Mr A. L. Shields died; his wife had been repatriated with the Canadians.
Diary pages from this date
Death of Andrew Lusk Shields.
Shields was an Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council between 1938 and 1941 and a former President and Chief-Captain of the St Andrew's Society. Captured at the Repulse Bay Hotel, he was one of those who was allowed to go through Japanese lines on December 25, 1941. to try to persuade Maltby to surrender.
Source:
Death – A.L. Shields (62), Dir. Shewan, Tomes & mem, Ex & Leg Councils
Electric storm at night
“The Lilies of the Field” ((for details see 26th July))
It was around midnight when Goodwin reached the summit of the frontier road, then made his way down a spur towards China, heading to what he hoped would be his freedom.
His hopes were soon dashed however, when he ran into coils of barbed wire in the long grass that made progress impossible. There was nothing to do except to return to the road, and head back towards Shataokok. Half a mile down the road he found an entry to a deep gorge that carried rushing water, and he slipped and slithered down to find a secluded resting place.
He could not proceed until daylight, and as dawn approached he was pleased to enjoy a view of the pattern of diffused daylight in the eastern sky, giving rise to a series of colours in the sky that would have given inspiration to a painter such as Turner. However, he was soon confronted with the reality of finding a hiding place for the day and planning his move at nightfall. He could see that the stream beside him continued down to the sea at Shataokok and following it down to its confluence with another stream he found a perfect lair with a good cover from trees, and a bed of soft grass. He dried his belongings again, and finding a pool in the steam, had a lazy if not luxurious bath.
He managed to gather a large ripe pandanus fruit which looked like a four-pound pineapple but proved to be most difficult to eat. It had no flavour at all, but he ate what he could, and hoped for the best. He wrote an entry in his diary that afternoon that read:-
"Am feeling rather weak; a good sleep would make a lot of difference. With any luck this should be the last of my most anxious nghts.though do not know how far the 'Nips' hold."
Very soon he noticed a storm building up and before long lightning struck in the gorge, the thunder was deafening, and a deluge of rain fell for an hour before the storm moved away. Goodwin surveyed the scene and comments:-
"Alas! for my brief comfort. Everything was completely saturated again, and my only wish was that darkness would come quickly."
However, as the stream in the gorge was rising rapidly, he crossed to the other side where the track was and waited for the night. At dusk he had to make his way carefully down a washed-out track until the valley opened out and the track improved. As the lights of Shataokok came into view he proceeded very much on the alert. While approaching some houses, he saw a sentry flashing his torch about fifty yards ahead, so he went back to leave the track and found a path leading to paddy fields where rolls of barked wire had to be negotiated. He crawled through or under these, for more than one hour, then had to make another detour away from the built-up area. The area near Shataokok was alive with action, with many gaurds and troops in evidence. Obviously something unusual was taking place, so he headed away in a southerly direction through the paddy until he came to a vertical drop to a river below. As it was too steep to descend there he followed the paddy down to a point where he realised that he was well clear of any buildings but there was a bank about eight feet high ahead with bushes and thorny undergrowth growing on it. With effort he forced his way through the thorns and to his surprise found he was standing on firm sand.
"There at last was the coast, and after crossing a hundred yards of dunes I saw surf breaking on the seashore. Again the sea was to befriend me.".
Still good news coming in. The attempted assasination of Hitler by a hand grenade (a persistent rumour is going round that he really has been killed but I think that is wishful thinking - however it all seems a bit fishy); the Americans have now landed 2 divisions on Guam; in the North the Russians are N.W. of Grodno – they must be very close to the East Prussian frontier; the Anglo–American forces have taken St Lo. Altogether things are going pretty well.
I had a very enjoyable birthday. Y gave me a very smart, short sleeved, navy-blue tunic shirt which she had made from a pair of summer slacks – her only pair. I was thrilled with it because my other shirts are nearly all worn out and I felt such a scare-crow, though most other men are in the same plight. Maudie and Vera and Phil each gave me one of their precious packets of cigarettes, although “no presents” is the order of the day. The rest of our room gave me some home made biscuits and three brinjals from their garden which was awfully kind of them.
