Looking for a McKay - emigrated from Ulster

[PPS]

On behalf of a good friend I am asking for assistance in trying to track down an Uncle of his, of whom he knows next to nothing.

The person in question is a man by the name of "Sonny" McKay, who may have passed away by now. He emigrated to Canada sometime before World War 2 from the Limavady area of Northern Ireland. It is thought that his proper first name was John, as my frien thinks he was named after him.

From what has been said within the family it is thought that he joined the Canadian forces around the start of WW2, although which branch is not known (more about this later).

He was apparently made a POW by the Japanese in the Far East, and suffered serious injury and abuse, and it is said that his tongue was cut out by his captors at some stage.

He survived the punishment and returned to Canada, stopping off in Limavady for a time, on release from captivity. Because he was made a POW it is suggested that he joined the Army, although this is not certain. It is also said that he became a taxi driver, location not known.

I have looked at a number of sites in trying to find this person with no success, and turn to those with a better knowledge of Canada for assistance.

Any help in finding details for my friend would be most appreciated, even places to look/ask will be of help, as I would like to help my friend in his search.

Paul

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by PPS
The person in question is a man by the name of "Sonny" McKay, who may have passed away by now. He emigrated to Canada sometime before World War 2 from the Limavady area of Northern Ireland. It is thought that his proper first name was John, as my frien thinks he was named after him.

From what has been said within the family it is thought that he joined the Canadian forces around the start of WW2, although which branch is not known (more about this later).

He was apparently made a POW by the Japanese in the Far East...

He survived the punishment and returned to Canada...

Hi Paul;

Welcome to the forum.

In late 1941, at the request of the British Government, Canada despatched "C" Force, to reinforce the garrison of Hong Kong.

"C" Force served in Hong Kong from 16 November 1941 to the surrender of the colony's garrison on 25 December 1941

The composition of "C" Force consisted of a brigade headquarters with details, and two infantry battalions, based on the following authorized strengths:

Brigade Headquarters:

Commander (brigadier) - x1
Brigade Major - x1
Staff Captain - x1
Senior Administrative Officer - x1
Clerks - 6x other ranks
Drivers I.C. - 2x other ranks

Details:

Royal Canadian Corps of Signals - 1x officer and 32x other ranks
Canadian Chaplain Service - 3x officers
Royal Canadian Army Service Corps - 1x officer and 15x other ranks
Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps - 2x Medical Officers and 2x Nursing Sisters
Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps - 8x other ranks
Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps - 1x officer and 4x other ranks
Canadian Dental Corps - 2x officers and 5x other ranks
Canadian Postal Corps - 3x other ranks
Canadian Provost Corps - 8x other ranks
Auxiliary Services - 2x Supervisors

Infantry Battalions:

Royal Rifles of Canada - 40x officers and 923x other ranks (includes 1st Reinforcements)
Winnipeg Grenadiers - 40x officers and 923x other ranks (includes 1st Reinforcements)

The only 'McKay' that I've found, is a Rifleman McKay, A.J., of the Royal Rifles of Canada, who became a P.O.W., upon the surrender of the garrison, and survived, to be repatriated back to Canada in 1945.

The Royal Rifles of Canada, had been placed on 'Active Service', effective 24 May 1940.
The Winnipeg Grenadiers, had been placed on 'Active Service', effective 1 September 1939.

I don't know if this will help, but Rifleman McKay, A.J., is a start.

Cheers

[PPS]

Mark,

Many thanks indeed for that information on my behalf and that of my friend, your efforts are appreciated.

Paul

[PPS]

With the information received this morning I have done some more searching for this gentleman, and found the following.

The name of Andrew John McKay was found on a Regimental list on the following site:

http://www.cforce.hkvca.ca/index.htm

He is not listed as being attached to any particular Company or Platoon. His home town is shown as Lindsay, Ontario

Also on the above site I found that he was shipped (third transportation - XD3) to Japan aboard the Tatsuta Maru leaving Hong Kong on Jan 19th 1943, arriving in Nagasaki Jan 22nd 1943. From there they travelled to tokyo arriving on Jan24th 1943, and was moved to his first POW camp (JP-Fu-5b) on Kyushu Island. This camp was under the control of Furukawa Industries and was a coal mine as far as I can see.

I also found him on the following site:

http://hongkongwardiary.com/hkwdhome.html

He is also listed there as unallocated to any Company or Platoon.

I passed the first pieces of information from this morning to my friend, and he sends his warmest thanks for your help. All he has to do now is find definite proof of the link between them, and whether there is any truth in the rumour that he ran/drove a taxi service on his return to Canada.

Regards to you all,

Paul

[Mark W. Tonner]

Hi Paul;

Have you seen the message board, on the HKVCA site, located: here

Maybe you could post a message and see if anyone replies.

Cheers

[PPS]

Hello Mark,

Yes, I had seen the message board and am going to be leaving a message on it.

I am one of these strange people who does not want to offend people who take the time and effort to chase up details who then find the same message posted on umpteen different sites. But I will leave a message shortly

From your information I received this morning, I have been able to dig up the information as shown in my last post. Again, thank you for that.

