Hong Kong War Diary

Welcome             MAY 2008

Welcome to Hong Kong War Diary - a project that documents the 1941 defence of Hong Kong, the Garrison, and their fates until liberation.

This website acts as a repository of information about the garrison, including a complete listing of each individual defender, together with a monthly record of research and related activities. It also contains pages, added to over time, of other resources for researchers and the wider community of interest.

So far this project has spun off two books. The first, "Not The Slightest Chance" is a reference book detailing the fighting and the fatalities. It was published in 2003 by Hong Kong University and the University of British Columbia, and is still available.

The second, more narrative in style, documents the fate of all aboard the Lisbon Maru from the fall of Hong Kong through to death or liberation - and for many of the survivors, beyond. An associated website, the Lisbon Maru, documents that ship and its fateful voyage. This book, "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru", was printed at the end of March 2006, and is orderable from Hong Kong University Press and Amazon.

Further books are now in development - the next being hopefully the definitive textbook on the Hong Kong POWs and Internees. This is tentatively titled "We Shall Suffer There", and the first draft was finished in June 2007. Work now starts on the fourth and final book in this series, which will follow the experiences of Hong Kong's escapees and evaders and the regular and irregular units in which they served. Meanwhile, this site will continue to be updated at the start of every month.


If you have questions or information on any of these topics - especially the POW and Internee experiences - please don't hesitate to get in touch.

HOME

This site is evolving to better support the needs of the community interested in wartime Hong Kong, whether researchers, students, families of those who lived or served here at the time, and those veterans themselves.  As always, all comments, suggestions, information, and requests for information will be gratefully received.

April News

Apologies for the rather weird behaviour of the photo section in last month’s report. Hopefully it is fixed now. Both fortunately a and unfortunately, the software with which I maintain this website is upgraded regularly, and sometimes the new features are hard to turn off…

29 Alice Opre Campbell’s family have placed an interview with her on the web. Recorded in 1981, it is very interesting as her husband was Major Duncan Campbell (2ic HKDDC), she was evacuated to Australia but only got as far as Baguio before being asked to return, and of course after that she was in Stanley.  The website is very new, and thanks to John Peacock for alerting me. (Update - this link has been removed while the family finds another location to host it.)

28 Had an annual health check at Matilda Hospital (illustrated). This was of course one of the war time hospitals, being struck by 97 bombs and shells during the fighting – including a particularly heavy attack just before surrender, the Japanese probably realising that large stores of ammunition were nearby. When leaving the Department for the Painful Extraction of Credit Cards, I was delighted to see a large portrait of Sir Vandeleur Grayburn.

26 Chris Bilham has acquired the medals of L/Bdr J.A. Kerruish 8 Coast Regiment RA. Does anyone have any information about him? He was lost on the Lisbon Maru.

25 Managed to spend a couple of hours with Elizabeth going through her father’s records. Looking at the BAAG, it is very difficult to decide on the right way to approach a ‘Unit History’. My current feeling is that it will be around four years’ work, as there are such a vast number of documents to read and condense.

23 Private Alexander Buchan Burnett’s (Royal Scots) family are looking for a photo of him, if anyone can oblige.

23 Joy Carroll (see last month) found a letter from Selby, HMS Redstart’s commander, which read in part: “On the morning of Sunday 21st December 41, we were attacking a bungalow which was in the possession of the enemy. After a little, I got knocked out by a couple of bullets and a bit later pulled myself together and began to crawl away. As I did so, I became aware that SPO Young was lying alongside me seriously wounded. He was in a drowsy state from loss of blood but managed to recognise me and then, with the most marvelous unselfishness, he said ‘I've got some rum and water in my bottle sir, wouldn't you like to take a swig?’”

22 Greta Dickens (nee Charles, civilian internee) son-in-law got in touch. Greta is the daughter of V.458 Robert Harper George Charles HKVDC and was interned in Stanley together with her sister Mavis. Their father was an Australian living in HK and the girls where born here.

21 Joan Harrison was kind enough to follow up on a conversation (via email) that we had about Ralph Shrigley. Shrigley was taken out of Argyle Street twice for interrogation, and didn’t return the second time. Whether he was killed outright, or killed himself to prevent further interrogation, doesn’t seem certain. His family have confirmed that one of his belongings was associated with the failed Shamshuipo tunnel escape, and the interrogations began after that (which is very much how Lloyd died, after the Water Torture). Joan also included two small pictures of Shrigley and wife.

