Surrender to the Japanese

Heroes Remember

Surrender to the Japanese

Transcript

What conduct did the Japanese exhibit toward you men when you surrendered? Actually they opened up a bottle of beer and they gave us a mouth full of beer because we hadn't had anything to drink or eat for some time, and they, this was in the midst of the Japanese encampment so they didn't beat us or anything. They threatened one, one of the fellas with, you know, they put the revolver up to his, his head and, but they, they didn't, they didn't do anything. So they held us there tied up together overnight and the next day, which would have been Christmas Day, they took us to Repulse Bay Hotel, and from there we went to Argyle Street Camp. Well, I knew that we were in for a rough ride. The, the rations and the, and the treatment that, that the Japanese were meting out to the, not only to us but to the civilian population, indicated that they didn't care very much for human life, so I didn't really assess my chances of coming back, but I did think that, that there was a pretty good chance that I wouldn't. Well, I wasn't anywhere where the, you know, when the, the Japanese captured wounded soldiers. Although, I must say that we left a wounded, or two or three wounded, in, in one of the houses when we were making our way back to, to Repulse Bay Hotel from The Ridge, and we left an orderly with them and they were all killed. The Japanese, I assume, broke into the house and killed them all.

Description

Mr. Ewing describes his experience immediately after his surrender to the Japanese in Hong Kong.

Kenneth Alexander Ewing

Kenneth Ewing was born in 1925, the 4th oldest of 12 children. His father was a civil engineer for the province of New Brunswick which enabled them to manage fairly well during the Depression. His father was a Lieutenant in the First World War and signed up as an engineer in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945. Mr. Ewing quit school in Grade 10 at the age of 15 to join the army. He was unsuccessful in his attempt to join the Merchant Navy and joined the militia in the spring of 1940. He then joined the N.B. Rangers (militia). In November 1940, he went active with the Royal Rifles. He did his basic training in Botwood, Newfoundland, guarding the port. He did further guard duty in Botwood, Gander, and St. John's, Newfoundland, Valcartier, Quebec, and Saint John, New Brunswick. He was posted to Hong Kong as a rifleman in "A" Company. He was taken POW and sent to a slave labour camp in Japan where he endured beatings, disease, and very poor living conditions but considered himself lucky since other Canadians had been executed.

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