201 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca STODGELL, Roy WWII Roy, a Stodgell brother, enlisted on September 14, 1939 in the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He trained at Minto Armouries and Fort Osborne Barracks until May 19, 1940 when he went to Bermuda on the “Lady Drake”; he spent four and a half months in Bermuda and after that he went to Jamaica for thirteen to fourteen months. He returned to Canada in October 1941. He left for Hong Kong five weeks later, going by train, then by ship, a trip which took 21 days from Vancouver to Hong Kong. They were there about three - four weeks when the fighting started. He was taken prisoner on December 19, 1941 and spent some time in North Point Camp, then ‘Sham Shoo Poo’ Camp. The first year after being taken prisoner, Roy worked in the airport in China. Their food was mostly vegetables and rice but there was never enough. In 1943, he was shipped from China to Japan by freighter. They were loaded by alphabetical order. All names before ‘S’ were put in the hold and they were packed so the rest stayed on top of the deck. The toilets and latrines in the hold were all plugged. The prisoners on the top deck were not treated too badly, but the ones in the hold had their food lowered down in tubs by a rope. The cooks knew the prisoners were going to Japan, so they baked two thousand buns but those in the hold never got any. They were four and a half days going to Japan. The first year in Japan they got “red barley” boiled, three times a day. They got all they could eat but it burned their stomachs out. They also got three sardines twice a week. In 1944, their main food was boiled potato and carrot “tops”. The Japanese kept the potato and carrot roots for themselves. In Japan they worked in shipyards.When they finished work at night they would try to sleep, but between picking lice and bugs off themselves they got little rest. Whenever there was an air raid they killed cats, horses or dogs. The Japanese would bring them to the prisoners to cook for themselves. Whenever they moved to a different camp they would walk because there was no other transportation. In 1945, they were put to work in the coal mines. Their meals there were one cup of rice three times a day. It was never enough. In Japan, their clothing was “gunny sack” pants and shirt and sandals. The sacking itched like crazy. In the mines it was so hot all they wore was a G-string and sandals. The Japanese girls that worked there too wore the same dress. The war was over for seven days before the prisoners were told. The Americans started to drop food by air the second week after, plus “three forty-five gallon drums of French safes”, but that did not help very much because the prisoners’ health was not very good. After that the Japanese treated them pretty good. They stayed about three weeks after the war ended, then started for home. They travelled to Guam by boat, stayed one week there, then took a plane to an American base where they stayed four days. Next was on to San Francisco and from there by train to Vancouver for three days, after which they left by train for Winnipeg, arriving there on September 20, 1945. Roy was discharged March 1946. Roy received the following medals: 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-1945.
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