Hong Kong POW

Heroes Remember

Hong Kong POW

Transcript

We weren't in the immediate area where they landed but we were told that it was just a farce. There was only about 18 soldiers who got aboard according to the information that first came to us and not to worry about it. It was just a, you know a day's cleanup and everything would be back to normal, which was anything but the truth. But more than that, we learned from experience that the Japanese had been infiltrating the Island long before the war started. They were, when we were in (inaudible) we would see many, many funerals a day. And of course, the funeral party would come across onto the Island without, very little inspection because the, you know, the dead are very (inaudible) respected by the authority. And we found out after that a lot of their arms would come over in the caskets, no bodies and they were up in the grave, in the cemetery And from there they landed and of course they headed straight for the cemetery and came out with their mortars and etc, etc and, so that was where we were caught very much off guard. I wasn't captured. I had to surrender. There was myself and about five that weren't, that didn't run into the troops until after the pamphlets were dropped and a, we had to make our way to what was called, Happy Valley but I never thought it was very happy. Interviewer: What do you recall about that area, Happy Valley and Well, I think that was the most frightening experience I ever had because we arrived, I'd say 36 hours after the surrender and we had commandeered a little van. We got there and there were, everyone was drunk, the soldiers. And the, the abuse that the children and the Chinese people were receiving was really quite alarming. And even ourselves, we were anything but treated with any respect. And I think one of the things that disturbed me mostly was that a, the one thing, they always took all your jewellery and they took all your wallet and papers and that out, but it was really difficult to accept when they would take the pictures of your wife or your family out and either urinate on them and or cut them up and you know, just really try to draw you into a response. And I guess it was about 3 hours of that and it was, it was really very disturbing. I never thought I'd get out of that. But that was the most stressful time, I think.

Description

Mr. Purse recalls the day the Japanese troops arrived in Hong Kong.

Ross Purse

Ross Purse was born in Roland, Manitoba on September 10, 1918. He has one brother and five sisters in what he describes as a close-knit family. Their father died when Ross was just 10 years old. He enlisted with the Winnipeg Grenadiers within hours of Canada declaring war on Germany in September, 1939. Following training in Winnipeg, he was sent to Jamaica in defence of the island and for duty at prisoner of war camps for captured Germans. He returned to Winnipeg and was put aboard a train travelling west, eventually arriving in Vancouver from where he and his comrades sailed for the British colony of Hong Kong.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:17
Person Interviewed:: Ross Purse
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Winnipeg Grenadiers

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Date modified:: 2019-04-03