Individual Report: C65092 Joseph WHALEN

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Rifleman	Joseph	Michael
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Kirkfield ON	Eastern Ontario	1923-01-15
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:

Transportation - Home Base to Hong Kong

Members of 'C' Force from the East travelled across Canada by CNR troop train, picking up reinforcements enroute. Stops included Valcartier, Montreal, Ottawa, Armstrong ON, Capreol ON, Winnipeg, Melville SK, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, and Vancouver, arriving in Vancouver on Oct 27 at 0800 hrs.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers and the local soldiers that were with Brigade Headquarters from Winnipeg to BC travelled on a CPR train to Vancouver.

All members embarked from Vancouver on the ships AWATEA and PRINCE ROBERT. AWATEA was a New Zealand Liner and the PRINCE ROBERT was a converted cruiser. "C" Company of the Rifles was assigned to the PRINCE ROBERT, everyone else boarded the AWATEA. The ships sailed from Vancouver on Oct 27th and arrived in Hong Kong on November 16th, having made brief stops enroute at Honolulu and Manila.

Equipment earmarked for 'C' Force use was loaded on the ship DON JOSE, but would never reach Hong Kong as it was rerouted to Manila when hostilities commenced.

On arrival, all troops were quartered at Nanking Barracks, Sham Shui Po Camp, in Kowloon.

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

No wounds recorded.

Hospital Information

No record of hospital visits found.

POW Camps

Camp ID	Camp Name	Location	Arrival Date	Departure Date
HK-SM-01	Stanley	Fort Stanley, Hong Kong Island	Capture	41 Dec 30
HK-NP-01	North Point	North Point, Hong Kong Island	41 Dec 30	42 Sep 26
HK-SA-02	Shamshuipo	Kowloon, Hong Kong	42 Sep 26	42 Nov 20

Other Military or Public Service

No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.

Death and Cemetery Information

Date of Death (y-m-d)	Cause of Death	Death Class
1942-11-20	Faucial Diphtheria.Enteritis	Died while POW
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Cape Collinson Road Chai Wan Hong Kong China	Sai Wan War Cemetery	VIII. F. 24.	NA

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Whalen have received the sad intelligence that their only son, Pte. Joseph Whalen, died of diphtheria in a Japanese prison camp.
Pte. Joseph Whalen, 17 yrs. of age enlisted with the 1st Midland Regiment at the outbreak of the war and was with the Quebec Rifles when Hong Kong fell to the Japs. He was prisoner at that time.
The Post joins with the many friends in extending sympathy to the bereaved.
Unknown Newspaper clipping

Son of Francis Joseph Whalen and Agnes Algina Hart, of Kirkfield, Ontario. He stated being born in 1921 when he enlisted. Enlisted with the 1st Midland Regiment, he served in Ontario before being deployed on 18 October 1941 to the 1st Battalion, Royal Rifles of Canada, to serve in Hong Kong with Force C, where he died in captivity. He had 837 days of service, including 389 overseas.
Citation(s): 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp.
Source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial

This SAI WAN MEMORIAL honours over 2000 men of the land forces of the British Commonwealth and Empire who died in the defence of Hong Kong during the Second World War. The SAI WAN MEMORIAL is in the form of a shelter building 24 metres long and 5.5 metres wide. It stands at the entrance to Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery, outside Victoria, the capital of Hong Kong. From the semi-circular forecourt, two wide openings lead to the interior of the building. The names are inscribed on panels of Portland stone. The dedicatory inscription reads:

1939 - 1945 The officers and men whose memory is honoured here died in the defence of Hong Kong in December 1941 and in the ensuing years of captivity and have no known grave.

The northern side of the Memorial is open and four granite piers support the copper roof. From a commanding position 305 metres above sea level, it looks out over the War Cemetery where some 1,500 men lie buried, and across the water to Mainland China - a magnificent view of sea and mountains.

Links and Other Resources

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General Comments

Submitted by Niece Mary Jane Bickell on 2017-01-12

Joseph Michael Whalen was born in 1923 to Frank and Agnes Whalen and was raised in Kirkfield, Ontario. They also had a daughter Patricia Loretta McWilliams (Whalen) and that is where we come in as she was our mother. When our mother was 16 and Joseph was 17, he left home to defend his country. Over the years our grandparents and mother did not discuss Joseph a lot, and now that we know what we know we can only suspect that it was a subject that was hard to talk about.

After my grandparents died my mother emptied their house and the personal things got stored in her attic in Peterborough, Ontario. My mother talked about someday going to Hong Kong and finding her brothers grave. Unfortunately my mother ended up with cancer and for 13 years battled the disease. She lost her fight in 1996. The next step is I have to empty her house , and one night my brother John (who died in 2008) asked if I would like him to help me, we thought we would start with the attic, and the first thing out of the attic was a statue that the Catholics used to anoint the sick and in the back of the statue were all the letters that my uncle had sent to his mother as he journeyed to his final destination which at the time he was not sure where they were going but it ended up to be Hong Kong. That night John and I read the letters first he would read one then I would read one, we laughed ,we cried it was amazing at the end of the night I asked him if he would like them and he took them home . After John died I asked his wife Kim if we could have them back. By reading these letters our family has learned a lot about Uncle Joe.

