Bob Clayton - Page 1

"You had to learn Japanese to survive”

Hong Kong Vet Bob ‘Flash’ Clayton

This is a story of a frequently overlooked group of Canadians who were sent by our country to support the scant contingent of British and Hong Kong nationals to defend the British Colony of Hong Kong.

Many would meet their fate in the battles that preceded the fall of Hong Kong or in the POW camps to follow. This article comes with a warning that what you read is graphic and disturbing.

Bob Clayton, a Life member of #488 Brechin-Mara branch is the heart of this article. Comrade Bob agreed to talk to me about his experience as a serviceman and Hong Kong Prisoner of War. John & I met Bob and his wife Jesse at their cottage on the shores of Lake Simcoe just after Thanksgiving.

Sitting around the kitchen table, Bob brought out several photos and some very important original documents from that period in his life.

“I quit school at 14 as a lot of my generation did—I was the eldest of 8...I used to deliver groceries on my bike for $5 a week before the war. I joined the militia—the Queen’s York Rangers in Toronto…”

Bob liked the training and recalled going to summer camp in Niagara for two weeks. War preparations began in mid-August 1939. Told to report in uniform to the Armories , Bob and his fellow militiamen were transported to the Welland Canal and put on guard duty. When they returned to Toronto Bob requested a transfer to the Royal Canadian Regiment. Bob volunteered to go to camp for overseas. “I looked older than I was...anyway my mother wrote and told them I was under age so they sent me back and I was transferred to the RCR depot in London”.

Promoted to corporal, young Bob was training recruits. In the fall 1940 Clayton requested a transfer to the Royal Rifles and was sent to Quebec City to join the regiment and another promotion to Sgt. He was stationed at Val Cartier and did some duty in Newfoundland.

Meanwhile overseas, Japan was looking to expand their Empire, had marched through China and were advancing toward Hong Kong—it was now 1941.

Britain had a small contingent of soldiers guarding the colony. The British government under Churchill, knew that the likelihood of holding onto Hong Kong against the Japanese was a pipe dream. But in true British fashion, they wanted to maintain the ‘appearance of a force’ but were not prepared to commit any more of their own troops to the region. Britain’s main focus at the time was the German threat. Canada was called upon to send troops for support and our government quickly obliged.

Approximately 2000 men from the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Royal Rifles found themselves on a train for a destination unknown to them.

“In Oct. ‘41, I was sent to Kong Kong—I had my 20th birthday going over—–we didn’t arrive in Hong Kong until mid-Nov.”

British intelligence had estimated the Japanese threat to be about 5000 soldiers when in fact it was more like 50,000.

Bob and his chums were more interested in the sights of Hong Kong, the girls ...beer was cheap at 10 cents and rickshaw rides were a real novelty. Hong Kong also had a lot of tattoo parlours, and Bob christened his adventure with a permanent reminder on his arm—the Regimental Coat of Arms and the word “Mother”. It was not to be the only ‘souvenir’ he’d be bringing home when the fighting was over.

Everyone knows that Dec. 7th 1941 at 7:50 am Japan bombed Pearl Harbour but what people don’t remember or realize that it was only hours later that Japan attacked the Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong. It was Dec. 8th… “I looked up and saw a V of airplanes...about that time I heard this British voice say “they must be up from Singapore”...I saw these black pieces falling from the planes….now I’d never been bombed before but I’m not stupid” Bob hit the first ditch he saw head first—the ditch was over six feet deep.

Hong Kong is partly on the mainland and consists of an island as well. Initially the troops were defending mainland Hong Kong but with the advancement of the Japanese the Canadians were ordered to go back to the island of Hong Kong. After that the Hong Kong Chinese were at the mercy of the Japanese—–a quality that eluded many a Japanese soldier.

“You could hear the screams coming from Kowloon...it was one massive scream all night long...made your hair stand on end” recalled Bob.

The British were in charge of the Canadians and the expectation was that the island would be attacked by sea and in daylight. The attack came at night and the green recruits from Canada had only been in the Far East less than a month—now they were being bombed, fighting man-man and dying. The first Canadian casualty was Winnipeg Grenadier John Grey—he missed the ferry ride from the mainland to the island and was captured and killed.

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