Delays, anger but no war hero's memorial
Angry Canadian veterans have asked their government to investigate why a memorial to one of Canada's best-known war heroes has not been constructed in Hong Kong almost two years after it was dedicated.
The site near Jardine's Lookout where company sergeant-major John Osborn of the Winnipeg Grenadiers died in 1941 was supposed to be marked by a plaque that was announced in November 2000.
Instead, the area today is overgrown with weeds and covered with rubbish. There is no sign of the memorial, other than an old bag of cement mix.
'Two years after the dedication in 2000 seems ample time to complete the work,' said Philip Doddridge, president of the Hong Kong Veterans' Association of Canada. 'We hope that action will soon be taken.'
Osborn was awarded the Victoria Cross - the Commonwealth's highest decoration for bravery - for his heroism fighting the Japanese.
The Osborn memorial, and two others, were dedicated by a contingent of veterans led by the then-speaker of the Canadian Senate. Several Hong Kong officials attended the ceremony.
The other plaques were to be erected at Lei Yue Mun headland, in honour of Major Wells Bishop and the Royal Rifles of Canada, and at Wong Nei Chung Gap, in honour of Brigadier John Lawson.
Veterans expressed bitter disappointment and shock when told none of the plaques were in place.
'This sure is a sorry way to say thanks for the hell we lived through for Canada and for Hong Kong. To tell you the truth, it makes me sad more than angry,' one veteran said.
Janice Vogtle, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong, said Consul-General Anthony Burger had met senior Hong Kong officials to discuss the plaques, which she said the SAR had paid for and agreed to install.
'To be frank, we hoped it would have been done by now,' she said. 'It may have slipped off somebody's radar.'
Ms Vogtle said she hoped the work would be completed in the next few weeks. She said she understood why the veterans were upset, but did not believe they were being disrespected.
'We've had excellent co-operation from people here,' she said.
But the Hong Kong government denies ever agreeing to erect the monuments.
'There are no agreements between the SAR government and Canada to erect monuments for the Canadian soldiers who died in the battle of 1941,' the Antiquities and Monuments Office said in a statement. A spokeswoman said Hong Kong would consider a Canadian proposal to install the plaques.
It is not the first time Hong Kong has upset Canadian veterans.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong was forced to issue an embarrassing apology after government contractors desecrated a Canadian monument at the site of the former Shamshuipo prisoner of war camp by using it as a garbage dump.
Scores of Canadians were executed or tortured in the camp after the surrender to the Japanese.
Tony Banham, a local historian and author who attended the 2000 dedication ceremony, said Hong Kong had distanced itself from its colonial past, particularly since being handed back to China in 1997.
He said there was a feeling that the battle was a legacy of the British, and not a Chinese affair.
In the dark days of the war, Canada agreed to send 1,975 men of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada, a Quebec City regiment, to defend Hong Kong.
They became the first Canadian troops to fight as a unit in World War II. More than 550 did not return home.
Only about 250 veterans are still alive.
