Individual Report: X01 John LAWSON

Rank:	First Name:	Second Name:
General Information
Brigadier	John	Kelburne
From:	Enlistment Region:	Date of Birth (y-m-d):
London ON	Central Ontario	1886-12-27
Appointment:	Company:	Platoon:
Brigade Commander	Brigade Headquarters

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

Killed in action at Wong Nei Chong Gap. 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
12/19/1941	Fractured right leg and ruptured blood vessel

Other Military or Public Service

John Lawson served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces during WW1.

Death and Cemetery Information

Date of Death (y-m-d)	Cause of Death	Death Class
1941-12-19	Loss of blood from injuries	Killed In Action
Cemetery Location	Cemetery	Grave Number	Gravestone Marker
Cape Collinson Road Chai Wan Hong Kong China	Sai Wan War Cemetery	VIII. C. 27.	CWGC CWGC- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Hong Kong & Japan graves) Engraved- the actual headstone has HK or RRC or WG, etc. engraved on the stone Last Post- VAC program Yes- someone has purchased a gs marker for this person UGF- application already submitted or anticipate applying for Unmarked Grave Fund ND- family does not desire Blank- no data

Gravestone Image

Obituary / Life Story

Brigadier John Kelburne Lawson was born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire and was educated at Worchester Public School and London University. In 1912 he was stationed at Edmonton with the Hudson's Bay Company.
John Lawson had a long and distinguished military career, which began during the First World War when he went to England with the 9th Battalion C.E.F. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1917 and in 1919 he became adjutant of the 13th Brigade, C.M.G.C, and was appointed to the permanent force with the rank of captain in 1920.
John Lawson continued to serve with distinction in the intervening years between World War I and World War II. In May of 1940 he was appointed as the director of military training and given the rank of colonel. Only a short time later he was given yet another promotion, this time to the rank of brigadier general. With this promotion came the responsibility of leading the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada into action in Hong Kong.
John Lawson died in action in December of 1941.
Citation(s): 1939-45 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-45, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and clasp.
Canadian Virtual War Memorial

The Sai Wan War Cemetery holds those who were killed during the Battle of Hong Kong or died later as prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation, including 173 members of 'C' Force. The remains of those who died as prisoners in Formosa (now Taiwan) were brought to Hong Kong for burial at Sai Wan in 1946. There are 1,505 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated at Sai Wan War Cemetery. 444 of the burials are unidentified.
At the entrance to the cemetery stands the Sai Wan Memorial bearing the names of more than 2,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died in the Defence of Hong Kong or subsequently in captivity and who have no known grave.
Ref: Includes excerpts from Veterans Affairs Canada.

General Comments

Main image from Library and Archives Canada (PA501269)

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.

Additional Notes

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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.
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The 'From' information box at the top of the report represents the enlistment location unless we have obtained updated information pinpointing where the member lived.
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.
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