NO. 1 SPECIAL WIRELESS GROUP ROYAL CANADIAN CORPS OF SIGNALS (RCCS) IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

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The following personnel are mentioned in accompanying photographs:
Lt. Col. H.D.W. Wethey, 

Major F.H. Rowland, 

QMS J.T. Hanes, 

S/Sgt C.L. Getz Back, 

S/Sgt G.W. Laycroft, 

Sgt. C.F. Colvin, 

Sgt. W.V. Gavrilloff, 

Sgt. W.H.C. Holcombe, 

Sgt. J.E. Lauret, 

Sgt. R.F. McCallum, 

Sgt. K.W. McKay, 

Sgt. T. Murray, 

Sgt W.F. Schrempp, 

Sgt. E.D. Welland, 

Sgt. L.M. Williams, 

Signalman L. Exelby, 

Signalman J.G. Groome, 

Signalman E.A. Lowe, 

Signalman Maywood.

Signalman R. Montreuil,

Signalman J. Taylor.
Signalman J.P. Trottier.

Captain R.K. Cheng

Captain R.K. Cheng

Born on 16 May 1915 Roger Kee Cheng went on to graduate as an electrical engineer from McGill University in 1938, be commissioned as the first Chinese-Canadian officer in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in 1941, and serve in Borneo as a member of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) component of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1945.

Second-Lieutenant Cheng began his officer training on 3 October 1941, probably at the Officer Training Centre in Brockville, Ontario. He was promoted Lieutenant (Lt) on 23 May, 1942, and completed his officer training at the Canadian Signal Training Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on 10 August, 1942.

Lt Cheng was then posted to the Canadian Signals Experimental Establishment (CSEE) in Ottawa, and promptly attached to the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC), and seconded to the Master General of Ordnance (MGO) Branch of the Director of Electrical and Communications Design (DECD). On 1 October, 1943 he was made an Acting Captain. On 27 May 1944, he ceased his attachment and secondment, and was taken on strength of No. 11 District Depot in  British Columbia.

From 28 May until 26 August, 1944, at which time he started five days embarkation leave, it is probable that Lt Cheng, was a member of an original group of Chinese-Canadians who became known as the Kendall Group, and underwent special training in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

On 3 September, 1944, having finished his embarkation leave, Lt Cheng was promoted Captain, and posted to the "Q List", signifying that he was now officially on loan to the British forces. While details of his activities between then and 6 August, 1945, are sketchy, indications are that he, and five other Chinese-Canadians were landed, on that date, in Sarawk, in northern Borneo, by Catalina Flying Boat Upon arrival, the group joined a small British team which was gathering information on the movements of the Japanese as well as about conditions in prison camps in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, where about 25,000 British prisoners of war were being held. The day after the team landed, the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although Japan surrendered, many isolated Japanese units refused to accept defeat and the war dragged on for months. The team's major accomplishment was assisting in transferring many emaciated prisoners to Australia before returning home themselves.

On 31 October, 1945, Capt Cheng was attached for all purposes from the SRD to. No 1 Canadian Special Wireless Group, a signals intelligence organization that had arrived in McMillan's Road Camp, Darwin, Australia on 18 April, 1945. He returned to Canada on 5 January, 1946, at which time he was again taken on the strength of No. 11 Disrtict Depot.

On 7 March, 1946, Roger Kee Cheng was discharged from the Canadian Army.

THE ARMY IN THE PACIFIC WAR, 1945, Page 309

Major-General B. M. Hoffmeister, the distinguished commander of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division in Europe, was appointed to command the 6th Division in the Pacific. The plan was to concentrate the force in Canada and move it to the United States for training. Before organization could be completed, however, the Japanese surrendered. Since 24 November 1944 United States heavy bombers based in the. Marianas had been attacking Japan’s home islands in increasing strength. In July 1945 the United States fleet, augmented by a strong British force, began to attack Japan not only with carrier-based aircraft but with shellfire. On 6 August an atomic bomb, by far the most terrible weapon of destruction yet devised, was dropped on Hiroshima, and on 9 August another was dropped on Nagasaki. Russia suddenly declared war on Japan on the 8th. On 10 August Japan sued for peace. On the 14th active hostilities ceased, and on 2 September the formal act of surrender was signed in Tokyo Bay. On the previous day orders had been issued for the disbandment of the Canadian Army Pacific Force.
In these circumstances, the Canadian Army was represented in the Pacific theatre in the closing phase of the war only by a number of individuals and one or two special units. Two large groups served with the Australian forces. No. 1 Special Wireless Group, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, was sent out late in 1944 and did useful work in intercepting enemy wireless messages. In addition a number of trained Canadian radar personnel (nine officers and 73 other ranks) were loaned to Australia. From 1944 onwards Canadian officers in considerable numbers were dispatched to gain experience in the Pacific area in operations with Australian, New Zealand and. United States forces. Figures compiled in June 1945 showed that 37 staff officers and 62 regimental officers of the Army had had such opportunities. The experience thus acquired would have been very valuable had the Canadian Army Pacific Force gone into action.

