News of execution of Mussolini
((Following text undated:)) Lt. Kadowaki successor to Lt. Hara.
Diary pages from this date
Overcast, showery, hot, humid. SW wind.
Fetched sewing machine for A room. Odd jobs. German lesson.
Lorry in 5.30pm. parcels & papers.
Gave mirror away.
Tea 1.6, sugar 1 & salt 1oz issued.
Doreen (Leonard) and Joan (Wilkinson) came for shorthand.
Rations pretty grim. Daily baking allowed now, which helps oil situation.
Worked in afternoon, then to C.A. Meeting in Maria Connolly's room. Mrs Nora Hillon and Elsie Bidwell have joined us.
Jean Martin's 5th birthday. ((Mabel often took Jean and other tots for walks around the camp, and made clothes for Jean.)) Mrs. Deacon gave us a piece of Jean's cake. ((Mrs Deacon was mother of Mrs Irene Braude who as well as looking after her own toddler Patricia, was guardian to Jean in camp.))
Play reading of younger girls' club in evening beside railings.
Rumour that Germany has surrendered unconditionally.
Newspaper says Mussolini has been assassinated.
At about this time Lieutenant Kadowaki becomes the final Commandant of Stanley Camp:
He was comparatively tall and lean for a Japanese in a soft job...He had an odd walk, an exaggerated thrusting forward of the leg, rather than the expected waddle...(He) was a stickler for military etiquette.
Back in Britain there's mixed news for families with loved ones in Hong Kong: citing a War Office report, the Daily Mirror (page 3) says that the Japanese have been pilfering or holding back Red Cross parcels meant for internees. Nevertheless, the situation now is much better than it has been. Readers of the communist Daily Worker (page 4) also learn that a Red Cross delegate visited the camps last December and reported an improvement. The death rate, says the paper, is low.
Source:
George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 243.
Note:
Wright-Nooth claims Kadowaki came towards the end of April while Geoffrey Emerson dates his arrival to May.