Paul

[PPS]

A bit of an update on progress with Andrew John McKay.

I left a message on the HKVCA site as suggested by Mark and am awaiting a reply to the thread, if any.

Whether or not it was connected to that posting, I received a mail from Vince Lopata that carried quite a lot more information.

The records that Vince forwarded to me included his home town (Lindsay, Ontario as previously stated), enlistment area (East Ontario), his previous unit (the Midland Regiment), and a host of information about the travel from his home base in Toronto to Hong Kong via Vancouver, Honolulu, and Manila.

It lists his camp in Hong Kong (Nanking Barracks, Sham Shui Po.), and his date of capture (26th Dec. 1941).

It also lists his POW camps in Hong Kong (Stanley - to 30th Dec. 1941, North Pont Camp - 30th Dec. 1941 to 26th Sept. 1942, Sham Shui Po - 26th Sept. 1942 to 19th Jan 1943). It shows the transport Hong Kong to Japan as previously found, and it shows that he spent the whole of his captivity in Omine Camp (JP-Fu-5B).

More bits of extra information are given in that it lists the transport and ships that he returned home on. He travelled by train from Omine Camp to Nagasaki on 22nd Sept. 1945, a journey of about 6hrs 30 minutes (I wonder what sights he saw there???). Whilst there he was disinfected, showered and issued with new uniforms. From Nagasaki he was on board H.M.S. Speaker for 2 days arriving in Okinawa at 1630 hrs 24th Sept 1945. He left Okinawa 26th Sept 1945, aboard U.S.S. Renville bound for Manila, arriving 1st Oct. 1945. There he was issued with mail, telegrams, a pay advance, given a medical inspection, and interrogated on POW conditions.

From there the trail goes cold, unfortunately.

Vince also gave me a list of thirteen ships that returned POW's from Manila to Canada and the U.S. Out of the list nine docked in Canadian ports, eight in Esquimalt, B.C. and the ninth in Victoria B.C. Vince stated that a lot of the Canadians from Omine returned on H.M.S. Glory, but cannot find him on the list he has of passengers.

My friend still insists that he was in Limavady at the end of the war, so how did he get here? Did he cross Canada and come across the Atlantic, or did he come the other way back from Manila through the Indian Ocean etc.

Maybe we will never know, but at least my friend now has more information than he ever had about this man, it only goes now to prove the link if he can. It looks as though he is going to have to look at Canadian immigration records.

Anybody tell me the easiest way to go about this please?

In any case, my thanks to those who have made suggestions and passed on information. I still have a couple of queries out in the ether and await possible replies.

One thing I will say is that Canada and some other countries seem to take a lot of pride in remembering their fallen, more so than some others. Congratulations to all concerned for that.

Paul.

[PPS]

Another update to my search for details on this person.

I found an obituary in the Lindsay Post for a Dorothy Ethel McKay, widow of the late Andrew McKay. She died at the end of April in Ancaster, Ontario at the age of 85.

If it is the same person as named in a couple of newspaper articles of the period, then I have the names of some of their children. By using Whitepages I have found possible addresses of a daughter and a grandson. I did take the liberty of leaving a message on an answerphone, but there was no returned call.

Now the question is - do I take the bull by the proverbial and try and contact them in writing, leave it a little longer, or not contact them at all?

Although I would like to take this further for my friends sake, I do not want to cause alarm or distress to them no matter if they are the right family or not.

Paul.

[PPS]

With regard to my search for Andrew John McKay, and after a lot of thought, I decided to take the bull by the proverbials and posted two letters to Canada a few days ago. What with the postal strike we had over here they may be delayed, but I will have to see. They are to who I hope are his daughter and grandson.

I couched the content of the letter in the best way I saw possible and apologised if either they were not connected, or were in any way upset by the letters.

I also tried to give as much details as I have and stated that I have no legal, commercial, or financial interest in the enquiry; it is purely to try and help out a good friend. I gave my email address as well as my friends and his postal address in case they decide to make contact directly.

Now it is just a matter of "wait and see". Here's hoping....

Paul.

[PPS]

I received a letter yesterday from a Barbara Asta, daughter of Dorothy Ethel McKay.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the Andrew McKay connected to her is not the uncle of my friend. It was a chance I took and it did not work out.

As the lady has taken the time to reply to my letter, I feel I must reply and thank her for that. It is only courtesy that I do so.

So back to the drawing board it is.

Paul.

[PPS]

Nothing more has been discovered about this gentleman in connection with Canada unfortunately, but I live in hope. I have a possible favour I could call in, but I am reluctant to do so unless really necessary.

One thing I completely missed in information that was sent to me some time ago was a previous Regiment.

It appears that this Andrew John McKay transferred from The Midland Regiment to the Royal Rifles sometime before October 1941. Does anyone know if there is a Regimental Association connected with The Midland Regiment that might have historic documents, etc?

I also now have his mother's maiden name which will hopefully allow me to track down a birth year, initially anyway.

Paul.