THE CANADIAN ARMY, 1939 - 1945 Link

Heroes Remembered, Carl McVicar

Carl McVicar was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, on August 23, 1925. His father was a coal miner, who developed tuberculosis during the 1930s, so times were tough. Mr. McVicar left Glace Bay in 1941, at the age of 16. He learned how to work as a wireless operator at a young age. His father was friends with a gentleman who was in charge of Marconi Towers in Glace Bay and Mr. McVicar learned how to work in the radio room during their frequent visits to Marconi Towers. At the young age of 16, Mr. McVicar enlisted with the Merchant Marine and was taken right away, because they were in need of Wirless Operators. He trained with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and was sent to Labrador to build stations. After receiving an overseas medal, Mr. McVicar was shipped to Victoria, B.C., for specialized wireless training, then he was sent to Australia and New Guinea, where he witnessed such amazing things as the Enola Gay taking off to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. He remained in the South Pacific until coming home to Canada after the War was declared over. After returning to Canada, he lived and worked in Toronto, until he returned to the East Coast after one year.

1: Atomic Bomb
2: Japanese Prisoners of War
3: Canadian Prisoners of War
4: No surrender

1 Canadian Special Wireless Group Souvenir Booklet

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Lieutenant J.D. Miller and Signalman Dermott Joseph Green

Lieutenant J.D. Miller

John David Miller was born in 1917, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals as a Signalman in 1935, and died in Australia in 1945. He left behind his wife, Mary Jean Dorothie Miller (nee Beach) and his parents, Clifford and Jeanne Miller. All were from Kingston, Ontario.

On 1 July 1944 then Lieutenant (Lt) Miller was detached from No. 1 Special Wireless Station, Leitrim, Ontario to No.1 (Canadian) Special Wireless Group (1CSWG). He, along with Captain (Capt) HL Hall, Capt RE March, and Lt. JH Legere were the first four members of the Group.

On 18 April 1945, after months of training and travel, he arrived with 1CSWG at McMillan's Road Camp, Northern Territory (NT), Australia. The NT Force Band played the troops into the camp.

On 16 September 1945, while serving as the Technical Maintenance Officer and Sports Officer for 1CSWG, Lt Miller was admitted to hospital. There he was placed on the dangerously ill list and, that evening, died of what was later diagnosed as acute encephalitis.

On 18 September 1945 he was buried in the grave No GD 3 in the Adelaide River War Cemetery. His funeral party was composed of eight members of the Technical Maintenance Section as bearers; eight Unit officers as pall bearers; the Chief Signal Officer (CSO) of the NT Force, a member of the CSO Staff; two buglers, two drummers, and a firing party of approximately 40 Unit personnel. Chaplain Clayden, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), conducted the service. 

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Writing in the November 1999 issue of the Maple Leaf, Lt Paul Doucette, a Public Affairs Officer then with the Australian based Canadian Contingent of the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) wrote.

Remembering the One

CAMP TWO CAN DO, Darwin, Australia—In 1945, near the end of the Second World War, the South Pacific was a nasty place for Canadian Lieutenant John Miller, who contracted encephalitis and died September 16, 1945 while serving in Northern Australia with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS). The 28-year-old Kingston, Ont., resident was deployed on a classified mission to the Darwin area with the RCCS Number One Special Wireless Group. The details of the squad’s South Pacific duties are not clear, but it is known the group was later sent to East Timor to help with the surrender of the Japanese. As a tribute to Lt Miller, the only Canadian soldier buried at the Adelaide River War Cemetery, south of Darwin, CF members deployed to northern Australia to provide support for the International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) held a memorial ceremony November 8. “It was great way to help mark this year’s Remembrance Day,” said Chief Warrant Officer Eric Inglis, who organized the special service as part of the Canadian Airlift Task Force’s Remembrance Day ceremonies. “It was a special experience for all of us who were there.”

Though little else is known about him at this time, records indicate that another member of 1CSWG, Signalman Dermott Joseph Green, age 26, was drowned while surfing at Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia on 3 March 1945. He is buried in Woombye-Palwoods Military Cemetery. 

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