20 Elizabeth Ride came to dinner. Hopefully I will be able to spend some time with her at HKU library at the end of the week, as I will be in Tokyo from tomorrow till Thursday 24^th.

18 Ian McNay was kind enough to send me a copy of the Argyle Street Christmas Day menu for 1942, which bears - on another page - his father’s signature together with those of three others (Allan, Fogg, and Selway).

13 Kenneth Henry Capindale’s (RASC) niece got in touch.

13 Michael Martin, grandson of artist/policeman A.J. Savitsky, sent one of his grandfather’s superb sketches to the Stanley group. Apparently Savitsky produced some 200 of these, and the family – naturally – would be very interested if anyone has copies of others.

13 Reginaldo Cesario Rocha Baptista’s (HKVDC) nephew got in touch, pointing out that Baptista and others – such as Alberto Gustavo Xavier – are missing from the lists on my site. This is true, as my lists were originally based on the POW lists from Shamshuipo, and the above two gentlemen escaped from that establishment (along with about 100 others) before things had settled down and anyone thought about compiling lists. I have these names, and will add them to my site as time allows.

13 Alfred ‘Nobby’ Bright’s (Middlesex, Lisbon Maru) grandson got in touch, with the rather amazing news that Nobby himself is still with us. Every time I think that I know of all the survivors, someone proves me wrong. Long may that continue!

11 Leslie Barker’s (RN, Christmas MTB escape) grandson got in touch, letting me know that he will be visiting HK next month and hope’s to retrace the party’s footsteps. He will be maintaining a blog: www.russinchina.blogspot.com

10 Today I was happy to receive a nice letter from Grant Shepherd, one of the Lisbon Maru survivors who was kind enough to help me write that book.

9 Tad Hosoi let me know that he and a friend, both from Kyoto, have recently started a project to translate Frank Evans’ ‘Roll Call at Oeyama’ (1985, Gomer Press in Wales) into Japanese.

9 Over the years, Michael Hurst and I have exchanged a number of emails trying to nail down exactly where each of those buried in Saiwan actually perished. There are remains there from Taiwan, the Philippines, and of course Hong Kong, but also a number of others yet to be identified. Michael pointed out this small group of immediate post-war fatalities that neither of us can yet explain (although the dates and the single unit, rather imply that this was an accident of some sort):

6 Colin McEwan’s (Z Force) son-in-law got in touch.

6 Agnes (Nancy) Grady’s and Herbert ‘Jack’ Vanthall’s (civilians at Stanley) son got in contact.

4 Ian McNay shared a large number of photos he received from Andy Wanstall’s very interesting collection.

4 My older son and I today met with Fuyuko Nishisato of the POW Research Network, Japan, and what a nice lady she turned out to be. I was able to supply her with something they valued – a list of the Yokohama graves belonging to the Lisbon Maru survivors. As is well known, the shock and exposure – to disease as well as the elements – led to the survivors dying from the moment they were rescued. 200 or so died in Japan – the vast majority in the first couple of months after the sinking.

4 TK in Canada reckons that the Shelter photo referred to last month is indeed a pre-war construction. He provided a photo of Japanese troops marching past a similar one, and notes of it: “The location of this shelter is in the intersections between Nullah Road, Prince Edward Road West and Tung Choi St. of Mongkok. I could still see that Mobile Gas Station in the 80's. It was a plot of land which was triangular in shape.”

2 Had a very interesting afternoon discussing practical oral history practices with a group of history students from Hong Kong University. While discussing the various – and different – ways that primary and secondary sources have to be ‘contextualised’ in order to be correctly interpreted, I began to realise what a lot I’ve learned over the years. I should write a book about it!

March Images
Jeffery letter (courtesy Angela Kersey), Cecil Freeman, Relics from Violet Hill
Bennet’s Hill relics (courtesy Keith Hemshall), Trevor Roberts and friends (courtesy Robbo), Freeman's grave (author)
Japanese sword (courtesy Angela Kersey), Deloughery letter (courtesy Yves Chevarie), George Allan (courtesy Tim McGinnis)

March News

The discovery about Anderson (see below) set me to wondering which POW made the biggest mark on society post-war? Anderson became chairman of NCR, Clifford Matthews (HKVDC) came up with the theory that life on earth started with organic compounds from space; Clague, Pearce, Bevan Field and Ronnie Holmes all came home to stellar careers in Hong Kong; William Allister became a superb artist, John Harris a famous architect; Albert Rodrigues, Lindsay Ride, and Michael Kadoorie (a baby in Stanley), were all knighted. And yet, for those too young to have had a pre-war career, and too old when they left the camps, doing ‘normal’ thinks like settling down, getting married, holding down a job, and having kids were in themselves success enough.

