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Tom Hutchinson's War Diary - Page 48

Notes:

14/8/44 - Newspaper  9.-
              - Lim gave 6 bots each Tomato + Pineapple
16/8/44 - Collected TT ((Telegraphic Transfer)) from Fred YSBk ((Yokohama Specie Bank)) ¥410
              - Bot 18 Cakes    10.80
              - Girlie started work with Dr. Lum
19/8/44 - Mr Lim gave ¥500.-
23/8/44 - 2 Haircuts + Massage    2.50

Supporting information:

Death of Thomas Pritchard

Before being sent to Stanley he was held in the Mee Chow Hotel.

Source:

http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.ht…

Note: I can find no record for Mr. Pritchard in the CWGC online lists.

Death  Commander T. Pritchard R.D., R.N.R. (66) Canton, Macao Steamboat Co.

((Following text not dated:))

Kai hong expensive. Decide tong rooster. Hens laying only one egg alternate day.....Next door Japs hurriedly depart. New ones don't stay long.....Papers keep telling us goods arriving but prices ever up. End month prices rise sharply, rumours three day kai yim, but doesn't materialize.....People say if picked up as destitute don't speak Chinese. Can't understand you let you go.

1 plane raid in N. to North of here at 1am. The plane then flew S. and carried out a patrol of some sort.

Very warm night, hard to get to sleep. Overcast & showery am. Improved pm.  W. East, cooler.

Cholera inoculation received.

Lorry arrived 3.30pm with sprats, milk, enormous chunks of firewood & newspapers.

Scotland now being bombed with V1s. US troops make advances in Normandy & Brittany. All other fronts make no progress. Japs capture Hengyang (9th).

In town prices increase. Rice Y9.20, Pork 60.50 & Beef 57Y.

With Steve pm. Talked about Free Masonry & its effect on private lives. ((Jones would go on to become a Freemason in Hong Kong after the war.))

Black-out cancelled.

Raid on N.Ts (Taipo?) at 9.15pm. About 10 bombs dropped.

OBJECTIVE: Fly nocturnal sea sweep mission to detect and sink Japanese ships in the South China Sea.

RESULTS: Aircraft commander aborts sea sweep when radar unit fails.  He attempts to bomb the secondary target, the Kowloon docks, but the bombardier fumbles the bomb run.  Rain and fully alerted antiaircraft defenses preclude another bomb run.  Clouds and rain prevent bomb run on Canton targets as well.  Aircraft returns to base with a full bomb load.

TIME OVER TARGET: Unknown, but presumably after nightfall

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major Killam

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).