Withdrawal
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| One chap pulled the pin out of a grenade and, in his excitement, shoved it into his pocket. The blast blew the front of his pants off. Seconds later he was mowed down by machine gun fire. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Jap grenade landed at Gordon Murray's feet. He kicked it and it exploded, but fortunately, the worst effect was that he got both his legs peppered with small fragments. Bad enough, but it could have been worse. He was lucky. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| According to Lance Ross, Big Ed Bujold stood there pulling the pins out of grenades and hurling them like baseballs through the windows of the bungalow at the graveyard. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disclaimer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I Join the Army | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By this time Major Parker, Byron Willett, his batman, and I had reached shelter behind the wall of Stanley Prison, the walls of which were some 15 feet high. Japanese shells were coming over and landing inside the walls of the prison. On the ground, just outside the wall, and directly in line with the shelling, was a stack of boxes about 8 feet high. Major Parker said, "Byron, what is marked on those boxes?" Byron said, "T.N.T." We left there in a hurry. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ursel Kaine's ankle was broken by a Jap bullet, but he managed to hobble to safety and was rescued. Morris Delaney was shot in the head, just over the left ear, a sort of glancing blow. He staggered past me and I spoke to him. He said he was going to the dressing station. I was surprised to learn later that he died soon after. It was said that he was a victim of what in now called "friendly fire". Who needs enemies? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sgt. Major Frank Edben stopped a bullet right on the point of his chin, which broke his jaw and ripped out eight teeth. Frank survived and returned to Canada where he lived until the early 90's. Frank had been a bugler in WW1. After returning to Canada in 1945, he continued to play the bugle in spite of the disfigurement of his lower jaw. He performed at all our cenotaph ceremonies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Forced Withdrawal |
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| Because our losses were so heavy, and the continuing pressure of the overwhelming hordes of Japanese troops, we were forced, once again, to withdraw. Major Parker turned and counted the ragged remnants of "D" Company, the Royal Rifles of Canada. Of the 120 men who had gone into action in Stanley Village that Christmas Day, 1941, only 45 went back up the hill. Major Parker's eyes streamed with tears as he counted us. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In My Memory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Major Maurice A. Parker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I remember the feeling of utter despair as we faced certain death, because we were being forced into a dead end zone at the fort. The possibility of swimming to Llama Island some distance away entered my head. It's just as well I didn't attempt it. I would never had made the island, and even if I had what would have happened to me then? Llama Island, as far as I knew, had nothing but a few Chinese inhabitants and, for their own safety, they would probably have had to be unfriendly, if not hostile. I figured it really wasn't the place for a bedraggled refugee from the Battle of Hong Kong. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In addition such an action would have been regarded by the Canadian Army as desertion in the face of enemy fire. In the worst case scenario I could have been put up against a wall, blindfolded, and shot, or I might still be in prison. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H.M.S. Prince of Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| H.M.S Repulse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Another possibility entered my head. Suppose the British Navy could affect an evacuation like the one that had happened at Dunkirk? But, by that time the Japanese Navy had sunk the two British Battleships, The Repulse, and the Prince of Wales, as they made ther way north in the Chine Sea. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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