Transportation - Home Base to Hong Kong

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Battle Information

We do not have specific battle information for this soldier in our online database. For a detailed description of the battle from a Canadian perspective, visit Canadian Participation in the Defense of Hong Kong (published by the Historical Section, Canadian Military Headquarters).

Wounded Information

Hospital Information

No record of hospital visits found.

POW Camps

Transportation SE Asia to Home

District Men From Far East Due Home
The headquarters of M.D. 1 announced this morning that eight Canadian liberated prisoners of war from the Far East will arrive at San Francisco on the vessel Admiral Hughes this weekend. The time and date of arrival of the personnel in London is not yet known. Two of the men are from Windsor and one from Kingsville.
Rfn. Arthur K. Pifher, Arthur J. Pifher (father), Box 892, R.R. 2, Jaris, Ontario; Cpl. Jack Porter, Mrs. Olive Porter (wife), R.R. 2. East Devine street. Sarnia: Rfn. John T. Snively, Mrs. Freda Snively (wife), Kingsville; Rfn. Robert W. Taylor, Mrs. Rose Broughton (mother), 239 Church street, Windsor: Rfn. John A. Williams. Mrs. Clara Williams (mother), No. 1 District Depot, London; Rfn. Russell L Woodrich, Mrs. Emelda Woodrich (wife), 726 Josephine avenue, Windsor: Capt. Gordon C. Gray, Mrs. M. I. Gray, 1-A Langley avenue, Toronto, and Rfn. John F. Chard, Mrs. A. Chard (mother), 226 McDonell avenue, Toronto.

Post-war Photo

Other Military or Public Service

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Death and Cemetery Information

Gravestone Image

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Obituary / Life Story

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Related documentation

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General Comments

Corporal Porter Reported to Be Prisoner of War

Corporal Jack Porter, who was serving with the Royal Rifles of Canada at Hong Kong, is reported to be a prisoner of war, according to word received by Mrs. Porter, through the International Red Cross.

While stationed here, Cpl. Porter was well known in the local sporting circles, taking part in many football games.

He was an active member in the Ancient Order of Foresters in Eastern Canada, where he held a high office.

Grenadiers Hold First Reunion

Presentation of a huge birthday cake was the highlight of the as first annual reunion of the Winnipeg Grenadiers' Association, Friday.

Four veterans came from Shaughnessy hospital for the regimental celebration. Danny Dyck, Dick Grant, Harry Adams and Jack Porter are still under treatment for after-effects of their war service.

They renewed acquaintance with many others who were interned with them in Hong Kong. Most the veterans have completely recovered from their experience, and all were in good spirits.

The Winnipeg Grenadier ex-servicemen were guests of former members of the 78th Battalion C.E.F. at the Buffaloes Hall.

The Province 19 Oct 1946, Saturday - Page 6

Commutation Angers Hongkong Survivors

Vancouver's Hongkong prison camp veterans registered disgust and anger today when informed by The Daily Province that death sentences of two Japanese army officers have been commuted to prison terms.

ORR DISAPPOINTED

City Prosecutor Oscar Orr, who took part in the prosecution of Japanese war criminals, declared he was "disappointed."

Jack Porter a Shaughnessy Hospital patient and 100 per cent pensioner who suffered almost total blindness through malnutrition resulting from three years and eight months imprisonment was both puzzled and unhappy.

"Tokunaga and Saito?...two of the worst Japs to ever hit Honkong (sic)," he declared. "They should have been executed."

Porter's weight dropped from 154 to 83 pounds while under prison rule of Tokunaga, "The Pig."

"They should have left well enough alone," was the reaction of Sgt. Maurice West, 1894 East Eighth.

KEPT PARCELS

"He (Colonel Tokunaga) kept our buddies from hospital until they died in camp. He and Saito kept many of our Red Cross parcels. The sugar and chocolate and sugar (sic) was always missing from the few parcels they did release.

