He had a Kitbag Full of Grenades

Heroes Remember

He had a Kitbag Full of Grenades

Transcript

You know, I’ll tell you the honest truth. It was about the craziest war I ever seen. We were going around in circles. We were shooting at the Japs and the Japs were shooting at us, and I believe we were shooting at some of our fellows, because we were all over the place, you know. And, one day we take a place and the next day we have to come back and the next day they would try to take it again, and all this time, you know, you didn’t have nothing to eat half of the time. You know, I went to, oh, I could write a book. I went three, four days without eating, and I wasn’t the only one. Where in the hell can you get something to eat in the woods and up in the mountains? And the Japs was pressing us and we were, we'd hold and then we’d get orders to retreat, and retreat another place and hold again. The fighting was that we’d hold a place and we’d spray them and then we’d go back the next day and try to take it and they'd chase us back and, you know, and that’s how my brother was killed. We went up this morning and we were, we all had breakfast together and they told us to go up and take that mountain, this mountain, this place. So we left and we went up there, but when we got up there about, maybe as far from here to the school, maybe a little closer, the Japs was all waiting for us, you know, they were waiting for us. But there was a kind of a hole like in this hill, you know, so I imagined one of the Japs got scared and fired before seeing the white of our eyes. And when he done that, he give the whole thing away. So we had a fellow by the name of Joe Fitzpatrick. He had a kitbag full of grenades. So he run up and got in the hole and started, he was a baseball pitcher, and he started pitching grenades. And when the grenades started exploding, the fire took in the woods and in the grass. So the Japs then, they had to take off their shirts and their coats and beat, try to beat the fire away from them, and that’s the time we rushed up and we killed quite a few. So finally we made a rush for the hill and we climbed the hill. And the Japs killed some of our men - killed my brother and killed Trites, the fellow with me on the machine gun, and wounded a couple more and then, well, there was quite a few dead Japs. They died on their knees and on their legs. So we spent all afternoon there, laying there, because the Japs was down below, you know. And, I could tell you something but I don’t know if I should, but I shot a Jap. But anyway, finally, we got orders that night to retreat, so we left our dead there amongst the Jap, and the next day we come down, and the next day they give us orders to go back again. Well, this time the Japs was waiting for us and we couldn't make it so we had to retreat. And they had something that we didn’t have. They had reinforcements. They would have a regiment or maybe a battalion and they’d change off. Maybe they would fight for a day or two and then they would have their replacement. Now we didn’t have that, us fellows.

Description

Mr. Murphy describes general fighting conditions in Hong Kong. He talks about close combat and its toll - his brother died beside him. And he becomes very emotional about having killed one of the enemy.

Leo Murphy

Leo Murphy was born September 3, 1919 in New Richmond, Quebec, where he grew up and completed his elementary education by 1931. He was one of nine children. Before enlistment he was a day labourer working in a sawmill, construction, excavation, farming, and a lumber camp. Mr. Murphy enlisted with the Royal Rifles on Nov 25, 1940, and took his basic training in Newfoundland and Val Cartier, Quebec. He was overseas for four years, spending all but the first three months as a POW in Hong Kong and Japan. The emotional impact of the Hong Kong deployment started early for Mr. Murphy, when on the same day his brother was killed beside him and he took the life of a Japanese soldier. During his captivity, he suffered from beri-beri, dysentry, pellagra, had his foot crushed in a mining accident, and developed liver problems. At the time of his liberation, he was a mining coal in Omini, Japan, as a slave labourer. Mr. Murphy arrived back in Canada in October, 1945 and was discharged February 5, 1946. From 1947 to 1960, he was employed as a brakeman with the Canadian National Railroad. Mr. Murphy was married on Sept 1, 1947, to Yvette Savoie. He died March 26, 2001.

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