Pte. G. Law, age 31
Mount Butler, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. K.R. Lawrie, nk
Mount Nicholson, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. F. Little, age nk
Mount Nicholson, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Sgt. J. Long, age nk
Mount Cameron, killed by a shell, 1941/12/22
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. E.J. Lousier, age 19
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. J.A. Lowe, age 24
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. G.W. MacFarlane, age 40
Died in hospital, 1941/12/22
Stanley Military Cemetery, 6. A. Coll. Grave nk
Pte. J. Maltese, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/25
Stanley Military Cemetery, 5. C. Coll. Grave 4-20
Pte. T. Mattte, age 17
Last seen Mount Blount, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. D.C. Matthews, age 23
Ordnance House, road from golf course to Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/25
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #IX. D. 21
Pte. R.C. Maxwell, age nk
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. W.F. McBride, age 29
Black’s Link, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. M.S. McCorrister, age 20
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. R.C. McGowan, age nk
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Lieut. O.W. McKillop, age 33
Died of wounds, 1942/01/04
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. D. 23
Pte. R.A. Meades, age nk
Black’s Link, Mount Cameron, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Lieut. E.L. Mitchell, age 23
Murdered by Japanese, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. D. 13
Lieut. W.V. Mitchell, age 36
Murdered by Japanese, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
LCpl. A.W. Morgan, age 33
Mount Blount, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. J.I. Morris, age 23
Mount Blount, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
LCpl. D.J. O’Neill, age nk
Black Hole, murdered at, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. H. Orvis, age 22
Admitted Queen Mary Hospital on Dec 24, DOW, 1941/12/29
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. N.A. Osadchuk, age nk
Bayoneted near Wong Nei Cong GapAA position 41 Dec 19, 1941/12/23
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
WO II J.R. Osborn, age 42
Mount Butler, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. A.J. Ouelette, age 37
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/25
Stanley Military Cemetery, 5. B. Coll. Grave 1-4
Pte. R. Owen, age 24
Wan Chai Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. G.J. Pare, age 23
Wong Nei Chong Gap, killed on road above Brigade HQ, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. W.J. Parenteau, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Sgt. G.H. Paterson, age nk
Black’s Link attacking the Wong Nei Chong Police Station, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. L. Pepin, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. H. Piasta, age nk
Mount Cameron, 1941/12/22
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. E. 8
Pte. I.W. Pontius, age 22
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. A. Poulsen, age 35
Wong Nei Chong Gap near AA Battery, Stanley Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. W.A. Prieston, age nk
Killed Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. P. Procinsky, age nk
Black’s Link, wounded on, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Sgt. E.H. Rodgers, age 30
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. E. 18
Pte. V. Ross, age nk
Magazine Gap, 1941/12/25
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. G.A. Rutherford, age 38
Repulse Bay, 1941/12/23
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. F. 2
Pte. H.E. Shatford, age nk
Mount Cameron, killed on Black’s Link, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. M. Shkolny, age nk
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. W.C. Shore, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/23
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. E. 25
Pte. S. Silkey, age 35
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. K. Simpson, age nk
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. E.C. Smeltz, age 23
Bayoneted, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. C. Smith, age nk
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. C.E. Smith, age 21
Mount Blount, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 27
Pte. R.C. Smith, age 24
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/ 19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 26
Pte. W.J. Sprecht, age nk
Jardine’s Lookout, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. E.G. Starrett, age 27
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. W.J. Starrett, age 23
Black Hole, killed by shell at, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. S.F. Stodgell, age 22
Mount Blount, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. E. Swanson, age 34
Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/22
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Capt. L.T. Tarbuth, age nk
Mount Butler/Jardine’s Lookout boundary, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. G. Teasdale, age 28
Mount Blount, killed at an artillery post near, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. J.E. Tompkins, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Cpl. J.F. Vickers, age nk
Location of battle death nk, 1941/12/23
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. N.C. Walker, age nk
Black’s Link, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. L.M. Warr, age nk
Admitted WNH Dec 23, 1941/12/24
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. B.B. Whalen, age 23
Bayoneted to death near Wong Nei Chong Gap AA position, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. T.C. White, age nk
Repulse Bay, 1941/12/22
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte.
E.E. Whiteside, age 26
Killed Wong Nei Chong Gap, 1941/12/20
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. H. Wiebe, age 19
Black’s Link, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. J.G. Williams, age 36
Killed trying to carry Tarbruth to safety, Mount Blount, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. C. Willis, age nk
Black’s Link, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. W.J. Wilson, age nk
Little Hong Kong, 1941/12/24
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Pte. J. Wojnarsky, age 21
Died of wounds, 1942/01/07
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
LSgt. A.T. Woods, age nk
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 25
Pte. F. Woytowich, age nk
Bennet’s Hill Shelter, 1941/12/25
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. G. 8
Pte. R.F. Wright, age 23
Caroline Hill, killed attacking high ridge overlooking, 1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial, Column 28
Lieut. H.J. Young, age nk
Black’s Link, 1941/12/21
Sai Wan Cemetery, Grave #VIII. G. 9
Courtesy of the Hong Kong Veterans’ Commemorative Association
Notes
Introduction
1. Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933. His government was strongly anti-democratic and emphasized obedience to the state. His Nazi Party promoted the idea that the German race was superior to all others and that “inferior” races, such as the Slavs of Eastern Europe or the Jews, should be enslaved or eliminated. Hitler was also determined to restore Germany’s position in Europe, which had been severely weakened as a result of Germany’s surrender to France, Britain, and the other victors after the First World War.
