On July 18, the 琉璃神社 Chinese History Group and Chinese Freemasons of 琉璃神社 celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Commando Bay training camp, to honour the 13 Chinese-Canadian soldiers who secretly trained near Vernon as part of 'Operation Oblivion' to prepare to fight in World War II.
Commando Bay, located on Kalamalka Lake near Vernon, was selected at the training site for its seclusion and challenging terrain, making it an ideal location for 'Operation Oblivion' training. There, the soldiers prepared to combat guerrilla tactics, and execute covert operations.
Prior to World War two, Chinese people were not able to obtain Canadian citizenship, and were unable to vote, even if they were born on Canadian soil. Despite this, many Chinese Canadians fought for Canada in WWII.
In 1988, the ten surviving members of 'Operation Oblivion' returned to Commando Bay to place a plaque at the site to commemorate their training and honour their fallen comrades. This plaque remains as a symbol of their sacrifices and contributions to both the war effort and the advancement of civil rights for Chinese Canadians.
The following column was submitted by the 琉璃神社 Chinese History Group and the Chinese Freemasons of 琉璃神社.
Situations Chinese Canadians were facing
Before WWII, Chinese Canadians didn鈥檛 have voting rights, and even those who were born in Canada still couldn鈥檛 obtain citizenship. Chinese Canadians were also prohibited from joining certain professions, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and pharmacists.
In 1923, with the enactment of the Chinese Immigration Act, Chinese immigration to Canada was officially banned, tearing many families apart. When World War II broke out, the Chinese community split into two factions with different opinions on whether they should join the war. The first faction believed that Chinese Canadians should gain voting rights and citizenship first before joining the war, arguing it wouldn鈥檛 make sense to serve their country while being treated as second-class citizens. The second faction believed that Chinese Canadians should join the military immediately to prove their loyalty to Canada, asserting that they deserved equal rights as they were born in Canada, and would be able to gain their rights after returning from the war. In the end, most people agreed with the second belief, and many Chinese Canadians started enlisting in military.
According to one of the veterans from Force 136 - Roy Mah, there were approximately 7,000 Chinese Canadians living in Vancouver at that time, and approximately 30,000 nationwide, among all of them, around 1,000 people were at an age when they could join the army. After the war started, due to the amount of pressure the BC government had asserted, the Chinese and most of the Asian ethnic groups weren鈥檛 on the military's recruitment list. Although they weren鈥檛 being drafted, many Chinese Canadian youths volunteered to join the Canadian military. In BC, most of the Chinese Canadians, including those who were born and raised in Canada, were turned away by the military. At first, Chinese Canadians weren鈥檛 allowed to join the Air Force and Navy, even in the Army, they weren鈥檛 allowed to touch any weapons, and could only do jobs like driving and cooking. In March 1942, this restriction was lifted from the Air Force, and in May 1943, from the Navy. According to statistics, around 600 Chinese Canadians served in the military during World War II, which is 60% of the people in the ideal age group for joining the army. Although being treated as second-class citizens, the 600 Chinese Canadians were still willing to fight for their country and show their abilities, courage, and most importantly, their loyalty to Canada. British SOE needs On Dec 7th, 1941, with the attack of Pearl Harbour, World War II significantly shifted its battlefield towards the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, almost at the same time (on Dec 8th), Southeast Asian territories like Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaya were invaded by the Japanese. These territories were once British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese overseas territories, and the British really wanted to regain control in the Southeast Asian territories. During World War II, British Intelligence agency SOE (Special Operations Executive) had successfully trained and sent agents into the Nazi鈥檚 occupied territories in Europe. Those agents were meant to blend in with locals to gain information about German army and sabotage the Nazi鈥檚 military infrastructures, supply lines and other equipment. The British wanted to do the same thing on the Southeast Asian battlefield, however, most agents in the SOE were European at that time, and they couldn鈥檛 blend in with the locals well enough. Moreover, the locals didn鈥檛 really trust the British colonizers, so the SOE had to send Asian agents to Southeast Asia. Because there were many Chinese people living in Southeast Asia, Chinese Canadians became the perfect candidates for the SOE鈥檚 recruitment, as they could blend into the local population easily, they could speak both Cantonese and English fluently, and were eager to join the military and fight the war.