"I spent nine months in solitary. I had ten days of torture with less than half rations. They gave me the water treatment, drops of water falling on my head regularly for three hours. They gave me the 'rubber shoe' and bamboo rod beatings.

"They should get the same. If they are going to be jailed let them be kept in the same conditions we were.

"It looks to me as though somebody is pulling strings... money will buy almost everything."

STILL IN HOSPITAL

Richard J. Grant, who has spent the last two years in Shaughnessy with tropical ulcers and other vitamin deficiency ailments following almost four years in Jap prisons at Hongkong thought "both should have been executed."

Said "Rocky" Jacobson who e served as a sergeant with Royal Rifles of Canada at Hongkong and was imprisoned for the duration: "Hanging is too good for them-slow torture is what they deserved."

"Rocky" remembers remembers vividly working parties where his men were "slapped around" for not working hard enough.

Men died "like flies" in the Jap concentration camps, he said. One day in November, 1942, five Canadians died in a single day. As a result, "The Pig" Tokunaga and Dr. Saito lined up all the allied doctors and orderlies in the camp and abused them for the deaths of their men. Guards accompanying the commandant slapped the doctors' faces and slugged them with rubber truncheons.

"They didn't really care about the men," said "Rocky." "They just wanted the prisoners kept alive for their work gangs."

"Dr. Saito was nothing but a little maniac," said Sgt. Don Penny, of 2346 West First, another Hongkong prisoner-of- war camp veteran.

The Province 23 Aug 1947, Saturday, Page 1

HONG KONG VETS COCKY AT REUNION

Still Contemptuous of Japs, They Show Few Ill Effects

They are a cocky lot, those veterans who wear "HK" on their coat lapels, and they are still contemptuous of the Japanese who overwhelmed them at Hong Kong.

But their cockiness was earned the hard way in the noisome Jap anese prison camp of Shamshuipo, Sendai, Ohasi. In 3 1/2 years the cheerful courage of these young Canadians finally defeated the animal brutality of their captors.

This spirit burned like a clear flame at their first annual reunion Friday night when they were guests of the Winnipeg Grenadiers' Association, former members of the 78th Battalion, CEF.

Four came from Shaughnessy Hospital, where they are still under treatment for the after-effects of their long imprisonment: Danny Dyck, Dick Grant, and two Hong Kong veterans of the Rifles Royal of Canada, Harry Adams and Jack Porter.

Others are from all walks of life and most have come to live in Vancouver after receiving their discharges on the prairies. Few show any ill-effects from Japanese ill-treatment.

"The only trouble is with my legs," said young Bill Laidlaw, formerly of Winnipeg, now in the Customs here. "Beri-beri seems to have taken root in them and sometimes they go haywire.

It was he who keynoted the gathering when when he linked the new veterans of Hong Kong with the men whose battle honors range from Yypres to the "Hundred Days" that started when Canadians cracked the German lines at Amiens to fight through to victory.

William Jackson, secretary of the Grenadiers' Association, acted as chairman of the reunion in the absence of Oscar Erickson, president. The occasion was marked by presentation of a huge birthday cake.

VICTORIA, Oct. 19

Hongkong Veterans Find Rehabilitation Difficult

This is a story of two years after -two years after Canadian servicemen were released from Japanese prisoner-of-war camps and returned to their native land.

It's not the story of the thousands who were returned and rehabilitated to lead normal, peacetime lives.

It is the story of two men, Corp. Jack Porter, Royal Rifles of Canada and Corp. William A. Shayler, Winnipeg Grenadier, who have been waging an uphill a battle against physical and mental obstacles for the past two years, and who are faced with a not-too-bright present and an uncertain future.

STAFF MEMBER

Porter is a staff member at Shaughnessy Hospital; Shayler is a patient. But, despite long years of confinement, they're not bitter.

Everyone at Shaughnessy knows Jack.

