Dick Walter Yee

Dick Yee was born in Canton, China on July 4, 1905. (His draft and enlistment records are somewhat contradictory, but the fact that he was a naturalized citizen supports the foreign birth.)

When he registered for the draft, on October 16, 1940, he was living in New York City and working at James and Henry restaurant. He enlisted on February 19, 1943, at which point he stated that he had had two years of high school, and was working as a sales clerk in New York.

He joined the 406th Engineer Combat Company as a cook (probably due to his restaurant experience) and served in the European theatre. It's likely that he met his future wife, Yvonne Neyberg, a native of Luxembourg, when the unit was stationed there.

He was discharged from the Army on October 14, 1945 with the rank of T/5 and returned to the US. Naturalization records demonstrate that he was granted US citizenship in Boston five months later.

Shipboard and airline manifests show him traveling to and from Europe several times in the early to mid-1950s, and a 1955 shipboard record shows him, Yvonne, and two children sailing from Le Havre to New York. Yvonne and the two children (Marvin and Myrna) all have Luxembourg listed as their birth country, and they are coming to the US as permanent residents. The Yees later had a third child (presumably born in the US) named M.J.

The family settled in South Boston and city directories show Dick working as a mechanic.

He died on April 23, 1965 and, after a Funeral Mass at St. Brigid's in South Boston, he was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, MA.

NOTE: There is a Dick Yee working as a waiter in Boston in the 1930s, but there was another Dick Yee in Boston so I don't know if this is the same person.

Sources:

1940 draft card (the birth year is off by three years, but the birth month and day, the mention of Montana, the NY residence, and the food service employment all point to a match)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/194817869:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=37d7ec28f3b4840543a02411de3d5df7&_phsrc=zLt15&_phstart=successSource

1943 enlistment record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=2615214&tid=&pid=&queryId=633aeb7c2182574f21c80487fa9c0e3f&usePUB=true&_phsrc=zLt2&_phstart=successSource

1946 US naturalization records index

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1192&h=1171746&tid=&pid=&queryId=d0a87c0b6ec85be0b459899d7308f5a9&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ylB1&_phstart=successSource

1955 shipboard manifest (Le Havre to NY); shows wife Yvonne and children Marvin and Myrna

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7488&h=3033951324&tid=&pid=&queryId=37d7ec28f3b4840543a02411de3d5df7&usePUB=true&_phsrc=zLt13&_phstart=successSource

1960 Boston city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1455031569:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=e402710f83a6d2bbced57779b9a62762&_phsrc=sfo5&_phstart=successSource

1962 Boston city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/11075487?usePUB=true&_phsrc=ylB3&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1293116077

1965 headstone applications for military veterans

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2955997:2375?tid=&pid=&queryId=cfa2953dca7066787afe98373add79b0&_phsrc=zLt5&_phstart=successSource

1965 VA death record (first name wrong on record, but other info all matches)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/656141:2441?tid=&pid=&queryId=0605713f9e2a48cb0cfc31d07c7b85ca&_phsrc=zLt14&_phstart=successSource

1965 Find a Grave record (shows 406th, T/5 rank)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/218586972/dick-w-yee

1965 death notice in Boston Globe

https://www.newspapers.com/image/433826840/?terms=dick%20w%20yee&match=1