From Oblivion to Triumph

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Telling the story of the Battle for Hong Kong, #SOE Force 136, and the making of modern Canada by Rick Green. - https://linktr.ee/force136ca

Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders land on Juno Beach at Bernières-sur-Mer, France, on 6 June 1944.

Mike Kendall and John Ko Bong of Force 136 on a training exercse for Operation Oblivion in Australia in late 1944.

Portrait of Francis Woodley "Mike" Kendall, a Vancouverite who during the Second World War conceived the plan for Operation Oblivion to recruit Chinese Canadians for covert operations behind Japanese lines in Southern China and Southeast Asia.

A map depicting Japanese forces liberating the Asia-Pacific region from Western exploitation within a Japanese propaganda booklet published during the Tokyo Conference held from 5-6 November 1943. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Soviet BT-7 tanks in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Dunrobin’s Bay on Lake Okanagan in 1944, location of the temporary SOE training camp for the 13 Chinese Canadians recruited for Operation Oblivion. Today, it is an historic site known as Commando Bay. (courtesy Rick Wong)

Mike Kendall and instructor Andy McClure (seated) pose with 12 of the Chinese-Canadian Operation Oblivion volunteers on the dock at the Commando Bay training camp on Lake Okanagan in 1944. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Advertisement for an Asian Heritage Month Event, Talking History, featuring Catherine Little, the author of the acclaimed children's book, "Endgame: The Secret Force 136".

Wang Jingwei and supporters at the 30 March 1940 National Assembly Hall inauguration ceremony of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Members of the Lytton Commission inspect track on the South China Railway at the site of the Mukden Incident, an explosion which the Japanese used as justification for occupying Manchuria. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

USNS Fred C. Ainsworth (T-AP-181) off San Francisco, CA, 11 August 1955. (courtesy the collections of the US Naval Historical Center via Wikimedia Commons)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Tydings-McDuffie Act on March 24, 1934. Standing behind him (from left to right) are Wyoming Democratic Sen. Joseph O'Mahoney, Secretary of War George H. Dern, Filipino Senator Elpidio Quirino, Filipino leader and future president Manuel Quezon, Maryland Democratic Senator Millard E. Tydings, and Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs C.F. Cox. (courtesy Encyclopædia Britannica)

Dunrobin’s Bay on Lake Okanagan in 1944, location of the temporary #SOE training camp for the 13 Chinese Canadians recruited for Operation Oblivion. Today, it is an historic site known as Commando Bay. (courtesy Rick Wong)

Chinese Nationalist Military Police manning an improvised roadblock in Shanghai's Zhabei district during January 28 Incident fighting with the Japanese. (courtesy Hinode Shimbun (日出新聞) via Wikipedia)

A Chinese defensive position across the Lugou Bridge (卢沟桥) on the Yongding River (永定河) during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937. This skirmish with the Japanese resulted in the outbreak of open warfare, considered the start of World War II in Asia. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt signing the Lend-Lease Bill (H.R.1776) on 11 March 1941. (courtesy New York World-Telegram and Sun collection at the Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons)

Book cover of "1945: The Reckoning" by Phil Craig.

Admiral Chan Chak with the Christmas Day escape party upon arrival in Huizhou in Free China on 29 December 1941. (courtesy Hong Kong Museum of The War of Resistance and Coastal Defence)

Surrender formalities being discussed at the Peninsula Hotel on 25 December 1941. Major General Maltby is centre. Lieutenant General Sakai Takashi (酒井隆) is in the back row, second from the right. (courtesy Mainichi Shimbun via Wikimedia Commons)

The colourful book cover for "Endgame: The Secret Force 136", written by Catherine Little and illustrated by Sean Huang.

Book cover of "The Special Operations Executive in Malaya" by Rebecca Kenneison.