He's the chap whose vision is impaired as the result of three years and eight months in a Jap prison camp. Jack is forbidden to read or write. In order to save what sight he has, he's learning Braille and touch-typing at the Institute for the Blind. Jack's record reads like this: captured at Hongkong, Christmas, 1941; reached Canada in October, 1945, suffering malaria, arthritis of the spine and fading vision; five months' hospitalization in Toronto; transferred to Vancouver in March, 1946, and discharged from Shaughnessy in June, 1946.

Knowing his eyesight could never be improved, Jack took a job with Shaughnessy's electrical staff. It gave him a degree of financial independence, and kept him near the medical attention he constantly requires.

Like Jack, William A. Shayler is known by everyone at the hospital.

William's latest stroke of hard luck landed him in the pavilion with tuberculosis.

His record is much the same as Jack's. He came back from Hongkong in September, 1945, to nine months in Vancouver Military hospital. He was discharged as a convalescent patient.

Last April, he was admitted to Shaughnessy with nervous disorders. Three months treatment disclosed a stomach ulcer and the fact that his weight was dropping.

CHANCES GOOD

His chances of an early recovery are good. But William's greatest worry is his family, not himself. Married and the father of a 6-months-old daughter and a 9-year-old son, he and his wife receive $94 a month and are attempting to keep up payments on their small home at 1306 Gilley, South Burnaby.

An expert leather worker, William augments the family income by filling orders for handbags, wallets and bookmarks.

Both Jack and William are loud in praise of work done for Shaughnessy patients by Vancouver's service clubs, women's societies and other organizations.

CANADIAN SOLDIER TELLS OF TREATMENT IN PRISONER OF WAR CAMP

Rudolph Vertiska, Jr. is now home and is again a civilian. During the war he served on a troop transport. 1,800 Canadian and 2,000 American former prisoners of war were brought back from Japan the last trip he made. Among the Canadians was one who had made a "signed statement" in regard to his treatment while a Japanese prisoner of war, and Mr. Vertiska has a copy of the statement which he gave us for publication. The statement follows:

North Point, Prisoner of War Camp, Hong Kong. 8 June 1942 Statement of B-40638 L/Cpl. J. Porter, "D" Coy. Royal Rifles of Canada

I, Lance Corporal Jack Porter, do solemnly declare:

On May 23, 1942, a Muster Parade was called at 1600 hrs. by Corporal Takunaga in charge of Prisoners of War Camps, Hong Kong, gave the report that all prisoners of all ranks must sign a purported affidavit that they would not would not attempt to escape while prisoners of war of the Imperial Japanese Army. He stated that anyone who refused to sign would be disobeying a Japanese Army order and consequently would be guilty of mutiny and subject to punishment under Japanese Military Law. I refused to sign the affidavit on principle and was taken away from North Point Camp by the Japanese authorities.

I was taken to the Headquarters of the Camp Commandant, Lieut. Wada, and they asked me the reason why I would not sign. I told them that under British Military Law a prisoner of war if he had a chance to escape had to take that chance and they told me they did not believe in International Laws. They told me we came under the Imperial Japanese Army rules and that we were their prisoners of war and had to abide by what they said. I told them I could not agree to that as I was still a British subject and although a prisoner of war, I had nothing to do with the Imperial Japanese Army. They asked me and practically begged me to sign. 2/Lieut. Kochi tried for an hour and told me I was too good a man to be put away for something like this. He said, "I know what you are going to go through if you don't sign." Then they gave me my supper, two lots of beef stew, two lots of rice with sugar, tea with sugar in it, and cigarettes. At ten o'clock they gave me tea again with sugar in it and sweet biscuits and put a silver cigarette case in front of me full of cigarettes and told me to help myself.

At 10:30 they got me into a car and brought me down to the Guard Commander's house where I spent the night in the little kitchen in the yard under lock and key with a sentry on the outside. I was not allowed to take any kit with me, not even my tunic, and they gave me no blankets or bedding of any sort. They gave me a packet of cigarettes when leaving the Camp Commandant's house but I was not allowed to smoke.