Recruitment and training
Force 136 was a branch of the British Intelligence Agency SOE during World War II, its main purpose was to support the locals to resist Japanese, gather intelligence from the Japanese, and sabotage Japanese supply lines and other facilities. Most of the men recruited to Force 136 were Southeast Asians, and around 150 Chinese Canadians were recruited. The first group of Chinese Canadians SOE used was from the mission called 鈥淥peration Oblivion鈥�, a suicide mission that would infiltrate these soldiers into mainland China near Hong Kong and support the Chinese in fighting against the Japanese. The SOE sent Major Francis Woodley Kendall (Mike Kendall) - a Vancouverite who used to live in Mainland China and Hong Kong who married to a Chinese American woman, to recruit Chinese Canadians for operations. Major Kendall was trained by the SOE in Singapore. In 1941, one week before the invasion of Hong Kong, he planned an escape route for 70 very important Hong Kong figures. Later, with the approval from the SOE, he founded an agent training school right outside of the Indian city of Poona. Around 1943, he was called to London for consultation. Later, after realizing that the SOE training school in the Far East lacked Chinese soldiers who could speak Cantonese fluently, Major Kendall had an idea to recruit Chinese Canadian volunteers and started another SOE training school in BC. His team鈥檚 codename was 鈥極blivion鈥�. Major Kendall received help and support from the New York branch of the British Intelligence Coordination, and the British were allowed to come to BC to recruit 35 people. Major General George Pearkes, Commander of the Canadian Pacific Command, and Colonel Hugh W.R. Allen, Chief of Administration, was enthusiastic about the training camp and quickly set out the logistics. The training was kept in secret and made confidential, at that time, Major General Pierce and Colonel Allen were the only two people who knew all about the training plans. Major Hugh Legg arrived in Vancouver in April 1944. Under the command of Colonel Hugh Allen, Major Kendall and Major Legg planned the details of the training. Major Legg was in charge of wireless communication and telegraph, while Major Kendall was in charge of training the soldiers in handling the weapons and sabotaging (See O.H.S. Report No. 41, 1977鈥攆rom Reunion). Major Legg was a wireless communication specialist. He received a radio telegraphy certificate in 1916, and had been working in radio industry ever since. In September 1941, he joined the SOE. Two sergeants from the Special Training School (STS), Andrew McClure and Jack Clayton, were assigned to mentor the recruits. Sergeant McClure was an explosives expert, and Sergeant Clayton specialized in unarmed combat and using small arms. . Major Kendall had already come up with a perfect location for training these soldiers when he was first assigned this task. He had picked up fruits in the Okanagan during his teenage years, he had in his mind a secluded place with rough terrain and couldn鈥檛 be reached by roads. This place was originally called Dunrobin鈥檚 Bay, located 10 miles north of Naramata, BC, and named after its pre-emptor L. Race Dunrobin. The only way to get there was by boat, and because of its seclusion, it had been chosen as the perfect spot for training. After talking with the Penticton police, a boundary around the training camp was set up, and everyone was told not to come close to the camp. Because this was one of the most special training camps in Canadian history, the name was changed to Commando Bay after WWII. The soldiers who were trained there also called it Goose Bay. Among the 25 Canadian born Chinese soldiers, 13 people were hand picked on the team (Legg鈥檚 Interview). Originally 12 volunteers were selected, Roger Ching joined the training in July 1944 while he was serving at the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. In some way, these 13 volunteers were treated as an experiment to see whether Chinese Canadians can become commandos. Most of these volunteers were in their 20-30s; however, there was one exception. Wing Wong, who successfully joined the training, lied about his age. He was born in 1901, and by the time he was trained at Commando Bay, he was already 43 years old. 鈥淭hese people all called me dad,鈥� he later remembered. These 13 soldiers were: Douglas Jung, Jim Shiu, Norm Wong, Hank Wong, Louey King, John Ko Bong, Ed Chow, Roy Chan, Wing Wong, Norm Low, Roger Cheng, Tom Lock, and Ray Lowe. This mission was called Operation Oblivion. They were told that their mission was extremely dangerous, and they should not expect to come back from the battlefield alive. If caught, they wouldn鈥檛 be treated as normal soldiers but instead would be treated by the Japanese as spies. That鈥檚 why every soldier was being issued with a cyanide pill that was stored under one of their teeth, and if they were captured, they could swallow the pill easily and avoid all tortures from the enemies. Additionally, their job was highly confidential; nobody knew their exact mission during the war, not even their families. The training lasted from May 1944 to September 1944. All the supplies were transported to the temporary docks that was just built. The camp was set up in the mountains 300 yards off the lakeshore. The kitchen was also set up. Everyone was prepared for the training of the next four months. Because the commandos had to be fully prepared to go to extremely dangerous places that the Japanese had occupied, the training was designed to be extremely hard and strict. The steep slopes behind the campground were used for physical training, and the wood on the hill was used for strength training. Every morning, at 6 am, the commandos were called to jump into Okanagan Lake for swimming. The other things they were trained in includes guerrilla tactics such as bare hand fighting, light weapons handling, gunpowder and demolition, medical skill, silent killing, sabotage, jungle patrols, radio operation, telegraphy, tracking, silent swimming, etc. The training was from 6 am to 9pm everyday, only having breaks for their meals. (from Legg鈥檚 Interview) Demolition training took place in the hills above the lake. As their skills improved, they moved to the mouth of Wild Horse Canyon, where they found an abandoned cabin to test their blasting skills (4). These commandos were expected to be able to speak Cantonese fluently when they joined Force 136, however, only four of them actually knew the language well. Like most immigrants who wished that their kids would succeed in their new homeland, 8 of the commandos only spoke English, so Cantonese instruction was also added as part of the training, taught by Major Kendall鈥檚 wife, Betty. The only time where they were off training was to help the neighbour beside their camp called Paradise Ranch to pick peaches, and as a reward, the ranch gave them lots of fresh fruits. For those Chinese Canadian soldiers, the biggest challenge was swimming silently for a long distance while carrying 50 pounds of weight. Back then, Chinese Canadians were banned from public pools in BC, so not many Chinese Canadians knew how to swim. After four months of rigours training, the commandos got stronger. In early September, 1944, they completed their training at Commando Bay. Captain Roger Cheng and Sergeant Norman Low, Sergeant Raymond Lowe, and Sergeant James Shiu went to India for a month-long wireless communication training. Meanwhile, the other commandos shut down the camp in Commando Bay. When they left Commando Bay, they took away the tents, and cleaned up the base, to make sure that there were no munitions left behind. Except for the dock, everything else was taken away, showing absolutely no signs of people around. The commandos then returned to Vancouver, where they did their underwater training. In early October, they left for Australia. They then went to the commando schools in Victoria, Queensland and Fraser Island, where they were trained in parachuting, physical exercising, Japanese military and weapon familiarization, jungle survival, and stocking.
