The final draft of Prisoners of War leaves Hong Kong to labour in Japan. The Naura Maru sails with 220 men. They will arrive, after 15 days enduring cramped, filthy and noisome conditions in the hold, to be hosed down with icy water in spite of the cold weather.
Source:
Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, Kindle Edition, Location 2312 ff.
Ballet “Temujin” ((for details see 26th))
((Following text not dated:))
Alert about 4 p.m. one day. High flyers but nothing happened. Reportedly man near Dockyard ran on signal and was shot. Must not run.
Overcast, drizzly.
1Pkt.Cigs issued.
No lorry.
Holiday for Emp. of Jap. birthday.
With Steve pm.
M to concert.
(Food 10mins)
Allied forces landed in Sumatra & Malaya?
OBJECTIVE: Fighter sweep and reconnaissance mission over Canton
RESULTS: No contact with enemy aircraft and poor visibility prevents observation of the Canton airfields
TIME OVER TARGET: ~Noon
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Eight P-40s from the 74th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Colonel Brightweiser; Major Barry Melloan; Lt. Thomas Aston; Lt. Duffy; 1st Lt. Kenneth Latourelle; Lt. Thomas P. Bennett; Lt. Robert Gibeault; Lt. Balyard
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
SOURCES: Original mission report 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).