2. These oil reserves were located in the Dutch East Indies-Indonesia. Japan desperately required access to raw materials, such as oil, to support its industrialization and rearmament agenda.
3. After France’s surrender to Germany, the country was divided in two parts — a German occupied northern and western zone, and an unoccupied southern zone known as Vichy France. The French government in Vichy was controlled by the Germans. The Germans eventually occupied Vichy France in November 1942.
Chapter 1: Bear on the Runway
1. Description of breed from www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/Newfoundland, accessed on December 29, 2008.
2. From http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0207_030207_newfies.html, accessed on December 29, 2008.
3. From http://animalattraction.com/Resources/DogBreeds/Newfoundland–, accessed on January 4, 2008.
4. Ibid.
5. Steve Pitt, The Day of the Flying Fox (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008). The story of one particular Canadian Spitfire pilot.
6. Email from Eileen Elms of Gander, Newfoundland, December 27, 2008.
7. From www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html-ederation/023001-2230-e.html, accessed on December 29, 2008.
8. From www.heritage.nf.ca/law/gander_basehtml., accessed on January 2, 2009.
9. Email from Eileen Elms, December 27, 2008.
10. Fromwww.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/08/11/nf_gander000811.html , accessed on January 2, 2009.
11. Email from Eileen Elms, December 27, 2008.
12. H.H. Herstein et al, Challenge and Survival: The History of Canada (Toronto: Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1970), 370.
13. From www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1050.68-e.html, accessed on December 29, 2008.
14. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was an aviation training program implemented during the Second World War, in–Notes volving Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Southern Rhodesia. Its purpose was to train pilots, navigators, gunners, flight engineers, wireless operators, and bomb aimers for service in the Commonwealth Air Forces. Canada was considered an excellent location for the training program for a variety of reasons, including its ready supply of fuel and wide open flying spaces. Geographically, it was out of range of any threat from German or Japanese bombers or fighter planes and it occupied an excellent strategic location, almost equidistant, between the European and Pacific theatres. See http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/bcatphtml., accessed on May 25, 2009.
Chapter 2: Sergeant Gander, Royal Rifles of Canada
1. George MacDonell, One Soldier’s Story, 1939– 1945 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 47.
2. CBC Radio Broadcast, http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/veterans/topics/1039-5847/, broadcast on August 11, 2000.
3. MacDonell, One Soldier’s Story, 1939–1945 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 47.
4. Brereton Greenhous, “C” Force to Hong Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 10.
5. Ibid., 10.
6. Ibid., 11.
7. Ibid., 17.
8. Ibid., 21.
9. Ibid., 18. Major-General Crerar was chief of the Canadian general staff in 1941. Historians disagree over the extent of his culpability for sending the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers to Hong Kong, but he did advise Prime Minister Mackenzie King that there was “no military risk” in sending the Canadian troops to Hong Kong.
10. Greenhous, “C” Force to Hong Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 22.
11. From www.hkvca.ca/historical/accounts/williambell/chapter1.htm, accessed on December 3, 2008.
12. Oliver Lindsay, The Lasting Honour: The Fall of Hong Kong, 1941 (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978), 8.
13. The Washington Naval Conferences were organized by American President Warren Harding’s administration and were held in Washington D.C. from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. They were attended by nine nations who had interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. One of the primary goals was to encourage disarmament and peace in the region, and to limit the building of new battleship fleets.
14. Communism is an authoritarian system of government where the state plans and controls the economy. This system of government was established in Russia (Soviet Union) following the October Revolution in 1917, with the state taking ownership of all personal property.
15. HKVeCA. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, The Royal Rifles of Canada in Hong Kong: 1941–1945 (Carp, ON: Baird O’Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 25.
16. From http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/tri–parti.asp, accessed on December 29, 2008.
17. Walter Lord, The Miracle of Dunkirk (New York: Viking Press, 1982), 286.
The evacuation from Dunkirk took place over nine days, from May 26 to June 4, 1940. Hundreds of ships, including Royal Navy vessels, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and commercial vessels, travelled across the English Channel, from Britain, to evacuate the British and French forces that had been forced back onto the beaches by the advancing Germans. A Canadian, Commander James Campbell Clouston, who was serving with the Royal Navy, was assigned the role of pier master of the Eastern Mole. The Eastern Mole was a breakwater that formed the entrance to Dunkirk’s harbour. Ships were brought up alongside and Clouston lined the retreating soldiers up, in an orderly fashion, and at one point was disembarking over 2,000 men an hour. He served as pier master for five nights, evacuating over one hundred thousand men.
Chapter 3: Mascot on the Move
1. From www.geocities.com/phil_doddrige/, accessed on December 3, 2008.
2. MacDonell, One Soldier’s Story, 1939–1945 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 49.
3. Ibid., 49.
4. Carl Vincent, No Reason Why (Stittsville, ON: Canada’s Wings Inc., 1981), 109. The Canadian Postal Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army.
5. Brereton Greenhous, “C” Force to Hong Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1945 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 28.
6. Ibid., 29.
7. Ibid., 32.
8. Ibid., 32.
9. Carl Vincent, No Reason Why (Stittsville, ON: Canada’s Wings Inc., 1981), 109.
Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm
1. In 1984, an agreement signed by Great Britain and China decreed that the sovereignty of Hong Kong would revert back to China in 1997. Since 1997 Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. It is largely autonomous of China, except in foreign and defence affairs.
2. Carl Vincent, No Reason Why (Stittsville, ON: Canada’s Wings Inc., 1981), 6.