Description
Mr. Whitman describes the optimism spawned by American air raids, and having to curb his enthusiasm in order to not irritate the guards.
Allan Whitman
Allan Whitman was born in Bridgeville, Manitoba on February 21, 1921. His father ran a general store in which he also worked. Feeling it was his duty, Mr. Whitman enlisted with the Winnipeg Grenadiers in September, 1939 and trained at Minto and Tuxedo Barracks. In Hong Kong, he fought in D Company until his capture. Mr. Whitman became ill with dysentery, and later beri-beri, the debilitating effects of which kept him in hospital in Hong Kong until the war ended.
Transcript
We started to get bombing raids, yeah. And they’d come in pretty low. They’d put windows in the hospital, in these two huts that they were using for a hospital. When the Swiss made a visit. And there was this one air raid that I was looking out to see what’s going on. I guess they were flying pretty low because the anti-aircraft fire... one of the shells landed on the hut right next to me. And the piece came through the window just above me and I quit looking. Interviewer: “What effect did those bombing raids have on the morale of the men that were in the camp? ”Ah, it was good. Very good. If I remember rightly, they threatened to shoot anymore people that got out and cheered. But you just made damn sure you were... didn’t antagonize them in any way. It was no fun... no profit in antagonizing a guard in a spot like that.