1st Bn The Winnipeg Grenadiers
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Private | George | |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Birch River MB | Manitoba | 1921-08-17 |
| Appointment: | Company: | Platoon: |
| B | ||
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 41/12/20 | N/A |
Hospital Information
| Name of hospital | Date of admission | Date of discharge | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HK-BMH | 12/21/1941 | N/A | 118(42 Sep 21) |
POW Camps
| Camp ID | Camp Name | Location | Company | Type of Work | Arrival Date | Departure Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HK-SA-01 | Shamshuipo | Kowloon, Hong Kong | Capture | 42 Jan 22 | ||
| HK-NP-02 | North Point | North Point, Hong Kong Island | 42 Jan 22 | 42 Sep 26 | ||
| HK-SA-02 | Shamshuipo | Kowloon, Hong Kong | 42 Sep 26 | 43 Aug 15 | ||
| JP-Os-3B | Oeyama | Kyoto-fu, Yosa-gun, Yoshizu-mura, Sutsu, Japan | Nippon Yakin Nickel Mine & Refinery | Mining nickel & work at the refinery | 43 Sep 01 | 45 Sep 02 |
Transport to Japan
| Draft Number | Name of Ship | Departure Date | Arrival Date | Arrival Port | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XD4A | Manryu Maru | 43 Aug 15 | 43 Sep 01 | Osaka, Japan | Brief stopover in Taihoku (Taipei), Formosa (Taiwan); then 2 day stopover at northern point for stool tests | Tony Banham |
Transportation SE Asia to Home
| Transport Mode | Arrival Destination | Arrival Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| admitted/NATS | SF | 1945-10-04 |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-10-21 | Post War | ||
| Cemetery Location | Cemetery | Grave Number | Gravestone Marker |
| Edmonton Alberta Canada | Park Memorial Crematorium | ||
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
H17648 George MERRITT: MERRITT, George On October 21, 2005, Mr. George Merritt of Edmonton passed away at the age of 84 years. George is survived by one daughter, Beverley (Rick) Rivette of Hillcrest, AB and their children, Bob and Jeff; and one son, Donald (Gail) of Taber, AB and their children, Curtis and Brandi; four sisters and two brothers, Margaret Norton of Viking, Isobel Cooper of Windsor, ON, Beatrice (Karl) Koch of Squamish, BC, Bert (Dorothy) of Victoria, BC, Fred (Grace) of Edmonton and Sheila (Grant) Adams of Denare Beach, SK. Predeceased by his wife, Enid; sisters, Agnes, Dorothy, Joanne and brother, James. George joined the PPCLI in 1938 and was captured during the fall of Hong Kong on December 25, 1941. He was wounded and held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp (prisoner number 164) and was released in the Fall of 1945 at the end of the war. Memorial Service Monday, October 24 at 9:30 a.m. at Park Memorial Chapel, 9709 - 111 Avenue. Cremation has taken place in the Park Memorial Crematorium. In lieu of other tributes, donations may be made directly to the Kingsway Legion, 10425 Kingsway Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5H 3W1. To send condolences, visit www.parkmemorial.com Park Memorial Edmonton 426-0050 Family Owned Funeral Home, Crematorium, Reception Centre
George Merritt was born to Bert and Margaret (Malley) Merritt in Birch River, Lot 8 Block 3 on August 17, 1921. He grew up near Birch River with his siblings Agnes, Margaret, Dorothy, Isobel, Beatrice, Bert, Joanne, Jim, Fred and Sheila. He married Enid Giles and together they raised daughter Beverley and son Donald. George joined the PPCLI in 1938 and was captured during the fall of Hong Kong on December 25, 1941. He was wounded and held in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp and was released in the fall of 1945 at the end of the war. On October 21, 2005, George passed away in Edmonton at the age of 84 years. Cremation took place in the Park Memorial Crematorium and his ashes were spread in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
(The last para is an excerpt from a booklet Hong Kong Vets of the Swan River Valley compiled by Leone Sigurdson in September 2018)
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
Slave labour, meagre rations ruled in Japanese prison camp
George Merritt, 75, remembers what were supposed to be the best years of his life. They were horrible.From age 20 to 24, Merritt, a Second World War veteran from Edmonton, lived and worked in the Japanese prisoner of war camps in Hong Kong.
For 12 hours a day, almost every day for four years, he shovelled coal and broke rocks. He was only given about three teacups of cooked rice a day with the occasional treat of pickled seaweed and protected only by a thin layer of cotton and shoes with worn-out soles.
Winters were hard, and cold. Most of the prisoners were plagued with lice and fleas. When he was finally freed from his back-breaking labour in 1945, his five foot-10 frame had shrunk to 102 pounds from 175 pounds.
For those four years of mistreatment at the hands of the Japanese army, Merritt and other Hong Kong vets hold the Canadian government responsible for reparations.
"It was them that signed everything away on us," said Merritt, referring to the 1952 San Francisco Treaty that waived all Hong Kong veterans' claims on the Japanese government in exchange for $1 a day for each day of the 44 months of imprisonment. After more than 50 years of waiting, Merritt's not holding his breath for any action from the government.
"They wait another few years, they won't have to pay anybody," he said.
"There's veterans dying almost every day now in old age," agreed Henry Hladych. 78, another Hong Kong vet. Delay may have been understandable once, but not anymore. "From the start, the Japanese government wasn't doing very good," said Hladych, referring to the general reluctance to overburden the Japanese economy, which was weak after the war. "(But) it's been pretty good there for quite a while for them."
Merritt said the federal government should compensate its veterans first and then push for reparations from Japan afterward.
"Let (the Canadian government) deal with the Japanese government. The government hasn't done anything."
Merritt said the $24,000, or $18 a day for each Hong Kong vet or widow called for by a recent House of Commons motion was fair. The motion was defeated 127-105 Tuesday. For Hladych, the compensation is a little late. He could have used the money 25 years ago when he had to mortgage his house to put his two children through college.
"It doesn't matter too much to me now," said Hladych, who lives alone.
But for Wilbur Lynch, 75, a Hong Kong vet who has a wife and 10 children, that money has both practical and symbolic value. "We were there under slave labour rules. And I think we should get compensation."
Lynch said it's Japan that should compensate the veterans. On the other hand, he added, that won't happen unless the federal government takes they action.
"We want the Canadian government to stand up," he said.
Lily NGUYEN JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Edmonton
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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