Dying for a Red Cross Parcel

Heroes Remember

Dying for a Red Cross Parcel

Transcript

When, when Tetman and Mortimer were caught trying to get at Red Cross parcels, the Japs wouldn't issue them. The Japs were eating them themselves, they wouldn't issue them to us. And when Tetman and Mortimer, Mortimer was a rifler, Tetman was an American, and when, in the middle of the night, they climbed up and they got in through a window of this shed where the Red Cross parcels were. And, of course, they dropped down inside, in the middle of the night, pitch dark, and there was a guard inside, the rifleman. The next morning, Tetman and Mortimer were in the middle of the parade square, they were tied to a stake, their hands tied behind their backs, and there was about, about six foot of a rope so that they could run around and, til it wound up tight and then, because there was snow on the ground, two or three inches of snow on the ground. There was more, a lot more snow later on but at that time there were only two or three inches, and they were barefoot. And we were ordered into the, the whole square, Drumhead court martial, and our interpreter there was Rance, Rance. Tokunaga spoke to him and he interpreted the Japanese into English. Interviewer: Tokunaga was the commandant. Yes. Right right. And, and so, so the commandant he, he wrenches a, the staff from one of the overseers, a six-sided hardwood, branded with the logo of the Marutso (sp) docks, branded with a hot iron. And he started calling to pound, pound Tetman over the head with this. It's a heavy staff, it was heavier, quite a bit heavier then a, then a fork handle, six sided with a logo with a Marutso (sp) docks branded on, and, and all three shifts of the guards were around us, and they didn't have their rifles, they had machine guns. And we, afterwards we, we, we spoke a long time about that, and we believed that they were sure that we would interfere, and they were going to this as an excuse just to, just to kill, just to kill us, that's the only reason they'd have, have machine guns out. But, but, so we came in from working on the docks and Tetman was dead with a fractured skull, and Mortimer was still tied to the stake, and his feet were frozen, and they cut him loose and, and we helped him into a hut and his feet thawed out and gangrene set in, gangrene set in, and his feet rotted away, and he died.

Description

Mr. Forsyth recalls an incident of two POWs being fatally beaten and abused for attempting to steal Red Cross packages which the Japanese had been taking for themselves.

Thomas Smith Forsyth

Mr. Forsyth was born on a farm just outside of Pipestone, Manitoba, on April 26, 1910. He worked on the farm and attended school until grade 11, joining the army the following year when war was declared. After being accepted into the Winnipeg Grenadiers, Mr. Forsyth was briefly stationed in Jamaica guarding German POWs before being posted to Hong Kong. Captured in the Battle of Hong Kong, Mr. Forsyth was interned as a POW in North Point and Sham Shui Po prison camps, before being sent to Niigata Camp 5B in Japan as a slave labourer. After years of heavy labour, physical abuse, and terrible living conditions, Mr. Forsyth was liberated from 5B when Japan surrendered. He returned to his family in Manitoba soon thereafter.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:42
Person Interviewed:: Thomas Smith Forsyth
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Japan
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Winnipeg Grenadiers
Occupation:: Garrison Military Police

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Dying for a Red Cross Parcel

Heroes Remember