Our journey took us by the CNR route through Jasper National Park, eventually
ending in Vancouver where we boarded the waiting "Awatea".
A Passage to Hong Kong
The "Awatea" was a New Zealand liner, converted, to some extent, to a troop
ship.
Mutton was the staple diet. Before long the complaints from the troops could be
heard in every quarter. No pun intended. Ken Cambon, who after returning to
Canada wrote the book, "Guest of Hirohito"*, composed a poem about the trip in
which the mention of mutton appears prominently. "Our cheeks were just juttin'
with nutin' but mutton", which nicely said it all, about the food.
* Guest of Hirohito, published by PW Press, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Heavy guns had been
mounted on the upper decks
causing a certain
top-heaviness and thus
contributing to a great deal of
pitching and rolling. Some of
the men became seasick and
never got their sea legs all the
way across the Pacific. I was
lucky and didn't get sea sick
at all.
On the ship there was some arms training and boat drill, but in general, not much
took place to break the routine. I remember in particular a movie that was shown.
I don't remember anything about the plot, but there was a song that has haunted
my memory till this day. I have heard it only once since then, and before I could
identify it, it was gone. Some of the words were, "You couldn't be much nicer,
You couldn't be much sweeter ...... than you are.", or something like that. I have
asked in several places but it still remains a mystery to me. I seem to recall that in
the movie it was sung to a little girl.
We were warned not to throw anything overboard. The reason given that was any
garbage would give enemy ships a clue as to where we were.

We docked in Pearl Harbor under the famous clock. Hula dancers came to the
dock and put on a show for us. Some of the lads went ga-ga over them and
showered them with money. An old adage that my Mother used to repeat, "A
willful waste makes a woeful want", came to my unsophisticated mind. It would be
only months before the money tossed onto the dock that day would have been
very useful indeed, and possibly lifesaving.
Thanks For The Memory
Perhaps the following story will be classified as "bragging", but ... I'm going to tell
it anyhow.

When we loaded our office supplies aboard ship all my Company records went
into a box labelled, "D" Coy, and the number 1042, which was, I believe the
number of the Royal Rifles of Canada. One day, during the voyage, Major Parker
summoned me and asked if I had a nominal roll of the Company. I shamefacedly
had to admit that I had no such document having packed everything away in
Valcartier in preparation for the trip.
What to do? After tossing it around in my mind for awhile I went to each of the  
Platoon Sergeants, and got a list of the men in their charge. I put all these lists
together, arranged the names in alphabetical order, and put the name, rank and
serial number beside each name.
Except for Lance Ross, whose number was E/1144, and Randolphe Steele,
whose number was E/1145, all the men in "D" Company had numbers starting
with a letter followed by a five digit number. Doubt me if you will, but this is the
truth ... I managed to arrange 125 names and serial numbers in alphabetical order
... and get them all right.  I had typed the nominal roll a hundred times and had a
system of remembering the numbers based on the time and place of enlistment of
each of the men in the Company. I found a typewriter and typed out the names
again and presented the list to the Major. I don't know if he ever knew what had
taken place.

We stopped in Manila in the sweltering heat, but again, didn't leave the ship. We
moved on again after dark and before long it became blissfully cool. We were
headed north, to Hong Kong.
The Awatea. Photo courtesy of Jim Fairie