Notes:
31/8/44 - To bring up Water meter 70.-
((Their water meters have been stolen or damaged several times))
5/9/44 - Ferry HK + Back 30¢ 2lbs Cotton ((wool?)) 24.-
- Left Panama Hat with Cora to sell @ ¥250-00
Supporting information:
Classical concert ((see 24th for details))
((Following text not dated:))
Comic buses. Two-wheeled old hand trucks with rubber tyres. Two skinny coolies pulling and one behind to hold on even keel and steer. Two rows of narrow seats facing each other. Canopy of canvas or rag. You are told riding is worthwhile because you would walking use up Y5 worth of shoe leather and health, especially in rain. Mostly we still walk with our little cart to carry purchases.
Fine day, cloudy & hazy.
Sharpened Steve’s saw & helped him to grind rice.
Made a key to fit our store lock.
Canteen held.
Chopped wood & gave Dutch their 53lbs.
Japs to take over private gardens.
Lorry arrived late, 7pm, veg & partridge.
With Steve pm.
Mary lent me another Y20.
Air raid alarm 10pm much shouting of “Kuchu” ended the day.
Japanese again warned re intensified A-raids & likely landings in Japan by their Premier. Paper news OK, Brit & Canadians advancing N behind German lines toward Calais. V. Adm. Decoux more or less warned re conduct by Japs.
OBJECTIVE: Fly nocturnal sea sweep mission to detect and sink Japanese ships in the South China Sea.
RESULTS: No enemy ships are detected during the sea sweep. The aircraft commander, Lt. Wind, opts to bomb the HK & Whampoa dockyard (the designated secondary target) on the return flight. At least nine bombs fall in vicinity of the dockyard, but damage is unknown.
TIME OVER TARGET: Unknown, but likely around 1:00 a.m. on August 26
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: One B-24 from the 375th Bomb Squadron (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: 2nd Lt. Elmer E. Haynes; 2nd Lt. Milton Wind
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: 12 x 500-pound bombs
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).