1st Bn The Winnipeg Grenadiers
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Sergeant | Leo | Paul |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Winnipeg MB | Manitoba | 1915-02-01 |
| Appointment: | Company: | Platoon: |
| Platoon Sergeant | B | 12 Plt |
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 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
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.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-12-09 | Post War | ||
| Cemetery Location | Cemetery | Grave Number | Gravestone Marker |
| Barrie Ontario Canada | St. Marys Catholic Cemetery | ||
Gravestone Image
Obituary / Life Story
Leo BERARD There was no Obituary that could be found in any paper we searched in, but because of what he wrote we can tell you a little about him. Leo Paul Berard was born February 1, 1915 in Ste. Anne des Chenes, Manitoba. Leo joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers in 1933 at the age of 18. He met and married his wife Helen in Winnipeg and they were married March 30, 1935. They were married for 62 years and had three children, two girls, Vicki and Eileen and one boy Bill. Leo continued to serve and train with the Grenadiers until he was shipped off to Hong Kong where he spent time in both Hong Kong and Japan. Once released, he continued serving in the army until his retirement in 1965. While in the army he worked in the Officer Training Schools, served in Korea and finished his career as a training officer at Camp Borden, outside of Barrie. In 1997 he wrote a book about his experiences called "17 days until Christmas". He will be Remembered.
The following Extracted from HKVCA Ontario Region archived newsletter December 2002
Leo Berard, Winnipeg Grenadier, was born in St. Anne des Chenes, a small French-speaking community about 28 miles South East of Winnipeg in 1915. In his early years he lived with his grandparents, going to school in French until Grade 6. When he moved into Winnipeg to be with his parents he went to Public School to continue his education, and, by Grade 10, had begun to be more comfortable in English. When he decided to join the service in 1933, his grandparents weren't very happy. They didn't really want him to wear a uniform, remembering, as they did, the crisis in Quebec over conscription in World War I, but, in 1933, jobs were scarce, and when they learned that Leo was being sent on courses, and being paid in the process, their minds were eased somewhat.
Early on, Leo became an Assistant Instructor at Camp Borden. He was able to work in both French and English, which made for a really busy time. It looked like he might be sent with PPCLI's to England, since he almost made the cutoff for his height. Soldiers had to be 5'4" tall, and he was 5'3 ¾", but instead, he was urged by a Colonel in the Winnipeg Grenadiers, not to transfer, and, before he knew it, he was on his way to Hong Kong.
Once in prison camp, Leo spent one year in Hong Kong and then, in 1943, he was moved to Kawasaki in Japan. After 2 ½ years there, he was moved again, this time to the coal mines at Sendai. Whispering campaigns had begun to hint at a huge bomb having been dropped by the Americans. The POWs were only 90 miles from Hiroshima. It wasn't long after that the Japanese guards lined the prisoners up, told them to salute, and when they did, returned the salute, and said "Banzai" to indicate that the war had been won by the Allies. After a few tense days, when the POWs weren't really being guarded, but were still not completely free, the Americans arrived, and flew the prisoners out to return to North America.
Having survived the war, Leo returned to Canada. After convalescing in hospital, he made the decision to stay with life in the military. For the next 16 years he was with the PPCLI's, starting in 1946. He even had a stint in the Korean War, coming back in 1953, after the treaty was signed. Once back home, he returned to Camp Borden.
One thing Leo had never forgotten about his Hong Kong experience was that Maj. General Maltby, China Command, had written that Canadians were cowards in fighting the battle of Hong Kong. He went to England in 1991, with a good friend who had been with the Strathconas, visiting a number of institutions to lay a complaint about Maltby's comment, but no one would listen. It was the wife of Lieut. A.S. Black ,WG who later sued, and won, so that the book Maltby had written was taken off the shelves. Leo didn't speak about the time spent in Hong Kong for many years after he came home, but the comment by Maltby played no small part in getting him to write a book in 1993, titled "17 Days Until Christmas", about the Hong Kong experience. At this point in time, he is not hesitant to speak out against the atrocities that were perpetrated by the Japanese in the POW camps, and he is currently giving lectures to new recruits, and other interested groups. He feels it is important that people understand what really happened there, in order to make sure such terrible things don't happen again.
As for his personal life, Leo was married in 1935 to his lifelong companion, Helen, who died 3 ½ years ago. They had been married 64 years. He has a son, a Major with the Canadian Air Force, who was stationed in France until he retired, a daughter, married and living in the Toronto area, and another daughter in California. He is proud to say that he has 8 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. As if this weren't enough to be proud of at this stage in his life, he says that he's "the luckiest Canadian alive" because he and a very fine lady by the name of Mary Marx, will be married in California on December 8th of this year, the date, he mentions wryly, that the Japanese first bombed Hong Kong in 1941, sixty years ago.
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
Picture & the following from Face Book Page- Operation Picture Me-Hong Kong [scanning from Winnipeg Tribune] by David Archer, 2016
He joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers eight years ago and served in the West Indies and Hong Kong. His wife and three children reside at 368 Elgin Avenue, Winnipeg.
CONVICTED ON AFFIDAVITS OF CANADIAN VETS
OTTAWA June 24 (CP)-Affidavits of 16 Canadian veterans of Hong Kong have helped convict three Japanese Overseers of a mining company, charged with brutal treatment of Allied war prisoners working at the mine, army headquarters announced today.
Sentences of imprisonment at hard labour were imposed on Tsurugi Komatsu, Masao Suzuki and Ken Suzuki.
Komatsu, nicknamed "Bulldog" by prisoners, was civilian overseer of the Kashima coal mine. He was found guilty of 33 charges, including beating prisoners with a mine hammer, shovel, pick handle and other weapons, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The other two were mine foremen under Komatsu, and received sentences of 13 and four years respectively.
Employed in the mine were Canadian, Dutch and English prisoners of war from Sendai area camp 1-B, at Yumoto, Island of Honshu.
The Canadian veterans supplying affidavits describing brutal treatment in the mine were: Matthew William Murray Oshawa, Ont.; John T. Ferrigan Campbell's Bay, Que; Henry Hladych, Kindersley, Sask; Jack Rose, Vancouver, B.C.; Robert C. Stager Ayr, Ont.; Leo Paul Berard, Winnipeg; Ralph D. Alley, Trent River, Ont.; John D. Caruso, Fort William; James H. Stewart, Albert Delbridge and John Kitt, all of Winnipeg; Sylvere Arsenault Atholville, N.B.; James A. Flanagan, Joseph Frenette and Joseph A. Dempsey all of Jacquet River, N.B.; and William J. Overton, Toronto.
This veteran was interviewed by Veterans Affairs. To view, visit the VAC Video Gallery page and use the search tool. Note: VAC moves pages around constantly, so you may have to work to find the video. Currently the best way to access the Hong Kong veteran interviews is to select the "Heroes Remember" category, then use the advanced search option and click on the "Hong Kong" campaign option.
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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