HKVA
President Report – Phil Doddridge
Konichiwa to everyone. This is a form of polite and respectful greeting that the Japanese use May I add that no Japanese ever said that to me!
I would like to say a special “konichiwa” to Marilyn, Gail, Karen, Sheila, Norma, Mae, and their husbands and families who put on such a show in Calgary last month. Many thanks. The Japanese say, “Arigato”. The whole convention couldn’t have been better organized and conducted. I was honoured and delighted to have taken part in the ceremonies. Much has been said in praise of their efforts and I can sincerely endorse all of the superlatives.
BOOKS
Since the last issue of Wasureru-nai, I have been reading a few more books about the war in the Far East. (If you think that I am obsessed with the events of that fateful time, you are probably right!)
However, I would like to share with you some impressions of the books that I have read and perhaps pique your interest in the stories that have come out of the War in the Pacific.
I have recently read Tony Banham’s new book, “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru”. It is a meticulously detailed account of the brutal treatment that the POWs, mainly British, received when the Lisbon Maru, looking like a freighter, but carrying a full load of POWs, was torpedoed by an American submarine. The fact that the ship took hours to sink in shallow waters meant that many if not all of the POWs could have been saved had they not been locked below decks.
Vince Lopata has published a book detailing the decorations won by members of “C” Force. It is called, “C” Force Decorations, Medals, Awards and Honours “. Every honour and award has been listed, with photos of the recipients where available. It is an important document. It will be taken off the bookshelf many times to answer questions or settle arguments. Vince’s book is available through Lulu Publishing.
“Towards the Setting Sun” was written by James Bradley, a junior officer in the British Army, taken prisoner at Singapore. He and nine others escaped from camps on the Thailand-Burma Railway in 1943, only to be turned in to the Japanese by a Burmese collaborator when freedom was within sight.
“First into Nagasaki” is the story by George Weller; a reporter who disguised himself as an American Army colonel and fast-talked his way into Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped. His reports of the devastation and the effects of the nuclear blast on the civilian population were squelched by General Douglas MacArthur, who didn’t want the American people to know how terrible the effects of the bomb had been.
And finally, “The War Bonnet” by H. Edgar Baptiste.
You will recall the controversy sparked by the claim of a man living in Britain that he was Edgar Baptiste, a Winnipeg Grenadier reportedly killed in action in the battle of Hong Kong. The book can be obtained through Trafford Publishing. I bought it because I wanted to hear this man’s account of Edgar Baptiste’s journey from Hong Kong to Britain and back to the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan.
He says that he spent the war years in Sham Shui Po Camp and that he appears in one of the pictures that were taken at the gate of the camp the day the Canadian officer came with cartons of cigarettes for us. I spent the war in Sham Shui Po, but I don’t remember Edgar Baptiste.
He claims to have lost his memory as a result of a blow to the head. I got the sense that many of his accounts have been gleaned from reading other stories of Hong Kong. There are a few discrepancies in dates and other events and the story centres around life on the Reserve as much as it does on the claim itself.
I still haven’t made up my mind about Edgar Baptiste, but I can’t see why or how he went unidentified in the POW camp for all of those years.
AND IN CONCLUSION
I am in a hurry to get this off to Carol today because I have to get ready to attend the Maritimes-Gaspesian reunion in Florenceville, NB, this weekend.
It seems that my contribution to Wasureru-nai has lately been my impressions of the books I have read. I hope that they will be of interest.
I would like to congratulate Derrill and the rest of the Executive Committee and thank them for stepping up to the plate again for us. Our affairs are in good hands. That will be all for this time. Be good to each other and may God Bless.