Diary pages from this date

C. H. Goodwin (HK Police) died.

A typed Red Cross message dated 18th March 1943 arrived from Aunt Lily in Gillingham, Kent, stamped la Croix Rouge, Geneve, with a Japanese chop on it, saying

'Hope you and girl are well... Having lovely spring weather.  All well.  Love'.

((At some unrecorded time,  another, plain typed postcard dated 28.1.44 and stamped by British Censor arrived, saying:

'All well, Home and Rhodesia.  Hope you and girls are too.  Having mild winter, bulbs up, trees sprouting.  All send our love, Lilian.'

The reference to Rhodesia is re Aunt Bess and family, and Aunt Hilda and family, who lived there.))

Charles Henry Goodwin of the Hong Kong Police dies today, aged 44. He was one of a number of policemen who married their Chinese girlfriends in a mass ceremony at St. John's Cathedral on Boxing day 1941. His wife, formerly Kwong Yuet of Kowloon, was accepted into Rosary Hill Red Cross Home.

George Wright-Nooth's diary entry describing the kitchen system in 1944 mentions Goodwin:

Sergeants Goldie and Goodwin are the chief cooks for our quarters...Goldie is the better of the two. However, Goodwin always produces his meals on time.

Sources:

http://www.qaranc.co.uk/bmh_bowen_road_hong_kong.php

George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 128

Death – S–I. Charles Henry Goodwin (44), H.K.P.

B.O.

Overcast & showery all day.

Ground rice & chopped wood.

Some canteen gear arrived but no veg for tomorrow, sprats only.

No paper today. Chinese paper arrived & is in the course of translation.

With Steve pm.

Air-raid warning 9pm, for practice it seems.

Rocket release gear captured at Cherbourg. It is suggested by Stockholm report that Japs must retire west if Saipan is captured as their position strategically would be untenable. If such is the case, and the Japs do retire west, clear of the Phillipines & Formosa as suggested, then we can look forward to early release.

Much talk & conjecture about what we will do when release does come, how we will appreciate the small things of life, hot water, soap, clean clothing, a good bed & privacy, things that used to seem of no account. We will look back on these days with mixed feelings, some good, some bad. Food, accommodation & medical treatment will be remembered as bad, & the general life, books, lectures, concerts, talks & companionship as good. Things generally could be much worse.

I look forward to the time when my forced separation from my wife & baby is at an end & my sense of appreciation of the amenities of life is in full swing. Plain & plenty, cleanliness & comfort will = Happiness.