Henry Andrew “Harry” Surette was born at Round Hill, Annapolis County, on June 2, 1908. Harry’s father Nicholas was a native of Surette’s Island, Yarmouth County, while his mother, Mary J. Saulnier, was born at nearby Tusket. At the time the 1911 Canadian census, the family was residing in the town of Yarmouth, where Harry is listed as the second youngest of the couple’s six sons. Two more boys joined the household prior to the outbreak of the First World War.
Rifleman Henry Andrew "Harry" Surette
The Surette family experienced a crisis in 1915, although its exact nature remains a mystery. While the 1921 census lists Nicholas as a widower, there is no formal record of Mary’s passing and subsequent military documents indicate that she was alive as late as 1917. Whatever the circumstances, in 1915 Harry was placed in the Home for Delinquent and Neglected Children, Halifax, where superintendent Ernest Blois became his legal guardian. Before year’s end, Harry was adopted by John Samuel and Nancy Jane (Keizer) Taylor, Port Bickerton.
During the First World War, several members of Harry’s family enlisted for military service. Louis John, his oldest brother, joined the 25th Battalion at Halifax on November 12, 1914. He crossed the English Channel to France with the unit in September 1915 and served in Belgium’s Ypres Salient for almost one year. Louis saw combat at the Somme in September and October 1916, and was wounded above his right eye at Vimy Ridge, France, on April 9, 1917. He was invalided to England shortly afterward, and subsequent health issues prevented his return to the front. According to his service file, Louis married while overseas and returned to Canada in the spring of 1919.
Peter Kenneth, the second-oldest of the Surette boys, enlisted with a local militia unit and officially became a part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force as an “active militiaman on duty” on June 22, 1918. He formally attested with the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery at Halifax on November 8, 1918, having logged almost two years of service with the unit. Discharged at Halifax on June 16, 1919, Peter returned to the Yarmouth area, where he married Mary Jane Surette on June 16, 1919.
Douglas Charles, the fourth of Nicholas and Mary’s sons, attested with the 256th Battalion (Canadian Railway Troops) at Yarmouth on January 22, 1917. At the time, the 17-year-old exaggerated his age by two years. When officials discovered the deception, Douglas was discharged at Yarmouth on March 31, 1917.
Perhaps the most surprising enlistment was Harry’s father Nicholas, who joined the 256th Battalion three days after his son Douglas’s enlistment. Although 44 years old at the time, Nicholas managed to pass the required medical examination and departed for overseas on March 28, 1917. Following the unit’s arrival in the United Kingdom, it was re-designated the 10th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops (10th CRT). While Nicholas was treated for arteriosclerosis in England, he was deemed fit for service at the front and proceeded to France with 10th CRT in mid-June 1917.
Before month’s end, the unit made its way to Koksijde, Belgium, where it commenced work on rail lines in the area, amidst intermittent German artillery fire. On July 20, 1917, Nicholas suffered a fractured rib and a shrapnel wound to his back when an artillery shell exploded near his work party. The injuries proved to be minor and he returned to duty in mid-August.
Nicholas served at the front without incident for the remainder of the war and returned to England with 10th CRT on February 1, 1919. He departed for Canada in mid-April and was discharged at Halifax on May 1, 1919. The 1921 Canadian census lists Nicholas as a “widower,” residing at Yarmouth with his son Douglas and 22-year-old Susie Hayes, a “female servant.” No other individuals are present in the household. Douglas later died of pulmonary tuberculosis at Wedgeport, Yarmouth County, on December 6, 1936, while Nicholas passed away from the same illness at Yarmouth on February 14, 1939.
According to the 1921 Canadian census, 14-year-old Harry Surette was residing at Port Bickerton, the “adopted son” of John and Nancy Taylor. He remained in the community into adulthood, earning a living in the local mines and inshore fishery. On June 20, 1934, Harry married Dola Marie Josey, a resident of Spry Harbour, Halifax County, in a ceremony held at Holy Trinity Church, Tangier.
Harry and Dola established residence at Goldboro, where three boys soon joined the family—Victor Austen (DOB June 10, 1935), Henry Frederick “Fred” (DOB June 30,1936) and Percy Samuel (DOB May 24, 1938). Nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, Harry enlisted with the West Nova Scotia Regiment at Camp Aldershot, near Kentville, NS, on June 10, 1940. He listed his occupation as “gold miner” and identified his wife Dola as his next of kin.
