Description
The war ends with Mr. Routledge and his comrades at Canton prison. He explains how they guessed the war had ended, days before they were told.
Ronald John Routledge
Mr. Routledge was born September 1, 1920. His father, a decorator by trade, was a member of the Regina Rifles and served in the First World War. Mr. Routledge came from a family of four children. He had three sisters, one older and two younger. His father encouraged him to join the Regina Rifles Regiment cadet program when he was 14. After completing high school, shortly before Canada declared war on Germany, he enlisted with the Regina Rifles. He enlisted with the artillery but soon switched to the Canadian Corps of Signals and trained as a wireless operator. In October, 1941, he and 32 other members of the Signals Corp were told they were headed overseas. They boarded a vessel in Vancouver, not knowing until they were near the Philippines that they were heading for Hong Kong. They eventually arrived in Hong Kong and were assigned to barracks at Shamshuipo. Mr. Routledge was wounded when the Japanese made their first attack on Shamshuipo in December, 1942. After spending time in hospital, he returned to continue his service as a wireless operator. He was taken POW on Boxing Day after the commanding officer of the troops on the Stanley Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese. Following his release at the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), the second highest award for bravery in the British Empire. Mr. Routledge remained in the army as a career soldier.
Transcript
Before a few days that we were informed, we had gotten very accustomed to the, to distinguishing between the sound of a Japanese aircraft and an American aircraft, and we couldn't believe it when we heard so many what we thought anyway, and turned out to be correct, American aircraft flying over, but they were not dropping shells or doing any bombing at all, but they were coming over quite low. And we later learned on, or learned that the Americans had dropped a note or notes over, right over the prison, addressed to the commander, commandant of the prison instructing them to release us. But I'll never forget when we were taken before the camp commandant and we were told that, by him, that the, his Gracious Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, had graciously granted the Allies a truce and if the terms of the truce were successful, we may be released.
Interviewer: What did you think when you heard that? Did you believe it?
I think, in the matter in which it was said to us by the commandant, we, we believed it. We weren't altogether, you know, we weren't satisfied that there weren't some junior people, junior to him, might not try to get us before we were freed, but we did. We made it alright.