Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Wah Kau Kong
Kong was born on January 17, 1919 in Palama, a neighborhood of Honolulu. He was one of the five children of Yim and Mary Shee Kong. He graduated from McKinley High School in 1936. Kong studied at the University of Hawaii, from which he graduated in 1940 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, with honors. During his time at the university, Kong participated in the ROTC program. He competed in swimming, basketball, and track, while also taking flying lessons. Kong was working towards his master's degree in chemistry when he volunteered for military duty in early 1942, after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.