John Charter's wartime journal: View pages

At present I am working with the construction gang (of which I am a member) cutting a pathway down a steep bank to a new refuse dump. The existing one is nearly full. Prior to that I had been helping to build division walls in the garage block to form compartments for an auxiliary bakery and wood store, a blacksmiths shop, a rice and flour store, a shoemakers store, a store room for the Americans and a sewing (or machining) room. These rooms are built up to a height of 5’ 0” with the concrete blocks and then the upper part is fenced off with wire netting supported by angle irons wedged between wall and ceiling (taken from one end of the tennis lawn in front of our block). The blocks are all set in mud. We managed to obtain about 5 x 90 lb bags of cement that the hospital did not require, and with the cement we finished off quite a number of jobs.

I completed the 3 additional stoves I had been building by myself in the kitchen: one 3’ 0” rice pan, which is used for broiling meat in joints or rolls, frying doughnuts and meat pasties occasionally etc; one copper boiler for boiling vegetables; and one hot plate on which they intended to fry chipatties, but which actually is never used and may be converted into another copper boiler. I am glad to say that these stoves work quite well, using less than half the amount of fuel that do the existing boilers which were built in the wash rooms (boiler rooms) of each of the flats here. These latter are very badly designed and at least half the heat must whistle up the flu.

After the stoves I helped complete a new sump and open drain from the kitchen. This was a highly skilled job! As we had only about 2” fall in about 12’ 0” of channel. The sump has three compartments: the first catches the solids - rice, cinders etc. - and has one extended side which is ramped so that a spade may be pushed down to clear the collected solids; the second has a tray that I made of fairly small wire mesh and this catches the floating refuse such as bits of cabbage leaves, chips of wood etc., so that the water that flows under the dividing tile between the second and third compartments is quite clear of solids. The sanitary gang clears out the sump each morning and it keeps it pretty free of flies.

I am also re-fixing the doors to the old kitchen stoves. They were first put in temporarily by the blacksmiths and hinged from the top. I have now cut up angle irons, bored holes in them to take the hinge pin and hinged the doors at the side. This is a better arrangement apart from the fact that the angle irons (I hope!) will prove a much firmer fixture than the former doors which were always falling out.

This is a laborious business and I reserve it for wet days! The blacksmiths have quite a business-like shop now. The Japanese sent in a much needed anvil and one of the police made an excellent forge with bellows; thus tools such as chisels, punches, metal drills etc. can be made. The difficulty is to get hard steel - the fairly thick spiral springs taken from some derelict motor vehicle found early on, near the camp has proved a useful source for some time, but these have now been used up.

There is a carpenter too who has managed to lay his hands on quite a selection of tools and now quite a lot of useful camp necessities are turned out from this shop: bread baking tins, frying pans, electric hot plates, tin mugs with riveted handles; jugs, kettles, saucepans etc. are soldered (a large quantity of solder having been taken from an old watering can that, fortunately, had evidently been mended in the days of plenty by a very extravagant and inexperienced amateur!). Furniture is mended; small tables, babies’ cots, wooden clogs etc. are made. We make our own nails by cutting up galvanized iron wire (from the fence round the tennis court and from dismembered barbed wire) and filing points.

I made my own staples for use in our clogs. Our hinged clogs are quite a success except that the canvas hinge is not strong enough and the wood is too soft. I have now a teak panel from the centre of the foot of our bed (I had to cut the foot off the bed in order to fit in our wooden framed wire mattress which was just too long for the bed) and from this I think I can make two more pairs and have the leather from the uppers of an old boot which will make a stronger hinge. Yvonne has made herself a pair of ballet shoes from some canvas with sacking on the sole. She has started ballet dancing now that the weather shows signs of cooling.

The small table I made some months ago has been doing some yeoman service. It really is quite extraordinary how men and women have turned to and manufactured things out of almost nothing. Yvonne spends much of her time dress-making and mending and washing. She has made a very smart sun suit (sun top and shorts) out of material she was given by the welfare committee and is at present making a shirt, shorts and jacket out of an evening dress that Mrs Dawes kindly gave her.

The days follow each other with pretty regular monotony and we shall be grateful for a change (for the better!). We arise at about 7:45 or 8:00 a.m. for breakfast. The orderly pair (Harold and Elsie, Tim and Isa and Yvonne and I) is responsible during the day for setting the table, getting the food and drinking water, washing up and sweeping out the room and hall. The orderly gets the tea for breakfast and also our ration of bread, which is given out at about 7:15 a.m. We have a 1 lb loaf between two people each day and as some loaves are a little larger than others we always draw for order of choice! It would save a lot of trouble if we drew in a rotating order, but it adds to the fun to draw a card, so we do this with great solemnity each morning. Sometimes we have some porridge (from our sour oats - it is a shame that all the oats from the canteen and in our $75 parcels was sour when it came in) but generally bread and jam and tea.

