Eyes front

The effects of starvation were clear. Eyes bulging, hollowed out cheeks, rib cages pushing through dried out skin, bloated stomachs. Some were crouched, too weak to stand, wrapped in shabby blankets despite the searing heat. Even some of the seasoned medics who found them could only say "Oh my God..." and then their words trailed off.

I am not referring to those heartbreaking scenes we see on TV depicting malnutrition of children in refugee camps. I am describing what the arriving Allied troops saw in 1945 in prisoner of war camps in Southeast Asia. The young and the dying were not local children. They were Canadian soldiers, many barely out of adolescence. They had been taken prisoner after their valiant efforts in the Battle of Hong Kong four years earlier.

In 1941 they had arrived on the shores of Hong Kong. There were 1976 of them. Exuberant Canadian recruits sent to defend this tiny outpost. Despite their brave hearts, neither their equipment nor their training would prove to be a match for the superior fire power and numbers of the invaders.

The Canadians arrived in November. The enemy began a full scale assault on Dec. 7th. Our 'boys' were outnumbered 10-1. For 17 long days they dug in and fought hard. They gave up ground stubbornly, ‘an inch at a time', inflicting heavy losses on their exasperated but furious enemy. They took heavy losses themselves. One of the most violent battles took place defending a hospital at St. Stephen's College. Even that place of sanctuary where nurses tended to the weak and wounded was brutally violated by the attackers.

Finally, the Canadian command, seeing only the possibility of the slaughter of their troops and the citizens they were dying to protect, did the honourable thing. They agreed to surrender on the condition that the inhabitants of the island would not face genocide.

Many of the captive Canadian soldiers may have imagined the worst was over. After all, the international rules of war establish that imprisoned combatants must not be treated inhumanely, nor tortured, or forced into slave labour. For the next four years these young Canadians would be personally subjected to the horrific violations of all of those conventions.

One newspaper story this week quoted the advice given at the time by a prisoner to a fellow captive, on staying alive. "Don't draw attention to yourself. Don't make eye contact with the guards. Take their beatings. Keep hope alive."

Much later, after arriving home to the streets of Canada they again at times encountered people not wanting to look at them. Many were still horribly gaunt, so people would look away, rather than have these veterans think they were staring.

That was all changed this weekend in Ottawa at a very special gathering and memorial. The Forgotten Soldiers were finally being acknowledged as the true Heroes they are.

Our Prime Minister and our government have made it a priority to properly fund and equip our men and women in uniform, to protect those who serve and our citizens will now be able to remember for all time what these veterans of Hong Kong did for us and for the world.

At a wonderful ceremony of Remembrance, a granite Wall of Honour with 1976 noble names engraved on it was unveiled. Dignitaries, widows, children and grandchildren gathered to acknowledge, to acclaim, to applaud.

I was one of those grandchildren on Saturday, with my mother, my aunts, uncles and cousins as they joined the standing ovations. My mother touched her father's name, Bertram Gilbert, now carved forever into that wall. Like so many other fathers, he was taken from his children far too soon in their young lives.

There was no shortage of admiring cheers and moistened cheeks as some of the remaining veterans, now in their 80's and 90's, slowly but proudly marched before us on the red carpet. Some of them looked gaunt and frail once again. But this time it was due to age, not torture and this time nobody looked away. It was 'Eyes Front' as we gazed in admiration and respect at our homecoming Heroes.

We will remember them.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.