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The Kamloops Kid

Heroes Remember

The Kamloops Kid

Transcript
We had with us in a way his name was, we called him The Kamloops Kid. He was a Canadian Japanese who apparently had been treated pretty roughly on the CPR doing a bus boy job or something or other and he hated the Canadians. Oh boy he was... the guy was off his head a little bit, I do think. But, anyway, he comes flashing in carrying his great big sword, three or four rifle bayonet sentries with him and he’d slap at anybody or give them a crack with his bloody sword, or the sentries, he’d get the sentries to hit him with the butt of the rifle. I didn’t see too much of it other than I know he would come clumping through the huts where we were and yell and talk, or try to talk to us. He could talk English, of course, and tell us what poor swine we were, etc. etc.. He was very bad. We were out on parade and this was not the first month or so, this was in Sham Shui Po. He was there with us. We were on parade and there were two or three men very, very ill, and John Norris, that was the man I wanted as the quartermaster. John Norris was there. It was his hut who was responsible for one or two men being absent. He was out on parade, he had to get in front of the whole parade, whole battalion and the Royal Rifles, and call him to the front and he would raise hell about him and then he started to beat him up, knocked him down, picked him up, kicked him, great big sluggish boots on, and really did a lot of damage to Norris and then he turned around to Tim Atkinson was the brigade major for the Royal Rifles, for the brigade actually. He was a royal rifleman and well they started to plaster him and kick him around and kicked him in the leg. He had a bad leg anyway. That was pretty bad for them, you know. They did get over it, but whether he hit some of the others, I don’t know. As a matter of fact my idea, I didn’t know if I could take it if he stood me up and started to hit me whether I would hit back or not, you know. I knew it would be a damn dangerous thing to do so I’d keep out of his way if I knew he or the sentries were coming, I’d get the hell out of the way. So I didn’t personally get up against them at all.
Description

Mr. White describes a notorious and extremely abusive Japanese guard, aka the Kamloops Kid, a Japanese Canadian who returned home to help with Japan’s war effort.

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:
3:14
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

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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