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Description
Mr. Castonguay describes why it was important to defend Hong Kong. The men felt, even after the war, that they were sacrificed by being stationed in Hong Kong. They were aware of how important it was to hold the enemy back for those critical two weeks.
Bernard Castonguay
Bernard Castonguay est né à Montréal, au Québec, le 9 février 1921. Il était le quatrième d'une famille de 11 enfants. Son père était monteur de tuyaux à vapeur pour la Canadian Pacific Railway. M. Castonguay a quitté la maison à l'âge de 16 ans, à la recherche d'aventure. Il a travaillé comme bûcheron et à la construction des chemins de fer. En 1940, incapable de trouver du travail, M. Castonguay s'est rendu à Québec pour s'enrôler dans le Royal Rifles of Canada. Il fut envoyé à Gander, à Terre-Neuve, où il fut signaleur et sentinelle. On l'envoya ensuite à Saint John, au Nouveau-Brunswick. À Hong Kong, M. Castonguay fut fait prisonnier par les Japonais et envoyé au camp de prisonniers de guerre (Omeni) de Nagasaki, au Japon, pour travailler dans une mine de charbon. Après son service, M. Castonguay a travaillé pour l'Institut national canadien pour les aveugles (INCA). Il devint par la suite directeur régional de l'INCA. Il fut également bénévole pour le Conseil canadien des aveugles.
Transcription
We were very ignorant us Canadians I think you know, we didn't know. One thing we knew that there was a big fort, Fort Stanley. And they had guns of all size there, 9.2's and all that. And they were going shooting every day. And we thought we had a good defence but those guns were shooting too far. One day it got closer to us as these big guns were worthless you see, so we had to fight. And it was quite the fight, day, everyday, day after day. And we are sometimes you know we were wondering why we were sent there. And very often, even after the war, we said that we were sacrificed there. And we were doomed in advance. But the war was all over the world. And in that part it was as important that we hold back the enemy as long as possible. And we were able to hold them back over two weeks, which was very important and many people don't know that. So we are very proud of that. And that was a very, as I said, something worthwhile.