ABSTRACT
This is understandable in light of the fact that the Canadians who fought at Hong Kong were the first Canadian troops to see action during World War II and they, along with other British Commonwealth forces, were beaten so quickly and so badly. The government was almost immediately charged with sending poorly-trained and ill-equipped troops to defend the crown colony. So strong was the criticism that Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King struck a Royal Commission to look into the matter. This exonerated Mackenzie King’s administration of any wrongdoing. The general consensus was that Hong Kong was an unforeseeable tragedy that was perhaps best forgotten.