Battlefield Operations
In January 1945, more Chinese Canadian soldiers were recruited into Force 136. When they finished their training in Australia, however, they were told that their mission was cancelled. The supreme allied commander had decided that military operations in the Pacific Theatre of Operations in northern New Guinea would be under the control of the US army. Force 136 wasn鈥檛 given a mission until June 7th, 1945, when they decided to reassign some operatives to the Special Operations Australia (SOA) for their use. The remaining soldiers from Force 136 who didn鈥檛 pass parachute training were sent back to Canada. In June, Captain Roger Cheng and other four sergeants Roy Chan, Louey King, Norman Low, Jimmy Shiu were selected as part of Operation Hippo, with SOA to the island of Borneo. The team consists of 11 people, including Cheng and the other four sergeants. The purpose of Operation Hippo was to infiltrate agents into British Borneo and Sarawak to train Iban (a local tribe) headhunters to resist the Japanese.They then travelled through the jungle into an Allied POW camp in Kuching. Another group of 10 out of the 15 Chinese Canadians sent to Australia were assigned the follow-up operation 鈥淥peration Hippo II鈥�.
On August 10th, Captain Roger Cheng arrived first at Hibu, Borneo, aboard a ship named Catalina. With the other members arriving in the following few days. They communicated with the Ibans right away, and started providing them with weapons and training on defending themselves. In return, the Ibans taught them how to survive in the jungles of Borneo. In the following days, 3 agents from Operation Hippo, along with the Ibans, started patrolling and hunting for Japanese soldiers. While Captain Roger Cheng and Sergeant Norman Low were staying at the base, keeping in touch with the SOA. On August 15th, 1945, the Japanese emperor - Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender, but some Japanese troops in Borneo continued to fight. The 鈥淥peration Hippo II鈥� was then cancelled, and the agents from the Operation Hippo were tasked with rescuing Allied POWs, surveilling the Japanese operations, and maintaining peace until their withdrawal on October 15th, 1945. In September 1946, Louey King, Norman Low, Roy Chan and James Shiu were awarded the Military Medal for their bravery in Borneo. The terrible living conditions of the Southeast Asian rainforest made the mission extremely challenging. A lot of the soldiers suffered from malaria, dysentery, broken bones and other diseases.They had to bear with extreme humidity, the heat, and the Monsoon Winds. Everyday, they faced jungle animals such as snakes, insects, monkeys, crocodiles and wild boars. Sometimes, these animals are what they eat in the jungle. John Ko Bong, on the other hand, was sent to Manila, the Philippines. His job there was to help the prisoners rescued from Japanese POW camps, and help repatriate the Japanese back to Japan. Meanwhile, 117 of the 121 Chinese Canadian Force 136 soldiers were sent to India in early March, 1945 by ship from the UK. They were screened for deployment training in India, most of them were trained in radio operation and army translation, 56 of them went to Malaya for advanced secret service training in small boat operation, landing, parachute jumping, etc., in preparation for their deployment behind enemy lines. 10 of them were parachuted in as patrol liaison teams (PLT to the northern, central and southern parts of Malaya. They fought with the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army against the Japanese. Just after the war, they remained in Malaya for several months to keep peace, to rescue prisoners of war and to provide support to the local government. In December 1945, they returned to India, and in June 1946, they all returned back to Canada.
After the war
Luckily, all the Chinese Canadian soldiers from Force 136 survived and returned to Canada. Some of them got diseases from the tropical jungle that caused severe health problems afterwards. Norman Low lived in a really poor health condition because he contacted malaria. At first, his doctor couldn鈥檛 believe that he got malaria, but he can鈥檛 tell anyone how he got it, as his entire action was confidential during World War II. After the war, most of the Chinese soldiers in Force 136 who stationed in India returned to Canada by ship through England, while the ones who were still in Australia had to find their own way to get back home. Hank Wong, who was in Australia throughout, boarded a cargo ship to Vancouver and worked aboard to pay for his ticket. Despite all the suffering, these soldiers really changed the fate of all Chinese Canadians.
