| The
Lingering Nightmares
In his book, "Royal Rifles of
Canada, A Short History", Arthur G. Penny quotes my father as the
source who provided him with the information that confirmed what
"hitherto had been nothing more than an old soldier's tale, told
whenever two or three had gathered together socially", was a fact.
The "old soldier's story" was ... that as a result of
"D" Company of the Royal Rifles of Canada's failure to lay
down their arms at the appointed time of surrender on the afternoon of
December 25th, the Japanese, in retaliation, massacred the prisoners in
St. Stephen's Hospital. And Penny says of a statement made by Rifleman
Beebe which read, "without any apparent reason the Japanese
bayoneted the wounded ....", Penny says, "The reason for this
outrage, though not clear to Beebe, is to be found in the continued
resistance, described elsewhere, that "D" Company, (Royal
Rifles), disregarded the official capitulation of the island
defenses":
My father carried the burden of that
guilt with him forever after. He believed that the fault was his. A
simple time check will show that "D" Company's failure to lay
down their arms had nothing to do with the massacre of the wounded. The
murders of the wounded and the staff of St. Stephen's Hospital took
place over 11 hours earlier, at about 08:00 hrs. Christmas morning. The
facts are clear, the Japanese had no excuse, nor did they need one..
A Need to Know and to
Remember
The Japanese people may have little, if
any, idea what horrendous acts were commited by some of their men in
uniform. They have a right to know, and a need to remember.
These acts were committed far from Japan, in lands far away, on people
they knew little about, but were committed in their name.
The Canadian people have little, if any, idea what horrendous acts were
perpetrated against their men in uniform. They have a right to know, and
a need to remember. It took tremendous courage and determination to live
in a Japanese prison camp, under cruel Japanese domination.
Hard Facts About the Battle
of Hong Kong
More than 550 Canadians died in the
battle for Hong Kong, or in the 44 months of captivity which followed.
It is possible to suffer a worse fate than to die in battle, on the
field. Death came very slowly to prisoners in the hands of the
Japanese. It came through torture, mental and physical, beatings,
starvation, malnutrition, disease or neglect. It came about
because a Japanese guard felt like having a good time. It came in
the form of an industrial accident, or being worked to death in slave
camps.
A prisoner was 7 times more likely to die in Japanese captivity than as
a soldier fighting on the battle field. The death rate in European
prison camps, from all causes, was four percent. The death rate in
a Japanese prison camp was a staggering twenty-seven percent.
The number of Canadian soldiers who died in Japanese prison camp
numbered 267, almost as many as were killed during the battle.
Another 200 died prematurely due to health problems acquired while in
captivity..
Sai Wan Bay Memorial
Cemetery |