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Description
While many Canadian prisoners at Sham Shui Po are sent off to work in the shipyards and coal mines in Japan, Mr. Routledge remains at the Hong Kong camp and is appointed to the position of second-in-charge of the Rations Party. He explains.
Transcription
I had been appointed as a member of the ration party. In fact, I was appointed to be the second in charge cause I was a sergeant and the officer in charge was a captain, and there were another five or six people on the ration party, but the, the ration party, when, when I speak of it as being a ration party, we had in Shamshuipo, a ration depot, that's what it was, it was a ration depot. And the Japanese used to bring a great many of their stores into the depot and then they were distributed to various places right around Hong Kong, right around the island from this storage depot. You can say that it was a job that was put to have cheap labour or no-pay labour for the, for the prisoners of war. And so that's what we used to do, so at, at the time that I had, had the....
Interviewer: Diphtheria?
...Diphtheria test, I was a member and second in charge of that ration party. Now, you know, I'm, I'm sure that the rations that we, ourselves, in Shamshuipo Camp, came from that storage area or storage building, but I'm sure also that the officer in charge was under supervision as to what would be dealt out to the various kitchens or kitchen, if you will, in the area to be, to take care of the prisoners of war there.