Description
Mr. Hurd discusses his officer's relief at the Hong Kong's surrender, as he had felt the battle was futile and would cost too many unnecessary deaths among his men. The Royal Rifles were, ironically, the last Commonwealth regiment to lay down their arms.
Lionel Hurd
Lionel Hurd was born on February 3, 1907 in Maple Leaf, P.Q. He was the eldest of three sons. After finishing school he went to work in a lumber yard, and then out to the gold mines in Kirkland Lake. In 1936 he became a surveyor. Despite being married with two children, Mr. Hurd enlisted in 1940, serving as a Captain at an internment camp near Quebec City. He then took a demotion to Lieutenant in order to join the Royal Rifles. Mr. Hurd was soon a Captain acting as regimental quartermaster. After the fall of Hong Kong, he was fortunate to be imprisoned with the other officers, thus avoiding much of the misery experienced by the non-commissioned ranks.
Transcript
Well I think I met Colonel Holm and he told me they’re going to surrender. I said, “I don’t know.” I looked at it they were going to kill us off anyway. I was wrong there. He was trying to get the brigadier to surrender before. He would say, “It’s useless us trying to carry on. We’re going to lose, we gotta make the best peace deal.” Of course he was in favor of that, he hated to see his men being killed off the way it was.
They came through that night, the Sunday night, Christmas Eve I guess it was, or Christmas Day, they came through with the white flag. The forces had been surrendered early afternoon and it was dark before we knew about it. We kept on fighting all we could. So we fought until… the Royal Rifles were the last people to surrender really as far as I know. The other part of the Island had already surrendered.
They came through that night, the Sunday night, Christmas Eve I guess it was, or Christmas Day, they came through with the white flag. The forces had been surrendered early afternoon and it was dark before we knew about it. We kept on fighting all we could. So we fought until… the Royal Rifles were the last people to surrender really as far as I know. The other part of the Island had already surrendered.
Metadata
Surrender
Medium
Video
Owner
Veterans Affairs Canada
War or Conflict Term
Second World War
Location/Theatre
Hong Kong
Campaign
Hong Kong
Person Interviewed
Lionel Hurd
Branch
Army
Units/Ship
Royal Rifles of Canada
Military Rank
Captain
Recorded
Duration
1:23
