At the end of WWII, returning Chinese American veterans formed Cathay Post #186 because discrimination prevented them from joining existing Posts. Cathay Post provided an outlet for community and community service. Over the years, the Post has assisted needy veterans, marched in parades, and still conducts the annual Hing Hay Memorial Day ceremony. It has supported Kin On, The Wing Luke Museum, the Asian Resource Center, Chong Wa Benevolent Association, the Chinese Community Girls Drill Team, Children Christmas Party, Moon Festival, the New Year’s dinner and dance, and other community events and organizations.

“Cathay Post wasn’t just a group for veterans,” said Sue Mar, whose late father Dan Mar served as past commander of Cathay Post #186. “It really supported family, community, and youth. For me the future is continuing Cathay Post as a service for veterans because we really do have a lot of veterans coming from wars. There’s still a lot of military action going on now in the world. There are still a lot of wars going on now. There are probably a lot of vetreans of Chinese decent who might want to continue a program like Cathay Post. And one of the benefits that I see is that it could be another source to helping them to identify services that they might need as veterans like the GI bill or the VA programs, or retirement programs.”

This video was produced by the International Examiner, filmed by Tuyen Than, with support from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Special Thanks to:
Ron Chew, Project Coordinator
Travis Quezon, Grant Coordinator
Tuyen Than, Filmmaker
Debbie Louie, Researcher, Transcriber
Sue Mar, Researcher, Editor
Rick Wong, Videographer
Han Eckelberg, Videographer
Jacqueline Wu, Research, Archivist
Jenny Pham, Production Assistant
Vivian Nguyen, Production Assistant
Ryan Catabay, Production Assistant
Wing Luke Museum, Research Support
Bob Fisher, Production Assistant
Vivian Chan, Production Assistant