Individual Report: E30530 Bernard DUPLASSIE

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Corporal	Bernard	Patrick
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Upper Hills NB	Eastern Quebec	1921-08-08
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 May 13
JP-Se-1B	Yumoto	Fukushima-ken, Iwaki-gun, Yumoto-cho, Mizunoya, Japan	Joban Coal Mining Company		45 May 13	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
NATS 90396	Oakland	1945-09-29

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

Other Military or Public Service

At the end of WW2, Bernard Duplassie re-enlisted and served from 1951-1972, and was later employed at CFB Gagetown from 1972-1985.

Death and Cemetery Information

Date of Death (y-m-d)	Cause of Death	Death Class
1990-12-18		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

Bernard Patrick (Bernie) Duplassie, 278 Westmorland Street, Fredericton, died at his home on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 1990. He was 69.
Born in Sunnyside, he was was a member of the Oromocto Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. He served overseas from 1941-1945, then re-enlisted and served from 1951-1972, and was later employed at CFB Gagetown from 1972-1985.
He is survived by his wife, Adelaide; three sons, Darrell and Ryan of Fredericton and Douglas of Edmonton, Alberta; daughter Donna of Fredericton; brother, Henry of Ontario; two sisters, Florence Green of Milltown and Robin Geddes of Calais, Maine; four grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.
There will be no visitation held at the funeral home. Following cremation, a memorial service will be held at a later date. No flowers by request.
Donations may be made to any charitable organization. Bishop's Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Unknown Newspaper clipping

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.

General Comments

E30530 Bernard Patrick Duplessie was the third youngest in a family of six boys and seven girls. The family sustained a living by working a small mixed farm and aided this by the use of outside labour. He completed Grade 6 at a country school in Sunnyside at the age of the age of 16, but later could not account for grades missed or how long he went to school, to Army enlistment officials. Bernard Patrick Duplassie enlisted as a Rifleman (E30530) with the 1st Battalion, Royal Rifles of Canada, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps on September 17, 1940 at Motepedre, Quebec. The Battalion left Vancouver, British Columbia for Hong Kong on October 27, 1941. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 8, 1941, the Japanese Empire launched an attack on the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Two and half weeks later, Duplessie was captured and taken prisoner on December 25th. He was sent to North Point Prison Camp in Hong Kong. It was here that he witnessed from twenty yards away, a Chinese coolie being killed by a Japanese guard outside the camp, by bayoneting him in several places in the body. Duplessie would also state after the war that the "food was very bad during my internment, consisting of only a few ounces of rice a day, some soup made from greens. We got a little bit of horse meat on special occasions, such as when Japanese Generals came to inspect the camp. We got fish about once a month, but it was rotten most of the time." He remained there until September 26, 1942, when he was sent to Shamshuipo (AKA the Sham Shui Po District of Hong Kong). Again, Duplassie recalled a specific incident to investigators after his release from captivity: "I saw Major Boon (Cecil Boon) go out of the camp five or six times in a Japanese vehicle. A Japanese driver drove the vehicle. On one instance which occurred in the fall of 1942, I saw Major Boon hold a Japanese officer's sword, while a Japanese Officer, whose name and description I do not know, beat up a British Officer, whose name was Captain Green. Captain Green was the R.C. Padre in the British Army, and was beaten up by a Japanese Officer who used his hands and feet to hit and kick Capt. Green." He went on to state that "This incident happened on the parade ground and the whole camp saw it." After four months at Shamshuipo, he was placed upon the POW Transport Tatsuta Mata (Hellship) on January 19, 1943, which had 1,100 prisoners of war on board, of which 663 were Canadian. Upon arrival in Nagasaki, Japan on January 22, 1943, he boarded an electric train for a ten mile ride to Camp 3D Tsurumi at Yokohama. It was here, along with the others, that he worked in the Nihon Ironworks at the Tsurumi Shipyards, performing a variety of jobs related to ship building. The camp was engulfed by fire on April 9, 1945, forcing the Japanese to incarcerate the prisoners elsewhere. On May 13th, the 198 Canadians arrived at the Sendai No. 1 Prisoner of War Camp at Yumoto, forced to work for the Joban Coal (Tanko) Company, and it was here that Duplessie would remain until the cessation of hostilities, released from captivity in August 1945. In a War Crimes Office Report, dated October 1945, he was given a list of eleven items to check off, if he had been witness to any of the atrocities. He checked off seven items: 1. torture, beatings or other cruelties, 2.imprisonment under improper conditions, 3. massacres, looting or burning of towns, 4. use of prisoners of war on enemy military works or operations, 5. transportation of prisoners of war under improper conditions, 6. failure to provide prisoners of war with proper medical care, food or quarters and 7. collective punishment of a group for an offence of others. His handwritten note on the reverse of the form spoke volumes: "Beating men for nothing, making them stand for hours with a pail of water over your head or on your hands and knees with hot coals under you. I seen this myself." Duplessie was discharged from service with the 1st Battalion, Royal Rifles of Canada on January 25, 1946.

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.
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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