Prisoners of War

No one goes to war thinking they will be the one captured and tortured by the enemy. As Canadian troops sailed to Europe to join in the fighting of World War Two, they more likely had nightmares about dying tragically, or suffering for days. No one really worried about being captured because war was associated with fighting, guns, winning and losing. A rude awakening came to those captured and taken to the many different concentration camps. Canadian POW's endured very unfortunate experiences in the Second World War. All of which were unnecessary and most of which were against international rules."Canadian prisoners of war are the forgotten men of World War Two" The process in which they suffered plays a significant role in Canadian history. It is the intention of this essay to bring attention to the largely neglected prisoners of war and to explain the importance of them being captured and held as prisoners. Upon capture, canadian soldiers were imprisoned in camps. Canadians - especially those captured in Hong Kong - were forced to endure conditions that could be "described as horrific and horrendous" Already exhausted and sometimes wounded from battle prisoners hoped for the best, completely unaware of what lay ahead. The conditions in which the Canadian Prisoners of War lived were in humane. Often there was a high mortality rate, this was due to the lack of food and rations, forcing captors to work. POW tried to pass time by reading books, playing sports, writing letters to loved ones and having church ceremonies. With the Geneva Convention already set Canadian POW's hoped the rules would be followed. The Geneva Convention was signed in July 1929 by 47 nations. It dictated that a prisoner of war must always be treated humanly. "It spelled out the rights of the captive and captor". A prisoners food, shelter and clothing was to be no different then a captors own troops. The rules were often ignored and not followed. "The Japanese violated the