Description
Mr. Gerrard describes sabotaging the concrete used to extend the runway at Kai Tak airport, despite being under constant scrutiny by their guards.
Horace Gerrard
Although born in England on January 19, 1922, Mr. Gerrard's family emigrated to Red Deer, Alberta where his father died when he was six years old. Once he was old enough, he hunted game to help feed his family as well as cutting wood for heat. Mr. Gerrard left school after grade nine, working at odd jobs. He joined the 78th Field Battery as a reserve when he was sixteen. He later joined the permanent force in 1939 with the 5th Heavy Battery. Eventually Mr. Gerrard joined the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, with whom he served in Hong Kong. He worked with both British and Canadian battalions during the Battle of Hong Kong, before being taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Transcript
We were building believe it or not a runway for the planes, and it was really ridiculous in a way you were leveling the ground and then mixing concrete by hand and pouring it on this runway which would have never held a plane and I mean we knew that. They must have known that but that’s what we did and, of course, we put a lot of cement in one mix and no cement in the next one and this sort of thing when you could get away with it and, of course, you always had somebody with a rifle at your back wherever you went. That was about it, there was some rock hauling and carrying and drilling and breaking, there was some of that too.