1st Bn The Winnipeg Grenadiers
General Information | ||
| Rank: | First Name: | Second Name: |
|---|---|---|
| Lance Corporal | Francis | Denis Ford |
| From: | Enlistment Region: | Date of Birth (y-m-d): |
| Winnipeg MB | Manitoba | 1916-11-16 |
| Appointment: | Company: | Platoon: |
| Postal Orderly | HQ Coy | 6 Admin |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 41/12/21 | N/A |
Hospital Information
| Name of hospital | Date of admission | Date of discharge | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HK-BMH | 03/10/1942 | 04/10/1942 | 118 |
POW Camps
| Camp ID | Camp Name | Location | Company | Type of Work | Arrival Date | Departure Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HK-FM | Mt Austin Barracks | Peak Mansions, Dec 26; University of Hong Kong, Dec 27; Victoria Barracks, am Dec 28 | N/A | N/A | ||
| 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 Dec 15 | ||
| JP-Os-3B | Oeyama | Kyoto-fu, Yosa-gun, Yoshizu-mura, Sutsu, Japan | Nippon Yakin Nickel Mine & Refinery | Mining nickel & work at the refinery | 44 Jan 06 | 45 Sep 10 |
Transport to Japan
| Draft Number | Name of Ship | Departure Date | Arrival Date | Arrival Port | Comments | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XD5B | SS Soong Cheong / Toyama Maru | 43 Dec 15 | 44 Jan 04 | Moji, Japan | Arrived at Takao, Formosa, 43 Dec 20; Transferred to Toyama Maru, 43 Dec 30, went to Oeyama | Tony Banham |
Transportation SE Asia to Home
| Transport Mode | Arrival Destination | Arrival Date | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| NATS 90413 | Oakland | 1945-10-08 |
H6053 - Francis Denis Ford Martin - Arrival Date 8 Oct 1945. Port of Arrival Oakland, California
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986-02-10 | 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
F.D. Ford Martyn, 69, a retired auditor for the Arizona State Compensation Fund, died Feb. 10, 1986, at Phoenix Baptist Hospital. Mr. Martyn, of Phoenix, moved to Arizona 33 years ago from Canada, where he was born. He served in the Canadian Army for eight years and spent four years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. He had also worked for the Canadian government and the Canadian National Railway. Survivors include his wife, Helen; sons, Denis, Lee and Keith, and nine grandchildren. Services will be at 1 p.m. today at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 6501 N. 39th Ave. Northwest Mortuary made arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Mary's Food Bank at the address above, Phoenix 85019.
H6053 Francis Martyn - Born in Winnipeg, MB. 1945 Next of Kin: Mr. D.L. Martyn (father), Jasper AB. Spouse: Helen Laura Parkinson (1925-2002) 15 Dec 1946 Marriage Place: Kingston, Kingston, Jamaica. Moved to Arizona USA in 1953. Died in Arizona.
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.
- Facebook has proven to be a valuable resource in the documentation of 'C' Force members. The following link will take you to any available search results for this soldier based on his regimental number. Note: results may be contained within another related record. Facebook Search Results
- Find a Grave® is a valuable resource that may contain additional information on this 'C' Force member. When you arrive at the site search page, fill in as much detail as you can for best results.
General Comments
The best, worst Christmas
When I first published this column in 2019, I never anticipated it would be as well received as it was or that it would lead me to win a first prize award at the Mississippi Press Association's annual Better Newspaper Contest. I wanted to share this Christmas story again, not for recognition or hopes of winning another award, but because it is a story that bears repeating.
Merry Christmas. Most people have a particular Christmas story they enjoy revisiting every year. My favorite story, however, isn't about Santa Claus, a magical snowman or flying reindeer. Mine is a World War II story of a Canadian soldier who was captured Christmas Day 1941 while stationed in China and wound up a Japanese Prisoner-of-War for four years.
This true story belongs to my grandfather, which he hand wrote and titled, "Christmas Memories." It is impossible to share the entire story in one column, but I'm going to give my best condensed version.
My grandfather on my father's side, Francis Denis Ford Martyn, who simply went by Ford, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and enlisted in the Winnipeg Grenadiers in early September 1939, the day after England declared war on Germany for invading Poland.
