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Here's an LA story for you. Susan Ahn Cuddy was born in Los Angeles in 1915 — her parents were the first Korean couple to settle in California and among the first Koreans to immigrate to America. Their home at 1st Street and Figueroa became a center of Korean independence activity. She went to Belmont High School and LA City College, graduating from San Diego State in 1940. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, she became the first Asian-American woman to join the U.S. Navy, according to KoreAm Journal — serving as a trainer of pilots, a gunnery officer and a code breaker. She continued in the code-breaking craft in Washington after the war, for Naval Intelligence and the NSA, and married a white colleague in defiance of the racist laws at the time. Returning to Los Angeles in 1959, she helped run the popular Chinese restaurant, Moongate, that her brother Philip Ahn, the longtime Hollywood actor, had in Panorama City in the Valley.
She had been active in local politics and the Korean-American community ever since. Ahn Cuddy died at home in Northridge last Wednesday while taking a nap. She was 100.
A biography by John Cha, "Willow Tree Shade: The Susan Ahn Cuddy Story," was published in 2002. A play dramatizing her life, "Born to Lead," was staged this year by the East West Players theater company. From the KoreAm Journal story:
After Philip died in 1978, Susan largely filled the role of Ahn family representative and worked hard to archive her legendary family’s records.
Even in her elder years, Susan remained active, speaking at Navy functions and Korean American community events, even campaigning for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. A breast cancer survivor, she also helped raise money for the cause. In recent years, she was honored with numerous accolades by government bodies and nonprofits. This past spring, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors designated a “Susan Ahn Cuddy Day.” Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who introduced the declaration, was an especially devoted fan. “These were all firsts as an Asian American woman in a man’s world,” he said of her accomplishments, during a March 10 ceremony. “Anti-Asian sentiment was brazenly prevalent, but that didn’t deter Susan Ahn Cuddy—she just knew what her mission was.”
She had endorsed David Ryu for the City Council this year, saying "I’ve spent 100 years fighting for our country and our community, both in the Navy and in the voting booth. In that time I’ve only seen one Asian American on the City Council in Los Angeles, so I urge you to vote for David Ryu who will serve LA the way that I’ve fought over the years.”
