Web Contents:
HKVCA Web Help:
External Links:
Veterans Affairs
Canada
VAC-Veterans Independence Program
War Amps
Military and Related Sites
BOD Only (password required)
Recent Additions
(additions will be listed below for about a month, newest at the top, then moved to the appropriate category elsewhere on the page).
Listen to wartime messages from POWs and an excellent interview with the daughter of Joseph Frenette RRC, Mona Thornton, on Peach City Radio (look for "Messages from a Prisoner of War").
Scroll down for Site Links and
Media Links
Please note: this page is checked from time to time for broken
external links. If a link is broken it will be deleted along with
accompanying information.
Submissions
Several members or members' families have submitted articles, poems and other documents which are available below. Entries are listed in order received with the latest one last in the list.
Canada's part in the Defence of Hong Kong
Prisoner of War by Liana Frenette
Pte Ronald Beacroft by Gary Beacroft
The Veterans of Hong Kong - Parliament Statement
Canada’s Recipients of the Victoria Cross by Ron McGuire
Oriental Odyssey (Poems) by Sid Varcoe H6725 (Files are images, so are slow to load)
Hong Kong Vet Bob Clayton Remembers Four Years of Hell - interview by Mary Ann Goheen (moved to historical accounts in Jan '11)
Memorial Services in Hong Kong Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of "C" Force - Murray Doull
Speech by David Frenette, Great Grandson of John Edward James, H 6912, Winnipeg Grenadiers
Statement about Canada's Hong Kong veterans and the Memorial Wall by The Honourable Vivian Poy to the Senate - 8 Dec '09 (PDF)
Winnipeg Grenadiers Honoured in Names
Throughout the Whiteshell
by Vince Lopata.
(See also our 'C'
Force site for more.)
Lt Col George Trist - Winnipeg Grenadiers. Submitted by Roy Simmons, nephew.
Anna May Waters "In May 1940, May Waters was appointed to the nursing service, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corp. (RCAMC) and in October 1941, she left Canada with another nursing sister, Kay Christie and “C” Force Battalion to serve in Hong Kong..."
Thomas Carcary - Winnipeg Grenadiers. Submitted by Donald Alexander Carcary, first cousin.
"Thank God It's Over - interview with Claude Corbett in Mapleridge/Pittmeadows Times
Hong Kong Reunion - Colin Standish. Colin retraces the steps of his grandfather, Colin Alden Standish, RRC.
Marilyn Wright, daughter of Capt. Blaver, RRC - Commemorative Brick
Communique - The Hong Kong Veterans Memorial Wall - Linda Stewart, Nov '09
Shortwave recordings of Pte Downie, WG and images.
Nov 2011 - I Remember by Austen Cambon
8 December 2011: Japan Apologizes For Treatment of Hong Kong POWs.
Army Cadet History: Page of photos showing the Hong Kong Veterans in Hong Kong when Prime Minister Chretian was on a visit to Southeast Asia. Also shows the Winnipeg Grenadier Cadet Corps at Sai Wan Cemetery for the wreath laying ceremony.
Audio/Video Interviews
Heroes
and Heartbreak - Ray Zinck, Interviews of Six Veterans in Hong Kong - Dec
06 (Audio)
Interview with Phil Doddridge and Derrill
Henderson - Maritime Morning - Radio Station
News 95.7 Halifax
The
Manitoba Museum - In 1971, the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature
(as it was then known) in Winnipeg interviewed over 150 members of
the Winnipeg Grenadiers who survived Hong Kong. 90 of the interviews
have been converted to MP3 digital format and have been made
available to HKVCA for educational purposes and for use on our web
site. Each interview is typically between 10 and 50 MB in size. If
you wish to know more, please contact the
HKVCA Web Admin.
Our thanks to the
Manitoba Museum for making these interviews available.
Interviews currently available on
our site. List of interviewees
Peter Silverman, a Toronto TV and radio personality,
recorded a video
with John Stroud, Jim MacMillan and George MacDonell in 2007
Veterans
Affairs Interviews - Veterans
Affairs Canada - visit the
Heroes Remember web site to view videos of approximately 35 Hong
Kong veterans. Eventually the site will have about 115 interviews.
