Everything tagged: Diary / Memoir

Here are some extracts of Father Biotteau’s diary. He was the procurator of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris based in Pokfulam, with a unique view on Mount Davis during the battle. His testimony is in French but still quite relevant for those who can read it and want more details about what happened.

Personal Account of the Japanese Invasion of Hong Kong by E.M. Guest.

Our home was on the Mainland, Kowloon, about 20 minutes by bus and 10/15 minutes by ferry from the Island of Hong Kong.

I have just finished reading a fascinating book called 'The Survivors' by Diana Fortescue about her parents Tim and Margery Fortescue, who with their baby Adrian were interned in Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong 1942-45.

The extracts from Paul's website are reproduced here with his permission. He writes:

Thanks to the Russian Revolution, a lot of Russians ended up like political shrapnel flung across the Far East. Hong Kong proved to be a great haven for many of them. Even during the Japanese Occupation, Russians were not interned because the Japanese avoided war with the Soviet Union; and all Russians, whatever their politics, were basically left alone.

Kindly provided by Elizabeth Ride from her collection.

You can read the full document, "Report of Miss M Matheson, the Manager of the Repulse Bay Hotel, upon events at the Hotel from the outbreak of hostilities on December 8th until December 24th 1941.", at: http://gwulo.com/comment/31201#comment-31201

We have brief notes about George Pio-Ulski and his wife Melitza, and a few of their documents from the Japanese occupation years.

These are courtesy of their daughter Nona. Please visit Nona's website for much more information about her family's history:

http://pio-ulski.com/

Thanks to Michael Parker for sending a copy of these memoirs, discovered while "rummaging through some old Cathay Lodge files at Zetland Hall" .

My war years. 1941 – 1945.
These memoirs were written in the year 1984.

The War Diary of Roland Henry John Brooks:

Introduction

Eric MacNider wrote this diary to record his time in Stanley. Each day is given one line of a notebook, so the entries tend to be brief.

He was very thorough at recording details of:

• Births, deaths, and marriages
• Entertainments put on by the internees, often with a cast list
• Sunday church services, listing the priest(s) taking the services that day, and the title of their sermon.

Abbreviations used in this diary