Help From A Japanese Guard

Heroes Remember

Help From A Japanese Guard

Transcript

Then we were put on a barge, down on the water, a big barge and taken over to Sham Shui Po. The British were already there, a lot of them, and it was in a mess, of course. The Chinese in the meantime, in behind the... had been stripping the place which you could hardly blame them, I suppose. But anyway, it was in a mess, the windows were gone, a lot of the wiring was gone. Oh boy, oh boy... anyway. I can tell you a funny part of this war now, so the British, there were Indians, the Punjabs, another Indian battalion, the British and us all squeezed in there, you know and fighting for, I suppose the senior officers, for the best place and this that and the other, and they didn’t have a very good barbed wire fence around. I have a suspicion that the troops that they were guarding us with at that time were Formosan soldiers who were not first line, who had been fighting us, maybe or maybe not I don’t know. It’s my impression. Anyway, Buck Walker and I, Lieutenant Buck Walker, Captain Buck Walker walked along the fence just to get wandering, around looking around and we were over by the seashore thing and there is quite a drop down and here is a whole lot of Chinese people and they’re bringing along little biscuits wrapped up in paper, God knows, candies, kum sha kum sha, they want money trying to make a nickel or two I suppose, and so we were looking at them and a fellow had to look. We were pretty hungry by now, a pocket of something or other and we might like it, and Buck was saying, “How much?” you know. And, of course, we had some money but the Japanese sentry was standing right here with his fixed bayonet. He nudged Buck, of course he couldn’t speak, handed him his bloody rifle and bayonet and he said to the china man, “Send that thing up here,” which the Chinese did and we threw him down some money and he gave us these cake, two little cakes and give him back his rifle and bayonet. Can you imagine?

Description

Mr. White describes an amusing experience involving some local peddlers and a helpful Japanese guard.

Harry Leslie White

Harry Leslie White was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, on May 24, 1907. His family emigrated to Winnipeg, Canada, in 1911. His father, a First World War Veteran, became a policeman. After finishing grade 6, Mr. White had numerous jobs to help support his family. He did some reserve training and was also taught to box by his father. After being turned down by the air force, Mr. White joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers for basic training in Kingston, Jamaica. Here he also helped guard a POW camp holding German and Italian naval personnel. Once in Hong Kong, he joined E Company. Mr. White was captured, but unlike so many others, spent his entire time as a POW in Hong Kong, working on the Kai Tek airport. After the war, Mr. White established an orchard, and later returned to Eatons, where he had worked prior to the war.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:45
Person Interviewed:: Harry Leslie White
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Hong Kong
Battle/Campaign:: Hong Kong
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Winnipeg Grenadiers
Rank:: Lieutenant

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Help From A Japanese Guard

Heroes Remember