Those members of the Maryknoll Order who had turned down the American repatriation in the hope of eventually being allowed to go to their mission stations in China are allowed out of Stanley:
What a day! We are to be released from our confinement and go back to civilized life! We toted our baggage in the morning down to the American Club Block A-4, and there at 10:00 a.m. it was examined, not too minutely, by the gendarmes. Nothing was confiscated, however. At about eleven o'clock the truck which brings the food out to the Camp backed up and the first group, consisting of Fathers Toomey, Troesch, Downs, Keelan, Siebert, Walter and Knotek, Brother Thaddeus and Sisters ((Mary)) Dorothy ((Walsh)) and Henrietta Marie ((Cunningham)), got in. At the Depot were many of our friends to see us off and to wish us well. At 2:30 in the afternoon the second group, consisting of Fathers Tackney, Madison, Moore, McKeirnan, Gaiero and O'Connell, and most of our baggage, left.
Father Donald Hessler and Father Bernard Meyer stay behind. With the help of the Canadian Father Murphy and two Maryknoll Sisters, Mary Christella and Mary Eucharista, they will minister to the Catholics left in Stanley. The Sisters, who also run the library, will leave sometime before January 1943.
Also leaving today is Australian Doris Cuthberston, private secretary to Jardine Mattheson managing director J. J. Paterson. She's been 'guaranteed out' by Raoul de Sercey, a friend of Mr. Paterson's.
This is the last time anyone will be allowed to leave camp on the 'guaranteeing out' system whereby people could return to Hong Kong if they had a neutral sponsor who would promise they'd be supported there.
Usually a promise has also to be made not to work against Japanese interests but in this case it's not exacted. It wouldn't have mattered: Miss Cuthbertson is coming out for a reason, and she immediately throws herself into a courageous programme of relief for Jardine Mattheson employees in Stanley and the POW camps. Mr. de Sercey escapes from Hong Kong in April 1944, but she seems to have managed to carry on her humanitarian work until the end of the war, surviving at least three waves of Kempeitai terror.
Sources:
Maryknoll Diary, September 12, 1942
Hessler etc.: Cindy Yik-yi Chu, The Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 2004, 58
Ride Papers, Statement of Raoul de Sercey, June 2, 1944 (kindly supplied by Elizabeth Ride)
Comments
Maryknoll Priests
Nine newly ordained priests of the Maryknoll Mission, Fathers Ralph H. Siebert, Michael R. Gaiero, A. Leonard Madison, Michael J. McKeirnan, John D. Moore, John P. Tackney, Michael H. O'Connell, Wenceslaus F. Knotek and Leo J. Walter had arrived in Hong Kong the day before the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour.
Seven other priests either stationed in Hong Kong or had arrived in the city from inland Maryknoll missions before the Japanese attack were Fathers John J. Toomey, John C. Troesch, William J. Downs, Francis X. Keelan, Bernard F. Meyer, Donald L. Hessler and Brother Thomas H. Revers (aka Thaddeus).
After the fall of Hong Kong, they were interned at Stanley Camp. A few of them were permitted to work "in town". In September 1942, the priests were released from confinement. Except for Fathers Meyer and Hessler who elected to stay at Stanley Camp, the remaining 14 priests moved to Bethanie (Sanatorium) in Pok Fu Lam.
From information provided by Father Ralph Siebert in a letter to his mother in March 1943, he mentioned that news of the official permission to leave Hong Kong for China was received on Christmas Eve 1942 when their status as "non-combatants" was accepted by the Japanese authorities.
Siebert's group of seven priests (Fathers Tackney, O'Connell. Knotek, Walter, Gaiero, Keelan and himself) left Hong Kong on 13 January 1943 and travelled by boat, train and bus to their destination. The seven priests safely reached the Maryknoll Mission in Kweilin (Guilin) on 2 February 1943.
The group of seven that had recently arrived would join the seven other priests that had already arrived in Kweilin from Hong Kong the preceding week.
Source
1. The Waterbury Democrat dated 4 February 1943. See here
2. Brooklyn Daily Eagle dated 5 February 1943. See here
3. The Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury dated 5 February 1943. See here
4. The St. Louis Review dated 12 February 1943. See here
5. The Akron Beacon Journal dated 6 March 1943. See here
6. Catholic News Service - Newsfeeds, 2 February 1943. See here (original version as received by cable)
Follow-up on the Maryknoll Priests after Release from Stanley
Father Toomey in a letter (date of letter not stated) sent from Hong Kong to Maryknoll, New York mentioned that the Fathers of the Maryknoll Mission (except for Fathers Meyer and Hessler) after their release from confinement at Stanley Camp had moved to Bethanie (Sanatorium) likely for recuperation from the effects of war.
Source: The Catholic News Archive, The St Louis Review dated 22 January 1943. See here
Maryknoll Priests - Pre-December 1941 Assignments
A departure ceremony was held on 14 September 1941 in Maryknoll, New York for 15 priests that were proceeding to China. Of the 15 priests, 9 of them in the months ahead would be interned at Stanley Camp.
Their assignments to China were as follow:
1. Kaying (Meizhou/Meixian)
Ralph H. Siebert, Michael R. Gaiero and A. Leonard Madison
2. Wuchow (Wuzhou)
Michael J. McKeirnan and John D. Moore
3. Kweilin (Guilin)
John P. Tackney, Michael H. O'Connell, Wenceslaus F. Knotek and Leo J. Walter
Source: Catholic News Archive, The St. Louis Review dated 12 September 1941 See here