Remembering the Kamloops Kid

Interviewer: At Sham Shui Po, there was an interpreter there, Mr. Forsyth, you may remember him by the nickname "Kamloops Kid."

I remember him very well. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Interviewer: What do you remember about him?

Well, he was a fiend, he was a fiend, he was a fiend. He said that he'd been, as a child that he had been in the west, our west coast, and that had been, according to him, he'd been treated badly and he said that he would, he said that he would simply take it out on us. And, and there was someone representing the Red Cross and I believe the rumour was he was from Switzerland and that he had, he had been granted the power to visit prison war camps, and he came to our camp and he, he saw that things were bad, they were very bad. And the Kamloops Kid wouldn't let him near the, the, the hospital, so called hospital, because some of the inmates were dead and hadn't had time to take them out. So Captain Norris said to this, this observer from Switzerland or some neutral nation, he said, "You've got to have a look-see into this hospital." And the Kamloops Kid said, "No, we won't." And, and Norris said, "We will." Well, this observer from Switzerland and the Red Cross he, Norris took him to see what, how bad things were. And as soon as this stranger had left, the Kamloops Kid turned on, on, on Captain Norris out in the middle of the parade square, and he beat him so savagely that finally, finally Norris dropped unconscious. And, and, and men come out to carry Norris into, into a hut and, and the Kamloops Kid wouldn't let, wouldn't let them touch Norris. But Norris lived to come back, but he'd been struck so often in the head that, that he was never right, he was never right, he was never, got back to being normal, he never got back to being normal, he never got back to being normal.