A Shortage of Medicine at Yokohama

Heroes Remember

A Shortage of Medicine at Yokohama

In Yokohama, I don’t know what we had available but I don’t think it was very much because I don’t know of anybody that had it really, they’d bring in some things that were to combat something like when I told you about the worms, there was an outbreak of that and they brought in a medicine for that. And there was a few other things that they would bring medicine in for. At other times, a couple of times this happened a whole load of doctors would come in and they would be one and you’d go, you’d have to march from one to the other, one would pump something in and one would take something out and nobody had a clue what it was they were doing. I think I only had one medical I think the whole time I was there and I guess that was for their information more than ours, oh and I think they gave us TB tests, I think they did too. I believe the worse cases of beri beri, I think some of them got the odd shot of vitamin B but, as I say, I never saw any medicine the whole time I was over there or at least I never got any.

Mr. Gerrard indicates that medicine was in very short supply at Yokohama camp, although in extreme cases such as worms and beri beri, medications might be administered.

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.