Miss Olga H. Franklin, Prisoner of War handmade Christmas Card to POW Camp 'N'

Tue, 04/11/2023 - 11:46

Miss Olga Franklin, Prisoner of War handmade Christmas Card

The Christmas Card was sent in 1944 December from Stanley Internment Camp by a group of three nurses from the Hong Kong Royal Naval Hospital, composed of Olga H. Franklin, Gwyneth M. Griffith, and Iris A. L. Rollin, and signed as 'Griffiths Rollin Franklin'.

Left to Right: Sister Gwynydd M. Griffiths, Sister Iris A. L. Rollin and Matron Olga H. Franklin.

Prisoner of War handmade Christmas Card
C. Blair-Hickman, as a representative of the Argyle Street prisoners of war which included their superior Hugh L. Cleave (Principal Medical Officer of the Royal Naval Hospital, Hong Kong), received this handmade Christmas card. ('N' camp in Sham Shui Po- 1944 Dec).

In 1950, Major-General Maltby and Blair-Hickman attended the Annual Reunion dinner.

While addressed to C. Blair-Hickman, this Christmas card was intended as a message of goodwill to all the Navy friends in the POW camp, with the words 'to all friends' inscribed as a message of blessing to them.

"Captive surgeon in Hong Kong: the story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945" by Donald C. Bowie :

I recorded earlier how sometime in 1942 before the departure of our nurses the Japanese began to pay commissioned officers, both staff and patients. In these days members of the Q.A.I.M.N.S. (staffs included Q.A.R.N.N.S.), as it was then, were not commissioned and were not paid. I also recorded how Colonel Shackleton started funds from which to finance purchases for the general good. When I succeeded him the funds were reorganised and responsibility for administering them were spread more widely.

On 3 August 1942 Harrison and I wrote again expressing our disquiet about the whole patients and staff situation and advised that all efforts to improve conditions should be financed through a Central Hospital Fund supported by all officers.

This received money, still on a voluntary basis, from officers in the hospital and occasionally from those in P.O.W. camps in North Point and in Argyle Street, Kowloon.

Upon entering the Stanley Internment Camp, the three naval nurses continued to provide professional medical care for the elderly, weak, and infirm within the camp. Due to not initially receiving the living allowance that military prisoners of war were entitled to, and the demands of caring for patients in the camp, their physical strength weakened. Upon learning about the naval nurses' situation, male military officers in other POW camps, despite enduring inhumane treatment themselves, wanted to secretly donate their scant POW allowances to these three angels in white. They believed Blair-Hickman, the former Director of Supply, would act as the representative and manage these donations. Thus, in the post-war report, Miss Olga H. Franklin expressed gratitude to every friend in the POW camp!

The Royal Naval Medical Service, Page 278 (https://gwulo.com/node/59265)

The Naval Matron, in her report, has also expressed her appreciation and gratitude for gifts of money from Naval and Marine officers in the various prisoner-of-war camps.

Additionally, it is worth noting that the censor seal on this postcard is from Lieutenant Hara (原榮二), who was the Commandant of Stanley Camp between 1944 and 1945. According to R. E. Jones' wartime diary, he genuinely hoped for the civilians in the internment camp to return to their homes fit and well. On April 25, 1945, Hara and Kiyoshi Watanabe were leaving (going back home), and Kadowcki and Kodie were taking their place.

* I purchased this artifact from a Hong Kong antiques dealer, who acquired it from Spink Auction House (Auction: 22130 - The Philatelic Collector's Series - Lot: 427). In December 2022, I donated it to the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences: 香港醫學博物館.

Date picture taken

1944