Self Defense at the Foundry

Heroes Remember

Self Defense at the Foundry

Transcript

Interviewer: How long did you work in the foundry? Oh I worked there pretty near two years. And they were making crank shafts and things for the war and I had to work. I was fine at that and then they come and they want to clean the furnaces, they take me and put me down there with seven Japs. One fellow caught me across the back and he knocked me down with a shovel. So I got mad and I had a shovel and I took him and I laid him. I said a few curses and I said, "Get up and your head's coming off!" It happened a Jap come and jumped in between, "Who hit first?" They asked the Jap, the Jap said, "The Jap hit first!" Alright, he took him, he gave him an awful going over, he never told me a word. But if he hit me hard, I hit him harder. If he got up, I was cutting his head off with the shovel. It comes that you don't care if you're going to die, you know, you're pretty near dead as it is.

Description

Mr. Devouge describes his work environment at the foundry. He then describes being assaulted with a shovel by a Japanese worker.

Cecil Devouge

Cecil Devouge, the eldest of eight children, was born in Belle Anse, Quebec in 1913. As the eldest in the family, he was required to work with his father cutting pulp to support his family, and thus never attended school. After working on his own for as little as a dollar a day, he enlisted in July, 1940 in Gaspe at the request of a recruiter for the Royal Rifles. One month later he was married. Before going overseas to Hong Kong, Mr. Devouge spent time in several maritime military bases; St. John and Sussex, New Brunswick, and St. John's, Newfoundland. After the Hong Kong garrison surrendered, he became a POW, eventually being sent to Japan to work as slave labour in the Niigata foundry. After the war, Mr. Devouge returned to his home in Gaspe.

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