Voyage to Hong Kong and Lack of Weaponry

Voyage to Hong Kong and Lack of WeaponryWe knew we were going to some tropical place. It could have been Jamaica, it could have been but we didn't really know other than it was going to be somewhere where it was warm because we were issued shorts and, shorts and summer shirts and so on. I don't really think that anybody, until we started heading west, guessed that we were going to, to Hong Kong. In fact we weren't told we were going there, I believe, until after, after we left Hawaii, or it may have been just after we left Vancouver. But somewhere in there, we were told we were going to Hong Kong, but before that there were a lot of speculation on where we might be going but nobody, at least other ranks, no, no other ranks knew where we were off to. Interviewer: Mr. Ewing, what do you recall as being your reaction when you realized that you were not going to Europe but you were going somewhere west? I was quite happy about it, I thought, "This, this is great." New country, new, new experience, I was quite happy about it. I had no, although the talk had been bandied about, regarding Japan and, and the Japanese intentions. It didn't really, I guess I was too young to be worried very much about any of that.Memories of the VoyageWell I was sea sick for two days on the, leaving Vancouver. We arrived in Honolulu a week later and departing there, I was again sick but only for a day I guess, and, so, and other than that, it was quite a pleasant trip. We had, they arranged lectures for us on, well one of the weapons was the boys antitank rifle, and another was the Thompson's submachine gun, and lectures on gas and so on, but we weren't overly worked. Lack of Equipment in Hong KongInterviewer: It's my understanding, Mr. Ewing, that the transport vessels that were to bring your motorized equipment and some of the heavier weapons, including heavy mortars and, and the like, did not arrive.They didn't. Apparently they, they were supposed to go on the Awatea but were not at the dock when, by the time the, the ship sailed. I guess they came in within a day or two of our leaving, but they never did catch up. They were off-loaded in the Philippines, was my understanding, and were used by the American troops in the defence of the Philippines. Interviewer: So during the time that you men were in defence of Hong Kong, you did not have your normal compliment of weapons, heavy weapons or motorized transport Bren carriers and the like.No. The, when hostilities broke out, they confiscated or appropriated to the, some, a lot of trucks from the, from the city, you know. But as far as Bren gun carriers and, and armoured vehicles of any kind, and, in fact, we had very little transport, everything was by marching shanks' mare I guess you'd call it.