I had Never Heard Tell of Hong Kong.

Heroes Remember

I had Never Heard Tell of Hong Kong.

Transcript

And we landed in Vancouver. It was in the afternoon. And we started to board what they call on to this Awatea, a New Zealand ship, or an Australian ship, but I think it was New Zealand. Anyway, they started to put us aboard and there's some of the fellows kind of didn’t want to get on board the ship, because all they said was, they had aboard that ship was mutton, not too good food or something. And some of them refused to get on and they got off the boat, and I don’t know what happened, but anyway, as I was going overseas, and I had volunteered to go overseas, I figured I was gonna go anyway. So we went aboard and the ship was all fixed up with plywood. Everything was, beautiful ship, but they had fixed it all up with plywood not to be spoiled, you know. And fellas, the real fellas that had the priority living in the ship, like on the upper decks and everything, was our officers. But we were confined down in the hold, and we had hammocks to sleep on. Anyway, in the morning, it was a beautiful morning, we started out and we started away and the first thing we started to lose sight of shore and we took off. Now we didn’t know where we were going, and half of us... Now me, I had never heard tell of Hong Kong. Hong Kong to me was, was maybe China, I had heard a lot about China, but Hong Kong, I had never heard about Hong Kong. I’ll tell you the God Almighty’s truth, I didn’t know nothing about Hong Kong. Anyway, we left and we figured we were going maybe to Tubruk, to go and reinforce the English army, the 8th Army or something but nobody knew where we were going. Maybe the officers, and I doubt it, because I don’t think they knew themselves where they were going. Anyway, the first thing I was on guard duty watching for submarines and I don’t know why because if they had’ve sunk us we were all drowned anyway, because all we had was a little, a little ferry boat, more or less, following us with a cannon welded on the rear end. They called it the Prince Rupert or something like that, and half of the time we didn’t see it because it would go down the waves and we wouldn’t see it. But anyway, we were aboard this troop ship. And this morning around four o’clock I could see this beacon light shining. One of the sailors come to me. I said, “What’s that light?” He said, “That’s Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu.” “Ah,” I said. “Yes,” he said, “yeah, we’re gonna dock there.” It was on a Sunday morning. He said, “We’ll be in there about in three hours, three or four hour time.” True enough, we docked there. So we went in the harbour and it was marked (inaudible), something like “Welcome.” Anyway, we went into the harbour and they tied up, and not far from us was a couple of big Japanese ships with all those Japanese aboard. And I figured they must have known that the war was, there was something brewing. But anyway, we weren’t allowed to get off the boat. So we stayed on the boat all day. And a couple of those big fat hulu girls come down on the wharf with their skirts and they danced around and everything. Some fellas found it funny, others found it not too funny, you know. We were young, and anyway. That evening we started off and then we took off again. And I think we must have been fifteen days before we hit the Philippines, and then we landed in Manila. And when we landed in Manila, I’ll never forget, the Americans had three or four submarines tied up here, three or four tied up there, everything was tied up, there was like if they weren’t expecting war or nothing. So anyway, we stayed in the Philippines about a day and a night and the next day we started off and we landed in Hong Kong.

Description

Mr. Murphy describes his voyage from Victoria, British Columbia, to the Hong Kong colony.

Leo Murphy

Leo Murphy was born September 3, 1919 in New Richmond, Quebec, where he grew up and completed his elementary education by 1931. He was one of nine children. Before enlistment he was a day labourer working in a sawmill, construction, excavation, farming, and a lumber camp. Mr. Murphy enlisted with the Royal Rifles on Nov 25, 1940, and took his basic training in Newfoundland and Val Cartier, Quebec. He was overseas for four years, spending all but the first three months as a POW in Hong Kong and Japan. The emotional impact of the Hong Kong deployment started early for Mr. Murphy, when on the same day his brother was killed beside him and he took the life of a Japanese soldier. During his captivity, he suffered from beri-beri, dysentry, pellagra, had his foot crushed in a mining accident, and developed liver problems. At the time of his liberation, he was a mining coal in Omini, Japan, as a slave labourer. Mr. Murphy arrived back in Canada in October, 1945 and was discharged February 5, 1946. From 1947 to 1960, he was employed as a brakeman with the Canadian National Railroad. Mr. Murphy was married on Sept 1, 1947, to Yvette Savoie. He died March 26, 2001.

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