In November, the month of the Armistice, Kee was promoted to color sergeant, skipping several grades of rank. He was awarded a Wound Chevron (a forerunner of the Purple Heart) and the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military's second highest award for heroism, as well as France's Croix de Guerre with silver gilt star. A fellow soldier described him as "the best American in the regiment". The press coverage of Kee's bravery at times reflected the irony of a man from an officially deprecated ethnic group in America, the Chinese, becoming a bona fide American war hero. The "Los Angeles Evening Herald" reminded its readers that here, a person such as Sing Kee was routinely called a "little chink". Upon his return from Europe in the spring of 1919, Kee participated in parades in New York City (where the New York Times described him as the event's "star exotic") and in San Jose, California where he was joined by his parents.