Fast forward I now am retiring and at my retirement party my brothers Daniel, James , John deceased, Michael and Peter gave me a gift , 2 tickets for my husband and myself to fly to Hong Kong and find Uncle Joe's grave . They felt that I would be the one to fulfill my mother's dreams of finding her brothers grave and be able to say goodbye. I was overwhelmed as I never thought I would ever be able to afford a trip like this. After a lot of discussion my oldest brother Dan and his wife Ginny decided to come with us, it was perfect. Weeks before our trip the 4 of us went to Kirkfield where my uncle was raised. When we were there we visited 3 sisters 91, 92 , 93 years old ,they had gone to school with my uncle , and they told us what he was like when he was a young boy . We then went to an old neighbour man and he talked about what Joe was like as well. We then went to his school took pictures and also the church and cemetery that his parents are buried in. When we were at the cemetery we gathered up a pine cone, maple leaf, some earth and actually broke a chunk of his parent's tomb stone off and took all of that with us to Hong Kong to bury with Joe (took a small piece of home to Hong Kong). I then got a book and wrote a story to Uncle Joe telling him about my mother (because my mother was only 16 when Joe left) about her life who she married and about my brothers and myself and about how great she was and how hard she worked all her life. Then I took the book to my brothers and one by one they wrote their story to Uncle Joe, we also have a close cousin who wrote her story in the book.

Finally in August of 2015 we went to Hong Kong by way of Hawaii. When we were in Hawaii we went to Pearl Harbour and took a trip out to the sunken USS Arizona. There I saw that some of the surviving soldiers when they die they want to be buried with the soldiers that died in the war, so they would be cremated and their ashes are taken down to the Arizona. This was a very important fact for me to know as at one time the Canadian Government was going to bring the Soldiers' bodies home and then it fell through. My Grandparents had his name put on their tomb stone in Kirkfield. But after I learned that the living soldiers, when they died want to be buried with the men they fought with (their family). This fact really hit home with me as I was feeling very sad that my Uncle was buried in Hong Kong and his family was in Canada but now I feel that, that is where he would want to be with the men that he fought with, suffered with, cried with, his family.

We then arrived in Hong Kong and right away set out to find his grave. The taxi driver did not speak English but the hotel gave us a map to the Sai Wan War Cemetery and we gave it to the driver. Finally we arrived and the cemetery was beautiful, manicured to perfection. We found Joe's grave row 8F what an overwhelming experience. We dug a hole in front of his tomb stone and started to bury the things we brought from Canada. When it came time to bury the book I had a strong feeling that I could not bury it until I read the stories to him. Thru many many tears from us all we finally got thru it and we buried the book. My brother Dan said that as I was reading the book he felt like Uncle Joe was laying there listening to every word I read. This experience was like no other and I know that my mother would be so happy knowing that Dan, myself and our spouses were able to make the trip and bring greeting from home to Uncle Joe in Hong Kong. Before we left we went back to the cemetery to say one last good bye.

I took pictures of every Soldiers tomb stone that was in the Royal Rifles of Canada as I felt if I could find any family members of these soldiers I wanted to show them how wonderful the cemetery is and tell them how much love there is in Hong Kong for our Canadian soldiers.

As a side note we have neighbours that summer next door to us in Peterborough, but their home is in Winnipeg, Manitoba and they have a son that works in Hong Kong and they were going to visit him in Feb. 2016. They wrote us and asked for the name of the cemetery and directions to the cemetery, so when they were in Hong Kong they visited my Uncles grave. I was very moved that they would do that and to think my uncle did not have any visitors since 1942 (19years old) and in a short time he had 6 people.

Well in closing I want to say we never physically met Joseph Michael Whalen but we feel his spirit is with us and we are proud to call Rifleman Joseph Michael Whalen our uncle. God Bless rest in peace

End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.

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Additional Notes

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Service numbers for officers ("X") are locally generated for reporting only. During World War II officers were not allocated service numbers until 1945.
'C' Force soldiers who died overseas are memorialized in the Books of Remembrance and the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, both sponsored by Veterans Affairs Canada. Please use the search utility at VAC to assist you.
Some birthdates and deathdates display as follows: 1918-00-00. In general, this indicates that we know the year but not the month or day.
Our POW camp links along with our References link (near the bottom of the 'C' Force home page) are designed to give you a starting point for your research. There were many camps with many name changes. The best resource for all POW camps in Japan is the Roger Mansell Center for Research site.
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