Although he had an avid talent for drawing and art, James began a career in welding and worked in the Pearl Harbor shipyards in Hawaii as a civilian. While in Hawaii, Lee began studying Judo at the Okazaki Gym with Bill Montero and Sydney Yim and also competed in a few amateur boxing matches.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, James Lee returned to Oakland and continued welding until he entered the Army and was stationed in the Philippines, during which time he became infected with malaria and dysentery.
His condition became so serious that he was actually shipped to the death ward, but he continued to fight the disease and overcame it. James Lee was a fighter at heart, his most profound quality. In April, 1946 he was discharged and after returning home, Lee began weight training again for the illness caused him to go from 158 to 116 pounds. He had a thirty percent disability but never tried to exploit it.
Description
- Born : January 31, 1920, Oakland, California, USA
- Died : December 1972 (aged 52)
- Style : Wing Chun, Iron Palm
- Teacher(s) : Bruce Lee
He was one of Bruce Lee's (no relation) three personally certified 3rd rank instructors and co-founded the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland where he taught Jeet Kune Do in Bruce's absence. James was responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Ed Parker, the organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships where Bruce was first introduced to the martial arts community.
James Lee became well known for his Iron Palm specialty, and would routinely break bricks at demonstrations. He was the first to publish an Iron Palm book in America in 1957. He and Linda Lee Cadwell were eyewitnesses of the fight between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man.
Books[edit] Lee was a well-established author and was one of the first to publish martial arts books in English in America. He also helped Bruce Lee publish his first book, "Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense." James Lee's published books include: Modern Kung-Fu Karate: Iron Poison Hand Training, Book 1 (Break Brick in 100 Days), Wing Chun Kung-Fu , and Secret Fighting Arts of the Orient.
Personal life
His wife, Katherine, died in 1964.
Death
James Lee died aged 52 in December 1972 - from lung cancer caused by welding fumes.
Source : Wikipedia.