Sergeant Gander by Robyn Walker

from Hong Kong with a range of medical ailments resulting from their captivity, and they felt that existing government benefits and compensation were inadequate to address their needs. They also wanted compensation for their years of forced labour in Japan’s work camps. In 1965, they ratified their association’s constitution, which listed the aims of the HKVA as:
    To assist all members in times of need,
To maintain and improve social welfare and friendship among
members and their dependents”
To promote legislation for the physical well being of all members
of “C” force or Allied personnel who were imprisoned by Japan
1941–1945. 1
    As a result of the HKVA’s determined advocacy, significant gains were made in terms of compensating the veterans and their families, for their service in Hong Kong.
    As health concerns and advancing age began to impact the HKVA’s ability to fulfill their association’s agenda, a proposal was made in 1993 to create a new association, made up of the sons and daughters of “C” Force veterans. In 1995, the new association was given the name the Hong Kong Veterans’ Commemorative Association (HKVCA). Their mission is describd as “to educate all Canadians on the role of Canada’s soldiers in the Battle of Hong Kong and on the effects of the internment of the battle’s survivors on both the soldiers and their families. We
    Sergeant Major John Osborn
    John Robert Osborn was born in England in 1899 and saw action in the First World War as a seaman in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. After the war he immigrated to Canada, where he farmed and worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He married and had five children. In 1933, he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers and was called to active duty six years later, in September 1939. Sergeant Major John Osborn was the first Canadian to receive the Victoria Cross in the Second World War, and his was the only Victoria Cross awarded for the Battle of Hong Kong. It is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. He was forty-two years old when he died and has no known grave, but his name can be seen on the Hong Kong Memorial at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens in Victoria, Hong Kong.

    Company Sergeant Major Osborn, Winnipeg Grenadiers, Jamaica, 1940/41.
    Sergeant Major John Osborn’s Citation
    At Hong Kong, on the morning of the 19th of December 1941, a company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers to which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn belonged, became divided during an attack on Mount Butler, a hill rising steeply above sea level. A part of the company led by Company Sergeant-Major Osborn captured the hill at the point of the bayonet and held it for three hours when, owing to the superior numbers of the enemy and to fire from an unprotected flank, the position became untenable. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn and a small group covered the withdrawal, and when their turn came to fall back, Osborn, single-handed, engaged the enemy while the remainder successfully joined the company. Company Sergeant-Major Osborn had to run the gauntlet of heavy rifle and machine-gun fire. With no consideration for his own safety, he assisted and directed stragglers to the new company position, exposing himself to heavy enemy fire to cover their retirement. Wherever danger threatened he was there to encourage his men.
    During the afternoon the company was cut off from the battalion and completely surrounded by the enemy, who were able to approach to within grenade throwing distance of the slight depression which the company was holding. Several enemy grenades were thrown, which Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade, which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade, which exploded, killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many