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[ltmurnau]

I wonder if they specifically waited for the 70th anniversary of the battle to apologize.

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Canada accepts Japan's apology for Hong Kong POWs

CBC News Posted: Dec 8, 2011 6:04 AM ET

Canada has accepted the Japanese government's apology for the treatment of prisoners held during the Second World War for five years after the Battle of Hong Kong.

An official statement of regret was delivered in Tokyo on Thursday by Toshiyuki Kato, the Japanese parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs.

Four veterans of the defence of Hong Kong visit Japan to receive that country's official apology Thursday. They are, from left, Gerry Gerrard, Ken Pifher, Derrill Henderson of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, and Veteran George Peterson (seated). With them is Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney (second from left). SubmittedVeterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney and a delegation from the Canadian Veterans of the Battle of Hong Kong travelled to Japan for the apology and a ceremony on Thursday.

"This important gesture is a crucial step in ongoing reconciliation and a significant milestone in the lives of all prisoners of war," Blaney said in a release. "It acknowledges their suffering while honouring their sacrifices and courage."

More than 50 per cent of the Canadians sent to defend Hong Kong, then a British colony, against the Japanese invasion during the Second World War died, either during the 17½-day battle or during the years of imprisonment, hard labour and deprivation that followed.

"The terrible pain and heavy burden of the Second World War have given way to a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship between Canada and Japan as mature democracies — a legacy of all who served in the Pacific campaigns," Baird said in a statement.

"Today's apology will help in healing as our two great countries move forward."

The allies' battle to defend Hong Kong ended on Christmas Day in 1941, and the survivors were imprisoned either until their death or the end of the war. They were imprisoned in Hong Kong until early 1943, and then in Japan until liberation in September 1945.

Of the 1,975 Canadians who went to Hong Kong, more than 1,050 were either killed or wounded, says Canadians in Hong Kong, a booklet published by Veterans Affairs Canada.

The delegation to Tokyo this week also visited the graves of Canadian soldiers at the British Commonwealth Cemetery at Yokohama.

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Comments

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I wondered about that too. I did a presentation showing the Valour and the Horror the battle for Hong Kong and found Max Berber perhaps the first person from Sarnia, Ontario, my home town, to die in WWII, certainly the first person to die in ground combat and he was fighting with the Royal Canadian Army Supply Corps.


Private Max Berger 1919-1941
Royal Canadian Army Supply Corps.

Max was born in Sarnia, Ontario on November 6th 1919 and lived at 167 Davis Street with his parents Morris and Regina, also know as Pearl, and sister Laura. The Bergers were a Jewish family and Morris was born in Geszterid, Hungary about 1862 and had arrived in New York in 1902 and emigrated to Sarnia in 1914 after living in New York and Michigan, his brother Joseph lived in Port Huron in 1914 so that is probably where he moved from. He was a shoemaker by trade who operated out of his house. Max grew up in Sarnia and was an alumnus of S.C.I.T.S. After graduation he worked for Maidment's Taxi and his death certificate listed his profession as electrician.
Max joined the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and by 1941 had ended up in a small unit that was part of the Canadian Army's Hong King Brigade's headquarters unit. The Hong Kong Brigade arrived in Hong Kong on November 18, 1941 just weeks before the Japanese attack on December 8th 1941. They spent the early part of the battle delivering supplies to frontline units with a dwindling pool of motor transport including local taxis.
When it became impossible to continue this activity Max's unit became part of an adhoc unit of Royal Canadian and Royal Army Service Corps. troops who joined another scratch force made up of Royal Canadian and Royal Army Ordinance troops who were holding the north end of what was called the Ridge position.
The Ridge position was the only link between the two main British positons and when it was lost the Allied formations would be split into two. The fighting for the position was fierce and faced with overwhelming odds On December 18th the British forces tried to pull back. It took them two tries and they succeeded the second time. It was during this confused situation that Berger and Corporal Albert Jackson also of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps died along with Royal Canadian Army Ordinance troops Corporal G.G. Desroches, Staff Sergeant G. Jackman and Private F.C. McGuire sometime between December 19th and 22nd.
Max Berger was not listed as Missing in Action until October 1942 and was not declared Killed in Action until January 1943 over a year after falling on the battlefield. His parents lived in Sarnia after the war, Morris his father died in the early 1950's and his mother disappeared from records around 1960.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

There was an old piper in my militia regiment, Sergeant Davey Laws. Davey had been in the Winnipeg Grenadiers at Hong Kong, was captured and kept prisoner until the end of the war. He never talked about it but he hated the Japanese for what they had done to him and his friends. He was perhaps a bit lucky for all that, because many of the British taken prisoner in the Singapore-Malaya debacle were kept in camps staffed by turncoat Indian Army troops who were if anything worse captors than the Japanese Army, since they had a grudge.

Davey was a small man and a great piper, the only I've ever heard who could play "Rock Around The Clock" on the pipes. He died in the late 80s.