd District, 5th District Supervisor Carmen Ramirez, Santa Paula Councilmember Leslie Cornejo and Santa Paula Mayor Carlos Juarez.
This medal is the newest addition to Jue's long list of accomplishments. He has previously received medals and citations including the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal – Japan.
