Published by the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association, Beyond the Call is the story of thirty-three members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. These men were sent to Hong Kong as part of “C” Force, the Canadian contingent of 2000 soldiers dispatched to bolster the British colony’s garrison in October, 1941.

Applying the results of four years of in depth research, including interviews with seven surviving Hong Kong Signal Corps veterans, Midland, Ontario author Burke Penny chronicles the lives of the Signallers. We follow them from the days in Canada when they joined up, through their training and trip to Hong Kong, participation in the battle against Japanese forces, their subsequent incarceration in prisoner of war camps, and finally the trip home after the war for the twenty-four who survived. “I wanted the book to focus on the men themselves with the Hong Kong battle and the POW camps as the broader backdrop to their stories,” says Penny. An often forgotten component in previous books about Hong Kong, the impact on the soldiers’ families back in Canada, provides an ongoing counterpoint to the trials faced by the men overseas.

Beyond the Call was officially released on August 14th at the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association national convention in Ottawa. The unveiling of a memorial wall honouring all members of “C” Force took place the following day. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards the costs of the memorial. Beyond the Call is available at http://www.hkvca.ca.
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Beyond the Call: Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, Brigade Headquarters, “C” Force, Hong Kong and Japan, 1941-1945, by D. Burke Penny
Published by the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association
ISBN 978-0-9733350-1-9
403 pages, trade paperback; $30.00

For information about Beyond the Call, contact:
D. Burke Penny
beyondthecall@rogers.com

Mundys Bay Store has copies for sale

On November 14 the Museum will be at the mall from 10-5 with

* Mundy’s Bay Store goods,
* Gord Robbins fundraiser items for HUMM (Christmas cake, truffles, and chocolate covered almonds) and
* Burke Penny will be selling and signing his new book Beyond the Call Royal Canadian Corps of Signals Brigade Headquarters, “C” Force, Hong Kong and Japan 1941-1945 by D. Burke Penny. He will be there between 1 and 3 pm.

Jamie Hunter, Curator
-from his monthly report to the Museum Board –
• Parks Canada will be holding its third meeting towards developing a Heritage Integrity Statement for the St. Louis Historic Site located in Tay Township on Monday, October 26th. This has been a very valuable process as it has brought Huron and Ojibway representatives to discuss Heritage issues – a process which the museum will need to do once we begin the re-design of our Native exhibits.
• I attended the Ontario Archaeological Society meetings at the University of Waterloo on Friday, October 16 through 18. I had made arrangements to sell a large quantity of museum books and we had sales of $700 to Karley’s store and $600 for the endowment fund. My thanks to Mike Serafin for organizing the books and selling them each day while I attended the meetings and discussions and continue to offer the museum’s collections to graduate students for research purposes.
• I attended a Tiny Township Heritage Committee meeting on Thursday October 15 from 5.15 to 7.15 in which I participated in a presentation on archaeological preservation and a possible “Champlain project” for the 400th anniversary celebrations in 2015.
• I have delivered two off-site lectures on the Huron Village/Huron History to 27 members of the Simcoe County Historical Association at the Simcoe County Museum on October 20th and to 45 members of Orillia Museum of Art and History on October 21 on the same subject

COLLECTIONS
A steady stream of objects are making their way to the museum. Another collection of medals from Rose McComb’s husband, Murray, is now at the museum, Gary French has donated some outstanding items – a work chest, a detailed book of Georgian Bay shoreline, a half model of a Grew Boat Works Co product. We will want to schedule a final 2009 exhibit committee meeting for the end of November to go over all new acquisitions.
Genevieve and I (Jamie) have installed an exhibit for BMPO and TD which highlights our military medals collection.
Drummond medals update: we have received 750.00 from two donors recently to bring our total raised so far to $2050.00. We also have a commitment from Peter Shirriff for $1000 and the local Masons are contributing $1000. I have heard from Elcan who will also contribute but Mr Hibbs wasn’t sure how much the company would contribute. We are also asking for funds from the Town of Midland – $2500. Rotary Club of Midland – $2500 and casino Rama $2500. I am confident we will reach our objective by the end of the year.