After he finished his basic military training in 1940, the Grenadiers were sent to Jamaica to relieve regular English Army troops so they could defend their home islands against Germany. As there was no real threat to Jamaica, Ford and the other soldiers primarily spent their time basking in the Caribbean warmth and sunshine. My grandfather had excellent penmanship and was made the Company Mail Clerk, which allowed him ample time to do as he pleased, which was usually spending time with his friends at a nearby bar. By November 1941, the British finally determined Germany had no interest in invading Jamaica and decided to send them to Hong Kong, China.
When leaving Jamaica, the soldiers boarded a ship heading for Canada and the ammunition was sent on another ship to England. They were told their supplies would be sent to them later. Stationed alongside the Gurkha soldiers from India, these tanned, unarmed Canadian soldiers hadn't been in China long when Japan attacked Hong Kong on Dec. 8, 1941, which was actually the same time as the Pearl Harbor attack because of the International Date Line.
In the midst of panic, Ford had actually been shot in the leg, which he didn't notice until a fellow soldier pointed it out. He pulled the bullet sticking halfway into his leg muscle and continued.
Still without any ammunition, there were firefights where my grandfather and his fellow soldiers could only hide during the onslaught, including one time in a Chinese cemetery where they dove behind tombstones for protection. The Grenadier and Gurkha soldiers retreated to Kowloon Island for 17 days until Japanese soldiers overwhelmed them Christmas Day 1941.
In his "Christmas Memories," story, he called it, "the worst day of my life!!" The first year of his horrible four-year, prisoner-of-war experience was spent in a Chinese prison. These poor, trapped soldiers were then transported inside an oil tanker to Japan in conditions that can only be described as "Hell."
It's something my grandfather never spoke to anyone about for the rest of his life. Most of the oil was pumped out but much still remained inside. Thousands of men were forced into the tanks and the hatches were locked. They were left inside the pitch black tank without food, water or fresh air for several days. Many men died before their arrival.
When they weren't digging inside a coal mine, the soldiers were often beaten and given starvation rations of what consisted mostly of a small cup of rice gruel and a glass of water. He had been beaten repeatedly for bowing too low, bowing too high, moving too slow, moving too fast, smiling or not smiling. One blow from a rifle butt to his face knocked out nearly all his teeth. In his time there, he suffered multiple bouts of dysentery, malaria and beri-beri. He witnessed most of his fellow soldiers die from either the same diseases, starvation, overwork, or too many beatings.
The Japanese soldiers, he said, would use the soldiers for bayonet practice as other POWs were forced to stand at attention and watch. The game-goal was to keep the victim alive and conscious as long as possible and the guard who killed the soldier would buy a round of sake for the others.
After exactly four, long, torturous years, the Grenadiers were rescued from the prison camp on Christmas Day 1945. By then, Ford went from weighing 200 pounds to 98 pounds. The soldiers were taken to a U.S. Army hospital in Guam, where many continued to die, and the rest were gradually reintroduced to real food. My grandfather was sent by stretcher to a military hospital in Winnipeg and was consistently in and out of the hospital for a year. By Christmas 1946, he was given permission to go home for the holiday.
As any good mother does, his mother cooked all of his favorite meals she could remember him liking: rump roast of beef, porterhouse steaks, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, peas, hot mincemeat pie, apple pie, chocolate cake and much more. As he sat and had a plate prepared for him, his memoir states, "I thought again of the seven long years since I was last at home and what I had been missing. When Dad finally placed my loaded plate in front of me, I'm sure it could have fed all of us a meal in the prisoner-of-war camp."
After the blessing was said, he stopped eating almost as soon as he started. "I think it was three forkfuls I ate when I pushed back from the table and said, I can't Mom - and I cried like a baby!! 'Christmas memories.' I've had the worst Christmas that anyone could have; and, I believe the happiest Christmas ever in my life. Christmas memories. The very worst and the very best. GOD BLESS."
There is far more to this amazing story of someone who I am very proud to call my grandfather. I hope it was able to touch your heart in some way. Merry Christmas.
Catherine Kirk is managing editor of the Delta Democrat-Times. She can be reached at ckirk@ddtonline.com.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
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.
- 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.