Canadian Prisoners of War

Heroes Remember

Canadian Prisoners of War

Transcript

Well, there, an interesting thing was there were a lot of Canadians taken prisoner in Hong Kong and after the war they were liberated, of course, and some had spent a long time in prison camp. And there was a boat took them from Japan to Brisbane, Australia, and we met them and they were, that was sad, my Heavens, I couldn't look at them, when they came down the gang plank there was nothing to them, skinny! Well we just knew something was going on. Emperor Hirohito sent a message, or I should say MacArthur sent the message that he wanted them to surrender and he gave them 48 hours. And it came back that Emperor Hirohito wished to negotiate a settlement. Well, MacArthur would have none of that, no negotiations at all. And he said, "If you don't, don't surrender within 48 hours we'll drop another one." And they did. Nagasaki got it. We were too far away, we, we didn't see anything, much of that at all, other than the cheering when we heard it on radio.

Description

Mr. McVicar talks about first seeing the Canadian prisoners of war brought to Australia from Japan, and what it was like to be near Japan for the dropping of the Atomic bomb.

Carl McVicar

Carl McVicar was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, on August 23, 1925. His father was a coal miner, who developed tuberculosis during the 1930s, so times were tough. Mr. McVicar left Glace Bay in 1941, at the age of 16. He learned how to work as a wireless operator at a young age. His father was friends with a gentleman who was in charge of Marconi Towers in Glace Bay and Mr. McVicar learned how to work in the radio room during their frequent visits to Marconi Towers. At the young age of 16, Mr. McVicar enlisted with the Merchant Marine and was taken right away, because they were in need of Wirless Operators. He trained with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and was sent to Labrador to build stations. After receiving an overseas medal, Mr. McVicar was shipped to Victoria, B.C., for specialized wireless training, then he was sent to Australia and New Guinea, where he witnessed such amazing things as the Enola Gay taking off to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. He remained in the South Pacific until coming home to Canada after the War was declared over. After returning to Canada, he lived and worked in Toronto, until he returned to the East Coast after one year.

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