My breakfast consisted of a "ball" of rice and a bit of cucumber, nothing to drink. I ate that and sat down on the tile floor. The sentry tried to make me stand up but I do not know for what reason. He opened his breach and shoved a round up the breach and put his rifle through the window, I told him to go ahead and shoot. The sentry then called the Guard Commander, who tried the same thing. This was around about 10:30 in the morning.

About this time they came with a car from Camp Headquarters and took me down to the Star Ferry. We sat in the car waiting for the prisoners coming from Sham Shui Po. Six of them came with a guard of six Japanese and an officer. We lined up at the Star Ferry and paraded through the street to the Court House.

At the Court House we were put in an ante-room, not allowed to smoke. The Japanese Guard had left us by this time and we were now in charge of three Indian Police. We were called in before a high ranking Japanese officer. He asked me why I did not want to sign and I told him the same story. He then asked me "what are you, a volunteer." I said "no, a Canadian." He said, "did you volunteer for this war?" and I said "yes." He asked me my age and I told him my right age. He told me I was a very brave man and said he wished he only had an army like that. I said I was not doing it because I was brave but that I was doing it for my King, and the Interpreter then slapped, my face hard. The officer said something to the interpreter in Japanese and I judged that he was censoring the interpreter for having slapped me. I was then told we would be sent to Stanley Prison and the Indian police got a rope and tied the seven of us together by the wrists and put us in the police van and took us to Stanley Prison.

When we got to the prison we were untied, undressed and our pockets turned out by the prison wardens in front of a Japanese officer. The officer then took us individually by the hair of the head and dragged us each to a separate cell. Our shorts were then thrown into the cell, which was the only clothing given back to us. There was was a wooden bed and one blanket in the cell.

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when we were put into the cells. They left us alone until supper came about 5.30, which consisted of a very small portion of poor grade rice and a small cup of something that looked like senna tea. They placed the food outside the cell door and opened the door about six inches for us to reach through and get the food. They collected the basin and cup after 15 minutes. I could not eat the rice or drink the tea on account of its magotty and filthy condition.

We were told we could not lie down until nine o'clock but must kneel upon the bed facing the wall. At 9 o'clock the Japanese Officer came in and told us we could go to sleep. I laid down on the bed and tried to get to sleep. At 12 o'clock they came and woke me up and asked me if I wanted to sign, I said "NO". The Japanese officer then slapped me across the face and told me to get to sleep. About every hour after that I was awakened by the the prison warden and asked the same question and upon giving the same answer I was either slapped across the face or hit on other parts of the body with a rubber truncheon. This continued until daylight when I was told to fold my blanket and kneel up on the bed facing the wall.

At seven o'clock in the morning we got up and washed our hands and face without soap. Then we returned to the cell. I had to continue kneeling on the bed until nine o'clock at night except when eating or inspection of the cell by the Japanese Officer. Watch was kept and if I relaxed the guard would beat me with a rubber truncheon. At eleven o'clock dinner was brought in, which consisted of a small handful of common rice. Sanitary conditions were very bad and the small bowl provided for this purpose was emptied by me once every day.

On May 31st food and water were stopped and until I finally signed on the 4th of June I received no more food or drink, although the punishment above so described continued.

Several of my fellow prisoners were suffering from dysentery and on the 4th of June their sufferings became so acute that it was decided among us that we should sign, thinking that we would get food after signing, but did not get any until eleven o'clock on the morning of June 5th. We signed the form about two o'clock in the afternoon of June 4th.

During this whole period no toilet paper was supplied and in the cells occupied by those with dysentery the mess was frightful. We were forced on the van and had to sign again at the Court House in Victoria, I was returned to my unit at North Point Camp about two o'clock is the afternoon of June 9th. Since my return I have been suffering from diarrhea, beri-beri and general weakness. AND I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and knowing that it is of the same force and effect as if made under oath.

AND I HAVE SIGNED: Declared before me at North Point Camp, Hong Kong, this 16th day of June 1942 (S) Lt. Col. Price (Signed) J. Porter, "D" Coy L/Cpl. J. Porter, "D" Coy Royal Rifles of Canada.