Yvonne and I bought as much jam as we could, when we could, as we all did, and with additions from our $75 parcels and parcels from Yvonne Ho we laid in quite a good store. We make a 12 oz tin last us 4 days - or one tin of marmalade (for breakfast) and two tins of jam last us 12 days. I have no doubt that as our stock gets low again, unless it is replenished, we shall have to make a tin last 5 days and then a week!

Some occupants of the flat wash before breakfast and some after. This is necessary because there are so many for the bathrooms and two sinks. I wash at a sink after breakfast and have my shower before lunch at 11:00 a.m. Yvonne has her bath or shower after breakfast. Then we make our beds, tidy up the room and go off to our various jobs.

Tim works in the Colonial Secretary’s Office; Harold saws and chops up logs for the kitchen; the girls do housework. I work from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and as it is fairly hard manual labour I get a workers ration tab which entitles me to an extra half ration at the evening meal. At 11:00 a.m. I come in for my bath, the orderlies queue up for the food and we have our lunch. The warning bell for the food queues goes at about 11:00 a.m, then the bells for the various blocks. We queue in a rotating order (the four blocks), our block is fourth one day, third the next, second next and first on the fourth day, and then repeat. This considerably cuts down the length of time for queueing. It takes about ten minutes now, where in the early days it took about ¾ hour.

These days our lunch consists of boiled rice and stew (about 3 desert spoons of minced meat and gravy) and sometimes a vegetable. We augment this quite often with some little fried onions that Maudie Min has kindly given us or some beans that Yvonne Ho has sent us. We have also bought some soy sauce which we sometimes use to change the flavour. After lunch Y and I indulge in the luxury of some black coffee and a cigarette. We bought 1 ½ lbs of coffee about 2 months ago and with careful use (re-boiling the grounds almost indefinitely!) we have made it last well. Some times we fry the community stew in curry powder which the community bought long ago. This was a very good buy, for though it does not make very good curry it certainly makes a welcome change now and again. These culinary efforts are carried out on two electric hot plates that the room possesses.

There is an official silence period from 12:30 to 2:30 during which time everyone is supposed to pursue quiet occupations and not make a noise, as the majority of people lie down for a mid-day rest. This is normally a good rule for a tropical climate, but here it is additionally advisable as our food (though reasonably good now) is not as well balanced and as good as in normal times, and a rest at mid-day conserves one’s strength considerably. We mostly lie on our beds and read for some time and then perhaps have a nap. Being in the living room of the flat we have a ceiling electric fan, and this has proved a Godsend during the hot afternoons and nights, for our room faces east and so we do not get the direct breeze from the prevailing south-west wind of the hot months.

We arise again at from 2 p.m. to 2:30, (one or other of the Fortescues generally has to arise before this time to attend to Adrian who normally awakes earlier than this.) The afternoons are occupied in various ways: we invite people to tea or are invited out in turn usually for about 3 p.m; there are numerous ladies bridge fours (keeping up the Hong Kong traditions!) though quite a lot of men play too, especially as there is a bridge tournament on at present. Y and I debated for a long time whether or not we should enter, and the list was closed by the time we made up our minds!

There were 30 pairs who each had to play the other at the rate of two games per week, (3 rubbers per match) and the tournament was scheduled to last 3 months. We felt the experience would be good for us though we jibbed a bit at being tied down for quite such a long time, for we can always arrange our own fours when we want to. But we feel a little sorry now that we did not enter - it gives one something to do and something to aim at, even though it is only bridge. Harold and Elsie, Tim and Marjorie have entered for it, though Marjorie’s jaunt to the hospital has somewhat put them out of the running.

I seldom play cards in the afternoon, but occupy myself in writing this diary, doing my personal work such as making clogs etc. or going for a bathe.

We have been to see Marjorie today and her temperature is now normal and she hopes to be out soon. The doctors took a blood test and have discovered a bug which they cannot diagnose, so she has been of some medical interest.

Well, to revert to our daily routine. I might here add that at a tea party the food generally takes the form of milkless and sugarless tea, sandwiches of bread and jam and Melba toast or biscuits or sometimes buns, according to capabilities and stock of the hostess! If no one is coming to tea, we generally get a jug full of tea for the room.

At 5:30 (or thereabouts) we have our evening meal. This generally consists of rice, half a sweet potato, one or two vegetables, a small cup full of soup and meat. The meat, usually a piece about 1½” x 2” is served in various ways: broiled and sliced into individual small pieces and served in gravy; cut up into small pieces and stewed; minced; mixed with rice and fried as hamburger steaks, minced and baked in pastry as sausage rolls or pasties. These last two are easily the most popular meals. The pasties are really quite large and we have only half the usual quantity of rice with them. In every four days we usually have sausage rolls in the evening of the second day and pasties on the evening of the fourth. Sometimes instead of sausage rolls we have a dinner roll each (about the size of an ordinary 1d roll) which is very nice; sometimes, though very occasionally, we have doughnuts. These are fried in peanut oil, the supply of which is very limited. The pastry for the pasties has perforce to be made with peanut oil in lieu of lard or margarine, so it is often rather leathery and heavy. Sometimes, though, we have a supply of pork sent in; some of the fat is then cut away and rendered down to a dripping or lard. The pasties and sausage rolls made with this lard in the pastry are really delicious.

