大象传媒

The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Ronald Parker and Father
Major Maurice Albert Parker:

My father carried the burden of that guilt with him forever after. He believed that the fault was his. A simple time check will show that "D" Company's failure to lay down their arms had nothing to do with the massacre of the wounded. The murders of the wounded and the staff of St. Stephen's Hospital took place over 11 hours earlier, at about 08:00 hrs. Christmas morning. The facts are clear, the Japanese had no excuse, nor did they need one..
A Need to Know and to Remember
The Japanese people may have little, if any, idea what horrendous acts were commited by some of their men in uniform. They have a right to know, and a need to remember. These acts were committed far from Japan, in lands far away, on people they knew little about, but were committed in their name.
The Canadian people have little, if any, idea what horrendous acts were perpetrated against their men in uniform. They have a right to know, and a need to remember. It took tremendous courage and determination to live in a Japanese prison camp, under cruel Japanese domination.
Hard Facts About the Battle of Hong Kong
More than 550 Canadians died in the battle for Hong Kong, or in the 44 months of captivity which followed. It is possible to suffer a worse fate than to die in battle, on the field. Death came very slowly to prisoners in the hands of the Japanese. It came through torture, mental and physical, beatings, starvation, malnutrition, disease or neglect. It came about because a Japanese guard felt like having a good time. It came in the form of an industrial accident, or being worked to death in slave camps.
A prisoner was 7 times more likely to die in Japanese captivity than as a soldier fighting on the battle field. The death rate in European prison camps, from all causes, was four percent. The death rate in a Japanese prison camp was a staggering twenty-seven percent.
The number of Canadian soldiers who died in Japanese prison camp numbered 267, almost as many as were killed during the battle. Another 200 died prematurely due to health problems acquired while in captivity..

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