After graduating from Hong Kong Technical Institute in 1939, Chung taught at Kowloon Wah Yan College from 1939 to 1941, and then taught at La Salle College.
He joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps in July 1940, as a Gunner of the largely Chinese 4th Battery (his number was 4531). His three brothers Wah-kui, Wah-chiu, and Wah-cheung also joined the same battery, they were killed in action at Stanley.
During the Battle of Hong Kong, Leslie and his brothers were deployed in the Lyemun-Pak Sha Wan area as members of the 4th Battery. When the area was heavily shelled by Japanese artillery on 14 December, Leslie was severely wounded by shrapnel, which cut his facial nerve close to an artery.
He was sent to Queen Mary Hospital and fortunately survived the Battle. The 4th Battery fought on at Pak Sha Wan Battery and eventually surrendered on 20 December. Many gunners of his Battery were killed during the engagement near St Stephen’s College in Stanley after the Battery had retreated from Pak Sha Wan.
When the garrison surrendered on 25 December, Leslie left Queen Mary Hospital on his own and stayed in the vacated home of a relative (Dr. Tzi-chuen Wong) very near to the hospital.
The wound he received during the Battle caused paralysis at his left face. As a result, his mouth became distorted, he could not fully close his left eye, and his left ear could not function fully. These wounds remained with him for the rest of his life.
He later left Hong Kong for China, in 1943, he was sent to Calcutta to receive yet more unsuccessful treatment and met his future wife, Rebecca Chan 鍾陳可慰 - a military nurse, there. They were married in India 1945.
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