Within one week of his attestation, Harry was transferred to the Infantry Training Centre, Camp Aldershot, where he was assigned to Company “A.” While he received brief furloughs in July and August, there is no indication that he travelled to Goldboro. Subsequent events, however, suggest that there may have been ample reason to do so.
On September 1, Dola passed away at St. Martha’s Hospital, Antigonish, the cause of death identified as pulmonary tuberculosis. According to her death certificate, Dola had been under medical care since early May 1940. On the day of her passing, Harry received a six-day furlough that was later extended by four days. Presumably, the leave allowed him to travel home, make final arrangements for his late wife, and arrange care for his three sons. Dola was laid to rest in Hillside Cemetery, Port Bickerton, and Harry returned to Camp Aldershot, where he resumed military training.
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| Harry and his three sons (date and location unknown) |
On November 28, 1940, Harry was transferred to the Royal Rifles of Canada (RRC), which was training at Sussex Camp, NB, at the time. Upon assuming in camp, he was assigned to the unit’s “D” Company. Harry’s new unit was one of Canada’s oldest, tracing its roots to 1862, when the 8th Battalion Volunteer Militia Rifles was established at Quebec, QC. As a “rifle regiment,” its soldiers received the rank of “Rifleman” upon enlistment. Officially re-named the Royal Rifles of Canada on March 29, 1920, the regiment was called out for service on August 26, 1939, and placed on active duty at the first of the following month.
Shortly after Harry’s transfer, the RRC departed for Botwood, a small town in north-central Newfoundland. While the island was still a British colony at the time of the war’s outbreak, Canada assumed responsibility for its defence in September 1939. In subsequent months, Canadian infantry, artillery, air force and navy personnel were deployed at strategic locations across the island and along the Labrador coast.
Botwood is located on the shores of Bay of Exploits, a deep natural harbour, and an airfield had been constructed near the town in 1920. In the late 1930s, Pan American and the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) made the airfield a regular stop on their trans-Atlantic flights. Following the outbreak of war, Botwood became an RCAF patrol and bombing seaplane base that housed two squadrons of PBY Canso flying boats, equipped with torpedoes and depth charges.
Canadian infantry units established a garrison in the town, constructing a barracks, water system and full-scale military hospital. The soldiers were deployed at two gun batteries that defended the harbour’s entrance, and manned several anti-aircraft batteries located throughout the community. Approximately 10,000 Canadian and British personnel were stationed at Botwood during the war.
While serving at Botwood, Harry met Marie Esther Noseworthy, a native of St. Johns, NL. With the permission of his commanding officers, Harry and Esther were married on June 4, 1941. Their time together, however, was short-lived. On August 18, the Royal Rifles departed Newfoundland and returned to Canada. Sometime afterward, Esther made her way to Port Bickerton, where she assumed responsibility for Harry’s three boys.
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| Harry and his second wife Esther |
Meanwhile, the Royal Rifles prepared for a second garrison assignment in a distant part of the British Empire—Hong Kong. On October 27, 1941, having made its way by train to the west coast of Canada, the unit departed for the British territory aboard the Awatea, accompanied by the Winnipeg Grenadiers. Altogether, approximately 2,000 soldiers were crammed aboard the vessel. HMCS Prince Rupert escorted the Canadian battalions to their destination.
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| Harry (centre) and two unknown companions |
As Hong Kong was considered a safe deployment, the two infantry units had received only minimal training. At that time, Allied forces did not anticipate any Japanese aggression in the Pacific region. Rather, military authorities expected the soldiers to carry out routine garrison duties in the British territory and assessed the likelihood of combat as extremely low.
The Awatea arrived in Hong Kong on November 16, at which time the two Canadian units co-ordinated with a third British battalion in establishing defensive positions throughout the territory. The Royal Rifles and Grenadiers were assigned to Hong Kong island, where they focused on defending its southern coastline from invasion. The soldiers engaged in intensive training and familiarized themselves with the local geography, information that later proved valuable.
Altogether, a total force of 14,000 military personnel—Canadian, British, Hong Kong and Singapore—faced the challenge of defending the territory, should it come under attack. Indian and Chinese soldiers comprised approximately 35 % of the entire force. The territory, however, lacked significant aerial and naval defences, relying almost entirely on the infantry units for its security.