Imperial Japanese Army soldiers crossing the Kwong Fuk Bridge (廣福橋) on the Lam Tsuen River (林村河) at Tai Po (大埔). Undemolished, the bridge allowed the Japanese to advance more rapidly on Kowloon from the Chinese border. (courtesy Mainichi Shimbun via Wikimedia Commons)

Japanese aircraft attacking Kowloon on 8 December 1941. Kai Tak Aerodrome is in the foreground with wrecked aircraft in front of the hangar on the right. (courtesy ACME / Harrison Forman)

Photo of the book, "I Paid Hitler" by Fritz Thyssen.

A Japanese propaganda leaflet commemorating the first anniversary of the Treaty Concerning the Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of China. The main text on the right reads:

One year has passed since the signing of the Sino-Japanese Basic Treaty! Now is the time for a united China, Japan, and Manchukuo! Recalling that a year prior, at 10:25 AM on November 30th, 1930, the Basic Treaty between China and Japan was signed in Nanjing, along with the joint declaration issued by China, Japan, and Manchukuo. China, Japan, and Manchukuo should work together to seek comprehensive peace in East Asia, and then establish four principles: a world alliance, economic co-operation, cultural exchange, and co-operation. What are these four principles?

Anyone holding this red leaflet can enter any theatre in Nanjing City for free on November 30th (excluding cinemas).

中日基本條約簽訂一週年來矣! 現在為中日滿大同團結之時機! 回憶一年前即民國二十九年十一月三十日上午十時二十五分,在南京簽訂中日基本條約,同時發表中日滿共同宣言,中日滿協力一致謀東亞之全面和平,進而確立世界同盟,經濟合作,文化溝通四原則,所謂四原則者爲何? 和平,此基本條約及共同宣言之納前要不外政治獨立,軍事同盟,經濟合作,文化溝通四原則,所謂四原則者爲何?

凡持此赤色傳單者十一月三十日當日可以免費入淡口市內各戲場(但電戲院不在此例)

(courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

German envoy, Joachim von Ribbentrop, signing the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan. Left: Japanese ambassador Viscount Mushanokōji Kintomo‎. Right: Dr. Hermann von Raumer (assistant to Ribbentrop). In the background, left to right: Dr. Theodor Böttiger (assistant to Ribbentrop), Baron Ōshima Hiroshi (military attache), embassy counselor Inoue Kojiro, and the legation secretaries Yanai and Furuuchi. (courtesy Ullstein Bild via Wikipedia)

Paperback book cover of "The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave.

Mileage card for New York Cafe in Ganoque, Ontario. (courtesy Doug Avery)

Canadian Prisoners of War captured during the battle of Hong Kong, 25 December 1941. Individuals shown here were part of a group sent from Hong Kong to Japan on 19 January 1943. (courtesy Larry Stebbe/The Memory Project)

Operation Oblivion team at Mount Martha outside Brisbane in 1944. Back row: Doug Jung, Jim Shiu, Norm Wong, Hank Wong, Louey King. Front row: John Bong, Edward Chow, Roy Shin Twe Chan, Wing Wong, Norman Mon Low, Roger Kee Cheng, Tom Lock, Vincent Yeung, and Ray Lowe. Vincent Yeung was attached to Oblivion from the British Army Aid Group to facilitate making contact with BAAG after landing in southern China by submarine.

Instruction manual diagram of the Type 3 MK II portable wireless set used by Special Operations Executive in the field. (courtesy Crypto Museum)

Group photo of the Operation Oblivion volunteers on the dock at the Commando Bay training camp with Mike Kendall and Andy McClure. Tom Lock is missing. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Vintage postcard of Victoria Chinatown looking west on Fisgard Street showing the Chinese Methodist Church. The 1910s were a period of growth in Chinatown, with an emerging merchant class and the construction of many buildings. (courtesy City of Victoria Archives)

Portrait of Raymond Young Lowe in uniform. (courtesy Winnipeg Free Press)

Commemorative plaque dedication ceremony at Commando Bay on 17 September 1988. Pictured from left to right, Charles Lee (Colour Party), Roy Chan, John Ko Bong, Anita Low, Jimmy Shiu, Ray Lowe, Norm Wong, Louie King, Wing Wong, Eddie Chow, Hank Wong, Doug Jung, and Daniel Lee. (courtesy Rick Wong)

