Radio in a Wooden Leg

Heroes Remember

Radio in a Wooden Leg

Transcript

Interviewer: Did you have any way of knowing how the war was going outside the camp? Yes, one fellow had a radio and it was in his wooden leg. They never could find it and he'd tell us. They looked for that some, they never could find it, it was in his leg. He'd say when England was at peace, he told us. "We'll soon be clear now," he said. Then when they dropped the last bomb boy, it stopped them.

Description

Mr. Devouge describes a unique hiding place for a radio.

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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