"I am Remembered... Canada's Hong Kong Veterans" - War Amps Video
Site Links
- Sidney Arthur Vale - In Memoriam
- Canada's Hong Kong Veterans:
The Compensation Story - from the War Amps site (DVD and PDF) -
VAC Site -
- 55th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Hong Kong prisoners of war
- Photos and the Blog from 60th Anniversary of Victory in the Far East
- Canadian Veterans Hall of Valour: as of June 06, there are five "C" Force inductees with three more next year and at least one each year in the future
- Centre for Research- Allied POWs Under the Japanese - Roger Mansell. This is an impressive site, well worth a visit.
- Photos and Text: Camp Nigata 5b.
- C.O.F.E.P.O.W: The Children (& Families) of the Far East Prisoners of War
- Dicken Medal Presentation - Oct 2000: Accounts of the ceremony and of "Rimshot" the canine stand-in.
Media Links
The following are perishable links and may not work due to target page deletion.
Newspapers and Magazines
- They Also Serve Who Stand and Wait - Article from the Winnipeg Free Press of 2 March 2009, submitted by Barry Mitchell
- Article on Hong Kong from Pilot Mound Sentinel Courier, Apr '09
- Winnipeg Free Press: (7 July '09) Cost of WWII memorial doubles
- Canadian Press Wire: (8 July '09) Red tape in Ottawa increases cost of Canadian Hong Kong veterans memorial
- Winnipeg Free Press: Japan's Apology Overdue (9 July '09)
- Winnipeg Free Press: Remembering the Forgotten Men
- Unsung Heroes by Matthew Fisher, Toronto Sun
- Winnipeg Free Press: Their War Will Soon Be Over
- Times Colonist Article 8 May 05- "For PoW in Japan, there was little joy" Thoughts of Larry Stebbe (Material reprinted with the express permission of "National Post Company", a CanWest Partnership)
- Remember Canadians' Sacrifice in Hong Kong - by Jim Hume, Times Colonist, 6 Dec '09 The Too-Forgotten War Dead - Globe and Mail, 6 Dec '09
- Granite Memorial Recalls Hong Kong Sacrifices -Legion Magazine, 'Nov 09
- "Heads Held High" The Battle of Hong Kong 1941 and Beyond: Essay by Darleen Keith written Apr 2008. Reproduced with permission.
- Verna
Pearson and the Memory Quilt - Honouring Second World War Veterans
Article from KV Weekend | Article from Kings County Record -
Articles from the Pilot Mound Sentinel - the vets from Pilot Mound - interviews and memories. Reproduced on this site with permission.
-
Remembrance Service in Hong Kong, from Scouting Life Magazine (PDF). Courtesy: Scouting Life Magazine, Scouts Canada
-
Gander to Guard Belledune's Hong Kong War Memorial (from The Tribune, Campbellton, NB 20 May 2011
(PDF)
TV/Video
- CTV - Canadian Vets Mark 60th Anniversary of V-J Day
- "LiveLeak" Web: For King and Country - six-part video focused on the Battle of Hong Kong by Breakthrough Films previously shown on the History Channel. Requires at least version 6 of the Flash Player. Thanks to Vince for finding this gem.
- CBC
Archives:
- Canadians Captured in Hong Kong Receive Compensation (video clip and background information)
- Hong Kong Veterans Seek Redress from Japan (video clip featuring Cliff Chadderton and John Stroud)
- Hong Kong Veterans Award Bravery Medal to Dog (audio clip describing award of Dicken Medal to Sgt Gander)
- Japanese Attack Canadian Troops in Hong Kong (audio clip excerpt from Dec '72 episode of "Between Ourselves") Based in part on selected interviews of 150 HK vets (Winnipeg Grenadiers) conducted by the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature (now known as the Manitoba Museum)
- Video of the Canadian Remembrance Service - Dec 2009 - Sai Wan Cemetery, Hong Kong
- Savage Christmas: Hong Kong 1941 This is a documentary that you can watch online from the NFB website. It is part of the Valour and the Horror series, three controversial films on Canadian involvement in World War II.
Miscellaneous
HMS Thracian and Maj Parker - submitted by John Eckersley in Mar '09
Video of Japanese Surrender. (YouTube) This is an actual film made of the surrender ceremony of Japan to McArthur in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. Actual voice of the General.
Burke Penny's Blog - An occasional blog about the book, Beyond the Call, and the men of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in Hong Kong and Japan, 1941-45
If you would like to make a submission, please contact us.