31 Thomas McConnell’s (RA) grandson got in touch. He mentions that family lore states that Mr McConnell was beheaded in Japan, though camp records claim he died of cardiac beri-beru.

28 The Batgung bloggers in Hong Kong would like to know where this photo of an air- raid shelter was taken: http://www.batgung.com/life-in-hong-kongs-ARP-tunnels#comment-4116. Am I the only person who doesn’t think this is likely to be a 1941 photo?

27 Mike Martin is wondering if anyone has copies of his grandfather’s (A.J. Savitsky) drawings done in Stanley? He reckons there were 200 in total – including one of the camp’s commandant – and they would like to collect as many together as possible.

27 Joyce Van Langenberg sent me a very interesting piece she wrote about Alex Alves, and his experiences at the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank after the surrender, and in Macau later.

26 Robert Stock’s (HKRNVR) son got in touch, mentioning that he has a copy of Prisoner’s Pie. He says: “[My father] made a contribution to the book - the drawings are just originals in pencil which must have been redrawn for each of the 18 copies (14 to each of the huts and 4 for sale at 5 yen per copy). It runs to 54 pages.”

26 I am glad to be back in touch with Ron Bridge, who is now also studying the Hong Kong POWs (having previously spent a great deal of effort on perfecting the list of those interned in Stanley).

24 Elvina Buckland’s (Civilian) cousin got in touch.

24 Andrew Chu pointed out that the Breakthrough Films documentary ‘Hour of Darkness’ about the Canadians in Hong Kong – which I helped with extensively many years ago – is now on YouTube at http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=HZukA-TBPWA.  I get a thanks at the end, but don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

22 Fellow researcher Rob Weir is trying to pinpoint the exact location of the Stanley Gap and Tytam Hill HKSRA 3.7 inch howitzer positions. As far as I know, the Stanley Gap position was roughly where Parkview is today. Does anyone know where the Tytam Hill position was?

19 The American Consulate in Hong Kong today contacted me asking if I could tell them anything about Felix Russell Engdahl, a US Consul who passed away in Stanley Camp in early 1942. Unfortunately I couldn’t give them much help.

18 Heard the sad news today that Ian Forsyth, who I believe was the last surviving officer of 2/14^th Punjabis, had passed away at the end of last year after a short battle with cancer.

17 Local researcher Stephen Sin sent me this message and links. Although the majority of the architecture here is post war, there are some interesting pre-war details. Nice to see the RAF remembered! “My name is Stephen Sin living in Kowloon City. Recently I've been visiting Kwun Tong area & discovered some of the old RAF sites which are still here today at 2008.  I hope the pictures taken can be added to your website & tell people of these great history of RAF at Hong Kong. RAF HQ at Kwun Tong:  http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/hkoutlander/article?mid=4736

RAF HQ at Kai Tak :  http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/hkoutlander/article?mid=9160

RAF airfield at Shek Kong: 

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/hkoutlander/article?mid=1375”

14 Today we had to cancel the third in the series of Hong Kong Club historical walks (which would have covered Stanley and the end of the fighting) as we had all forgotten this was the Rugby 7s weekend! As this is arguably the highlight of Hong Kong’s modern social calendar, we only had one registrant. The walk will be postponed.

13 Cathy Thomas in the US, whose father was an employee of Standard Oil and was interned in Stanley, has been kind enough to let me know that some Standard Oil employees who I list on this site as British were actually American. I will make the changes when time allows.

13 Had time today to look at a book that Annemarie gave me yesterday. It is called ‘Corporate Crisis: NCR and the Computer Revolution’ Publisher: William Anderson, Landfall Press, Incorporated (January 1991). It turns out that HKVDC POW William Anderson rose up to become chairman of NCR, leading them through their difficult merger with AT&T. The book has a full and interesting chapter about his experiences as a POW  in Hong Kong and Japan.

12 Had lunch with South China Morning Post journalist Annemarie Evans. We discussed the infamous Water Torture (equally infamously renamed ‘waterboarding’ by the CIA so that they could continue to inflict it), and the various Hong Kong POWs it was used on. Bird described it as not the most painful, but certainly the most effective, torture in the Kempetai’s repertoire. Walking home that night, it occurred to me that somewhere I had heard of a Japanese guard in Hong Kong being executed post-war for killing one of the POWs. Used Google to search the web for it when I got home – and got the one and only hit on my own site! (embarrassing how often that happens). Oddly enough, he was found guilty of killing Lloyd, and by pure chance Lloyd was one of those whose graves I had photographed on Sunday.

