Sergeant Gander (22 page)

2
. These oil reserves were located in the Dutch East Indies-Indonesia. Japan desperately required access to raw materials, such as oil, to support its industrialization and rearmament agenda.

3
. After France's surrender to Germany, the country was divided in two parts — a German occupied northern and western zone, and an unoccupied southern zone known as Vichy France. The French government in Vichy was controlled by the Germans. The Germans eventually occupied Vichy France in November 1942.

Chapter 1: Bear on the Runway

1
. Description of breed from
www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/Newfoundland
, accessed on December 29, 2008.

2
. From
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0207_030207_newfies.html
, accessed on December 29, 2008.

3
. From
http://animalattraction.com/Resources/DogBreeds/Newfoundland–
, accessed on January 4, 2008.

4
.
Ibid.

5
. Steve Pitt,
The Day of the Flying Fox
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008). The story of one particular Canadian Spitfire pilot.

6
. Email from Eileen Elms of Gander, Newfoundland, December 27, 2008.

7
. From
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-2230-e.html-ederation/023001-2230-e.html
, accessed on December 29, 2008.

8
. From
www.heritage.nf.ca/law/gander_basehtml
.
, accessed on January 2, 2009.

9
. Email from Eileen Elms, December 27, 2008.

10
. From
www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/08/11/nf_gander000811.html
, accessed on January 2, 2009.

11
. Email from Eileen Elms, December 27, 2008.

12
. H.H. Herstein et al,
Challenge and Survival:
The History of Canada
(Toronto: Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1970), 370.

13. From
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/king/023011-1050.68-e.html
, accessed on December 29, 2008.

14
. The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was an aviation training program implemented during the Second World War, in–Notes volving Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Southern Rhodesia. Its purpose was to train pilots, navigators, gunners, flight engineers, wireless operators, and bomb aimers for service in the Commonwealth Air Forces. Canada was considered an excellent location for the training program for a variety of reasons, including its ready supply of fuel and wide open flying spaces. Geographically, it was out of range of any threat from German or Japanese bombers or fighter planes and it occupied an excellent strategic location, almost equidistant, between the European and Pacific theatres. See
http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/bcatphtml
.
, accessed on May 25, 2009.

Chapter 2: Sergeant Gander, Royal Rifles of
Canada

1. George MacDonell,
One Soldier's Story, 1939–
1945
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 47.

2
. CBC Radio Broadcast,
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/veterans/topics/1039-5847/
, broadcast on August 11, 2000.

3
. MacDonell,
One Soldier's Story, 1939–1945
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 47.

4
. Brereton Greenhous
,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 10.

5
.
Ibid
., 10.

6
.
Ibid.,
11.

7
.
Ibid.,
17.

8
.
Ibid.
, 21.

9
.
Ibid.
, 18. Major-General Crerar was chief of the Canadian general staff in 1941. Historians disagree over the extent of his culpability for sending the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers to Hong Kong, but he did advise Prime Minister Mackenzie King that there was “no military risk” in sending the Canadian troops to Hong Kong.

10
. Greenhous,
“C” Force to Hong Kong: A
Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 22.

11
. From
www.hkvca.ca/historical/accounts/williambell/chapter1.htm
, accessed on December 3, 2008.

12
. Oliver Lindsay,
The Lasting Honour: The
Fall of Hong Kong, 1941
(London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978), 8.

13
. The Washington Naval Conferences were organized by American President Warren Harding's administration and were held in Washington D.C. from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. They were attended by nine nations who had interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. One of the primary goals was to encourage disarmament and peace in the region, and to limit the building of new battleship fleets.

14
. Communism is an authoritarian system of government where the state plans and controls the economy. This system of government was established in Russia (Soviet Union) following the October Revolution in 1917, with the state taking ownership of all personal property.

15
. HKVeCA. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association,
The Royal Rifles of Canada in
Hong Kong: 1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 25.

16
. From
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/tri–parti.asp
, accessed on December 29, 2008.

17
. Walter Lord,
The Miracle of Dunkirk
(New York: Viking Press, 1982), 286.

The evacuation from Dunkirk took place over nine days, from May 26 to June 4, 1940. Hundreds of ships, including Royal Navy vessels, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and commercial vessels, travelled across the English Channel, from Britain, to evacuate the British and French forces that had been forced back onto the beaches by the advancing Germans. A Canadian, Commander James Campbell Clouston, who was serving with the Royal Navy, was assigned the role of pier master of the Eastern Mole. The Eastern Mole was a breakwater that formed the entrance to Dunkirk's harbour. Ships were brought up alongside and Clouston lined the retreating soldiers up, in an orderly fashion, and at one point was disembarking over 2,000 men an hour. He served as pier master for five nights, evacuating over one hundred thousand men.

Chapter 3: Mascot on the Move

1
. From
www.geocities.com/phil_doddrige/
, accessed on December 3, 2008.

2
. MacDonell,
One Soldier's Story, 1939–1945
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 49.

3
.
Ibid.
, 49.

4
. Carl Vincent,
No Reason Why
(Stittsville, ON: Canada's Wings Inc., 1981), 109. The Canadian Postal Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army.

