So thanks to the font of all knowledge, my Mom, and the wonderful family history a distant cousin Heather Hallet compiled, Children of the Rivers, I can correct the below tweet about my family at Hong Kong in 1941. @WW2TV @mike_bechthold @okeefehistorian @AlexFitzBlack #Thread /1 https://twitter.com/BoneyAbroad/status/1333780530882506755

The Matthews brothers tale I told is correct, as I had looked them up in the past. They are very loosely related as my Grandmother Nellie was a Matthews too and that is how I got my name. But the closer relations were the Stodgells and their cousins, the Lands, Métis all. /2

The Stodgells were my Grams cousins and were a big Métis family out of Fisher Branch, Manitoba. My Gram used to spend summers up with them. Her Aunt and Uncle were Charles and Mary Stodgell and they had five sons, Stanley, Garnett, Cyril, Norman and George. All 5 would enlist. /3

They used to pay my Gram to iron their uniforms, joking about the 'fine suit of clothes the Government had given them.' Stanley, Garnett and George (known as Roy) would join the Winnipeg Grenadiers and be deployed as part of C Force for the defence of Hong Kong. Images: HKCVA /4

The Winnipeg Grenadiers had fought with honour in the Great War from the Second Battle of Ypres through Vimy Ridge to the end of the war. In the Second World War, Hong Kong was their first deployment. They embarked on 27th October 1941, 2 months later they had been destroyed. /5

C Force arrived at Hong Kong on 16th November. Their journey aboard the Awatea was taken up with as much training as possible, include Bren practice and use of the new light mortars. The Winnipegs had a number of reinforcements and the training level was not high. /6

Stanley, Garnet and Roy were assigned to A Company under Maj Albert Gresham and were positioned on Jardine's Lookout where they arrived at about 0200 on Fri 19th December 1941. The Japanese had begun landing the night before. /7

After dawn, they were attacked. Gersham was killed and A Coy was forced by from the ridge. In the grenade battle that followed CSM John Osborn would win the only Hong Kong VC for his conduct and for pushing one of his men out of the way of the grenade blast that killed him. /8

The Stodgell Brothers were captured along with at least one of their Land cousins and around a total of 36 A Coy men. According to a L/Cpl Bradbury, Gordon Land pulled a grenade he had concealed and threw at the Japanese, killing four. /9

The surviving Japanese soldiers attacked the group, killing Land, Stanley and Privates Osadchuck & Whalen.

Stanley Fredrick Stodgell of Fisher Branch, Manitoba was 22 years old. Stanley is commemorated on the Sai Wan Memorial /10

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2129689

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2129689/STANLEY%20F%20STODGELL/

Garnett was taken prisoner and would be held in PoW Camps in Hong Kong. He would be moved around the island before, on March 20 1943, Garnett would succumb to acute Enteritis. He was 26 and is buried in @CWGC Sai Wan Cemetary. /11

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2221590

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2221590/GARNETT%20JAMES%20STODGELL/

My Gram would talk about Garnett for the rest of her life. /12

Roy would spend the war as a PoW of the Japanese, interned with Garnett until Jan 43 when he was shipped to Japan. Roy would spend the next two years 'working' at the Nippon Steel Tube Shipyard and Joban Coal Mining Company. He would marry Iva in 1946 and pass away in 1994. /13

Cyril would join up in October 1940 and join the Lake Superior Regiment (Motor), part of 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division. Cyril would be a Corporal in early September 1944 when the Canadian troops reached the first defence lines on the Scheldt. /14

I believe Cyril was wounded during the crossing of the Ghent Canal, but I need to dig deeper. Cyril died of his wounds on 11 Sept 1944. He was 23 years old. He is buried in the @CWGC Adegem Canadian War Cemetery. /15

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2083625

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2083625/CYRIL%20ANGUS%20STODGELL/

Norman would join the famous Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, The Princess Pat's, and would remain with the PPLCI for the duration of the War, through Huskey, Italy and Holland, never rasing above Private. /16

Norman would help compile the book 'Lest We Forget - The Price of Victory', a series of accounts of Canadian veterans. Norman passed away in 2000, his proud service with The Princes Pat's carved on his headstone. /17

In 1963, Mary Stodgell was named the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. Of her 5 boys, only 2, Roy and Norman, returned home. Roy passed away in 1994 and Norman in 2000.

Mary passed away in 1974, her husband Charles in 1958. /18

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/books/silver/1963

All of the brothers are commemorated on the National Métis Veterans' Memorial Monument at
Batoche, Saskatchewan. /19 http://www.metismuseum.ca/metisveteransmonument/index.php

It is quite a tale and one I hope to return too soon. Thanks for reading. /end