Individual Report: H6198 George COUTTS

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Corporal	George	Lount
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Melita MB	Manitoba	1916-12-31
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:
Section Commander	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

Date Wounded	Wound Description	References
41/12/24	N/A

Hospital Information

Name of hospital	Date of admission	Date of discharge	Reference
HK-BMH	12/28/1941	01/20/1942	118
HK-BMH	07/18/1942	07/25/1942	118
HK-BMH	09/19/1942	N/A	118

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-Fu-5B	Omine	Kawasaki-machi, Fukuoka pref., Kyushu Island, Japan	Furukawa Industries Omine	Coal mining	43 Jan 23	45 Sep 22
JP-To-1B	Kawasaki	Kawasaki-shi, Oshima-cho, Japan	Nippon Express Company		N/A	N/A

Transport to Japan

Draft Number	Name of Ship	Departure Date	Arrival Date	Arrival Port	Comments	Reference
XD3B	Tatuta Maru	43 Jan 19, left Shamsuipo Camp, 0500 hrs; left Hong Kong 1300hrs	43 Jan 22, 0400 hrs	Nagasaki, Japan		Tony Banham

Transportation SE Asia to Home

Transport Mode	Arrival Destination	Arrival Date	Comments
HMS Glory	Esquimalt, BC	1945-10-27	Manila to Esquimalt, BC 37 CDNs sick and 119 fit

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

Decorations Received

Image	Name of Award	Abbreviation	References	Precedence	Comments
	Mentioned-in-Despatches	MiD	39, 40, 124	13	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
2012-03-19		Post War
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Melita Manitoba Canada	Melita Cemetery		Yes

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

Mr. George Coutts of Melita, MB. passed away at the Melita Health Centre on Monday, March 19, 2012 in his 96th year. George is survived by two sons: Resby (Kathryn) Coutts of Winnipeg and Bruce Bell of Pierson; one daughter: Francis (Vern) Smart of Edmonton, AB.; twelve grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; two sisters: Jean Coates of Winnipeg and Isabelle Lee of Gore Bay, ON.; numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his first wife Margaret in 1976 and second wife Mona in 2011; parents: Resby and Margaret (Buttle) Coutts; son Larry in 1967; grandson Davin Dunville in 1994; two brothers: Richard Coutts in 2001 and William Coutts in 2010; daughter-in-law Laurel in 1987. The funeral service was held from the Melita Legion Hall (Main Street) on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. Barb Alston officiating. Interment followed at the Melita Cemetery. Donations in memory of George may be made to The War Amps of Canada, 2827 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, ON. K1V 0C4, or to the Melita Palliative Care Fund, Box 459, Melita, MB. R0M 1L0

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

No comments found.

End of Report.

Report generated: 21 Feb 2025.

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Additional Notes

(These will not be visible on the printed copy)

Service numbers for officers 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.