Many of the Force 136 Chinese Canadians returned to Vancouver on freighters, such as the SS Kootenay Park. She was a Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship, completed on 6 October 1944 by Burrard Dry Dock Company in North Vancouver. She was managed by the Canadian-Australasian Line Limited of Vancouver until 1946, then sold to Seaboard Shipping and renamed SS Seaboard Pioneer, as pictured here. (courtesy City of Vancouver Archives/Walter E. Frost)

Training in Australia covered Japanese weapons, knowledge of the Japanese military, surveillance techniques, jungle warfare, parachute jumping, and submarine infiltration operations. Here are Mike Kendall and John Ko Bong during training in Australia. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Millitary Museum)

Wing "Dad" Wong, John Ko Bong, Norman Mon Low, and Tom Lock pose with pistols drawn at the SOE Commando Bay paramilitary training camp on Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. (courtesy Keith Lock)

The No. 110 Canadian Army (Basic) Training Centre in Vernon, British Columbia. (courtesy Greater Vernon Museum and Archives Photograph Collection)

A dust storm rolling in over Pearce, Alberta, in November 1942. (courtesy Glenbow Archives)

Wing Lee Wong holds a Japanese flag and sword at the Liverpool Rest Camp in Moorebank, Australia. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

One of the Force 136 Chinese Canadians who was stranded in Australia at the end of the war, painting the deck of a freighter to work for his passage home. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Mike Kendall demonstrating to Norm Wong use of a Japanese Nambu Type 92 7.7mm heavy machine gun at Fraser Island, Australia. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

The dock at Commando Bay was completed by the middle of May 1944. This boat was leased from Hugh Leir to move men and supplies between the training camp and Penticton. (courtesy Okanagan Historical Society)

Allied Landing on Kiska Island, August 15, 1943. This was the first day of the invasion, but Americans and Canadians had already extended a long earthen ramp into the water to help the leaders avoid underwater rocks. (courtesy National Museum of the U.S. Navy)

Internment Camp 130 (Camp K) in Kananaskis, Alberta, was Canada’s first internment camp of the Second World War (courtesy Library and Archives Canada).

Royal Canadian Air Force Second World War "Let's Go" recruitment poster. (courtesy Canadian War Museum)

At the Liverpool Rest Camp in Moorebank, Australia, (left to right) Hank Wong, Eddie Chow, and Tom Lock display a Japanese flag and sword. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Eddie Chow and Hank Wong awaiting reassignment in Australia after Operation Oblivion was cancelled in January 1945. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

The Operation Oblivion group sailed from San Francisco on the SS Lurline which had been converted to a troopship. Here it approaches Pier 10 in Honolulu in the 1930s. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons/U.S. National Park Service)

Eddie poses with a Sten gun while at the temporary Lake Okanagan SOE training camp between June and August, 1944. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Portrait of Francis Woodley "Mike" Kendall from his Special Operations Executive personnel file. (courtesy The National Archives, Kew, HS 9/828/9)

Edward J. Bowes of the 'Major Bowes Amateur Hour' with his gong. He created and hosted an American radio talent show broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s. (courtesy Wikimedia Commons/NBC Radio)

Royal Canadian Air Force Second World War recruitment poster. (courtesy McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, WP2.R16.F3)

Eddie Chow standing on the steps of his hut at the Liverpool Rest Camp in Moorebank, Australia. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Pharmacist Tom Lock at his Toronto Chinatown pharmacy in 1968. (courtesy Doug Griffin/Toronto Star Archives)

Joan Lim On and Tom Lock on their wedding day in Australia. (courtesy Lock Family)

At Liverpool Rest Camp in Moorebank, Australia, (left to right) Hank Wong, Eddie Chow, and Tom Lock display a Japanese flag and sword. (courtesy Chinese Canadian Military Museum)

Wing Wong, John Ko Bong, Norman Mon Low, and Tom Lock pose with pistols drawn at the SOE Commando Bay paramilitary training camp on Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. (courtesy Keith Lock)

Uniform cap badge of the Canadian Dental Corps that was issued during World War II.