Thank you, the veterans and their families were told more than 60 years after the Battle of Hong Kong. The dedication of a new monument to in Ottawa, Canada, August 15, recognized a much-overlooked chapter in Canadian history

The Hong Kong Veterans Memorial Wall, on the Rideau River near Canada’s Parliament Buildings, lists the names of the 1,975 men and women that helped defend Hong Kong. The 17 day battle was Canada’s first military engagement of the Second World War.

Canadian Maple Trees in Sham Shui Po Park, in Kowloon, Hong Kong, a former POW camp.

The Japanese army invaded the then British Colony from Mainland China in December 1941. The Canadian defenders, fresh off the boat, and lacking equipment and proper training, fought heroically until the colony surrendered to Japanese forces on Christmas Day 1941.

More than 800 Canadians were wounded or killed in the battle. The survivors spent the remainder of the war in POW camps, facing unimaginable conditions, disease, and torture. A further 267 Canadians died during captivity.

The new monument is a permanent reminder of the sacrifices made by Canadians during and after the Battle of Hong Kong, acts some veterans felt were marginalized or forgotten.

Not so now.

Government ministers thanked the 22 Hong Kong veterans that attended the ceremony.

“Even in the difficult times you faced when you returned home, you promised never to forget those who were left behind,” said Canada’s Veteran Affairs Minister Greg Thompson

“I truly believe that when this day is over, when you have the chance tonight to explore the silence and solitude of your own thoughts . . . you will hear the distant voices of your fallen comrades — and they will be saying: ‘Thank you. Thank you for today. Thank you for your gift of remembrance.’ “

There are smaller memorials in Hong Kong to the Canadian veterans. A memorial wall at the Sai Wan War Cemetery on Hong Kong Island lists the names of the soldiers that died during the Battle of Hong Kong. A plaque at the Wong Nai Chung Gap trail (a former defensive line) documents Canada’s involvement in the short defense of the colony. Canadian maple trees, planted by the Hong Kong Veterans Association, can be seen at the Sham Shui Po Park in Kowloon, the former site of a POW Camp.

John Robert Osborn, VC, awarded the Victoria Cross for his act of valor during the Battle of Hong Kong, is honored with a statue in Hong Kong Park, and a marker where he fell during the battle.

With files from the National Post

On the many corridors under the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense, formerly the Lei Yue Fort. The British built the fort in the late 19th century to protect the eastern approach, the Lei Yue Mun Pass to Victoria Harbour, from the French and Russian navies. (Ironically, the fortification look incredibly similar the Chinese Shajiao Fort in Humen China – that the British stormed during the first Opium War.)

The centerpiece of the fort is the redoubt that was dug deep into a hillside. The corridors and storerooms, containing ammunition and gunpowder, were covered with earth, making the fort hard to spot. A trench around the area, with stone caponiers, protected the fort if invaders found their way to land.

The fort was never used in the way it was intended. A shot was never fired at Russian or French ships. During the Battle of Hong Kong, Lei Yue Fort was used by British forces in an attempt to unsuccessfully repel the Japanese assault of Hong Kong Island. Evidence of the fighting is still visible.

After the Battle of Hong Kong and the Second World War the British used the fort as a training ground until it was vacated in 1987. Hong Kong government agencies decided to give Lei Yue Fort a second lease on life and created the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence in 1993.

A permanent exhibit covering 600 years of military defence in the Pearl River Delta is on display in the underground rooms that once held thousand of artillery shells and tonnes of gunpowder. A historic trail leads visitors through the batteries, a ruined settlement (destroyed during the Battle of Hong Kong), and the Brennan Torpedo station carved into the rock at the base of the fort.

The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense is a short walk from the Island Line’s Shau Kei Wan MTR station.

The Battle of Hong Kong was lost before it started. The politicians knew it, the generals knew it, and the officers and soldiers knew it. That didn’t stop Company Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn from giving his life for his comrades.

The Allied forces valiantly resisted the Japanese during the Battle of Hong Kong: 14,000 British, Canadian, Indian, and Hong Kong soldiers. On December 8, 1941, 52,000 Japanese soldiers invaded Hong Kong’s New Territories. The Canadian troops: The Winnipeg Grenadiers, and The Royal Rifles of Canada, had only been in Hong Kong six weeks, and lacked experience and equipment.

The Allied forces withdrew to Hong Kong Island. On December 17, with two requests for surrender ignored, the Japanese assaulted the island, splitting the allied forces in two.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers fought at the Wong Nai Chung Gap. Company Sergeant Major John Robert Osborn, a Canadian and veteran of the First World War,  and his men captured a hill from the Japanese but withdrew after reinforcements arrived. Osborn covered the retreat of those in his charge. In a new position, they came under renewed attack.

Company Sergeant Major Osborn’s citation for bravery, published in the The London Gazette, in April 1946 reads:

During the afternoon the company was cut off from the battalion and completely surrounded by the enemy, who were able to approach to within grenade throwing distance of the slight depression which the company was holding. Several enemy grenades were thrown which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade which exploded, killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others.
Company Sergeant-Major Osborn was an inspiring example to all throughout the defence which he assisted so magnificently in maintaining against an overwhelming enemy force for over eight and a half hours, and in his death he displayed the highest quality of heroism and self-sacrifice.

Company Sergeant-Major Osborn was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military award in the British Commonwealth. It was the only VC awarded during the battle of Hong Kong, and Canada’s first of the war. Osborn’s body was never recovered. A statute of Osborn (above) graces Hong Kong Park, a former British garrison. There is also a marker in the area where he died.

The Battle of Hong Kong was over less than a week after Sergeant-Major Osborn’s death. It was Christmas Day when the Colonial Governor surrendered to the Japanese. A cynic would call Osborn’s death pointless: Men saved only to live a hellish existence in POW camps. I’m not a cynic. Giving you life for your nation may be patriotic, giving it for your comrades is a sacrifice that cannot be reproached.

Caught up in my own little reality, I forgot that November 11 was Remembrance Day in Canada. The day commemorates the end of The Great War, and is used to remember Canada’s men and women that died serving their country in times of war or as part of peacekeeping operations. At 11 am, two minutes of silence are observed to commemorate those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

When I was a reporter I spent time with veterans, at the cenotaphs as they remembered their fallen comrades. Listening to The Last Post played on the bagpipes while standing under overcast skies on a cold November morning has the power to gut you. It’s haunting and visceral: Melodic sorrow that cuts right to the bone.

I was perusing the images of Randall J. van der Woning, who has has photographically documented many of the Hong Kong battlefields of World War II. On seeing his work, I realized I had forgotten Remembrance Day, something I once told myself I would never do.

Two hundred and ninety Canadians, ill-equipped and trained, their ranks marred with illness, died in December 1942, attempting to defend Hong Kong from the Japanese (a further 254 died while PoWs). The Battle of Hong Kong saw the first Canadians to fight and die in World War II. Most are buried the Sai Wan War Cemetery in Chai Wan, on Hong Kong Island.

The quote on the monument is from Ecclesiasticus: Their name liveth for evermore. Their names still live – the Sai Wan War Cemetery isn’t a place many people visit, but the visitors book lists a name or two for each day. Visitors have to be determined, the cemetery is up a twisted mountain road, accessible by minibus or foot (if you are a semi-crazy former journalist.)

As long as there are visitors, as long as someone remembers, Their name liveth for evermore.

Sai Wan War Cemetery, Chai Wan, Hong Kong. The cemetery holds the British and Canadian dead from the Battle of Hong Kong.

July 11, 2008.