The Battle of Hong Kong

My Grandfather fought with Bravo Company, 1st Middlesex Regiment at the Battle of Hong Kong. He turns 100 in July (2020), a month away. He was aboard the Lisbon Maru when it was sunk by the USS Grouper (believing that they were interdicting Japanese shipping), as it was not marked as a POW ship. He spent the remainder of the War in Kobe Prisoner camp as a slave labourer. He still has the scars on his head from when the Japanese beat him to within an inch of his life when he was caught pouring rice into Japanese fuel tanks. He saw the Hiroshima atomic cloud and hair would not grow on his face for three years afterwards. In 1948, he, along with my grandmother (who is 98, was a Radar Operator during the War, and who also recently survived and made a full recovery from a stroke) moved to Canada in 1948, where they reside in my home town today. They have been married for 72 years. In October of 2018, Laurel films interviewed him and our entire family (including yours truly) about the Battle of Hong Kong, and, specifically, the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, of which he is probably the last remaining survivor. I do not know when the documentary will be released, but hope that you will see it. Thank you for this episode, Mr. Felton.

Several members of my family perished as civilians during the battle. Thank you for sharing this piece of history.

My mother was nine years old and living in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded. According to her, Hong Kong had many prostitutes that kept the conquering Imperial Japanese Army busy, so the occupation for the surviving civilians was not as bad as it was in mainland China. My grandmother, then in her late twenties or early thirties, was never raped or assaulted. The contribution of Hong Kong's 10,000 prostitutes to the welfare of the civilian population must not be underestimated.

CSM Osborn was the son of "tinkers" and was born at Foulden, Norfolk, England, on January 2, 1899. In 1916 he saw action at Jutland as a 17 year old Seaman. Later on he joined the Royal Marines and fought in the trenches of the Western Front. Here he was taken prisoner, then escaped, was wounded, and later in war became a casualty of mustard gas. After that he was evacuated to England. In 1920, he moved to Canada (to help his poor health), where he was employed as a farmhand in Saskatchewan for a couple of years. He then moved to Manitoba, and was employed on a railway maintenance crew (either for CNR or CPR). In this capacity he met his wife at Gregg MB, and married her on May 19, 1926, later moving to St. Vital in Winnipeg MB. In 1933 he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers as a part-time soldier and was called to active service one week before Canada declared war on Germany. The Winnipeg Grenadiers had been on garrison duty on Bermuda and Jamaica from May 1940 to October 1941. The Grenadiers disembarked for Hong Kong on 27th October 1941. The day before he left, CSM Osborn's young daughter Patricia was severely burned, and he donated a quart of blood, but Patricia was not expected to live. Before leaving, he told his two oldest sons that he did not expect to survive, and for them to take care of the family (there were 5 children). His family never heard from him again. He did not know that Patricia would go on to survive and recover from her injuries. His family did not hear until 1944, that he had been killed in action. In 1946 his family was notified that he was to be posthumously awarded with the V.C., for his actions on Mt. Butler on December the 19, 1941. He was 42 years old. CSM Osborn has no known grave, but is commemorated on Column 25 of the Sai Wan memorial. However, there are numerous memorials in Manitoba and a few in Hong Kong which remember his sacrifice. Lest We Forget.

God Bless the Punjabis and Canucks.... and the brave men of Scotland and London.

My dad was a private in the 1st Middlesex and surrendered on Christmas day. He also survived the torpedoing of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese freighter transporting surviving pows to Japan in October 1942. He's still alive and lives with mom in their own house, here in Canada, thanks to the efforts of my brother and sister, who live nearby. He'll be 100 years old on July 14/ 2020. Mark, I wonder if you are aware of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru?

Thankyou Mark, my grandfather Lieutenant Joaquim Guterres, 5th company HKVDC , fought and eventually died there in July 1942 in Sham shui po P.O.W. Camp. I understand that he defended Mt Davis till the last. Your video is fantastic and very much appreciated. Anthony.

To be fair the Philippines didn't fall easy either. They lasted at least 3 months and surrendered when out of food, water, and ammo.

Once met a Canadian vet he told me he was captured but eventually escaped, I wish I was able to talk to him more he must have had one hell of a story to tell.

I was 6 years old when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. Now, there are not many octogenarians left to tell stories of this period. After 18 days of intense fighting, Hong Kong fell into Japanese hands and began the "Three Years and Eight Months" (metonym of "Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong"). I followed The Battle of Hong Kong only from newspapers and YouTube, but nothing describe it as fully as your episode. Thank you, Mr. Felton.

The Battle of Hong Kong only gets a few sentences mentioned in textbooks at school.

As a person who as born and raised in Hong Kong, I thank you for covering this dark part of our history.

I lived in Hong Kong right there in Repulse Bay where the Canadians fought a ferocious battle against the invaders. There are still places on the island where the reminisce of the war remain.

For anyone unfortunate enough to be captured by the Japanese, their war was far from over. Something around 28% of captured Allied personnel would die at the hands of their Japanese captors. In particular, the French captured in Indochina and the Dutch troops captured in the Dutch East Indies seemed to have been lost to history entirely, and forever, with no one ever caring about whatever happened to them. Put yourself in their shoes, and this is chilling.

I’ve always considered myself knowledgeable in history but ever since I’ve started watching you I have learned so much more. Thank you!

An extraordinary tale. My father's elder brother was born in December 1919, so one of the few people called up in the two pre-war militias (a good topic for another Felton piece). At the time he was training to be an optometrist, but in he. Went and was commissioned on due course into 1st Battalion Middx Regt. So.... He ended up on Hong Kong and died on 25th December 1941. Before the war, as a schoolboy, he had been active in the PPU and had gone door-to-door collection signatures for the pledge. That was curtailed by entry into the Militia. My grandparents (grandpa was a volunteer on the Great War and was active in the PPU) didn't have any animosity for the Japanese, bit on my childhood we were discouraged from watching war films about the Far East while they were visiting.

My Great uncle Pete was there with the Winnipeg Grenadiers They never stood a chance He suffered horribly as a POW till the end of the war 👍🇨🇦

We used to have a man on my street that was from the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He was captured after the fall of Hong Kong and survived the war in multiple Japanese PoW camps. My uncle recalled as a young boy watching him arrive home skin and bones. He weighed in no more than 100 pounds, and that was after months of rehabilitation in an American hospital. The only story he ever told of his experience in the war was when he and his mates were forced to dig an "air raid trench" by their Japanese captors. One night the Japanese decided to line the trench with what he believed was gasoline, and then after sounding the alarm for an air raid, lit the trench on fire once dozens of men had piled into it.. I can't imagine the horrors those men experienced..

FIRST from a viewer in Hong Kong..? Thank you for covering this Mark, a fascinating and little-known topic, the evidence of which still can still be seen on a casual hike, hidden in the undergrowth, here in HK today.

There is a memorial to John Robert Osborn, VC, here in Winnipeg at Deer Lodge Hospital, the veterans' care home.