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Aubrey Peacock "Aub" Flegg served with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and recalls his experience as a prisoner of war during the Second World War. Read and listen to his testimony below.
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
![Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-131532]({"id":"631b6b24-d872-4c87-b752-98ae225fb68d","disk":"s3","directory":"The-Memory-Project\/image","filename":"5579_original","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":74293,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2022-08-02T21:53:39.000000Z","updated_at":"2022-08-02T21:53:39.000000Z","title":"Memory Project Image #5579","alt":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532","caption":"Liberated Canadian prisoners-of-war aboard the hospital ship S.S. BENEVOLENCE, Yokohama, Japan, 3 September 1945. (L-R) Privates G.J. Steward, John Goodey and Stanley C.G. Olcen, all of The Winnipeg Grenadiers; Merchant Navy wireless operator O.H. Collett; Staff-Sergeant Ernest M. West of The Winnipeg Grenadiers.","creator":"Memory Project Image #5579 - Veteran #2763","source":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/The-Memory-Project\/image\/5579_original.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/The-Memory-Project\/image\/5579_original.jpg","credit":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532","pivot":{"mediable_id":"9b057f21-04c4-4d2a-9830-79b4359d9c0d","media_id":"631b6b24-d872-4c87-b752-98ae225fb68d","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":1},"translations":[{"id":"6248a60b-7b0b-45f3-888c-03c2f1b9c1ff","media_id":"631b6b24-d872-4c87-b752-98ae225fb68d","title":"Memory Project Image #5579","alt":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532","caption":"Liberated Canadian prisoners-of-war aboard the hospital ship S.S. BENEVOLENCE, Yokohama, Japan, 3 September 1945. (L-R) Privates G.J. Steward, John Goodey and Stanley C.G. Olcen, all of The Winnipeg Grenadiers; Merchant Navy wireless operator O.H. Collett; Staff-Sergeant Ernest M. West of The Winnipeg Grenadiers.","creator":"Memory Project Image #5579 - Veteran #2763","source":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532","locale":"en","credit":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. Dept. of National Defence \/ Library and Archives Canada \/ PA-131532"},{"id":"348b2dfd-2aae-4b0b-8ad1-7367befa4d9a","media_id":"631b6b24-d872-4c87-b752-98ae225fb68d","title":"Memory Project Image #5579","alt":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. D\u00e9pt. de la D\u00e9fense Nationale \/ Biblioth\u00e8que et Archives du Canada \/ PA-131532","caption":"Prisonniers de guerre canadiens \u00e0 bord du navire-h\u00f4pital <em>S.S. Benevolence<\/em>, \u00e0 Yokohama, Japon, le 3 septembre 1945. De gauche \u00e0 droite: les soldats du r\u00e9giment <em>Winnipeg Grenadiers<\/em> G.J. Steward, John Goodey et Stanley C.G. Olcen; l'op\u00e9rateur t\u00e9l\u00e9graphiste de la Marine Marchande O.H. Collett; le Sergent Ernest M. West des <em>Winnipeg Grenadiers<\/em>.","creator":"Memory Project Image #5579 - Veteran #2763","source":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. D\u00e9pt. de la D\u00e9fense Nationale \/ Biblioth\u00e8que et Archives du Canada \/ PA-131532","locale":"fr","credit":"Credit: Capt. Colin C. McDougall \/ Canada. D\u00e9pt. de la D\u00e9fense Nationale \/ Biblioth\u00e8que et Archives du Canada \/ PA-131532"}]} "Memory Project Image #5579")
Transcript
I was shipped down from British Columbia to Winnipeg, and I was in Winnipeg for about a year and I was PPCLI [Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry] and they called for volunteers and kind of pressuring us a bit, to go in the draft, to go to China [with the Winnipeg Grenadiers]. And I was one of them. We were free there for about a year and the Japanese attacked [Hong Kong] and of course, you know, they attacked with a mighty large, large army. I think there were about 1,600 of us and they took us prisoners of war. And we were prisoners of war then for four years. And I spent two years in China in a prisoner of war camp and then two years in Japan. I guess it goes without saying, you know, you’re in the military and a prisoner of war is a prisoner of war, you just don’t run around like a happy go lucky guy on the street. It was not good. I’m not the type of a guy to hold grudges or hold animosity against the Japanese. What happens, it happened and I survived and I lived a very well, good life ever since then. It was certainly not very good being a prisoner of war of the Japanese but I don’t dwell on it, I very seldom ever think about it.
