Individual Report: E30622 Royce SWEET

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Rifleman	Royce	Charles
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Campbellton NB	Eastern Quebec	1920-06-16
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

Date Wounded	Wound Description	References
Unknown (2X)	Amputation left arm, severely bayoneted in the left arm when the Japanese burst into St. Stephens, p	17

Hospital Information

Name of hospital	Date of admission	Date of discharge	Comments	Reference
HK-BMH	N/A	N/A	known to be at hospital on 42 Aug 10	26

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	45 Sep 10

Transportation SE Asia to Home

Transport Mode	Arrival Destination	Arrival Date	Comments

After release from POW camp was transported to Manila aboard the British Hospital Ship HMS Oxfordshire. Do not know how he got back to Canada.

Post-war Photo

At the hospital in Manila.

Crop of photo submitted by son, Bob Sweet, in Nov 2016.

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
2000-09-25		Post War
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Bathhurst New Brunswick Canada

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

SWEET, ROYCE C. "BUD" (TJ 27/9/2000)

Royce C. "Bud" Sweet, 80, of Broadview Street, Bathurst, husband of Pauline (White) Sweet, died Monday (25 September 2000) at the Bathurst Regional Hospital Center. Born in Campbellton, he was the son of the late Robert G. and Maude V. (Harkan) Sweet. Bud was a World War II veteran having served with the Royal Rifles of Canada at the Battle of Hong Kong. He was a prisoner of war from 25 December 1941 until the end of war in the Pacific in August 1945. Bud was a member of the Hong Kong Veterans Association and the War Amps of Canada, and was a member of the Herman J. Good, VC Branch 18, Royal Canadian Legion, Bathurst. He was an office supervisor for CN Freight, retiring in March 1973. Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Robert Sweet (Pat) of Fredericton, Charles Sweet (Barb) of Bathurst and Andrew (Patsy) of Kingston, NS; two Daughters, Marilyn of Marbleton, Quebec and Joan Lavigne (Richard) of Bathurst; one brother, Conrad Sweet (Frances) of Milton, Ontario; two sisters, Lorine Norgaard of Mount Pleasant, MI, USA and Anne Whalen of Burlington, Ontario; two step-brothers, George Guidry (Marie) of Bathurst and Robert Guidry (Gasby) of Cross Point, Quebec; one step-sister, Rita Montpetit of Montreal, Quebec; 12 grandchildren; one great granddaughter and several nieces, nephews and cousins. He was precedeceased by his step-mother, Bernadette Guidry and sisters Kathleen, Marie and by a brother, John. The body is resting at Elhatton's Funeral Home, Bathurst. Funeral mass will be celebrated on Thursday morning (28 September 2000) at 11 am from Holy Family Church, St. Peter Avenue. Burial will be in the parish cemetery.

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

Received from son, Bob in Nov 2016: You have the fact that he was bayonetted while a patient in Saint Stephens Hospital which resulted in the loss of his left arm above the elbow. I believe he was also bayonetted in the abdomen during this attack. At the time of the assault on the hospital, he was being treated for a shoulder wound suffered during the battle.

End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.

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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.
Images displayed on the web page are small, but in many cases the actual image is larger. Hover over any image and you will see a popup if a larger version is available. You can also right-click on some images and select the option to view the image separately. Not all images have larger versions. Contact us to confirm whether a large copy of an image in which you are interested exists.
In some cases the References displayed as part of this report generate questions because there is no indication of their meaning. They were inherited with the original database, and currently we do not know what the source is. We hope to solve this problem in future.
We have done our best to avoid errors and omissions, but if you find any issues with this report, either in accuracy, completeness or layout, please contact us using the link at the top of this page.
Photos are welcome! If a photo exists for a 'C' Force member that we have not included, or if you have a higher quality copy, please let us know by using the Contact Us link at the top of this page. We will then reply, providing instructions on submitting it.