Decision not to Cross the Bay

Heroes Remember

Decision not to Cross the Bay

Transcript

Working up on the Kai Tek Airport as you call it there. One day, the little push carts there, to go and empty the clay, to take clay . . . one day I took and I loosened the affair on the brakes and the little fellow that used to always get up in front and tell us when to stop and anyway went to stop the affair and the brakes wouldn’t catch and off he goes over the hill, Nandow creenaro!!, nandow creenaro!! I’ll tell you what I did. We was supposed to uh . . . there was me and three other fellows was wanting to leave and cross - there was a boat in by the shore and anyway they says, “Arnie, we want to take the boats and we’ll cross tonight.” Anyway, I went and I told Captain Price. Now I had went and I cut the barbwire and I told the two guys, “You watch and if you see the Japs coming just start whistling or singing.” So, anyway, I cut it good and I just placed the barbwire so they wouldn’t notice that it was cut and there I had finished it and come over and sit down on the old barracks that had burnt down and there was a Jap coming, a Jap guard. And I was picking up some grass and pretending I was eating it. “What are you doing there? That’s no good.” I says ... So, anyway, after that I went to Captain Price. He was a father to me, Captain Price. He was a real father. He says, “Arnie, stay here. Don’t go, you’re only gonna get shot. Do not go across the bay, you’ll get shot.” So, anyway, I didn’t go. But the other fellows went, they crossed the bay. But I guess one or two of them got shot. One fellow went to a missionary, the other side there, I guess he got through.

Description

Captain Price advises Mr. Hunt not to cross the bay as he will only get shot so he doesn’t go.

Arnold Joseph Hunt

Arnold Joseph Hunt was born in 1910 in the village of Pabos on the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. He was the eldest son in a family of 16. His father was a river guide, and as a boy Mr. Hunt would carry provisions upriver to the fishing camp for his father. He also worked cutting pulp and cooking in a lumber camp, earning 50 cents a day. Mr. Hunt enlisted with a French regiment, but transferred to the Royal Rifles, one of three brothers to do so. He describes his captivity and in particular the severe beatings he endured, as well as other brutality that he witnessed. He also describes a desperate effort to save a friend. Mr. Hunt questions both the Hong Kong deployment and Canada’s commitment to its Hong Kong Veterans.

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