Kartoons by Kelso

At the outbreak of the Second World War two brothers, Henry and John Robert Kelso, enlisted with the Winnipeg Grenadiers. John was also a gifted cartoonist and with sponsorship from T. Eaton Company was to have attended a prestigious art school in Chicago following the war. A few months into training the brothers along with the Winnipeg Grenadiers were posted to garrison duty in Bermuda and Jamaica. It is there, while stationed in the Caribbean, that John sketched 40 cartoons of military life that you know see on these pages November 1941 the Grenadiers were sent to defend the British colony of Hong Kong against the Imperial Japanese Army. On the morning of December 7, 1941 the Japanese invaded Hong Kong and during the next few days the Winnipeg Grenadiers along with other Canadian and allied force battalions, which were ill-prepared for battle, met their demise. The Kelso brothers serving with the West Brigade were thrust into battle December 18, 1941 and were killed the next day.