Individual Report: B81614 William PEARCE

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Warrant Officer II	William	Richard
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Toronto ON	Central Ontario	1904-06-03
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:
	Brigade Headquarters

Transportation - Home Base to Hong Kong

Members of 'C' Force from the East travelled across Canada by CNR troop train, picking up reinforcements enroute. Stops included Valcartier, Montreal, Ottawa, Armstrong ON, Capreol ON, Winnipeg, Melville SK, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, and Vancouver, arriving in Vancouver on Oct 27 at 0800 hrs.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers and the local soldiers that were with Brigade Headquarters from Winnipeg to BC travelled on a CPR train to Vancouver.

All members embarked from Vancouver on the ships AWATEA and PRINCE ROBERT. AWATEA was a New Zealand Liner and the PRINCE ROBERT was a converted cruiser. "C" Company of the Rifles was assigned to the PRINCE ROBERT, everyone else boarded the AWATEA. The ships sailed from Vancouver on Oct 27th and arrived in Hong Kong on November 16th, having made brief stops enroute at Honolulu and Manila.

Equipment earmarked for 'C' Force use was loaded on the ship DON JOSE, but would never reach Hong Kong as it was rerouted to Manila when hostilities commenced.

On arrival, all troops were quartered at Nanking Barracks, Sham Shui Po Camp, in Kowloon.

Battle Information

We do not have specific battle information for this soldier in our online database. For a detailed description of the battle from a Canadian perspective, visit Canadian Participation in the Defense of Hong Kong (published by the Historical Section, Canadian Military Headquarters).

Wounded Information

No wounds recorded.

Hospital Information

Name of hospital	Date of admission	Date of discharge	Comments	Reference
HK-BMH	09/19/1942	10/06/1942	Died while in hospital	118

POW Camps

Camp ID	Camp Name	Location	Company	Type of Work	Arrival Date	Departure Date
HK-SA-02	Shamshuipo	Kowloon, Hong Kong			42 Sep 26	42 Oct 05

Other Military or Public Service

No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.

Death and Cemetery Information

Date of Death (y-m-d)	Cause of Death	Death Class
1942-10-06	Acute heart failure	Died while POW
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Cape Collinson Road Chai Wan Hong Kong China	Sai Wan War Cemetery	VIII. E. 5.	CWGC CWGC- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Hong Kong & Japan graves) Engraved- the actual headstone has HK or RRC or WG, etc. engraved on the stone Last Post- VAC program Yes- someone has purchased a gs marker for this person UGF- application already submitted or anticipate applying for Unmarked Grave Fund ND- family does not desire Blank- no data

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

William Richard Pearce- Rank Warrant Officer Class 11 Deceased age: 38 Enlistment: September 7, 1939 Toronto, Ontario
Born in Devonshire, United Kingdom Son of William Charles and Mary Pearce; husband of Mary M. Pearce, of Toronto, Ontario

Son of William Chamberlain Pearce and Harriet Mary Langdon. Husband of Mary May Hall, of Toronto, Ontario. Father of Leslie Hall Chamberlain, Richard William, Claudette and Garret Michael Pearce. Brother of Private Charles Pearce, who fought in Europe with the Canadian Army. He survived the war. Served for three years at the Lord Strathcona Horse at Tuxedo Barracks in Winnipeg, Manitoba, enlisted in the 1st Bridge Company of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, fought in Hong Kong with Force C. He had 1,121 days of service, including 344 overseas.
Citation(s): 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp.
Canadian Virtual War Memorial

The Sai Wan War Cemetery holds those who were killed during the Battle of Hong Kong or died later as prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation, including 173 members of 'C' Force. The remains of those who died as prisoners in Formosa (now Taiwan) were brought to Hong Kong for burial at Sai Wan in 1946. There are 1,505 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Sai Wan War Cemetery. 444 of the burials are unidentified.
At the entrance to the cemetery stands the Sai Wan Memorial bearing the names of more than 2,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died in the Defence of Hong Kong or subsequently in captivity and who have no known grave.
Ref: Includes excerpts from Veterans Affairs Canada.

General Comments

William Richard Pearce- Rank Warrant Officer Class 11 Deceased age: 38 Enlistment: September 7, 1939 Toronto, Ontario

Born in Devonshire, United Kingdom Son of William Charles and Mary Pearce; husband of Mary M. Pearce, of Toronto, Ontario

DEAD CANUCK'S LETTER HELD 4 YEARS BY JAPS

"Give the children a nice Christmas." This was the message in a letter received today by his wife from Sergt. William Richard Pearce who died in a Hong Kong prison camp on Oct. 6, 1942. "The letter was written on Nov. 21, 1941, three days after he arrived in Hong Kong." Mrs. Pearce said. "The envelope was marked, 'Detained in Japanese hands from Dec. 19, 1941, to Sept. 19, 1945'."

An official message to Mrs. Pearce relayed through Tokyo informed her that her husband had died from a heart ailment. "But I don't believe it." she said today. "He was in perfect physical condition when he enlisted and there was nothing wrong with his heart."

Mrs. Pearce said all letters and parcels she sent after the fall of Hong Kong were returned. Today's letter was the only direct word she had from her husband since he sailed from Canada. It was written in lead pencil on plain white paper and came by ordinary mail. "I will treasure the letter always," she said today.

In addition to his widow, Sergt. Pearce is survived by four children, Leslie, 13, Richard, 12, Claudette, 8, and Garnett, 5. Garnett was only 18 months old when his father left for the Far East. The family lives on Campbell Ave.

Links and Other Resources

There may be more information on this individual available elsewhere on our web sites - please use the search tool found in the upper right corner of this page to view sources.

Additional Notes

(These will not be visible on the printed copy)

Service numbers for officers ("X") are locally generated for reporting only. During World War II officers were not allocated service numbers until 1945.
'C' Force soldiers who died overseas are memorialized in the Books of Remembrance and the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, both sponsored by Veterans Affairs Canada. Please use the search utility at VAC to assist you.
Some birthdates and deathdates display as follows: 1918-00-00. In general, this indicates that we know the year but not the month or day.
Our POW camp links along with our References link (near the bottom of the 'C' Force home page) are designed to give you a starting point for your research. There were many camps with many name changes. The best resource for all POW camps in Japan is the Roger Mansell Center for Research site.
In most cases the rank displayed was the rank held before hostilities. Some veterans were promoted at some point prior to eventual post-war release from the army back in Canada. When notified of these changes we'll update the individual's record.
Images displayed on the web page are small, but in many cases the actual image is larger. Hover over any image and you will see a popup if a larger version is available. You can also right-click on some images and select the option to view the image separately. Not all images have larger versions. Contact us to confirm whether a large copy of an image in which you are interested exists.
The 'From' information box at the top of the report represents the enlistment location unless we have obtained updated information pinpointing where the member lived.
In some cases the References displayed as part of this report generate questions because there is no indication of their meaning. They were inherited with the original database, and currently we do not know what the source is. We hope to solve this problem in future.
We have done our best to avoid errors and omissions, but if you find any issues with this report, either in accuracy, completeness or layout, please contact us using the link at the top of this page.
Photos are welcome! If a photo exists for a 'C' Force member that we have not included, or if you have a higher quality copy, please let us know by using the Contact Us link at the top of this page. We will then reply, providing instructions on submitting it.