It Sounds Like the Place is Afire.

Heroes Remember

It Sounds Like the Place is Afire.

Transcript

I remember that night, I heard crackling, I said, “What the hell, there’s a fire on in here.” He says, “What?” I says, “It sounds like the place is afire.” So, anyway, I was sleeping on that side of the camp there, up above, and anyway, all of a sudden I heard screeching and the camp collapsed. I was thrown right out the door, the side of the building. The logs let go there, anyway, there when it collapsed, there were fellows on there, a fellow by the name of Ted [Sawsa], one of the Sawsa boys got crushed there. There was one log, there was a fellow under, and I went and if I had of tried to lift the log the next day I wouldn’t have been able. I lifted it with fright to get the fellow from under it. I just forget his name but . . . what a horror that night. It was frightful.

Description

Mr. Hunt describes the collapse of his barracks at Niigata, and an act of unnatural strength to rescue a trapped comrade .

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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