The situation in Hong Kong changed dramatically in the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, when Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the American military base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. That same day, as Japan entered the war on the side of Axis Powers Germany and Italy, its forces commenced a series of attacks on British and American territories and military bases in the Asia-Pacific region.
Hong Kong was high on the list of Japanese targets. As soon as news of the Pearl Harbour attack reached the British territory, the entire garrison was ordered to assume battle stations. The two Canadian units immediately left their barracks on Hong Kong island and were in position along its southern shores before day’s end.
The anticipated attack commenced at 8:00 am December 8, when Japanese forces damaged or destroyed the few British Royal Air Force planes on the ground at Kai Tak Airport. Later that morning, Japanese ground forces moved across the northern border on the Hong Kong mainland and engaged British forces. By the following day, the invaders had captured a strategic area of high ground along the northwest section of the territory’s mainland border.
In an attempt to strengthen the British line of defence, military commanders dispatched the Winnipeg Grenadiers’ “D” Company to the mainland on December 10. The following day, the unit made contact with Japanese forces, thus becoming the first Canadian soldiers to engage in combat during the Second World War. However, their efforts alongside their British comrades proved futile and all mainland forces retreated to Hong Kong island on December 12.
The following day, the commander of the invading Japanese forces issued the first of several surrender demands. British military and civilian leaders refused and set about organizing their Hong Kong island forces into two groups. The Royal Rifles of Canada were assigned to the East Brigade, while the Winnipeg unit was attached to the West Brigade. Both units retained responsibility for defending the island’s southern approaches from an amphibious attack.
Shortly afterward, Japanese units launched a heavy artillery and aerial bombardment of the island, systematically destroying defensive structures along its northern shore. While British commanders rejected a second surrender demand on December 17, their circumstances were becoming increasingly grim. It was obvious that there was no hope of relief from outside forces, placing the defenders in an impossible situation.
At midnight December 18, Japanese forces launched four simultaneous amphibious assaults along a three-kilometre stretch of the island’s northern beaches. Once ashore, the invading units fanned out to the east and west. The Royal Rifles’ “C” Company, in reserve at a location close to the landing, counter-attacked during the early morning hours, inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers while suffering heavy losses.
Other RRC platoons entered combat on the western side of Mount Parker, located in the island’s northeastern corner. Their ranks suffered considerable losses from Japanese forces that had established well-entrenched positions along the hilly terrain. By December 20, the invaders reached Repulse Bay on the southern coast, effectively cutting the island in two.
Exhausted, sleep-deprived and lacking sufficient supplies, the remaining Royal Rifles soldiers nevertheless attempted to push northward over rugged terrain, in an effort to dislodge the enemy and establish contact with their West Brigade counterparts. Despite the riflemen’s determined effort, Japanese forces held their ground.
During the evening hours of December 23, the remaining East Brigade forces received orders to retreat to a barracks located on Stanley Peninsula, the island’s southernmost tip, for a rest. Their time out of the line was brief, as Japanese forces continued to press the attack. The remaining Royal Rifles personnel returned to combat the following day, as the situation grew increasingly dim.
By midnight December 24, the Royal Rifles found themselves in a precarious situation, pushed back to the tip of Stanley Peninsula. Despite their hopeless situation, the men fought on along a narrow line near Stanley Village, stretching from the western to the eastern side of the peninsula. With no hope of victory, the unit prepared to resist to the last man.
On the morning of December 25, “D” Company received orders to launch an attack on a concentration of Japanese forces at nearby Stanley Village. The operation commenced at noon, on a hot, sunny day. Despite constant enemy fire, the soldiers managed to reach the designated assembly point and prepared to attack.
Japanese forces held the higher ground, forcing the attacking forces to quickly close on the enemy or suffer heavy casualties. The riflemen fixed their bayonets and charged, yelling loudly as they approached the enemy line. Taken by surprise, Japanese forces were overrun and the Canadians managed to enter several of the houses on the high ground. Fierce fighting soon developed as Japanese reinforcements arrived in the area.
With the support of artillery fire, enemy forces launched a counter-attack on “D” Company’s position. In danger of being cut off from retreat, officers ordered the men to withdraw in small parties. Within minutes, Japanese forces turned the tide of battle, forcing the remaining riflemen to withdraw toward the barracks. In total, “D” Company recorded 16 fatalities and 78 wounded during the attack, which lasted into the early evening hours. A total of 44 able-bodied men and walking wounded made their way back to Stanley Barracks.