11 James Smith’s (Middlesex, Lisbon Maru) son-in-law got in touch. Now we are trying to work our who this was, as no one of this exact name appears in the Shamshuipo records! This happens sometimes, as people change their names, or enlist under an assumed name, or the records are just plain wrong.

9 Went to Stanley to photograph Cecil Freeman’s grave for a medal collector. While there, as my memory card wasn’t full, I took the time to shoot the other ten or so gravestones in that row.

7 Trevor Roberts’ (RAMC) nephew posted a question on the Fepow-Community list. He also posted a very good photo of Roberts with E Stanley, J James, B Gosney and E Wordley. More sadly, he notes that Roberts: “died 07 Dec 1948 [at] Peel Hall Hospital, Little Hutton Wosley of TB”.

5 Reginald Jeffery’s (RAOC) daughter got in touch, sending many very interesting photographs, including several of a Japanese officer’s sword that her father ‘liberated’ at war’s end.

5 Met the publisher of ‘We Shall Suffer There’ today to discuss illustrations. This is the last item to square away, before they start work preparing the ms for publication.

5 Today I discovered the first serious error in ‘Not the Slightest Chance’. The daughter of William Young, Stoker Petty Officer of HMS Redstart, who was killed in Hong Kong Dec 24th 1941, got in touch, asking for details of her father. Unfortunately, however, he is not mentioned in the book as another P.O. Young from Redstart was killed that day, and I had previously thought they were one and the same. Not so, unfortunately. So why were two Petty Officers called Young, both from the same ship, killed that day? Now I have to do some research…

4 Thomas Henry Gorman’s (RNYP, Lisbon Maru) niece got in touch.

4 Robert Maximo da Silva’s (HKVDC) son got in touch (he is also the nephew of Robert’s younger brother, Ricardo Domingo Silva).

3  Another friend sent a photo of a number of finds from Mount Bennet, including what looks like the inside of a type 88 fuse from a Japanese type 89 mortar.

1 A friend sent me a photo of a remarkable set of relics found on Violet Hill. In what was clearly the wreck of a Japanese Type 92 machine-gun position, he had retrieved a vast number of 7.7mm cartridges, Nambu ammunition, .303 bullets fired in return, and many other items – including a Rajput shoulder flash (illustrated). Quite what the latter was doing there is open to question, but it was more likely a souvenir picked up by the Japanese in North Point than evidence of a Rajput attack on Violet Hill.

February News

This month I took the opportunity of displaying a couple of images from my archives. I will try and do this every month so that they don't just sit on my disk gathering virtual dust.

25 – William (Alex) Prendergast’s (Winnipeg Grenadiers) son got in touch.

25 – A researcher into the Shrigley family was kind enough to note that post war, Ralph Shrigley’s wife returned to settle in Kilmarnock, Ayreshire, Scotland, and that as at 1995 her son was still living in Kilmarnock. I will see if I can track him down.

23 – Today I took around twenty walkers from the Hong Kong Club on a long walk from Wong Nai Chung Gap, via Tai Tam, Mount Butler, and Quarry Bay, to the site of the old North Point POW Camp. The idea was to recreate the route that the Winnipeg Grenadiers and Hong Kong Volunteers took, after being captured in the Gap on December 19^th and held in the ‘black hole’ overnight. It was a long walk, and I think all of us felt that had we been wounded – as many of those men were at the time – we would have struggled. We bumped into David Green from After The Battle magazine on the way.

22 – Moses McElroy’s (RN, HMS Thracian, Lisbon Maru) son got in touch.

20 - Laureat Bacon’s (Royal Rifles) grandson got in touch.

19 – Kenneth Davidson’s (Royal Engineers) daughter got in touch.

17 – Had a very interesting walk with a couple of friends, from Wong Nai Chung Gap to Repulse Bay, along the side of Violet Hill. In the area looking down towards Deep Water Bay, a few broken .303 bullets turned up. Presumably they were fired at approaching Japanese troops from the Bay. One .45 bullet was also found, and perhaps came from one of the RASC or RAOC officers who were escaping from The Ridge. Later, we found many Japanese 7.7mm cartridges from positions where they were clearly firing down at the old Repulse Bay Hotel. Less predictably, a cache of live .45 rounds turned up there as well (illustrated). Most probably these were dropped by D Company Royal Rifles during their advance against Japanese positions on Violet Hill and Middle Spur.

