1st Bn The Winnipeg Grenadiers
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Sergeant | Reginald | Alexander |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Winnipeg MB | Manitoba | 1918-11-25 |
| Appointment: | Company: | Platoon: |
| Bn HQ | Band | |
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 | 45 Sep 10 |
Transportation SE Asia to Home
| Transport Mode | Arrival Destination | Arrival Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Gosper | Victoria | 1945-10-12 | Manila to Victoria, BC 1936 British and CDNS |
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
No other or additional related information found. Please submit documents to us using the contact link at the top of this page.
Decorations Received
| Image | Name of Award | Abbreviation | References | Precedence | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | British Empire Medal | BEM | 39, 40, 124 | 09 | Citation not found |
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-12-07 | 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
Although Reginald Kerr was born in Liverpool, England, in 1918, he has an impressive military history in his family and has acquired an impressive story in his own right. His father served with the Canadian forces in WWI and prior to this had served with the American forces during the Spanish-American war.
In 1919 the family arrived in Canada and settled in Winnipeg. Young Kerr took his full education in this city and it was Winnipeg where he made his first venture into music, a field that was destined to be a lifetime career. Kerr was about ten or eleven at the time and money for music lessons was not always available. Reginald Kerr took the logical step. His ability permitted him to play in the Winnipeg juniors - a Salvation Army band. His innate musical abilities and hard work soon had him ready for promotion to the senior Army band. At that time the senior band was conducted by Henry Merritt and had the reputation of being one of the finest bands in Canada.
About 1933 he played trombone with the Winnipeg Junior Symphony. Kerr said when he was about 10 he fancied the Hawaiian guitar but the first time he got his hands on a trombone the guitar vanished as a childhood dream.
Shortly before WWII, Kerr was serving in the 11th medium battery RCA and when war started he was moved to the Fort Garry Horse. The wartime army was still in a state of flux when he transferred to the Winnipeg Grenadiers and it was not long before they were undergoing a period of training in Jamaica. He said that they regarded themselves as pretty lucky - trading off a Winnipeg winter for Jamaica training.
Fine musician that he was, Kerr was soon in the Regimental Band and many of the band personnel were trained as medical orderlies. It proved to be a most convenient arrangement. Before the world again saw peace, Reginald Kerr had received the name “Doc" from his comrades - a name that has remained with him as a mark of respect. When the regiment came home from Jamaica, their Canadian sojourn was brief. They sailed from Vancouver for the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. The history of WWII has recorded the disaster that followed but even in the midst of what must have appeared to be the end, there were those who carried on as though the future was theirs to command. It was at this time when wounded and dead outnumbered the living, that the band cum medical corps proved their value.
Kerr said that when they were captured, pretty well all their possessions were lost. All he managed to save was his precious trombone. He said that the Japanese put the Canadian orderlies in charge of caring for their own sick and wounded. While awaiting transfer to Japan, a camp was set up in Hong Kong. The planned transfer never took place and they spent all their captivity in the region of their capture.
“We were practically run off our feet at that time," "Doc" Kerr said. “But no matter how busy or disorganized the conditions, I always tried to get away by myself for a few minutes of practice on the trombone. This seemed to refresh my spirit and for those few magic moments, I again had a brief touch of the real world.”
As the war stretched on, doctors in many of the POW camps became a luxury. In order to solve this problem the few Canadian, Australian and British doctors available, trained the orderlies to a far higher level of competence than they would require at home. As Kerr was already a fully trained orderly, he was trained to a level where he was expected to relieve the doctor of some of the treatment work.
Then came the end of hostilities and a return home to a vastly changed country. "Doc" Kerr was reminded of his wartime service when Viscount Alexander of Tunis presented Kerr with the British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service. “Although conditions were frequently a threat to himself, Sgt. Kerr served the entire prisoner of war period with complete disregard for his own welfare, with conduct of an outstanding nature deserving of the highest recognition.”
Military service was in the Kerr blood for in 1947 "Doc" Kerr joined the RCAF band in Winnipeg. During his travels with the RCAF he performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and on several occasions he played with the Calgary Symphony. Kerr said that he has also played with the Winnipeg Symphony and the CBC.
During their travels, the RCAF band often passed through the Okanagan. “It was during these trips that the spell of the Okanagan settled on me. I could not think of a finer place in which to retire."
Since 1968, “Doc” Kerr has become a well known name in music, both here and Kelowna. The Kerrs have a daughter in Calgary and a son in Penticton. The residents of Penticton are fortunate to have "Doc" Kerr, an outstanding musician who can be heard with the COMBO every Friday morning at the Retirement Centre.(Richard Cooper)
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
FOUR OF SALVATION ARMY BAND WENT WITH GRENADIER BATTALION
Bandmaster Henry G. Merritt and other members of the Winnipeg Citadel Salvation Army band have followed with keenest interest the fight put up by the Winnipeg Grenadiers at Hong Kong for two reasons.
In the first place, four members of the band were at Hong Kong with the Grenadiers—Sgt. Albert Cox (H6397) and Pte. Alfred Cox (H6068) brothers; Pte. Reginald Kerr (H26072) and Pte. George Stevenson (H6792).
Again, the Citadel band escorted the Grenadiers on their last church parade before they went to the Far East. The parade was to Knox United Church on Oct. 19 and the Chicago Salvation Army staff band also took part.
The four bandsmen with the Grenadiers are not the only former members of this band with the armed forces. No less than 11 others are in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
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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