Life at Sham Shui Po

Heroes Remember

Life at Sham Shui Po

I had been appointed as a member of the ration party. In fact, I was appointed to be the second in charge cause I was a sergeant and the officer in charge was a captain, and there were another five or six people on the ration party, but the, the ration party, when, when I speak of it as being a ration party, we had in Sham Shui Po, a ration depot, that's what it was, it was a ration depot. And the Japanese used to bring a great many of their stores into the depot and then they were distributed to various places right around Hong Kong, right around the island from this storage depot. You can say that it was a job that was put to have cheap labour or no-pay labour for the, for the prisoners of war. And so that's what we used to do, so at, at the time that I had, had the.... Interviewer: Diphtheria? ...Diphtheria test, I was a member and second in charge of that ration party. Now, you know, I'm, I'm sure that the rations that we, ourselves, in Sham Shui Po Camp, came from that storage area or storage building, but I'm sure also that the officer in charge was under supervision as to what would be dealt out to the various kitchens or kitchen, if you will, in the area to be, to take care of the prisoners of war there.

While many Canadian prisoners at Sham Shui Po are sent off to work in the shipyards and coal mines in Japan, Mr. Routledge remains at the Hong Kong camp and is appointed to the position of second-in-charge of the Rations Party. He explains.

Ronald John Routledge

Mr. Routledge was born September 1, 1920. His father, a decorator by trade, was a member of the Regina Rifles and served in the First World War. Mr. Routledge came from a family of four children. He had three sisters, one older and two younger. His father encouraged him to join the Regina Rifles Regiment cadet program when he was 14. After completing high school, shortly before Canada declared war on Germany, he enlisted with the Regina Rifles. He enlisted with the artillery but soon switched to the Canadian Corps of Signals and trained as a wireless operator. In October, 1941, he and 32 other members of the Signals Corp were told they were headed overseas. They boarded a vessel in Vancouver, not knowing until they were near the Philippines that they were heading for Hong Kong. They eventually arrived in Hong Kong and were assigned to barracks at Shamshuipo. Mr. Routledge was wounded when the Japanese made their first attack on Shamshuipo in December, 1942. After spending time in hospital, he returned to continue his service as a wireless operator. He was taken POW on Boxing Day after the commanding officer of the troops on the Stanley Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese. Following his release at the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), the second highest award for bravery in the British Empire. Mr. Routledge remained in the army as a career soldier.