Transportation - Home Base to Hong Kong

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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

POW Camps

Transport to Japan

Transportation SE Asia to Home

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Post-war Photo

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Other Military or Public Service

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Death and Cemetery Information

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

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Related documentation

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General Comments

Winnipeg Man Falls From Boat, Drowns at Kenora

(Special to The Winnipeg Tribune) KENORA, Nov. 8 - Two men, one of them from Winnipeg, were drowned when they fell into the Lake of the Woods from the deck of a boat here Wednesday.
The two victims were Walter Koroscil, 21, of Winnipeg, and Frank Matuska, 19, of Candiac, Sask. They were both employed by the Ontario Minnesota Pulp and Paper co., as woods workers. A third man, Alexander Boreshewick, also fell into the river but was rescued by his brothers.
It was reported that several men were standing on the deck of the Wannigan, when Matuska lost his balance and fell into the icy lake waters. Boreshewick made an attempt to grab him, but fell in with him. A first aid team from the paper mill administered artificial respiration as the two were pulled from the lake but they could not be revived. Dr. J. P. Paton attended at the scene.
An inquest was opened at the Brown funeral home Thursday afternoon and will be resumed later. The bodies were identified and released for burial.
The Winnipeg Tribune, 08 Nov 1946, Friday - Page 3

Wasyl and Eva Boraskewich - submitted by Anne Olynick and Lena Weden
Wasyl Boraskewich emigrated to Canada in 1911 from Yezupol with his parents, to the Chuchmuch family in Angusville. Eva Shewchuk also emigrated to Angusville from Vohrina, Chortkiw in January 1912, to the Bereza farm. They were married on April 9, 1912 and settled in the Mohyla District, in the Rossburn Municipality. They moved to a farm at Solsgirth and later settled on Sec. S.W. 28-19-26 in the Silver Creek municipality where they lived most of their life.
They had 10 children: Annie, Alex, Mary, Mike, Lena, Nick, Margaret, John, Nettie, and Gilbert.
Alex served in World War II and was a prisoner at Hong Kong. After returning, he worked at Canada Car. He died in 1979.
(editor's note: the above is edited from a longer description for all the children. The full document can be found in the link below at Additional Notes, No. 7.)

