May 4th, 1915 – February 3rd, 1995
I also hope to give them some sense of importance, as their survival proves that they possess, to a marked degree, the soldierly qualities of courage and endurance and are not lacking in native intelligence. The majority, given sympathetic understanding by the government re-establishment agencies and the opportunity of employment by private individuals, will adjust themselves and continue to make a worthwhile contribution to our Canadian society.
The public, however, mostly see the boys that have returned from Hong Kong now fat and prosperous looking. They may say, “Look! They are well off.” They seldom see those who are in hospital and sanatoriums taking treatment for blindness and paralysis and other diseases caused by malnutrition.
A great deal was taken out of all the prisoners. They were the lost men of the Lost Battalions. They lost everything; their liberty, contact with loved ones, health, self-respect, human dignity – everything! All they had left was an ingrained desire to live so that they might defeat the intention of the Jap, to crush them. And that some day, somehow, they would again see their loved ones and recapture the happiness they once knew.
Aided by modern surgery, wounds of the body heal quickly, but the wounds to the human spirit take a much longer time to heal and leave deep scars. Four long years of disease and starvation, four long years of abuse and humiliation - four long years when every decent conception of human relationship went into the discard, it will take time for such wounds to heal and as I have said there will always be scars.