Mr. Kong was in Korea serving military duty from 1961 to 1963. Thank you for your inquiry.

Of course, that response just parrots back the line from the website, but at least they responded. Beggars can’t be chooser.

Looking at the history section on Sifu’s website, http://www.bucksamkongkungfu.com/hist1.html, it appears a close hit, but ultimately unlikely that it would have been him:

“Sifu Kong started studying martial arts when he was 6 years old in his native Hong Kong. Two years later, he began studying Hung Gar with Lam Jo

In his teenage years, Kong moved to Hawaii with his parents and continued to practice Kung Fu tirelessly. By 1961, he became an American citizen and was drafted into the army where he taught hand to hand combat to U.S. soldiers in Korea.

Returning to civilian life in 1963, Kong opened his first school in Hawaii and became one of the first to teach traditional Kung Fu to non-Chinese practitioners.”

So while it looks like he did teach soldiers in the 1960s, he had been back in Hawaii for four years or so by that point and I’m therefore guessing it was not him. I have an email out to Sifu Kong to verify and will update if/when I receive a response. Great lead, thanks!