17 - Roderick Egal’s (HKVDC) granddaughters got in touch. Egal was one of about six Free French who fought with the Volunteers in Hong Kong, and they would like to know if anyone remembers him. He continued in Hong Kong after the war, in the wine trade.

16 – Saw the Lisbon Maru documentary. Now I know why I wasn’t consulted on it! It consisted of pre-recorded interviews with Dennis Morley and Charles Jordan, together with some shots of HKUAA’s last attempt to find the wreck. Hopefully they will succeed next time.

14 – Heard today that Harold Burbidge of the Royal Engineers and Lisbon Maru, had died just short of his ninetieth birthday. Great shame.

13 – Duncan Campbell’s (HKDDC) family got in touch. Campbell was 2ic of the Corps, and his wife Alice was interned in Stanley.

13 - The Hong Kong Standard had an article about an upcoming documentary about the Lisbon Maru. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=61461&sid=17563134&con_type=1

13 – William Bradley’s (Royal Rifles) son got in touch.

12 – Joshua Pollock MBE’s (Royal Navy, Lisbon Maru) grandson got in touch. Pollock was in charge of the forward hold.

11 – Heard about a new book from the FEPOW group. I have not read it, but it may well be of interest: Author Dr Mark Felton says: “the completed story of the brutal captivity of British, Australian and Canadian senior officers is now complete and will be published in the UK by Pen & Sword Military on 22 May. It is titled The Coolie Generals: Britain's Far Eastern Military Leaders in Japanese Captivity.”

10 - Sue Ebury got in touch looking for Ian Quinn. Ian – if you still read this blog, please get in touch!

10 - Barbara Anslow sent a couple of photos of Stanley Camp. If anyone can download these and put them on the Stanley Camp list site, she would appreciate it.

8 – Dr Dean and Cathy Smith’s (civilian internees) niece got in touch. She notes: “They acted as the medical team in Stanley camp, though my uncle was shot in the arm upon capture, he was not allowed to receive treatment, so he sadly never operated again, his arm slowly withered. They survived the imprisonment, but it took ages for them to be rehabilitated after liberation. He went on to do research after the war and lived in Khartoum, became the Dean of Tropical Medicine at the university in Khartoum and he discovered the cure for beriberi, he was awarded the CBE for his work. My aunt worked with him and looked after him. He died in 1960 of wounds from the bullet left in his arm. Some years later my aunt, encouraged by friends from the camp, wrote a small book for the family to read about their time in Stanley camp, it was not published, but makes fascinating reading, it is called “Enough Ginger” and refers to the days she and other nurses were allowed to go outside the camp gates to gather wild ginger plants which they used to take back to the camp to use as medicine as supplies were pitiful.”

7 – Researcher Rob Weir notes: “Went to Tai Tam yesterday, and on a whim went to the area around the Tai Tam Fork 3.7’ How Bat. To my surprise, I found a complex of trenches and dug-in shelters behind the Bat. shelters. Thick growth in the area made life hard, but it does not appear to be prepared British, so I am left believing it is probably Japanese.” This is not an area I have looked at in any depth, but clearly it is worthy of further investigation.

6 – I have agreed to give a talk at the Conjoint Meeting of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and The Hong Kong College of Surgeons, to be held in Hong Kong in mid-May. While being far from an expert on medical matters, a study of the attempts to treat the wounded and sick with so little to fall back on (in terms of drugs and equipment) will hopefully be of interest.

6 - L.G. D’Almada Remedios’ (HKVDC) nephew got in touch. He notes that Mr. Remedios passed away 1999 in Seattle, WA, USA.

6 – I heard from Sir Michael Kadoorie that: “the following has turned up which may be of interest to you: a small mallet, with silver engraving. This reads: ‘This mallet commemorates the launching, by Mrs. L. Kadoorie, of the SS Empire Dragon for the British Ministry of Shipping at Kowloon Docks, Hong Kong, 6th December 1941’.” He notes that: “the Empire Dragon must have been launched simply as a hull as it was scuttled by the British in 1941 before the surrender of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941. According to Mitchell & Sawyer, the Empire Dragon was salvaged by the Japanese and completed by them in 1941 and reported to have been named the Gyoko Maru. This ship was sunk in November 1944 by a submarine, the S.S. Spadefish.”

5 - Herbert Slaytor’s (Royal Scots, Lisbon Maru) daughter got in touch. Other members of his family had been in touch previously, and I had already sent him a copy of the Lisbon Maru book.

