'We have waited a long time': Chinese Americans who served in WWII honored by Congress

[Tony]

WASHINGTON — Seventy-five years after World War II ended, Congress is honoring thousands of Chinese Americans who served the United States in the war, earning citations for heroism — including the Medal of Honor — despite discrimination that included limits on numbers allowed in the U.S.

Nearly 20,000 people of Chinese ancestry served in the U.S. military during World War II, including about 40 percent who were not U.S. citizens due to laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. That law made it illegal for Chinese laborers to immigrate to America and limited the Chinese population in the U.S. for more than 60 years.