5
. Brereton Greenhous,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1945
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 28.

6
.
Ibid
.
,
29.

7
.
Ibid
., 32.

8
.
Ibid.
, 32.

9
. Carl Vincent,
No Reason Why
(Stittsville, ON: Canada's Wings Inc., 1981), 109.

Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm

1
. In 1984, an agreement signed by Great Britain and China decreed that the sovereignty of Hong Kong would revert back to China in 1997. Since 1997 Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It is largely autonomous of China, except in foreign and defence affairs.

2
. Carl Vincent,
No Reason Why
(Stittsville, ON: Canada's Wings Inc., 1981), 6.

3
. Hong Kong Veterans' Association,
The
Royal Rifles of Canada in Hong Kong:
1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 24.

4
. Carl Vincent,
No Reason Why
, 6.

5
. From
www.hkvca.ca/historical/accounts/ca–doret.htm
, accessed on December 3, 2008.

6
. Brereton Greenhous,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–
1945
: 35.

7
.
Ibid.
, 35.

8
. Carl Vincent,
No Reason Why
(Stittsville, ON: Canada's Wings Inc., 1981), 109.

9
. Oliver Lindsay,
The Lasting Honour: The
Fall of Hong Kong, 1941
(London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978), 17.

10
. Interview with Rifleman John Beebe, available at
www.geocities.com/rcwpca/index-8.html
, accessed on December 3, 2008.

11
. Ted Ferguson,
Desperate Siege: The Battle of
Hong Kong
(Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1980), ix.

12
. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association,
The Royal Rifles of Canada in
Hong Kong: 1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 15.

13
. Terrence and Brian McKenna,
The Valour
and the Horror: Savage Christmas Hong
Kong 1941,
CBC Television, 1992.

14
.
Ibid
.

15
. MacDonell,
One Soldier's Story, 1939–1945
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2002), 48.

16
. CBC Radio Broadcast, available at
archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/veterans/topics/1039-5847/
, broadcast on August 11, 2000.

17
. Ted Ferguson,
Desperate Siege: The Battle of
Hong Kong
(Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1980), ix.

18
. Regimental war diaries are notes written as events happen, often quickly jotted with no time for reflection. The War Diary of the Royal Rifles is held by the Canadian Department of Defence/Directorate of History.

19
. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association,
The Royal Rifles of Canada in
Hong Kong: 1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001),16.

20
.
Ibid.,
43.

21
.
Ibid.

20.
Ibid
.

Chapter 5: The Battle Rages

1
. The American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was the target of a surprise attack conducted by the Japanese navy on December 7, 1941. The attack was conducted before a formal declaration of war by Japan. This act brought the United States into the Second World War.

2
. Ted Ferguson,
Desperate Siege: The Battle of
Hong Kong
(Toronto: Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1980), 45.

3
. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association,
The Royal Rifles of Canada in
Hong Kong: 1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 45.

4
.
Ibid
., 36.

5
.
Ibid.
, 52.

6
.
Ibid.
, 53.

7
.
Ibid.
, 52.

8
.
Ibid
., 54.

9
.
Ibid
., 54.

10
. Brereton Greenhous
,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 69.

11
.
Ibid
., 69.

12
. Excerpt from Rifleman Sydney Skelton's diary, available at
www.geocities.com/rcwpca/index-13.html
, accessed on December 4, 2008.

13
. Isabel George, “Dog of War,”
Companions
Magazine
, Issue 16 (Spring 2001), 31.

14
. Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association,
The Royal Rifles of Canada in
Hong Kong: 1941–1945
(Carp, ON: Baird O'Keefe Publishing Inc., 2001), 61.

15
. CBC Radio Broadcast, available at
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/veterans/topics/1039-5847/
, broadcast on August 11, 2000.

16
. Brereton Greenhous
,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 75.

17
. Isabel George, “Dog of War,”
Companions
Magazine
, Issue 16 (Spring 2001), 31.

18
.
Ibid.
, 31.

19
. Tony Banham,
Not the Slightest Chance: The
Defence of Hong Kong, 1941
(Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003), 114.

20
. CBC Radio Broadcast, available at
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/veterans/topics/1039-5847/
, broadcast on August 11, 2000.

21
.
Ibid
.

22
.
Ibid
.

23
. Brereton Greenhous
,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 97.

24
.
Ibid
., 97.

25
.
Ibid
., 98.

26
. MacDonell,
One Soldier's Story, 1939–1945
(TorontoDundurn Press, 2002), 48.

27
. The Geneva Convention of 1929 was drawn up by the International Committee of the Red Cross specifically to address the treatment of prisoners of war. Geneva Conventions and their amendments are international treaties that outline the rules limiting the barbarity of war. They protect non combatants (i.e., civilians, medics) and those who are no longer able to fight (i.e., wounded, prisoners), and are universally accepted. They are a cornerstone of international humanitarian law and have currently been ratified by 194 countries. See
www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/ht–mlall/genevaconventions
, accessed on May 25, 2009.

28
. Brereton Greenhous
,
“C” Force to Hong
Kong: A Canadian Catastrophe, 1941–1941
(Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997), 75.