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Description
Mr. Castonguay recalls the difference in temperament between his two different camp commandants. The first was very difficult and violent, but the second was much better.
Bernard Castonguay
Bernard Castonguay est né à Montréal, au Québec, le 9 février 1921. Il était le quatrième d'une famille de 11 enfants. Son père était monteur de tuyaux à vapeur pour la Canadian Pacific Railway. M. Castonguay a quitté la maison à l'âge de 16 ans, à la recherche d'aventure. Il a travaillé comme bûcheron et à la construction des chemins de fer. En 1940, incapable de trouver du travail, M. Castonguay s'est rendu à Québec pour s'enrôler dans le Royal Rifles of Canada. Il fut envoyé à Gander, à Terre-Neuve, où il fut signaleur et sentinelle. On l'envoya ensuite à Saint John, au Nouveau-Brunswick. À Hong Kong, M. Castonguay fut fait prisonnier par les Japonais et envoyé au camp de prisonniers de guerre (Omeni) de Nagasaki, au Japon, pour travailler dans une mine de charbon. Après son service, M. Castonguay a travaillé pour l'Institut national canadien pour les aveugles (INCA). Il devint par la suite directeur régional de l'INCA. Il fut également bénévole pour le Conseil canadien des aveugles.
Transcription
Well we were lucky you know to have a good camp commandant. The one we had before he was awful. He was getting in argument even with the interpreter. The interpreter was a Japanese, old, maybe 65 years old who had been living in the United States many years. And he was used as interpreter in the camp. And he was getting into discussion with the camp commandant once in a while about the outcome of the war and this and that, I suppose. And he was telling the commandant that the Japanese were going to lose the war against the Americans. He didn't like that, he took his, what do you call saber?
Interviewer: A sword?
Pardon
Interviewer: A sword or a saber.
A sword, sword. And he gave him a good, a good bang on the head with the sword. He split him you know. So we knew about that. The interpreter had to stay in the place and it was our medical man that had to look after him. And he told all this to the man so we all knew. So he said "Don't you worry he's not going to last very long here, once I get out of here". So when he got out, in no time flat, the commandant was called and he was sent to the front and we had this other one. Otherwise, had I had that commandant when I was parade in front of the commandant I certainly not have gone, come back to Montreal, Canada. No sir.