Diary pages from this date

Still in hospital.

No fleet!

Bulletin says that 100 visitors from town (i.e. Chinese and non-interned) can come in daily, 50 per bus; and that in due course internees wishing to visit town may do so, though advised not to (and only with permission of CSO).

Two radios have been put at disposal of the camp.

No news of our release.

Prisoners (internees) from gaol will be returned to camp.

Dr I. Newton thinks the Fleet won't be here until Monday.

Apparently there's still fighting in Guadalcanal because Japs can't get in touch with their troops.

More corned beef issued today; there's to be more beans, bran, rice, meat, tea & sugar sent in.

11.30am: Report that a launch left Shamshuipo this morning for Stanley with relatives... arrival awaited here any moment.

Mum had a note from Mr. Kirman who is at Central British School (wartime hospital) Kowloon, he was a Naval Dockyard of my Dad's.

A load of sweets came in, we were each given 4 ozs. sugar.

Rumour that Peace Treaty is signed either today or tomorrow.

June Cheape and Clifton brought me a lovely hot sweet drink of ground bean flour, which the Sister wouldn't let me drink because I'm starting Santonin tonight (anti-worm).

LATER: Two poor little half-starved boys have just come into camp and have been put in our ward - James and David Cameron, sons of Muriel (nee Smith). Muriel and her mother and the kids stayed out on Irish passports, ended up in Rosary Hill. They are pale little souls, fair-haired; and the elder (about 5) is thinner than any one I've ever seen in camp. They are well-dressed.

At Ma Tau-wai Camp Hilda Selwyn-Clarke raises a Union Jack provided by Arthur May. The Japanese guards tell Dr. Selwyn-Clarke to take it down, but he beats off their requests. The flag will fly until tomorrow when an order arrives from the Miitary Governor at 2 p.m.insisting that only the Japanese flag should be flown; in response Selwyn-Clarke keeps the Union Jack raised until dusk, explaining that this is the British custom. Then he reluctantly tells Arthur May to take it down.

Many Stanley internees are finding today a time of great joy and not a little pain.

Jean Gittins:

Sunday, 19 August, brought our first visitors from town. We had been told to expect them at around ten o'clock in the morning. Our police-officers donned what was left of their uniforms and erected a light barricade across the main road a short distance from the entrance to the camp. Internees decked themselves in their pre-war finery: suits and leather shoes for the men; women replaced their shorts and suntops with dresses - one or two even put on their hats.

The bus from town pulls up, and Gittins' sister Victoria and her husband M. K. Lo are among the first to approach:

Our visitors hesitated uncertainily at the sight of the barrier and smiled wanly at us through the lines of weary anxiety so clearly drawn across their faces. Their smiles broadened as we shouted a greeting, but the pallor of their complexion spoke more eloquently than words could have done. In a flash we saw how deeply they had suffered.

Jean Gittins is unable to contain her feelings. She slips under the barrier and embraces her sister and brother-in-law. She does not yet know her own husband has died in Japan.

In Canton Prison the European civilian and military prisoners are ordered out of their cells and addressed by a captain of the prison staff who tells them the war is over.

Sources:

Ma Tau-wai: Documents in the Selwyn-Clarke Papers (Oxford) and the Arthur May Papers (University of Hong Kong). In his autobiography Selwyn-Clarke claims the flag was flying on August 16th-17th, but documentary evidence persuades me that the later dates are more likely to be correct. This issue was first raised by Ronald Taylor in his indispensable The Arthur May Story.

Gittins: Jean Gittins, Stanley: Behind Barbed Wire, 1982, 151-151

Canton Prison: Ralph Goodwin, Passport To Eternity, 1956, 75

Everyday is now Momentous and thrilling. Yesterday (Saturday) D.B.B. and I were at J.F's and were arranging our programme for an immediate survey of the yard when we are allowed to go to town. A priority list of the staff here was made out with D.B.B and G.G. and so on.

As we were discussing things a wave of planes came over and dropped pamphlets signed by Wadeneger. One of the most remarkable reactions in this camp is the reaction of everyone's stomach to rice. Most internees could until recently could eat all the rice they could lay their hands on, now people have taken a scunner to rice. Rice is being wasted and now today extra rations of rice are being given but the people can't eat more.

Today's lightner was the allowing of visitors to visit the camp and in comes Yatchumen and his two sons what a thrill J.F. and I got. We went to J.F's place and got all the news of the Dockyard which I recorded. The details I have left with J.F and will record the particulars later. He brought us bananas, sugar, tea, cooked meat and buns which I divided out to our lads here in the room.

((This is the last entry in the diary. Following the relief of Hong Kong in 1945 he was repatriated on a hospital ship which docked in Liverpool towards the end of 1945. He weighed approximately 6.5 stone, a loss of 10 stone over the internment period. After recuperation he returned to Hong Kong and retired in 1951. He returned to Glasgow and was employed by RB Stirling and Co Ltd. He was made redundant in 1962 and moved shortly afterwards to Whitley Bay. He died around 1970.

You will see from the diary that he did not keep in good health in the camp and he lost more than half his bodyweight. This despite being quartermaster for his block so he does not seem to have taken advantage of this position. You will also see from the entries his love for his wife and it is very poignant that having survived the war he was not reunited with her. I do not know the reason or anything beyond the barest of facts. Nell was evacuated to Australia before the invasion and then back to Scotland. She later moved to Canada and that is the last I know of her. The diary indicates that she wrote to him and certainly at the time of liberation he gives no indication that he did not expect to be going back to him.))

Dow / W'bach

Visitors from town by bus. M.K. Lo saw Gimson

Wedding - Wm. Watson & D. J. Scourse, T.B. Hosp. (Dow)

Gendarmes order Chinese flags removed.

Passes being issued to people visiting Stanley. Big crowd going. I climb aboard truck in wretched condition. Repulse Bay area devastated.

At camp gate Hongkong Police. Recognise Inspector, says O.K. but skinny and hungry. Big crowd awaits. Some silent and snooty. Wylie awaits. Getting more food. Offer us rice. Meet many terribly changed, can't place them.

Home for tea.

Downstairs Jap moved out yesterday. We souvenired some stuff. Using phone. Tonight pinched phone and brought upstairs.

Cloudy, NE wind.

Visitors allowed from HK. 2 ce per day. [Twice?]

Contents of leaflets made known. They are instructions to Internees & P of W & info re duties of Delegate.

Multi Vit. capsules issued. Basic rations increase. All male internees weighed to complete final statement of physical  condition. 156 lbs.

Lights allowed till 11pm. Final negotiations expected to be signed in Manila today.

Petains death sentence reprieved to L. by de Gaulle. Jap Premier (Kanoye ?) exhorts people to play the game & stand by Potsdam rulings. Nanking Govt. disbanded.

4 oz Sugar issued.

G sehr hold den ganzen Tag. [G very sweet all day] Supper & Sit with G & V. No G. lousy finish to a nice day. Slept on roof.