2 – Tom Dempster sent a letter with further details of his father’s career, including documentation of the racial prejudice in those days – specifically the different treatment handed out to Naval Yard Police who had married Europeans, versus those who had made ‘non-European liaisons’ (sic).

1 – Meg Parkes was kind enough to mention a book by Bill Reams, a Stanley Internee, I Was amazed to discover that there was a book (‘Too Hot For Comfort’) by an internee – published in 1988 – which I was unaware of, but this turned out to be the case. I ordered a copy on this new-fangled Interweb, and will read it when it arrives.

January Images

Evacuation letter (courtesy Michael Martin), Renville Informer (courtesy Ken Skelton), Geoffrey Marston's medals (courtesy Ryan Marston)

Ile De France jest (courtesy Simon Harman), Site of Ma Tau Chung Camp (author), PB20 damage (courtesy Tan)

Henry Dempster's records (Gordon Dempster), CICR letter (courtesy Len Goodwin), Site of Argyle Street Camp (author)

January News

For me, the biggest news of the month was the delivery of the final manuscript of We Will Suffer There to Hong Kong University Press. Later this month we’ll sort out the photos for it, and hopefully it will see the light of day in the autumn.

30 Geoffrey C Marston’s (Royal Rifles of Canada) grandson got in touch, sending photos of the old boy’s medals as they are displayed at their home.

30 Richard Hide notes that his Hong Kong escape site is moving to: http://www.mwadui.com/HongKong/index_hk.htm

29 George Allan’s (Royal Scots / RAMC) nephew-in-law got in touch.

29 This evening we had a very enjoyable visit from three people with a family connection to the Lisbon Maru. The grandfather of one had lost his life on the vessel, and – from an old photo I had – it was quite a shock to see that she had exactly the same eyes as her Royal Scots ancestor.

28 Richard Hide was kind enough to send me a bunch of letters from David MacDougall (who – like Richard’s father - was on the famous Chan Chak, Dec 25 1941, escape party).

26 Boris Kaploon’s (HKVDC) granddaughter got in touch.

26 Returned from a business trip to find a diary from HKVDC Malcolm Swan waiting for me (thanks to Jamie O’Donnell). This is the most complete Narumi/Toyama diary I have seen.

25 Mike Watson has been kind enough to send comments on my list of the HK Police as at Dec 1941. I will incorporate these into the list on this site as soon as possible.

24 Heard from Jim Hart’s (RASC) son. He notes that his father (just returned from a trip to Australia) will be 92 on the 26^th, and is planning his holidays from now until 2013.

23 David McLellan’s (HKVDC) son got in touch. McLellan taught at KGV, and his son is also the nephew of Barney Morahan.

22 Sent the final manuscript of We Shall Suffer There to HKUP, and received the pleasing reply that they are considering printing a third edition of Not The Slightest Chance.

21 Glen Swemmer sent me a set of good photos of the ‘kamikaze boat’ caves on Lamma, which he had recently taken (illustrated). Unfortunately I know very little about  these, having not yet studied the Japanese military occupation in any great depth.

21 TK in Canada sent me two very interesting articles by a Mr C. L. Schafer (an American) about how he smuggled the last day transaction records of HK Bank (23-12-1941) to New York in 1942. These were especially interesting, as they detailed some of Selwyn-Clarke’s drivers who helped him in the early months after the surrender, and were never interned.

19 Took the Hong Kong Club walkers for a tour of the Shing Mun Redoubt. About 30 people turned out, and – as last year – we finished up at the Kowloon Clock Tower to discuss the final retreat to the Island. This is the first of three sequential walks this year, the second covering Wong Nai Chung Gap, and the final covering Stanley.

17 Gordon Dempster sent me a copy of his father’s service records. These are very interesting, primarily because he was with the Dockyard Police both before and after the war, finally retiring in 1966 (he had originally served in the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1929 to 1937).

16 Helen Chinske sent me the best sketch I have yet seen of Oeyama camp.

15 Tan sent me some very interesting photos he has recently taken of PB20 and the damage to its Lyon Light. To me, this looks like damage from a small calibre armour-piercing shell (similar to the British 2 pounder of the time).

15 Carrie Lam from the HK Government was one of many people attending the Little Hong Kong (Crown Wine Cellar) UNESCO award ceremony.

14 Major Mayer (Hong Kong Chinese Regiment) son got in touch. This was very exciting, as this unit is extremely under-documented. He was kind enough to send me the short, but extremely valuable, war diary of the unit.

