Bill’s adventure ended at the Battle of Hong Kong
William (Bill) Joseph McGinnis was the kind of kid who constantly sought adventure - something typically in short supply in small town Nokomis, Sask., in 1941.
Joining the war took a number of attempts, lying about his age and turned away each time. A month short of his 18th birthday Bill finally made the cut, enlisting in the 2nd Battalion - Saskatoon Light Infantry.
He was an interesting kid, that's for sure," remembers sister, Evelyn McAninch, now 101. Joining the war was a valiant rite of passage to becoming a man, a fulfilling achievement for her baby brother.
He was one of those kids that always liked to go places, she recalls, noting that he'd run off from time to time leaving family concerned of his whereabouts, always to return hours later. Three years apart in age, the siblings were inseparable in their younger years.
She watched over little Bill, she felt obliged given the passing of their mother when he was just two.
With little experience handling a rifle, Bill would go off for some basic training at Camp Dundurn, a Canadian Forces training hub. By flighty happenstance while visiting with his sister in what would be their last visit together, he missed his bus to Dundurn. He decided he'd take a taxi and catch up with his future battle mates - something Evelyn wishes she could've changed.
We were very close. I could've talked him out of it," she said, gazing downward. Clearly it weighed heavy on her heart. He might've waited a while longer and would've missed going to Hong Kong. I never saw him again after that day."
To this day Evelyn, who also served in the Second World War for the Canadian Women's Army Corps at a colonel's office in Saskatoon, harbours guilt.
She tells Bill's story any chance she gets, more so in the month of November.
The five-foot-seven, 132-pound adventurer was assigned to the Winnipeg Grenadiers - champing at the bit to go places. On Oct. 27, Bill and the 1,975 Canadian troops made up of Manitoba's Grenadiers and Quebec's Royal Rifles of Canada - identified as C Force" - set sail from Vancouver waters to Hong Kong.
After re-fueling stops in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii and Manila, Philippines, the troops arrived in Hong Kong - greeted with a parade by locals and Gen. Christopher Maltby, responsible for the Hong Kong contingent.
It was there that the Canadian troops received their orders: defend the island of Hong Kong against the Imperial Japanese forces. It would be a tall task, in hindsight.
The operation, Canada's first major contribution to the Second World War, was one of the darkest times in Canada's military history. The mostly-inexperienced troops, now joined by the British, East Indians and Australians, had a few short weeks to familiarize themselves with the lay of the land.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. It would be the catalyst for the U.S. finally joining the war. That same day Japanese aircraft bombed Hong Kong's only airport, taking out five aircraft - Hong Kong's entire fleet.
The Allied defenders - 11,000 strong - faced severe bombing and artillery attacks and were overwhelmed by the approximately 60,000 Japanese soldiers on Dec. 8. By Christmas Day, the British colony surrendered to the Japanese. Two-hundred and ninety Canadian soldiers were killed and another 493 were wounded in the Battle of Hong Kong.
By Dec. 27, Pte. William Joseph McGinnis was registered as a prisoner of war and held, alongside 1,684 other Allied soldiers, in North Point PoW Camp in Hong Kong. After shuffling the prisoners they were finally shipped off to Japan to Oeyama PoW camp.
Approximately 100 Canadians, including Bill, were forced into slave labour in the Nippon Yakin Nickel Mine and Refinery. Starved and beaten, the brutal mistreatment of the Allied soldiers by the Japanese is well documented.
The part that gets me is they suffered so much every day. They didn't eat much - they were fed maggots in their food ... How could they let this happen to my brother?"
On April 25, after 851 days as a prisoner of war, Pte. William J. McGinnis, severely malnourished, succumbed to paralytic Beri-Beri, a disease caused by a vitamin B-1 deficiency. At 20, he was buried in the Oeyama PoW Camp Cemetery and subsequently reburied, with 136 other C-Force soldiers, at Yokohama War Cemetery where the soldiers rest to this day.
Japan would occupy the island of Hong Kong until August of 1945 when British control was restored.
Young Bill, who now has a lake in northern Saskatchewan as his namesake, really only saw a few weeks of battle in Hong Kong prior to being captured by the Japanese. Likely not the kind of adventure Bill, or Evelyn, dreamed of.
Sean Durack is a writer living in Oakville.