Individual Report: H6962 John ZINKO (Simcoe)

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Private	John
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
East Kildonan MB	Manitoba	1920-03-11
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

Name of hospital	Date of admission	Date of discharge	Comments	Reference
HK-BMH	09/07/1942	N/A		118

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 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
Hospital ship Marigold			USS Glory to Hospital ship Marigold

Nearly four years of hardship and suffering at the hands of the Japanese is all over now for a group of Winnipeg Grenadiers who arrived in Winnipeg, Thursday night, over C.N.R. lines. The station was packed with relatives and friends who gave the repatriated prisoners of war a great welcome. Top left: Enlisting when he was only 17, Pte. Angus Aimoe is the first of 22 Grenadiers from the Carman district to arrive home. He is seen here with his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. J Aimoe of Carman. Top right: "Yokohama is wrecked worse than Tokyo", said Cpl. Milton Dann upon his arrival. Cpl. Dan was greeted at the station by his mother, Mrs. W Bloomfield of 255 Langside Street. Inset: This shows a warm welcome being extended to L-Cpl. James Stewart of 44 Knappen Avenue by Miss Lillian Harcus of Lockport. Bottom left: Pte. Gordon Durrant the first of three brothers to arrive home from Japan is shown as he was greeted by his brother Stan (right), and sister-in-law, Mrs. Phil Durrant of 612 Erin Street. Pte. Durrant's home is at Keewatin, Ont. Bottom right: Pte. J. Zinko was all excited about his new uniform when met at the station. He is seen with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. Zinko, of 533 Melbourne Avenue and a sister, Mrs. H. N. Irvine.

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
1999-10-20		Post War
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
West Saint Paul Manitoba Canada	Glen Eden Memorial Gardens		Engraved

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

JOHN SIMCOE (ZINKO) C.A. Suddenly on October 20, 1999 our beloved husband and father passed away. He is survived by his wife Eva Joyce; daughter Pat; sister Mary Irvine and numerous friends and relatives. Our Dad was truly a renaissance man. A devoted family man, his other passions were classical music, opera, canoeing, golf, gardening and his dogs. A prison camp survivor, he returned home to build a full and happy life. John became a chartered accountant and spent most of his career with Investors Group. The family wishes to thank the St. Boniface Nursing staff, Dr. Tanner, Dr. Lucman, Harry, Ken, Ellen, Michael, Bernie, Natu, Gen and all our friends and neighbours for their kindness and support. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 23 at 5:00 p.m. at St. Johns Cathedral, 135 Anderson Ave. We love you Johnny Rest in Peace. NEIL BARDAL INC. 949-2200

As published in the Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 22, 1999

H6962 John ZINKO (Simcoe) Following contributed by Zinkowska #48470340 September 29, 2017

Ivan “Johnny” was born in the infamous North End of Winnipeg to Tatiana Resatarska Zinko and Stephan Zinko. The family moved to Melbourne Avenue where he and his sister Mary lived out their early lives. John volunteered with the Winnipeg Grenadiers and was held captive by the Japanese during World War II. He harboured no malice against the Japanese people and was the biggest peacenik imaginable. He believed the spiritually he learned from his family was a major factor to surviving the atrocities of the POW camps and embracing a successful life beyond wartime.

He returned to Winnipeg after the War and focused on adapting to civilian life. He became a Chartered Accountant and spent most of his career with Investors Group.

John married the Love of his life, Eva Joyce Hoskins, in 1947. They had two children, Patricia Gail and Ian. Ian died within hours of his birth and his beloved daughter remained a sense of pride throughout his life.

John was a true Renaissance man - with a loving appreciation of the Arts and Humanities and Thinking Outside the Box.

Though proud of his Slavic roots he strongly believed in the Fellowship of (Wo)Man. He died on the date of the 59th anniversary of his assignment to the Winnipeg Grenadiers. Peace be with you Tato. Vich naya Parnyat!

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

H6962 John ZINKO (Simcoe) was badly beaten with rifles about the head during last days of the war when he intervened in a senseless killing. He was left in a covered sewage hole for 2 days without food or water. He was too high risk to sail back when they were emancipated and eventually was flown back to Canada. He chose to have more extensive treatment for what we know now as PTSD in BC than the simple routine practice given to the returning soldiers. It was the smartest thing he could have done. Not only was he profiled much more favourably than in previous assessments by this attending psychiatrist re intelligence and post-war educational potential, he believed it made a huge difference in the civilian life he created. He was one of the luckier ones. Ironically the doc who helped him in BC turned out to be the father of a very dear friend of mine from U of A who I helped when her dad died of cancer. None of us knew the connection at the time - small world indeed. I believe my dad suffered from Lewy Body Syndrome his last few years altho there was no official diagnosis. There is a correlation between severe head injuries and this syndrome - common in front line soldiers. Submitted by daughter Pat Zinko Simcoe-Rosenbaum February 2017

Picture- 14030 I -B Prisoner of War Camp (Kashima Mine) Onahama. Sendai Perfectury, Honshu. Japan. Kashima Mine. #6 Seam, right. Photographer - Weber. 45/12/18

End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.

Back to 'C' Force Home Page

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.