As memories fade, Canadians mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War

Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan, centre, salutes after placing a wreath during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Pacific and the end of the Second World War at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Relatives of war veterans gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender and the official end of the Second World War.

Sweat poured down the faces of those assembled in the August midday heat as the Canadian Armed Forces bugler performed the Last Post.

Michael Babin, president of the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, said there are no living veterans remaining out of the nearly 2,000 Canadians who took part in the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941.

He said the last known veteran from that fight died a little more than a year and a half ago, at the age of 106.

Babin is one of many with direct ties to the war who expressed the concern on Friday that the history of that battle — and the stories of the many Canadians who fought and died there — are not being passed on to younger generations.

“There are no veterans left any more to tell their stories, so it’s up to us — the children and the grandchildren — to tell their stories and to remember them,” he said.

“Most Canadians don’t (know about this battle) because most of the action took place in Europe and that’s what Canadians heard about and that’s what’s taught in the schools. But to send 2,000 men and two nursing sisters to Hong Kong was significant, and all of them were volunteers.”

Babin said that of the 1,975 Canadian volunteers who went to Hong Kong, only 1,418 returned — 290 were killed in the battle and others later died as prisoners.

His own father, Alfred Babin, was released from nearly four years of captivity as a prisoner of war on Aug. 15, 1941.

Mitzi Ross said her father, Lance Ross, was hit in the neck by shrapnel but survived the battle. He was captured and sent to Japan to work in a mine as a prisoner of war.

“All of the men that were in these camps had to work in mines or shipyards, things like that. It was really a horrible, horrible experience. When they came back they all had PTSD but nobody knew what it was at the time,” she said. “They all had hard lives after their return (to Canada).”

Francois Vigneault, a retired captain who served 36 years with the Royal Canadian Air Force, said his father’s cousin, Laureat Vigneault, was killed in the Battle of Hong Kong.

He said his body was never recovered and, thanks to a bureaucratic error, it took his family years to learn that he had been killed in action.

“For me, it’s a very important battle (but) it’s very unknown for Canadians,” he said.

Anne Okaley said her father became a PoW after the Hong Kong conflict; she’s still researching what his exact role was in the battle.

Okaley said she worries about people forgetting these stories as time passes — and the risk of grim history repeating itself.

“I just hope the memory carries on,” she said. “We’re not going to be here forever to carry it on, so I’m really grateful for my nephew who is going to carry the torch forward.”

By Kyle Duggan.