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Military service
Service number:
H/6038
Age:
21
Rank:
Corporal
Force:
Army
Unit/Regiment:
Winnipeg Grenadiers, R.C.I.C.
Birth:
September 10, 1920
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Enlistment:
September 5, 1939
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Death:
December 19, 1941
Hong Kong
Burial/memorial information
Grave reference:
Column 25.
Additional information
Son of John Long Kelso and Mary Kelso, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Brother of Corporal Henry Kelso who died on December 19, 1941 while serving with the Winnipeg Grenadiers.
Digital gallery of Corporal John Robert Kelso
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Newspaper Clipping
In memory of the men and women memorialized on the pages of the Winnipeg Evening Tribune. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me -
Photo of John Kelso
Enlistment 1941 -
Memorial
Corporal HENRY KELSO and Corporal JOHN ROBERT KELSO were brothers and are two of 19 members of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps who are commemorated on this panel of the Sai Wan Memorial. They are two of the 290 Canadian soldiers killed during the defense of Hong Kong, from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. Both were killed in fighting on December 19, 1941 at Wong Nei Chong Gap. Corporal EWART GRENFELL STARRETT who name also appears on this panel was killed on the same day at Wong Nei Chong Gap. His brother Lance Corporal WILLIAM JAMES STARRETT was killed in the battle the next day. -
Newspaper Clipping
Corporal HENRY KELSO and Corporal JOHN ROBERT KELSO were reported to have been Killed in Action in the Canadian Army¿s 242nd overseas casualty list of the war published in the Globe and Mail on January 8, 1943. -
Dedicatory Inscription of the Sai Wan Memorial
Dedicatory inscription of the SAI WAN MEMORIAL. This memorial bears the names of more than 2,000 Commonwealth servicemen, including 228 Canadians. -
Canada and the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Canadian Casuatlies in the Defence of Hong Kong
Source: Veterans Affairs Canada. -
Unknown Marker
The Sai Wan Memorial is located at the entrance of Sai Wan Cemetery. 1,505 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War are buried or commemorated at this cemetery, of which 444 of the burials are the remains of unidentified soldiers, including those of 107 Canadian soldiers, most of whom were killed or died of wounds during the defense of Hong Kong, which took place from December 8th to December 25th, 1941. This is one such grave marker. There is a possibility that the remains of Corporal JOHN ROBERT KELSO lie beneath this grave marker, or one of the other 106 grave markers in Sai Wan Cemetery that simply read, A SOLDIER OF THE 1939-1945 WAR. A CANADIAN REGIMENT. KNOWN UNTO GOD. The unidentified soldiers are commemorated at the Sai Wan Memorial. -
Photo of JOHN ROBERT KELSO
In memory of those who served in Hong Kong during World War 11 and did not come home. Submitted with permission on behalf of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association by Operation: Picture Me. -
Photo of JOHN ROBERT KELSO
Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me -
Memorial
Remembering brothers lost … Brothers In Arms Memorial, Zonnebeke, BE … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens … May 2022
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
Digital gallery of
Corporal John Robert Kelso
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 34 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance.
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