14 Dave Deptford sent a very interesting obit of David Lam. I wasn’t surprised to see that it was written by David Morgan.

14 Simon Harman sent me an interesting set of photos from his late father’s (Alan Harman, RA) collection.

13 I was contacted by a Canadian historian in Ottawa, Ontario, the author of The Battle of the St. Lawrence: The Second World War in Canada (Harper/Collins 2004) and Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada, April 1915 (Harper/Collins 2007). He is presently working on a book on the Canadians at Hong Kong and their experiences in the Japanese POW camps. 

10 Ronald (Roy) Rooker’s (Middlesex, Lisbon Maru) nephew got in touch.

9 I needed to quote from Alderson's history of RAF Kai Tak, but discovered that I had lost my copy. Luckily the Hong Kong Historic Aircraft Association were kind enough to come to my rescue.

8 Ken Skelton was kind enough to send me a copy of ‘The Renville Informer’. It seems that most, if not all, of the ships involved in the 1945 liberation of the POWs published simple news sheets for their guests.

8 Stanley George Poole’s (HKVDC) grandson got in touch.

8 Jack Newsome’s (Royal Scots) brother got in contact. Jack was lost in the St Albert’s Convent area, and his family believe he was in a vehicle that was destroyed.

8 I have been struggling to learn more about the death of Lt Shrigley, HKVDC. Apparently he buried the Regiment’s colours as the Japanese advanced, and died as a POW before telling anyone where they were. They were not discovered until the 1970s when the US Consulate’s foundations were dug on Garden Road.

5 Through the new Stanley discussion group, I was ‘chatting’ with Barbara Anslow and she reminded us of her novel, “The Young Colonials, a fictional storyline with historical background, covering family life in Hong Kong pre-1941, the battle for HK, and Stanley Camp.”  I must get hold of a copy (Barbara and family were of course interned in Stanley; her mother’s memoirs of the experience being published as ‘It Was Like This’).

4 Michael Martin posted two interesting letters, to the Stanley discussion group, dated 1940, ordering his grandmother, father (then a small boy) and uncle to leave Hong Kong as they were not considered vital to the Colony’s defence. Many such letters must have been sent, but these are the first I have seen. Martin also posted several very good sketches and paintings done by his grandfather (A J Savitsky) in Stanley.

3 Len Goodwin sent me two very interesting certificates, related to internment of family members in Hong Kong, from the Central Tracing Agency of the Red Cross. Personally I find it fascinating – though in many ways depressing – that this excellent organisation is still providing information (and trying to help reunite family members, its original raison d’etre) after all these years.

2 Cecil Chapman’s (RAF) nephew got in touch.

1 Lydia Armour’s (civilian) family got in touch, mentioning that they had a diary of her wartime experiences.

1 Started the year with a walk Kowloon side. I started at the top of Kowloon Tong, looking at the few pre-war buildings left, and then went down Waterloo Road to Prince Edward Road. From there, to the sites of the Argyle Street and Ma Tau Chung POW camps for the first time in years. I was interested to see if anything at all was now left from those times. The answer: no. Everything has finally gone. There are no memorials, and nothing visible at all to tell what happened there.

December News

The biggest event of the month, for me, was receiving nearly 1,000 pages of diaries from the family of Bevan Field, the commander of 9 Platoon of 3 Coy HKVDC. While it will take some time to work through the whole thing, there is clearly a great deal of useful detail here.

29 Today I walked from PB1 at Jardine’s Lookout, along the route taken by those captured there on December 19^th, after their night in the wooden mess hall which was hit by a mortar bomb on the morning of December 20^th. Mainly downhill until Tai Tam Reservoir and Gauge Basin, the uphill stretch to the col between Mount Butler and Mount Parker must have been all but impossible for some of the wounded men. In good conditions, for a fit person at full speed, the walk through to the site of the old North Point Camp is a full 90 minutes. At North Point today, there is nothing left of the camp. Should we push for some sort of memorial?

28 Stanley veteran (though a child at the time) Peter Langston got in touch, sending some extracts from his mother’s (Dorothy Langston) diary.

27 Tan sent photos of PB313 and 314 on Golden Hill, showing interior battle damage that looks like it was made by grenade shrapnel.

25 Tom Middleton Junior, whose father was on HMS Tern, emailed to let me know that his father – one of the ‘hard men’ on the first draft to Japan and now aged 86 – is still doing fine.

23 I was very pleased to receive an email from Fran and Gar Kvalheim wishing me a Happy Christmas. Gar was of course on the USS Grouper when she encountered the Lisbon Maru all those years ago.

