Fang A. Wong (born February 27, 1948) is a
retired
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.
Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
warrant officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...
who served as the National Commander of
The American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of l ...
from 2011 to 2012.
Early life and career
Fang A. Wong was born in
Canton,
China, and immigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 1960 at the age of 12. Wong's military career began in 1969 when he enlisted in the United States Army and deployed to the
Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of t ...
, serving for 25 months. Wong retired from the Army as a
Chief Warrant Officer 3 in 1989.
The American Legion
Wong was elected National Commander on September 1, 2011, and promptly set out on a whirlwind tour of the 55 state-level departments of The American Legion.
Issues he lobbied for included promoting participation in the Legion for younger veterans and healthcare for older veterans.
Other initiatives included improving the efficiency of the
VA disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
claims process through greater digitization of paperwork and speeding up the transition between
military training and civilian employment qualifications like requirements for a commercial truck driving license ("Don't tell me they can't drive a truck down an interstate").
See also
*
List of Chinese Americans
References
External links
*
Members of the Advisory Committee on Minority Veteransat the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Fang
1948 births
Chinese emigrants to the United States
Living people
National Commanders of the American Legion
New York Institute of Technology alumni
People from Guangzhou
United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
Warrant officers
American military personnel of Chinese descent