On the morning of my birthday, Isa brought the news that there were two parcels for us! It was nice that the weekly parcels arrived on my birthday. Usually their arrival does not interest us at all, except to hear what Sophie O’Dell has sent Maudie – Maudie has been wonderfully fortunate in this way, for Sophie has never once missed a possible parcel delivery since they started right at the beginning of camp. I am glad of this because Maudie does not eat much of the camp food and parcels keep her going.
Of course one of our parcels came from Yvonne Ho (who after the war married Eric Cummine of Eric Cummine and Associates, a well known Hong Kong architectural firm). She really has been marvellous, never missing the special occasions – Christmas, Easter and our birthdays. This was a wonderful parcel, a joint birthday present for us both. It contained a 2 lb tin of syrup, 1 lb of soya bean flower, ½ lb of pork fat and a lb of potatoes. Syrup and pork fat are almost unheard of luxuries in camp these days. We heard that somone the other day sold a 2 lb tin of syrup for Y135, £8 -10-0 ! At the local rate of exchange, Y1 = $4 it would be £34 (pdv £1530). We are wondering if we really ought to eat £8-10-00 worth of syrup (which has comparatively little food value) or whether we ought to try and sell it and buy egg powder or soya bean flour which have high protein values or even wong tong, for we should be able to buy about 20 lbs of wong tong (sugar residue) as that commodity costs only 8/- per lb at present! At all events we shall eat the pork fat as that is so good for us.
The other parcel was from R.E. Devaux and contained some more of our own clothes. It really is amazing what a thrill one gets at receiving one’s old clothes in this place. Y had two dresses which she was very fond of, a white linen jacket and a bright blue skirt of which, the last article does not belong to her. My portion consisted of another tropical suit (somewhat ancient) and a white shark-skin dinner jacket of mine! We wonder how Devaux managed to hit our birthday dates, and guess that Yvonne Ho must have told him. We gather that Devaux does not like having Japanese attention drawn to him in the matter of sending parcels here, so we shall have to write a non committal card of thanks if we write at all. Even to Yvonne we write carefully and guardedly.
Dear old Bunny Browne (John’s best man) has now on three occasions sent us Y5. Officers in Argyle Street Camp (and the men in Sham Shui Po too if they have the money) are allowed to send money to people in this camp once a month to the value of Y25. Just at Easter time Bunny sent us his first present, then a similar one the next month and a third on the next month but one. It really is most kind of him and we appreciate it a lot for, if conditions in their camps are anything like ours, they can do with all the extra food they are able to buy, and so it is most kind of him to spare us this from his lieutenant’s pay.
Lovely day. Wind S.
Ground bread rice.
3 days papers arrived and good news in them all. St.Lo captured 19th & Leghorn entered 19th. An attempt made on Hitler’s life 20th. He gets away with a few burns yet 3 of his entourage were seriously wounded & 10 slightly wounded. We landed on Guam 21st. Premier Gen. Koisho made first speech in newly formed Cabinet aft. 22nd. Camp news has it that Hitler is dead.
With Steve pm. Lent me Y15.
Storm laden sky spread over by 8pm with a beautiful rainbow. All colours showed up beautifully under the grey & white sky, some of the rain clouds were green.
OBJECTIVE: Test a new high-altitude dive-bombing procedure
RESULTS: Pilots tip over at 25,000 feet and release bombs at 18,000 feet over White Cloud airbase. They claim bomb hits on runways and taxiways.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:20 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Seven P-51s from 76th Fighter Squadron (23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Lt. John Celani; 2nd Lt. Robert L. Schaeffer; Lt. Shull; Flight Officer P.J. Smith (76th FS); Lt. Norberg; Lt. Coakley; Lt. Barr (26th FS). Pilots are from two different squadrons, but it is unclear if the aircraft are.
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 2 x 250-pound bombs; 12 x 500-pound bombs
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: American pilots report an estimated 24 Japanese aircraft on the ground at White Cloud, though none are hit during the bombing.
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).