1st Bn The Royal Rifles of Canada
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Corporal | Joseph | Edgar Lionel |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Maria East QC | Eastern Quebec | 1910-05-09 |
| 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 | Company | Type of Work | 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 | 43 Jan 19 | ||
| JP-To-3D | Tsurumi | Yokohama-shi, Tsurumi-ku, Suyehiro-cho, 1-chome, Japan | Nippon Steel Tube - Tsurumi Shipyards | Variety of jobs related to ship building | 43 Jan 19 | 45 Apr 16 |
| JP-Se-4B | Ohashi | Iwate-ken, Kamihei-gun, Katsushi-mura, Ohashi, Japan | Nippon Steel Company | 45 Apr 16 | 45 Sep 15 |
Transport to Japan
| Draft Number | Name of Ship | Departure Date | Arrival Date | Arrival Port | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XD3A | Tatuta Maru | 43 Jan 19, left Shamsuipo Camp, 0500 hrs; left Hong Kong 1300hrs | 43 Jan 22, 0400 hrs | Nagasaki, Japan | Boarded train, arrived in Tokyo on 43 Jan 24 at 0700 hrs, boarded electric train for 10 mile ride to camp | Tony Banham |
Transportation SE Asia to Home
| Transport Mode | Arrival Destination | Arrival Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.
Post-war Photo
No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not recorded | |||
| Cemetery Location | Cemetery | Grave Number | Gravestone Marker |
| as per Phil- possibly in NFL | |||
Gravestone Image
No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.
Obituary / Life Story
No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.
Links and Other Resources
There may be more information on this individual available elsewhere on our web sites - please use the search tool found in the upper right corner of this page to view sources.
Related documentation
- Our HKVCA Vault (Google Docs) may contain additional information, newspaper clippings, and documents which have been saved for this soldier. To access this information, click on the vault link and a Google Docs folder list will open in a separate tab. Use the first letter of the soldier’s service number, found at the top of this report, to open the correct folder. Each sub-folder is identified by service number. Scroll down until you reach the one of your interest.
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General Comments
Lots of stories can be told about our stay in St. John's, Newfoundland, but one that sticks in my memory and still causes me to laugh when I think of it is this one which I'll tell you now. It concerns a fabulous character in the Royal Rifles by the name of Edgar Labrecque.
Edgar was from a little hamlet not far from New Richmond, which went by the nickname of "Little Montreal". What travelling he had done before he joined the army, I do not know, but he had an unending number of jokes and stories of all kinds. He had the art of storytelling and the sense of humour to set that off, sometimes crude, but always witty and entertaining.
Edgar was in "B" Company, I believe. He was in Botwood just before going to St. John's. He showed up on parade one day needing a haircut. Lieut. Woodside, quite a strict disciplinarian, told him to get a haircut a real haircut.. . Sure enough, on parade the following day Edgar showed up with his scalp shaved clean. About two weeks later the Regiment was moved to St. John's. Soon after that the good ladies of some benevolent organization sought to welcome us to the city by inviting us to afternoon tea at the Caribou Hut, the St. John's YMCA.
Imagine the scene. Dainty, sophisticated ladies, from the goodness of their hearts, attempting to entertain us, serving tea and cakes to a group of soldiers, fresh from the boondocks, for the most part illiterate, and certainly devoid of social graces.
The tinkling of the piano rendering such classics as "In an English Country Garden" soon bored the audience whose musical tastes ran more to the songs of Wilf Carter and Hank Snow. Someone shouted, "Labrecque, recite Jean-Baptiste Trudeau!" Now, Labrecque was good, nay, he was excellent, at reciting the poems of William Henry Drummond. He used to keep us amused with his renditions of "Leetle Bateese", "The Stovepipe Hole" and others. After much catcalling and cries of "C'mon, Edgar!" he finally got up on the stage. He began by rubbing his cleanly clipped head and apologizing for his lack of hair. Then he said, "I'm not in the mood to recite Jean-Baptiste today but I'll tell you a story. "When I was young our family was very poor. I had always wanted a bicycle, but my father could never afford it. One morning my father looked out the window and saw a bicycle by the side of the house. He said, "Edgar, where did you get the bicycle?" 1 said, 'Last night I was out walking and this girl came up on a bicycle. She said," Hop on and I'll give you a ride". We rode around for a while, and then we went into the park. We sat down on the grass and after a while we lay down on the grass. Then she took off her pants and said, "Edgar, you can take anything you want." The pants didn't fit, so I took the bicycle."
For a full minute you could have heard a pin drop. Then the laughter started and rolled until the rafters shook. Those poor ladies must have been scandalized, and as far as I know, none of us ignorant clods even bothered to thank them for their kindness.
In the prison camp, in the Jubilee Building in Sham Shui Po, which served as a diphtheria hospital, I shared a room with Edgar and some others for a while. He kept us amused with his recitations of Drummond's poems, and stories of his early days in Little Montreal. His humour and his upbeat attitude no doubt helped me to forget my miseries, and helped me to survive until 1945. Edgar died long ago.
QUEBEC-MARITIMES BRANCH BANJO GOSSIP NEWSLETTER 5.4 BAMBOO TELEGRAPH JUNE, 1998
End of Report.
Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.
Additional Notes
(These will not be visible on the printed copy)
- 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.
- In most cases the rank displayed was the rank held before hostilities. Some veterans were promoted at some point prior to eventual post-war release from the army back in Canada. When notified of these changes we'll update the individual's record.
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