The Military Museums

Gordon Durrant

Winnipeg Grenadiers
Defense of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45

Gordon Durrant (1922 - 2009) was born on 20 Dec 1922 in Broadview, Saskatchewan. In 1937 he moved to Keewatin, MB and in 1941 at the age of 17 he enlisted with the Winnipeg Grenadiers.

In Oct 1941 the Winnipeg Grenadiers including Gordon and his two brothers, Maurice and Philip, set sail for Hong Kong as a defensive force to protect again a Japanese invasion.

They arrived in Hong Kong on 16 Nov 1941, and just three weeks later the Japanese attacked. The Grenadiers, outnumbered and outgunned, put up a heroic defense until they were forced to surrender on Christmas Day, 1941.

Gordon and his two brothers spent the rest of the war in Japanese POW camps. He was held in various POW camps in Hong Kong until Dec 1942 when he was sent to Japan to work in a nickel mine.

When he was finally released from the POW camp in Sept 1945, he weighted 100lbs. In Oct 1945 he returned to Canada. Gordon and his two brothers all survived the war.


Interviews with Gordon Durrant

Gordon Durrant, Winnipeg Grenadiers. Interviewed July 2008

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