Canadians Bare Jap Brutalities

Evidence of Horrors Given At Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Aug. 30 — (B.U.P.)- Canadian and British prisoners of war were kicked into the water by Japanese sailors when they tried to climb aboard Japanese ships after their prison "hell ship" Lisbon Maru was torpedoed in October, 1942, it was testified before the war crimes court here today.
Lieut. Geoffrey Hamilton, Second Battalion, Royal Scots, said the prison ship appeared to be an ordinary armed transport.
His affidavit was read at the war crimes trial of Genichiro Niimori, Japanese civilian interpreter, charged with direct responsibility for the death of 846 Canadian and British prisoners of war.
Aboard the "hell ship" on which 1,816 prisoners of war were being transported from Hong Kong to Japan, Hamilton testified, "the air soon became absolutely foul and acrid, with the stench of sweating bodies packed closely together, and also due to the fact that there were no sanitary arrangements whatsoever." Only 970 survived the voyage. Hamilton's affidavit said several of the sick were in a dying condition and that "two died during one night after screaming for water and air."
Canadian Affidavits
Testimony in the form of affidavits by Canadian soldiers highlighted the trial, telling of Japanese atrocities against Canadians, including the hanging of one man for three hours by his hands. Niimori, a small horse-faced man of 40 years, is being tried on 11 counts of war atrocities.
Robert H. Challis, formerly RSM, Middlesex Regiment, England, testified that Niimori ordered Japanese sentries to open fire on prisoners of war when they broke out of the hold of the sinking prison ship after it was torpedoed.
Sapper Arthur P. Noxby, London, in an affidavit, swore that Japanese patrol boats opened rifle fire on prison ship survivors struggling in the water. He said that after being picked up from the water by Japanese ships Niimori took all the survivors' clothing.
Niimori kicked several men from the Second Battalion, Royal Scots, who were unable to stand due to dysentry, the court was told in further sworn statements. The survivors later were transferred to a prison camp at Kobe, Japan.
Brutalities to Sick
Aboard the prison ship before it was torpedoed, prisoners testified that a number of men were sick with dysentry and diphtheria, and when they asked the Japanese guards for water they were handed down a bucket of urine.
"I was one of the men who actually handled this bucket of urine," a statement from George A. Haywood, Pilsley, Derbyshire, said.
The brutally-treated Canadian and British prisoners who survived the torpedoing were forced to work in Nagoya steel mills in Japan, the war crimes tribunal was told. Kenneth Muir, Windsor Mills, Quebec, testified that he and 50 other survivors were jammed into a 20-by-30-foot hold in the Tokyo Maru for the trip back to Japan. He said the box-like room was filled with vermin and the weakened prisoners could not all lie down at the same time.
Other testimony was given concerning alleged filthy conditions aboard the prison ships and Niimori's alleged order to Japanese guards to fire on prisoners who tried to escape when the ship was torpedoed. Niimori denied all knowledge of the execution of four Winnipeg Grenadier members who escaped from North Point camp, Hong Kong, in August, 1942, according to his affidavit introduced at the trial here.
Other affidavits sent from Canada by fellow prisoners of war stated the escapees were last seen in the custody of Japanese gendarmes after being recaptured.
Helped Escape
Corp. George Cyril Meagher, Winnipeg, swore he helped four men successfully escape during a typhoon on the night of Aug. 19 despite the heavy guard and an electric fence.
Pte. Alexander Baraskiwich, Fox Warren, Man., stated that he learned the men were later seen in the custody of gendarmes, after which they were not seen. Niimori testified he did not know who executed them.
Maj. John Albert Bailie, Winnipeg, testified that four escapees were picked up by a Japanese patrol boat when the sampan in which they were fleeing began to sink. Bailie said the escapees subsequently were court martialled. The proceedings of the court martial were held in Japanese without benefit of an interpreter.
Other affidavits from members of the Royal Rifles of Canada testified to various brutalities, beatings and bad treatment they underwent during their imprisonment and transfer to Japan or within Japan.
Cpl. Wilfrid Maloof, Noranda, who was imprisoned at the Narumi camp in Japan declared that an American soldier there died within two weeks, during which time he was given one spoonful of rice and one thimbleful of tea three times daily.
George Clarke, Ottawa and Leo Edward Portersfield, Noranda, stated that one prisoner was brutally beaten with fists, tools and rifle butts for trying to sell a portion of his clothing during the trip to Japan aboard the Toyama Maru.
Victim Succumbed
This man subsequently died in Japan, Muir testified. He said when the prisoners reached Japan they were forced to work in the foremost war plant, the Nagoya steel mills. No prisoners were injured when American planes bombed Nagoya, he told the court.
Muir's testimony was further reconfirmed by Murdo Neil MacArthur, Milan, Que., and Renwick Lynn Thompson, Sawyerville, Que.
Corp. James Thomas Murray, East Kildonan, Man., said he was brutally beaten while interned at Bowen Road hospital, and was hung for three hours by his hands when the Japanese accused him of stealing. Similar testimony was given in affidavits by Rifleman James William Archibald, now a patient at Sussex Military Hospital in New Brunswick, by Rifleman Clifford Roye, Bury, Que., and Sgt. Arthur Edward Budd, Winnipeg. Testimony from Corp. Samuel Kravinchuck, Winnipeg Grenadiers, now in Regina, told of a long series of brutalities inflicted on him and other prisoners, and similar evidence was heard from Pte. John Frankiewicz, Fort Whyte, Man.
Maj. Cecil Boon, RASC, now facing a court martial in London, regularly permitted Japanese guards to beat and mistreat British and Canadian prisoners at the Shamshuipo camp here, it was alleged in an affidavit.
Corp. Kenneth Stanley Vincent, formerly of the Royal Rifles of Canada, now living in York County, N.B., swore that whenever prisoners complained to Boon about sickness or bad treatment Boon acquiesced in their beating by the Japanese.

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End of Report.

Report generated: 27 Apr 2025.