22 Barbara Anslow mentions that she has been contacted by John Bremner, one of fifty people born in Stanley Camp.

18 Drummond Hunter’s (Royal Scots) grandson got in touch. I spoke to and corresponded with Drummond until his death a few years ago, and had a great deal of respect for him.

18 Michael Martin sent the Stanley Camp group two Red Cross letters relating to the internment of his grandfather at Stanley.

18 A Japanese friend in Hong Kong was kind enough to translate the newspaper article about Dennis Morley’s trip to Japan: “13/Oct/2007: Mr. Dennis Morley (87), who was a British soldier who was captured as a prisoner by the Japanese army in Hong Kong during the Second World War, visited the site of the ‘Osaka Prison Kobe Branch’ where he was held. His visit was planned by a British private group ‘Agave’, who work for reconciliation between ex-prisoners and the Japanese. Visiting after an interval of 62 years, Dennis stated:  ‘I no longer have fear and anger. We should look toward future, not the past.’ The prison was called ‘Kobe House’ by the prisoners. It used to be in an old district in Ito-cho Chuo-ku near Kobe port and is now a parking area. There are no remnants of the prison that can be seen today.  Dennis became a prisoner in December 1941 and was transferred to Kobe House in October of the next year. He was called by a number, ‘Hyakunijyuichi(121)’, and was a porter who carried loads such as rice and beans at the port for twelve hours every day. The holiday was one day a month. ‘We weren’t treated as humans, but really as pack-animals’, Dennis said. On the morning of October 13^th, he arrived in the area and mentioned that,  ‘I remember that we were staged for loading on this street’. He stated that in the past he hadn’t really been able to speak of his experience as a captive, even to his family. However, having returned, he felt a sense of calm and believes: ‘From this point onward, I believe I will even be able to speak to my Grandchildren about this.’ A representative of Agave, Keiko Homes (59) who lives in England has planned this kind of trip twenty times since 1992. According to the ‘Society of  investigation of  Chinese and Korean forced labour at Kobe Port during World War Two’ , Kobe House was opened in September 1942 and was destroyed in a large American bombing raid in June 1945. Records indicate that 400 to 500 Australian and British prisoners were interred in the prison at various points during the war.” I have also added a photo of Dennis with family and friend at the site of Kobe House today. (Illustrated)

17 Marcel Van Damme’s (Winnipeg Grenadiers) daughter got in touch.

17 Andrew Suddaby was in Hong Kong for a reunion with service pals, and took time out to visit and photograph ‘the other’ pillbox in Wong Nai Chung Gap (I sometimes refer to this as PB3, but I don’t know if that is strictly correct).

14 Vince Lopata sent this extract from Trist’s report: “Here Captain Philip was met by Major Mayer and given the platoon positions. No 16 covered Golden Hill. No 17 Castle Peak Road and No 18 in depth. Captain Philip established Company Headquarters at ***ock’s House where there was phone communication to Mainland Command.” His question is: what was the full name of that house? It rings a bell, but I can’t get it.

13 Bevan Field’s (HKVDC) grandson got in touch, and was kind enough to send me a copy of his grandfather’s (and Evan Stewart’s) diaries. There must be 1,000 hand-written pages in all, and there is a fund of new detail. Among many other things, I have learned that poor Jimmy Mogra was wounded in the mortar attack on ‘the black hole’ at Wong Nai Chung Gap, and thus presumably collapsed on the march to North Point, and from there was picked up by the Japanese and sent to hospital.

12 Bill Sharp sent photos of the presentation of Gordon Fairclough’s book to the manager of the Hong Kong Club, for the Club’s library.

11 Phillip Bruce mentioned that he has set up a new blog about Central Police Station and Victoria prison: centralpolicestationhongkong.blogspot.com

10 Geoff Emerson says: “St Paul’s College would like to identify teachers or students who were in the fighting.  Preston Wong Shiu Pun is the only one I know of by name.” Can anyone help?

9 Bruce Rolph and Tan have been copying me on a very interesting correspondence about the Japanese pill boxes at Luk Keng.

2 Visited Sai Wan Cemetery today with my two sons for the annual Canadian Memorial Service. A very good turnout as always, but this time – probably for the first time - without a single veteran of the Hong Kong fighting being present (though long-time Hong Kong resident Dan Waters, who fought in the desert, was in attendance).

2 Ron Taylor (HK) sent me a drawing from L.A. Gibson’s (HKVDC) papers. It appears to be signed ‘Jaffers’. Nick Jaffer, I wonder?