Phil Doddridge - Farewell to Hong Kong

December 6, 2005

FAREWELL TO HONG KONG

Comrades, Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished members of the delegation, and all of you wonderful people who have come so far to be with us on this memorable occasion. We are so grateful. Thanks to Senator Campbell, Senator Nolin and Senator Poy. Their presence has added dignity and respect to the project.

It is gratifying to share this time with five of my comrades, George MacDonell, Bob Clayton, Gerry Gerrard, Doug Rees, and Ed Shayler.

Sixty four years and twenty-two days ago, I first stepped ashore at Kowloon. It was my first trip abroad, other than a nine month stay in Newfoundland, which at that time was not a part of Canada. We formed up at the dock in Kowloon and marched up the length of Nathan Road to ShamShuiPo barracks. Little did I realize that I would spend the next four years in Hong Kong, three of them behind barbed wire in that very place. I was nineteen years old.

My feelings were of awe and enlightenment, for a new world was opened to my eyes. Twenty two days later, my eyes were opened to another world, one of hostility, bloodshed, and death. Again, seventeen days later, another world was forced upon me, one of brutality, hunger, disease, and often despair.

But on top of these, there was always a glimmer of hope, a feeling that this too would pass, and another world of rejoicing, of nearness to loved ones, and peace and happiness would be opened to me. I shall be forever grateful that this did come to pass.

I have returned to Hong Kong on two other occasions. Both of those times it was more difficult to express my emotions, because the event was no longer about me, but about my friends and comrades who lost that glimmer of hope in battle or in the prison camps,

On the return trips, I was looking for some justification of the death, humility, sickness, and hunger that we all experienced. Perhaps one of my buddies would whisper from the grave; perhaps I would be given a clue as to what it was all about. I wanted assurance that there is victory in death, that there is a guarantee of a reward for the loss of life in these brutal struggles.

On my last trip I was able to visit more of the battle sites, and this helped to heal the wounds, and suggest some answers to those heart-rending questions.

This will probably be my last pilgrimage to Hong Kong. Earlier at Sai Wan and again at Stanley, we rubbed our hands over the stones that mark the last resting places of the comrades who lie there.

The tears welled, the old questions arise, but still the answers evade us. But another emotion surfaces, one of relief, of letting go of the lingering hatred of the ones who caused so much pain and suffering.

Perhaps this is the answer I have sought all of my adult life.

The hatred must go, forgiveness must replace it, for we must not let the experience of war rule our lives forever after.

Maybe we cling to those agonizing memories because we are afraid that no one cares, and that we must make them care, make them remember the young men who gave their lives without having any other choice.

The establishment of the Hong Kong Veterans’ Commemorative Association, the manner in which Veterans" Affairs Canada has led the activities during this Year of the Veteran, and the young people we met on this trip, makes me feel certain that Canadians do care, and that history of "C" Force to Hong Kong will be told to future generations and that every so often some Canadian will visit these quiet places and rub their hands over the stones that mark the resting places of young Canadians who gave their lives as their contribution to a free world.

In the interest of peace throughout the world, we want to heal those wounds of hatred. We want to tell our youth, so well represented here today, that war is evil, war is destructive, war leads only to misery, privation, and the elimination of all that can be good in the human race.

We have the potential to make this world a better place. Starvation and disease can be eliminated. It is up to the youth of our nation to work toward that goal.

On behalf of everyone here, I wish to thank Veterans Affairs for organizing this trip and for the efficient manner in which all of the events were co-ordinated, and most importantly, their sincere expressions of friendship.

I had expected nothing less, because our Veterans Affairs has always handled our medical and pension issues in a professional manner, envied by veterans of other nations.

I speak for all Hong Kong Veterans when I say a sincere Thank You.

To those wonderful students and their teachers, and the beautiful people who accompanied them on this eventful trip, enough thanks cannot be said. We love you, and we are so grateful to you. Thank you very much.

Not long ago, I sat down, over a glass of wine, I think, and composed what can be loosely called a poem. It is written in free verse, terse verse, or perhaps no verse. I hope it doesn’t sound too silly.

Well do I recall those days of long ago,

A youth, I was, no obstacle too great, no mountain then too high.

Then I ramble on for several more "verses" which I won’t bore you with, which allude to the noise and stench of the battle, and the deprivation of the prison camps, and end as follows:

Look back in awe,

And wonder why that slender thread of life remained unbroken,

While in others, far more robust, it was severed.

Look back in awe.