Japanese Rice Can

Heroes Remember

Japanese Rice Can

Transcript

I would say that you got a cabbage stew probably once or twice every three or four months. Cabbage water we called it with the rice of course, but basically I think the whole time we were there we might have had a small bit of tuna threw in the cabbage water, tuna fish. And I don’t know what kind of a soup you called it, but it was tuna fish soup. Anything taste good to us, anything!! The last rice can I had at Nagasaki, I wore out two or three of them or rusted out. This the last issue that they gave us probably six or eight months before the war came to an end. And I saved this to bring it back to show people. We’d get this full or rice in the morning for breakfast, you’d get the same amount for your lunch and the same amount when you came back in the evening for your evening meal and lucky to get it! Lucky to get it. You didn’t always get it full either. If the rations were cut as I indicated later due to somebody sick, the rations would be cut and you’d probably get 3/4 of a can.

Description

Mr. Ford displays the rice can he used during his time in Camp Nagasaki and explains the daily ration provided to the men.

John Ford

Mr. John Ford was born March 25, 1919 in Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. Both parents were previously married and Mr. Ford was raised in a family of 14 children, him being one of the younger children. As a child he attended school at the United School Academy graduating in Grade 11. After school he worked with the Newfoundland railway as a machinist for three years. In May of 1940, Mr. Ford decided to join the Royal Air Force. In August he went overseas onboard the Nova Scotia and landed in Liverpool, England. During his service, he was captured as a POW in Japan experiencing horrible conditions. He has dedicated much of his time to the Legion and volunteered as a board member for over 13 years. Mr. Ford is an active participant in visiting local schools and educating the youth of what life was really like as a solider and as a prisoner of war while serving with the Royal Air Force.

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