Taken Prisoner

Heroes Remember

Taken Prisoner

Interviewer: So can you, can we continue now maybe with the....you're in Hong Kong and prisoner of war. Okay. I was captured and we, must have been several hundred of us started, we started marching up to the peak. A very tough march because we never, we had those same clothes on, we never had anything since, for 18 days or however long we were fighting, and not the proper food - dog biscuits and this sort of thing. Once in awhile we'd get into a home that had been evacuated and we'd find some liquor or something to eat or whatever. Well we got up to the top of the peak and it's about midnight, Christmas day, and the place, the building we were in was quite a big home I guess, but I kicked the bricks and stuff aside that had been bombed out, put my boots under my head and put my eyes down, and somebody had lit a candle and I thought you know, I've seen Christmas at better times and that candle reminds me of it. And I'm sure I just fell asleep, about maybe 10 minutes, "Everybody up!" and they marched us right back down to the bottom of the, of the. We went into another home and we were in, I don't know how many, but the room would be maybe 12 by 12, and we sat down and somebody else sat between our legs, between our legs, between our legs, and by the time they got finished they were jumping in to get in. We were so tight, and so crowded in there, and some people had to relieve themselves and that was the worst. They had to sit in it, we had to smell it. Interviewer: I can't imagine. We were about six days marching around Hong Kong, I don't know where or why, but marching and marching, and drinking water was a problem. There was viaducts coming down the drain, that threw the water off the mountain. Dead bodies floating through them, Chinese, and we're drinking it. You know I, somehow or another, I found in one of these homes, I got two cans of milk, that (inaudible ) milk, I forget what you call it, and it just made you thirstier.

Mr. McGee explains the tough marches up and down the mountain they did on Christmas. Also Describes the pointless marching they did and the water they had to drink.

John McGee

Mr. John McGee was born in Saskatchewan, on May 3, 1923, and comes from a family of two brothers and three sisters. He now resides in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and family. Mr. McGee joined the army and left for wartime service with a group of thirteen men. Although very excited to be going overseas, he recalls the sight of seeing young men jumping overboard when the ship began to sail; the fear of the unknown was causing many to turn back and stay at home! Mr. McGee was determined to go and serve his country. Mr. McGee shares with us his personal experience of being captured as a Hong Kong prisoner of war (POW) and hardships he endured at the camp. He considers himself very fortunate to be alive today, as many of his friends were left behind. After six years of serving in the army, Mr. McGee returned home to be what he terms an "Entrepreneur" buying a few hotels and later on getting into the sales business. Civilian life was a very positive outcome for a soldier who had endured such hard times and poor health during his time in the prisoner of war camps.