A monument honouring Canada's veterans of the Battle of Hong Kong was formally unveiled in Ottawa on Saturday.

The granite-sheathed memorial bears the names of some 2,000 men who fought for 17 days against a massive Japanese invasion of the then-British colony; survivors were held as prisoners of war from 1941 until 1945.

Saturday's unveiling took place on the 64th anniversary of VJ-Day, the end of the Pacific campaign of the Second World War.

"Their sacrifice has made a difference," Padre Alain Monpas told the assembled crowd of veterans, soldiers, families, friends and dignitaries.

"We're here today because we have a solemn responsibility to remember," Veterans Affairs Greg Thompson said.

The soldiers being remembered had been sent in the autumn of 1941 to bolster the defences of Hong Kong against a possible Japanese attack.

Only about 90 of the men are still alive. A handful were able to attend the dedication. They were part of C Force — the Royal Rifles of Canada, the Winnipeg Grenadiers and a brigade headquarters — which arrived in Hong Kong on Nov. 16, 1941.

Three weeks later, with the Canadians barely acclimated, Japanese forces attacked the then-British colony in overwhelming force. Its defence was a hopeless cause from the start.

Without air cover, lacking heavy weapons and transport, the men of C Force fought on fiercely, before surrendering on Christmas Day. During the bitter fighting, 290 Canadians were killed and 483 wounded.

Endured malnourishment, mistreatment

But that was just the beginning of an ordeal that would drag on until August 1945.

The Canadians endured brutal conditions as prisoners of the Japanese. Many were beaten or tortured. Food allowances dropped to as low as 800 calories a day for men forced into slave labour in mines or at dockyards.

"They clung to their faith that they would survive," Thompson told the crowd. "They struggled to make it though another day," he said.

Almost 300 died in 2½ years of captivity. When they were liberated in 1945, they were weak, almost skeletal and many suffered lasting infirmities from the mistreatment and malnutrition.

They then fought a decades-long battle for compensation. In 1998, the Canadian government paid a benefit of about $24,000 for each surviving soldier or spouse.

In 2007, the Hong Kong Veterans Commemorative Association opened a campaign to build the memorial.