1st Bn The Royal Rifles of Canada
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Rifleman | Ralph | Douglas |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Sellarsville QC | Eastern Quebec | 1917-02-15 |
| Appointment: | Company: | Platoon: |
| HQ Coy | 1 Signals | |
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
| Date Wounded | Wound Description | References |
|---|---|---|
| 41/12/22 | N/A |
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-Fu-5B | Omine | Kawasaki-machi, Fukuoka pref., Kyushu Island, Japan | Furukawa Industries Omine | Coal mining | 43 Jan 23 | 45 Sep 22 |
Transport to Japan
| Draft Number | Name of Ship | Departure Date | Arrival Date | Arrival Port | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XD3B | Tatuta Maru | 43 Jan 19, left Shamsuipo Camp, 0500 hrs; left Hong Kong 1300hrs | 43 Jan 22, 0400 hrs | Nagasaki, Japan | Tony Banham |
Transportation SE Asia to Home
| Transport Mode | Arrival Destination | Arrival Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMS Glory | Esquimalt, BC | 1945-10-27 | Manila to Esquimalt, BC 37 CDNs sick and 119 fit |
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
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Other Military or Public Service
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Death and Cemetery Information
| Date of Death (y-m-d) | Cause of Death | Death Class | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981-11-18 | Post War | ||
| Cemetery Location | Cemetery | Grave Number | Gravestone Marker |
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
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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
New Brunswick A POW's diary: father's wartime words reveal details family never knew
Ralph Nicol of the Royal Rifles of Canada was guarded with his family about his wartime experiences.
Ralph Nicol of the Royal Rifles of Canada had his picture taken in Sussex, N.B., before his battallion headed west and on to Hong Kong in 1941. After his capture by the Japanese, he kept a secret diary of his experience.
Ralph Nicol didn't talk about his experience as a captive of the Japanese during the Second World War. Lynn Nicol was only five or six when she learned how painful the subject was for her father, who spent four years as a prisoner of war, almost wasting away in the Japanese camp known as Omine. "Did you shoot anybody in the war?" Lynn asked him one day. In a quiet voice, he replied: "Never ask me that again." He then taught Lynn how to count in Japanese.
Over the years Lynn, now a producer with CBC Radio in Moncton, learned the outline of her father's wartime experience, but little about the hardship and horror of his years as a prisoner.
Ralph, a 25-year-old farmer from Sillarsville, Que., and his brother, Noble, had sailed into Hong Kong in November 1941 as part of the Royal Rifles of Canada, a battalion of men from the Gaspé coast and northern New Brunswick. Together with the Royal Winnipeg Grenadiers, they formed C Force, the Canadian contingent of 1,975 soldiers created to protect Hong Kong against possible Japanese invasion. On Dec. 7 of that year, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and hours later invaded Hong Kong. The ensuing battle claimed the lives of 299 Canadians. The rest were either wounded or captured, including the Nicol brothers.
At Omine, on the island of Kyushu, between Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Canadians became slave labourers in a coal mine. Throughout the war, Ralph Nicol wrote about his experience in a pocket-size diary he kept hidden from his Japanese captors. They would have killed him had they known. In 1945, Omine was the last PoW camp to be liberated by U.S. troops. Ralph and Noble Nicol returned to the Gaspé, where Ralph married Verna Gaudin, a teacher. He went back to farming, raised three children and never set foot in a mine again. Nothing, he said, could make up for what he'd experienced in Japan.
Ralph Nicol died in 1981 at the age of 64. The evening after his funeral, his daughter Lynn opened the diary he kept during the war and started reading. The following are excerpts, beginning with the battle that led to Ralph's capture.
Dec. 23, 1941, Hong Kong Got a bullet in my toe. Went to the hospital. It was shelled shortly afterward. One orderly was killed. Food is nearly all gone and so is the ammunition. and at four o'clock in the afternoon I don't see much point in resisting any longer. There is no hope of help that I can see. I, along with a lot of others, greatly underestimated the Japanese. The remnants of the Royal Rifles of Canada came in at dusk, dead on their feet. Is it to be a last stand? A fight to the last man. The padre is still with us.
Dec. 24 The peninsula was shelled this morning. Not much damage that I could see from my hospital window. Are we in such a bad predicament as we imagine? I wonder if any friendly eyes will ever look on these pages. The hospital staff is preparing for Christmas. When the shelling gets too loud, someone starts playing Nearer My God to Thee. I hate the sound of that piano. We heard at 5 o'clock Repulse Bay was recaptured by the Japanese. Maybe our end comes tomorrow. Shorty wants to bet we here in the hospital won't be killed. I don't believe there's a chance for life. When the attack starts, I'm going to try and hide this in the building somewhere, maybe the Japanese won't find it.
Christmas Day, 1941 The battle for the peninsula started at dark. At dawn they got as far as this hospital. They are now downstairs. I don't know yet if it's to be a massacre or not. I am going to hide this. Whether I'm taken a prisoner or killed, it's good-bye. God bless you all. I hope some of my friends in Canada will get a chance to read this. If you do and I don't show up after the war, don't grieve too much. A battle raged all day. We weren't used too bad. I believe peace was settled at 9 o'clock.
March 8, 1942 We moved from Stanley Hospital. I got lonesome when I saw the women and children in the concentration camp in Stanley Village. There are a few other Canucks here, mostly Winnipeg Grenadiers. Another fellow told me Noble was captured the same time as he was. Noble is now at North Point. I had given him up as dead. I was glad to hear that news.
Jan. 19, 1943 On parade at 4:30, embarked sunrise. Don't get much to eat often -- just an occasional small ration of rice with a bit of bully beef. Nagasaki at 2 a.m.
Jan. 21 Disembarked at 9 p.m., and boarded the train at 11. Train was very crowded. Arrived at Omine at 1 p.m. Barracks look OK but I believe they will be cold. They are all windows, no heat. Sleep on the floor.
Aug. 1 What it would be like to sleep in bed with no fleas, bed bugs or lice. Got my first pair of shoes since coming to work in the mine.
Aug. 8 Got my foot crushed in the mine. Only two roll calls now.
Aug. 20 Eddie died this morning. No day off for the funeral.
June 22, 1944 A very dry spell. The Commander told us to pray for rain or we would starve. It rained.
Sept. 7 A shock today. Both Curlys are dead.
Sept. 8 Two more dead. I was a pallbearer. 7 or 8 others are very sick. They are hunting all over the place for oxygen.
Sept. 19 The last food drop of the last plane killed an Englishman and a Korean. That's what I call tough luck after three and half years in this hole to be killed a few days before home.
July 14 Sudden death struck today in the shape of a cave-in. Two dead.
Aug. 10, 1945 An air raid tonight. It must be getting close. Everybody was in the mine. The Commander expects a drastic cut in rations. Everybody thinks the war is coming to a close. They are in a very bad state. The civilian population is also starving.
Aug. 17 It's definite. The show is over. The sergeant came back last night and told us that the army of occupation has come. He issued boots to those of us with none. There was a short service led by one of the Australians. I renewed my vows to join the church and to try to make up to Dad for some of the sacrifices he has made for us.
Aug. 23 Built two PoW signs and heard the Americans would drop food tomorrow.
Karin Reid-LeBlanc - CBC News - Posted: Nov 10, 2016 6:50 PM MST | Last Updated: November 14, 2016
’C’ Force Family Connections:
- Brother of E30110 Robert Noble Nicol
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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