Individual Report: H6752 David BOWES

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Private	David	William
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
Dryden ON	Manitoba	1919-12-20
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:
	D

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-NP-01	North Point	North Point, Hong Kong Island			N/A	N/A
HK-AS-01	Argyle Street	Kowloon, Hong Kong			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 Aug 15
JP-To-5B	Niigata-Rinko	Niigata-ken, Nakakambara-gun, Ogata-mura, Japan	Marutsu, Rinko Coal, Shintetsu	Stevedore labor at port of Niigata (Marutsu), primarily foodstuffs; mining coal (Rinko Coal ) and labor at a foundry (Shintetsu)	43 Sep 02	44 Feb 27

Transport to Japan

Draft Number	Name of Ship	Departure Date	Arrival Date	Arrival Port	Comments	Reference
XD4B	Manryu Maru	43 Aug 15	43 Sep 01	Osaka, Japan	Brief stopover in Taihoku (Taipei), Formosa (Taiwan); then 2 day stopover at northern point for stool tests	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
Bowes Lake	west of Nueltin Lake, Manitoba	Manitoba	64 N/16	59 52' 35"; 100 20' 38"	1972

Other Military or Public Service

David William served with the Fort Garry Horse - NPAM - service number 664, from 17 June 1936 to 9 July 1939.

Death and Cemetery Information

Date of Death (y-m-d)	Cause of Death	Death Class
1944-02-27	Dysentry, Cardiac Beri Beri, Croup Ppneumonia	Died while POW
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Jido-Yuenchi-Dori Hodogaya Japan	Yokohama War Cemetery	Cdn. Sec. A. A. 9.	NA

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

Son of John William Bowes and Mary Ann Watson, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Husband of Margaret Mary Chase. Brother of John William Bowes, who served in Europe during the Second World War and survived the conflict. David William served with the Fort Garry Horse - NPAM - service number 664, from 17 June 1936 to 9 July 1939, then with the Winnipeg Grenadiers, service number H-6752, in Manitoba, in Jamaica with Force Y, in Hong Kong with Force C, in Japan as prisoner of war. He had 1,610 days of service, including 853 overseas. To commemorate his sacrifice, the Government of Manitoba named Bowes Lake, located West of Lake Nuellin in his honour in 1972.

Citation(s): 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, 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

H6752 David BOWES Had lived in Balmoral, Manitoba and been married to Margaret Mary Bowes

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.
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.
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