Paul Dong surrounded by his children Harvey, Julie, Michael and Alvin. Photos courtesy of the Dong family.
For His Family & Country SACRAMENTO CENTENARIAN RECEIVES CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR
SS By Seth Sandronsky Meet Your Neighbor
32
IA AUG n 21
P
aul C. Dong, a Land Park resident, knows a thing or two about achievements and milestones. He is 100 years old—and a U.S. Army veteran who recently received the congressional Medal of Honor in recognition of his outstanding military service during World War II. The Medal
of Honor is the highest civilian award Congress grants. The Army trained him as a tank driver and engineer. He served in the Philippines where U.S. forces fought the Japanese, as did his brother Ben. “I saw the most beautiful sunset ever in Manilla,” Dong says.
A Sacramento High graduate, he enlisted in the Army as a U.S.-born citizen at age 21. Against that backdrop, Chinese Americans experienced many forms of discrimination emanating from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that restricted the immigration of people from China. The Chinese Exclusion Act arrived 19 years after scores of