Unbeknownst to the Royal Rifles, the fighting had officially ended almost four hours previously. Heavy losses on the western flank, where Japanese units had steadily advanced southward, forced the British Commander, Major-General Christopher Maltby, and the British Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Christopher Young, to officially surrender to Japanese forces at 3:15 December 25, 1941.
The severely outnumbered British and Canadian forces had endured almost 18 days of fighting before succumbing to the invaders, a tribute to their determination, despite their lack of combat training, experience and reinforcements. In the aftermath of the surrender, the Royal Rifles organized working parties to bury their dead comrades. The two Canadian infantry units lost a total of 290 men during the Battle of Hong Kong, while another 493 were wounded. In Harry’s 17th Platoon, 17 men were killed in action, while another 19 were wounded.
The survivors—almost 1,700 soldiers from the Royal Rifles and Winnipeg Grenadiers’ ranks—became prisoners of war, enduring almost four years of interment in Japanese camps under horrendous conditions. More than 200 died in captivity before war’s end. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, we know the names of those who lost their lives in combat during the Battle of Hong Kong and afterward in Japanese POW camps. As news of the territory’s capture spread around the world, however, none of the Canadian soldiers’ relatives knew their loved ones’ fate.
For months, there was no word from Canadian authorities. On December 15, 1942, Harry’s second wife Esther wrote to National Defence Headquarters from Port Bickerton, requesting “any information regarding my husband since the fall of Hong Kong…. It will be one year [on] the 25th of this month since I heard from my husband[,] so you see 12 months have been trying ones for myself and my three little boys.”
On January 8, 1943, the Department of National Defence sent Esther an “Official Canadian Army Overseas Casualty Notification,” informing her that her husband, Rifleman Henry Andrew Surette, RRC, had been killed in action at Hong Kong “between 8th and 25th Dec. 1941.” Five days later, Esther responded that the news of her husband’s death “has left me and his three little children broken-hearted…. I would like to know the date on which my dear husband was killed[,]… if he died instantly or from wounds[,] and how he was buried.”
Unfortunately, Canadian authorities were unable to provide further details on Harry’s death until several months after fighting in the Pacific ceased. On November 21, 1945, an official letter informed Esther that her husband was killed at Hong Kong on December 25, 1941, meaning that his death took place during “D” Company’s heroic final attack on Stanley Village.
Initially laid to rest in Stanley Hospital Cemetery, Harry’s remains were re-interred in Sai Wan Military Cemetery, Hong Kong, on June 16, 1947. Three months later, the Department of National Defence informed Esther of her husband’s reburial. The following spring, authorities forwarded a photograph of Harry’s grave and marker. On April 16, 1948, Esther wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs, expressing her thanks “for the photographs of my late husband’s grave…. [L]ooking at them brings things fresh in my mind, because he was a dear husband to me and his three dear boys and we miss him terribly…. [W]e will always remember him while ever we live.”
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| Harry's wooden grave marker |
Victor and Fred spent their formative years in the Sherbrooke area of Guysborough County. Victor later relocated to the Halifax area. He never married and passed away at Dykeland Lodge Retirement Home, Windsor, NS, on January 26, 2017. Victor was laid to rest in Hillside Cemetery, Port Bickerton.
Fred moved to Pictou County, where he married Margaret Ross, whose family had immigrated to Nova Scotia from Scotland. The couple settled in Trenton, where they raised a family of two boys. Fred worked for Maritime Tel and Tel for more than three decades and spent his retirement years in the drapery business. He passed away at Aberdeen Hospital, New Glasgow, on December 12, 2018, and was laid to rest in Heatherdale Memorial Gardens, Westville.
Percy remained at Pouch Cove, NL, throughout his entire life. He married and raised a family of five children—two daughters and three sons, one of whom was named after his paternal grandfather Harry. He eventually established contact with his Nova Scotia siblings, particularly Fred, who made regular trips to the island for visits. Percy passed away at the Health Sciences Centre, St. John’s, NL, on May 4, 2014.
Special thanks to Margaret (Mrs. Fred) Surette, Trenton, NS, who provided the photographs displayed in this post and verified the information on the Surette family.
