Individual Report: H20581 Michael PANCO

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Private	Michael
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Winnipeg MB	Manitoba	1918-09-29
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:
	HQ Coy

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-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 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	43 Aug 16

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

Commemorative Feature

A map detailing the location of this feature can be found in this soldier's vault. (See Vault explanation below in the Links and Other Resources block) .

Site Description	Location	Province	Map Reference	Lat/Long	Date
Panco Lake	southwest of York Factory, Manitoba	Manitoba	54 C/11	56 33' 47"; 93 23' 59"	1964

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
1943-08-16	Acute multiple peripheral neuropathy, chronic dry beri-beri, chronic enteritis	Died while POW
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Jido-Yuenchi-Dori Hodogaya Japan	Yokohama War Cemetery	Cdn. Sec. B. A. 1.	NA

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

He was born with the name Moysey Pankow. He was nicknamed Mickey. Son of Michal Pankow (aka Michael Panco) and Thekla Tomaskowaska (aka Tekla), of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Brother of Seaman Albert Panco, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. He survived the war. Served with the Winnipeg Light Infantry - NPAM - for four years, enlisted on September 18th, 1940 with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada for service in Manitoba and Ontario, and transferred on October 22nd, 1941 to the 1st Battalion Winnipeg Grenadiers to fight in Hong Kong with C Force and as a prisoner of war in Japan. He had 1,063 days of service, including 658 overseas. To commemorate his sacrifice, the Manitoba government named Panco Lake located southwest of York Factory in his honor in 1964.

Citation(s): 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service medal and Clasp, Defence Medal, Hong Kong Bar.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

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

Jap Trick Soldier's Voice Heard After Death

[By The Canadian Press] HALIFAX, Jan. 7 - The story of how a soldier's voice lived on the airwaves for months after he was reported dead was told here Thursday by the man's brother, Bert Pancoe of Winnipeg, a telegrapher in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Pte. Michael W. Pancoe, was one of the Canadian soldiers who went to Hong Kong just before the garrison fell to the Japanese at Christmas time, 1941. Last August his family had a letter from his doctor saying he had died from beri beri, and a short while later official confirmation of his death came from Ottawa. But for months afterwards people in different parts of the world heard his voice on the radio - the last time in Australia last month, his brother said.

"Hello, mum," said the voice of the dead soldier, then came a few words of greeting and his name and address. The Japs had made a recording of his message to the people back home, and after his death continued to broadcast it, Pancoe's brother said.

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.
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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.
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