The Hong Kong News reports Germany's unconditional surrender. It cites a Domei (Tokyo) report of May 8.
Source:
Summary in the Macnider Papers, unheaded sheet
Diary pages from this date
Peace in Europe at long last. I always remember the German broadcast say 'England always stood for the Was but Germany will finish it once and for all' Well it is finished and we hope once and for all but in a vastly different manner from what he had intended and we trust and longingly hope that all war will soon be finished out here as well. The might of the world is against Japan so she had better pack in while the going is good and at least save something (that is her country) from the wreck which is inevitable if she continues.
Surely wiser leaders in Japan will have the common sense to see her destruction looming ahead. I see by the paper that the jubilation in New York and London far surpassed 1918. We tried to be cheery here but had nothing to celebrate on, poor vegetables and rice only and this is one of these very stormy days, high winds and very wet then it is the day on which the water is on. Tom Weller hid a bottle of current wine kept over and made when the Canadian parcels came and this he opened and we each had a small mouthful and Andrew McBride being flush gave each of us a cigarette.
The food just now is at its lowest ebb, due principally to our terrific blockade and also to the bombing of all the craft on the way here from Canton and other river ports. However we can stick it out and trust our release will be soon.
There are lots of rumours about repatriation to Manila and Ceylon ,but I've my doubts. We were the first to be captured and I think the last to be relieved. ' The first shall be the last'.
We have not been allowed to write our usual postcards for March, April and no sign yet of any for May, the last one I wrote being for February. The Japs assure us that the necessary postcards are not yet to hand, in other words even if we wrote them they couldn't get away in any case owing to no shipping getting here. It seems a long time since any ships made the port of Hong Kong unless they now use the Lyemma entrance which they haven't done previously.
Life goes on here as usual, a lousy life, living so close to one another, arguments, quarrels, joy at the news, laughter at some silly cases and so on but nothing constructive. My eyesight is not so good nowadays and my memory for things that happen and things said is not retentive also I am having a lot of intermittent malaria with headaches and fever every second day and sometimes on successive days. J.T. has given me some quinine which I hope will help. My weight still remains about 150 lbs.
Fine, cloudy, warm.
Odd jobs.
A/r alarm 11.15-11.50am. Large force of large planes 300 passed N above clouds.
Rangoon besieged & R.N. on its way up the Irriwaddy [sic]. German 2 Battleships, 2 H.cruisers, 1A/C & 20 destroyers surrendered to British. Large army 650,000 on the move in Yunnan. Kyushu bombed 7th. Official date & time of German unconditional Surrender. 7th at 2.41pm French time at Rheims. Japs still determined to go on to a “Victorious conclusion”.
Fish brooch. ∴G.
Beaton’s forecast for peace in Asia is July 8th.
Letter from home Aug ’43.
((writing too faint to read))