The following is a factionalized account of what happened in Hong Kong 70 years ago today. It is meant as a memorial to a man I never knew but who is entirely responsible for my being here. The facts were gathered from several books, websites and what few family passages were handed down to me over the years:
December 19, 1941
British Territory of Hong Kong
“The Ridge” - An abutment overlooking
Sai-Wan Bay.
D106529
Pte JACKSON A.
"The Ridge", 1941 Dec 22
1941/12/19
Sai Wan Memorial
Column 27.
Private Albert Jackson and three of his Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (R.C.A.S.C.) are taking heavy fire in a hastily hollowed out trench – along with over 1900 Canadian and British troops who arrived in November of that year to support the defence of Hong Kong, the Asian
“Jewel in the Crown” of Great Britain.
Winston Churchill said, “Hong Kong will never fall.” It was a promise he made to President
Franklin Roosevelt at the outset of America’s entry into the Second World
War. It was a promise he could not keep.
When Albert Jackson and the rest of “C” force departed from Vancouver that fateful day October, 27th of 1941, did he know that he had less than two months to live? Did he know that of the 1977 soldiers sent to Hong Kong to defend it against what would be a seismic wave of Japanese infantry, he would be one of the first 290 Canadian casualties to die in the Pacific theatre?
Back in Montreal, Edna Mae Jackson (nee Cavener) appears in the Montreal Gazette as part of a puff piece of war propaganda “Soldier Doesn’t Know About Twin Daughters.”
The article goes on to state that Edna, who gave birth to the twins after her husband departed to Hong Kong, has no way of reaching him to tell him the news. Albert may never know that his pregnant wife gave birth to two daughters, leaving only a 3-year-old son to carry on his name. He would go to his death remembering the infectious smile of a sandy-haired toddler, mugging in front of the camera wearing a miniature soldier’s uniform, including a forage cap. Seventy years later, that smile is still just as infectious in a man who barely remembers a father who went to war and never returned.
Seventy years ago today, a battle raged that changed the course of one family forever.
Pinned down on “The Ridge” with spent ammunition and forced to use hand-to-hand combat, scarce and faded eye-witness accounts would tell of the South-African born and British-raised father of three who took a bullet – probably more than one, - which ended his life. In their fervent rage and haste to overrun the remaining soldiers and staff barricaded in Stanley Hospital, the Japanese would raze “The Ridge” with tanks, burying the wounded and dying as they went.
Private Albert Jackson (posthumously promoted to Corporal) would be confirmed as KIA (killed in action) on December 22nd. His body would never be found. Four days later, British forces surrendered the island of Hong Kong. But before that happened, a massacre of inhuman proportions would take place. In the outlying jungle, on the beaches, in bunkers and in the hospital itself, Japanese soldiers murdered any wounded soldiers they found. Several nurses in
the Stanley Hospital were raped, some murdered, shot or bayoneted as they tried to defend themselves. The remaining troops would be herded onto “Hell Ships” and transported to the island of Japan as slave POW’s and sent to work in the mines. Many would die in captivity – murder, starvation, disease – or simply worked to death. Some would make it through to liberation. The lucky ones would recover and be sent home. Some would say they never left Japan. Most will say that part of them never recovered at all. They would live to envy the dead.
What remains of Albert Jackson’s legacy and service to his country can be viewed at these links:
Franklin Roosevelt at the outset of America’s entry into the Second World
War. It was a promise he could not keep.
When Albert Jackson and the rest of “C” force departed from Vancouver that fateful day October, 27th of 1941, did he know that he had less than two months to live? Did he know that of the 1977 soldiers sent to Hong Kong to defend it against what would be a seismic wave of Japanese infantry, he would be one of the first 290 Canadian casualties to die in the Pacific theatre?
Back in Montreal, Edna Mae Jackson (nee Cavener) appears in the Montreal Gazette as part of a puff piece of war propaganda “Soldier Doesn’t Know About Twin Daughters.”
The article goes on to state that Edna, who gave birth to the twins after her husband departed to Hong Kong, has no way of reaching him to tell him the news. Albert may never know that his pregnant wife gave birth to two daughters, leaving only a 3-year-old son to carry on his name. He would go to his death remembering the infectious smile of a sandy-haired toddler, mugging in front of the camera wearing a miniature soldier’s uniform, including a forage cap. Seventy years later, that smile is still just as infectious in a man who barely remembers a father who went to war and never returned.
Seventy years ago today, a battle raged that changed the course of one family forever.
Pinned down on “The Ridge” with spent ammunition and forced to use hand-to-hand combat, scarce and faded eye-witness accounts would tell of the South-African born and British-raised father of three who took a bullet – probably more than one, - which ended his life. In their fervent rage and haste to overrun the remaining soldiers and staff barricaded in Stanley Hospital, the Japanese would raze “The Ridge” with tanks, burying the wounded and dying as they went.
Private Albert Jackson (posthumously promoted to Corporal) would be confirmed as KIA (killed in action) on December 22nd. His body would never be found. Four days later, British forces surrendered the island of Hong Kong. But before that happened, a massacre of inhuman proportions would take place. In the outlying jungle, on the beaches, in bunkers and in the hospital itself, Japanese soldiers murdered any wounded soldiers they found. Several nurses in
the Stanley Hospital were raped, some murdered, shot or bayoneted as they tried to defend themselves. The remaining troops would be herded onto “Hell Ships” and transported to the island of Japan as slave POW’s and sent to work in the mines. Many would die in captivity – murder, starvation, disease – or simply worked to death. Some would make it through to liberation. The lucky ones would recover and be sent home. Some would say they never left Japan. Most will say that part of them never recovered at all. They would live to envy the dead.
What remains of Albert Jackson’s legacy and service to his country can be viewed at these links:
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/images/collections/books/bww2/ww2033.jpg
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/collections/virtualmem/Detail/2128678
The man whose name is carved in Column 27 is scarce remembered only by a single living relative now. For those of us who are here because of him, look into that part of yourself which is proud of the country in which they live, that may display bravery in the face of odds and who believe that honour still exists. Never wonder where it came from.
I have been asked if he was a hero. To that I say, “no.” He was however a man who volunteered to serve his country; a soldier who went where he was told and who died doing what he
was trained to do. He was a patriot. He was a Canadian.
The rest of us who are here today and share his blood must never forget he was also a father.
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