AFFIDAVIT (S) Witness: Al W. Tomson, Capt. D. P. La Boutele, Capt.

I hereby swear that I shall not make any attempt-to-escape whilest I am a prisoner of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Dated this day of 17th year of Showa, THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF HONG KONG PRISONERS OF WAR CAMP, HONG KONG

Signed: J. Porter Cpl.

THE HUMBOLDT STANDARD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1945

ERIC WHITEHEAD'S Fan Fare

National tournaments are usually accompanied by loud blasts of publicity and attendant gilded fol-de-rol.

But yesterday in Vancouver, five men competed for a national championship and the only witnesses were an unidentified lady, a photographer, and myself.

The affair took place at Seymour Recreations, in one corner of an otherwise empty second floor. The competition had two unusual angles: 1. The five competitors were blind; 2. The result of the tournament will not be known until the evening of May 21.

Yesterday's bowlers were a Vancouver Canadian Institute for the Blind team who have already won the Western Canada CNIB championships.

Their opponents are a five-man Toronto team, the eastern champions, who will bowl an equivalent three-games each in their own city on May 21 - after which the Toronto squad will telegraph their aggregate here to match against Vancouver.

Score?

There's nothing wondrous or Ripley-like about blind bowling - an eight-team CNIB league has been operating here for some years - but yesterday's session, staged with all the fervor, the excitement, and the tense competitive spirit of any big-scale championship, was something to behold.

Of the Vancouver team, only three can see to the end of the alley - and to them the pins are but blurred shadows, indistinguishable one from the other.

The men use the ball rail as a directional guide and a coach tells them which pins have fallen. How well do they score? Well, yesterday's aggregate total will be filed away and kept secret until the east bowls on May 21, but we will weaken enough to tell this much about yesterday's play: Sixty-four-year- old Harold Harman, who can not see the pins, opened up his string with three straight strikes!

The Team

And this amabing (sic) feat is apparently not too unusual. Bill Foster, 64-year-old team captain, is totally blind, yet his league average for the past season was 147, and in one game last year, he piled up a record score of 315.

But of the team itself:

Skipper Foster is a World War 1 vet, retired. Bill lost his sight through gunshot while in action with the 16th Canadian Scottish at Ypres.

Jack Porter is a nimble 59, a war veteran of Hong Kong. A member of the Royal Rifles, Jack was imprisoned by the Japs, and his optic nerves were subsequently ruined by malnutrition. Jack is on a 100% disability pension, is out of work, but would like to get light work as a night janitor.

Athlete

Third man is Jim Wood, president of the White Cane Club, a husky, cigar-smoking vet of World War 1. Jim is manager of a canteen at H.R. MacMillan Co., at one time played football with the Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Tigers. For the past 15 years he has had but 15% vision.

Fourth man is Charles Pearcey retired, blind since a car accident in Moose Jaw in 1939. Pearcey's son, Flt. Lt. Jim Pearcey of the RCAF, was a POW in the recent conflict.

The gentleman who opened up yesterday's play with three successive strikes, Harold Harmon, runs a cigar stand in a Vancouver cafe, has been blind since 1933 - cause of spinal meningitis.

Worthy

The CNIB is sponsoring this national tournament, the first of its kind, and to say it is a worthy effort would be a magnificent understatement.

For if you yourself bowl and get a lot of pleasure from the thrill of the clattering hardwood pins-just mentally double or triple that pleasure and the result will be something ap- proaching the intense enjoyment these men get from the game. Life-and sport-is certainly what you make it.

IT'S A SECRET for the time being, so blind bowler Jack Porter, a Hong Kong veteran, at left, hands his score sheet to Joe Lewis, CNIB director of recreation, for safekeeping. The CNIB team, western Canada blind bowling champions, is taking part in the national final against a Toronto team, and the scores will be announced after the Toronto team has finished its match. See Eric Whitehead's Fan Fare for a story on Vancouver's blind bowlers.

Friday, April 29, 1949

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End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.