Page 153 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
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GFA – A Different Drumbeat 153
RETIREMENT IN CANADA
On his retirement from the Singapore Education Department in 1959, he went to Canada
where Leslie was living in Saskatoon. It seemed right that the two surviving members of
this family should be together in his twilight years.
Next year, however, he decided he must "see the East again before I close my eyes".
Dawson Kwauk looked after him for four days in Taiwan on his way to Hongkong. Here is
what Dawson wrote about that trip to ‘see the East before I close my eyes’:
(During the War) G.F.A. was actively involved in Force 136, a small detachment
formed by mainly British Businessmen and missionary workers operating behind the
enemy line. One of their functions was to harass the Japanese by, e.g., blowing up
locomotives and dropping poison in the wells, often ignoring the Jap's retaliation to
the local people. G.F.A. also liaised with Chinese Military about the time and place
for such harassments, either in conjunction with or in defiance of the Chinese guerilla.
G.F.A. was so conscious of the damage which he had inflicted on the Japanese by
unorthodox methods that, when the Kuntsen ship in which he travelled
Seattle/Japan/Taiwan/Hongkong stopped over at Japan for over 10 days, he choose
not to land there, lest he might be poisoned by the Japs as he told me. This was in
the autumn of 1960, a good 15 years after the War.
On his return to Canada he settled in Saskatoon, to be near Leslie. He still desired an
independent and simple life. Efforts were made to persuade him to move to Toronto, where
the larger family would have welcomed him. But he stayed in Saskatoon. He lived in
various hotels until, in 1966 he moved in to the Patricia Hotel as his last home.
Just prior to moving to the Hotel Patricia, this article appeared in the Saskatoon Star
Originally built in 1912 (picture on left), it was named the Patricia Hotel after
Princess Patricia, daughter of a former governor general. It was a popular place
for farmers and businessmen. By 2013 (picture on right) just before it was sold
and demolished, it had become one of Saskatoon's more boisterous night spots.
Phoenix, showing that even in his retirement he was making his mark.
RETIREMENT IN CANADA
On his retirement from the Singapore Education Department in 1959, he went to Canada
where Leslie was living in Saskatoon. It seemed right that the two surviving members of
this family should be together in his twilight years.
Next year, however, he decided he must "see the East again before I close my eyes".
Dawson Kwauk looked after him for four days in Taiwan on his way to Hongkong. Here is
what Dawson wrote about that trip to ‘see the East before I close my eyes’:
(During the War) G.F.A. was actively involved in Force 136, a small detachment
formed by mainly British Businessmen and missionary workers operating behind the
enemy line. One of their functions was to harass the Japanese by, e.g., blowing up
locomotives and dropping poison in the wells, often ignoring the Jap's retaliation to
the local people. G.F.A. also liaised with Chinese Military about the time and place
for such harassments, either in conjunction with or in defiance of the Chinese guerilla.
G.F.A. was so conscious of the damage which he had inflicted on the Japanese by
unorthodox methods that, when the Kuntsen ship in which he travelled
Seattle/Japan/Taiwan/Hongkong stopped over at Japan for over 10 days, he choose
not to land there, lest he might be poisoned by the Japs as he told me. This was in
the autumn of 1960, a good 15 years after the War.
On his return to Canada he settled in Saskatoon, to be near Leslie. He still desired an
independent and simple life. Efforts were made to persuade him to move to Toronto, where
the larger family would have welcomed him. But he stayed in Saskatoon. He lived in
various hotels until, in 1966 he moved in to the Patricia Hotel as his last home.
Just prior to moving to the Hotel Patricia, this article appeared in the Saskatoon Star
Originally built in 1912 (picture on left), it was named the Patricia Hotel after
Princess Patricia, daughter of a former governor general. It was a popular place
for farmers and businessmen. By 2013 (picture on right) just before it was sold
and demolished, it had become one of Saskatoon's more boisterous night spots.
Phoenix, showing that even in his retirement he was making his mark.
