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Description
The POWs were told they’d be killed no matter what the outcome of the war was. But he explains why they weren’t executed.
Transcription
Interviewer: So when you look back, your soldiers, your comrades, the people you worked with, were you confident that you'd be freed?
Well they told us that if they lost the war, we'd be chopped with a stroke across your neck like that or if they won the war we'd be (inaudible) for the rest of our lives. So, that's how confident we were, wasn't very confident, we didn't know.
Interviewer: No, you were beyond sure.
We know not, we know now that Hirohito, the emperor, told them don't do any more damage to the prisoners, let them all, no more casualties, and that saved our lives.
Interviewer: So when you think back to the sacrifice of yourself and your comrades and your experiences, would you do it all again?
Well not if I, not unless I had to. But sure, it was an experience, an experience that very few people will have to go through. It's memories, but it's bad memories, and it's good memories.
Interviewer: Are you proud of the service that you and your comrades gave to Canada?
I am, but the reason that we went there was very bad. Churchill us, told the Canadian government not to send us and they sent us, to show that they were doing something for the war. That, no, doesn't settle very well with me, especially for the guys that didn't come back.