It has been quite some time since I’ve
posted to this blog, but I thought that the 70th anniversary of the
end of the war against Japan - VJ Day - deserved some attention. In Beyond the Call I describe what
happened at the various camps in Hong Kong and Japan where members of the RCCS
were being held prisoner. Here are excerpts
from some of those descriptions:
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
Official word of
the surrender was communicated on August 16 to the senior British officer, who
then took over administration of the camp.
Ray Squires:
The
flag [Union
Jack] was officially raised this
morning. It was the most impressive
ceremony I have ever seen. Nearly all
the officers and men had tears in their eyes.
The ceremony was peculiar because there was not a Jap in sight they have
all quietly left, and there was no presenting of arms because we didn’t have
any.
Niigata Camp 5B, Japan
[On August 15] the Emperor’s message of
surrender was broadcast in the camp.
When one of the POWs who spoke Japanese told the rest of the men what
was being said, there were hugs all around.
Rations for the evening meal were doubled and the prisoners at Niigata
5B gathered around in small groups digesting their dinner and the incredible
news that the war was finally over.
Howie Naylor recalled,
The
guard told us the war was over. Then
when some Corsairs came over and buzzed the camp, we knew it was true. Every prisoner in the camp had tears in his
eyes when he saw those planes.
Ohasi Camp, Japan
On August 15 the prisoners were at work
when it was confirmed that Japan had surrendered. Gerry Gerrard remembered it this way:
It
was about noon…I got the word, pass the news around. In the workplace there were these
loudspeakers and the Japs had to go to these speakers and listen to these
speeches – they were letting them down easy.
So by the time we got back into camp, everybody knew that the war was
over. But there was no sign that the
Japs knew. Next morning we had to get up
– of course ready to go to work – and we go to parade and there’s no Japs
around. They just disappeared overnight.
Blacky Verreault wrote in his diary that
there was still a lot of uncertainty – was it really true? But by the end of the day on the 16th
the reality of peace was finally being accepted and embraced.
Sumidagawa Camp, Japan
Through July and into August the heavy
bombing raids on the Tokyo area were witnessed by the POWs at Sumidagawa. There were no air raid shelters around the
camp so the men watched “the nightly festivities” from the windows in their
hut. Then, in mid-morning of August 15, the workers were sent from the loading
platforms back to the camp. This was
unprecedented and suggested something had changed. As the men returned, rumours started to
spread that the war was over. Few would
let themselves believe it, so around mid-afternoon, the senior POW officer was
prompted to request an interview with the camp commandant. He returned about half an hour later. Will Allister wrote about that moment:
“With
regard to a certain rumour!” and the taut, hollow face opened like a broken
dyke letting through a rushing wave of joy for the first time, transforming it
into a strange, scarred, radiant smile.
“IT…IS…SO!”
The
hut exploded in a wild exultant Yankee-Limey-Scottish-Dutch-Indonesian-Canadian
thunder of victory, of pent-up souls erupting, smashing the shackles of seeming
limitless defeat in a great triumphant jungle roar! Men charged down the aisle, whooping and
bellowing, leaping and cheering.
Sendai No. 1 Camp, Japan
By mid-August there were numerous
sightings of U.S. fighter planes around the camp and B-29s flying
overhead. On the 15th the men
were at the mine, but no work was done.
Rumors fuelled by civilian workers spread: the war was over. There was still no official word on the 16th
but finally the next day the camp commandant told the men officially that the
war had ended. Capt. Reid described the
reaction:
The
thing had been going on for so long, when the war was over you refused to let
yourself think it was possible. It came
so gradually, the civilians telling us, and then the official word and then the
war really being over, and there was no moment of great celebration but
everybody was happy.
Sendai No. 2 Camp, Japan
In August, the men at Sendai No. 2 were
seeing the same flights of B-29s as were noticed at the nearby camp. Then one day, work was halted and the men
were gathered on the parade ground. The
camp commandant, who had never spoken a word of English to the prisoners
before,
…came
out, stood on a box and said, in perfect English he said, “My dear boys! You’re allowed…You’re free to go home to your
mothers, wives, sweethearts,” and that was it.
Don Beaton remembered their reaction: “…it was like running into a brick wall. We just stood there stunned and then
everybody went a little crazy.”
Even though the war was over, it would
take anywhere from six to eleven weeks before all the men would complete their journeys back to their homes in Canada.