The evening meals are always the better of the two meals; for one thing, the cooks have more time in which to prepare them. It used to be at this meal that I was given my extra manual workers ration. This amounted to an extra half helping of most of the things on the menu. At the beginning of this week, however, extra rations to most of the workers were stopped, and I must say I feel the difference quite a lot. The cooks, the ration gang and some of the sanitary gang still get the extras. Some dis-satisfaction has been felt by the workers, for none of us was consulted on the matter. It may be that some of the men who find they really need the extra food would have volunteered to work in the cooks’ gangs or the ration squad etc. if they had been given the chance. It is felt that the committee has acted rather high handedly in the matter.

One of the two wood cutter gangs (Harold’s gang) has walked out as a protest against this discrimination. I think that was a great mistake and a great pity, displaying a rather poor spirit. The committee has referred to the squad at the end of it’s weekly bulletin, saying in similar words: already one squad of woodcutters has refused to carry on with it’s work, because of the suspension of workers rations, thus displaying a disgracefully poor spirit; especially when one thinks of our prisoners of war and those who gave their lives, simply because they considered it was their duty and without considering what they could get from it. I think this last insinuation by the committee is unfair; but I think the woodcutters should have carried on with their work while the matter was being discussed.

After the evening meal there are several alternatives which Y and I adopt – we walk to ‘C’ bungalow at about 7:00 p.m. and sit and chat with Maudie for an hour. She generally spoils us with some sweets or a cigarette which Sophie O’Dell has sent in by parcel or some biscuits she has made. Maudie is very generous to people in these ways.

It is very pleasant sitting out in the cool of the evening, watching the sun sink behind the hills across the sea. The peaks of the hills behind which the sun sets sends great pencils of light and shadow shooting right across the sky to the east; like the bloody fingers of some great giant. It really is rather unusual and beautiful. However, all one can get out of Maudie is, “Give me a cold grey November sky over a bit of England and you can keep all your damned sunsets and sunrises out here!”  And I must say that is a sentiment that most of us hold in our hearts.

The next alternative ((for what to do after the evening meal)) is to go and listen to a lecture or to Betty Drown and Heath giving their Monday night piano recital at St Stephen’s Hall. We have been to one lecture only (that was on the history of surgery by Dr I. Newton) but have been several times to listen to the music. These two are awfully good: they play on two pianos, either duets or solos, one carrying on from the other. They play a mixture of the lighter and more popular classical music followed, perhaps, by a pot pourie of modern musical comedy and popular songs, then some well known national airs or perhaps selections from well know operas. They play practically non-stop from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. and they have a tremendous following. It is very good and popular entertainment.

Otherwise we take our books with us and sit on the rocks for an hour and talk or read. We generally go to Maudies on 3 nights per week. We have to be back within the vicinity of our blocks by 8:00 p.m. when a bell is rung. This curfew is extended on Saturday nights until 9:00 p.m. and on Saturday nights there is nearly always a concert on, which we always attend.

These concerts, for the last few months, have been given on the bowling green in front of blocks 4 A (formerly European Warders Club House) and D1. The stage is on the terrace in front of block D1 which, being about 2’ 6” above the bowling green, forms a natural little stage. A backcloth and wings of curtains are rigged up for the concerts and block D1 forms not a bad reflector for throwing forward the sound. The audience sits on cushions or rugs on the bowling green (low stools are permitted but not chairs because they obstruct the view of the people behind) or along the bank which runs right around the bowling green or on the balconies or roof of the adjacent Club House.

There are now roughly 2,800 people in camp and I should think that at least 2,000 of these turn out to watch the Saturday night concert - it is the social event of the week. And some of the concerts have produced some surprisingly good turns: dances; sketches or impersonations; songs (some of local composition) etc. But up to date, last Saturday’s concert has produced the best entertainment of all. (That is Saturday 19th).

((John continues describing the show held on 19th September.)) The entertainment itself (or the various numbers) was quite amusing, but the really funny stuff came from outside. After one or two items had been completed, I noticed several people in the audience looking up to a balcony of the Warder’s Club. Following their gaze I saw a Japanese photographer setting up a fairly large camera on a tripod and directing it at the stage. Presently there was a vivid flash as the photo was taken, producing several squeaks and squeals from the various startled members of the audience. The photographer shifted his camera and took another flashlight photo and then he and his assistants descended to the bowling green to take photos of the audience and entertainers from a lower level - and then the fun began. He took one snap of a performer from the front row and then he turned round and focused his camera on the audience. Suddenly I heard a tittering from one side of the audience and beheld several up-stretched arms with the fists clenched except for the index and middle fingers which were widely forked in a ‘V’ for victory sign! Just at that moment there was a vivid flash followed by a shout of laughter! Then the photographer moved to the sides and back of the green, taking 3 or 4 more flashlights of the audience with the stage in the background. By now of course, the idea had caught on and wherever you looked there was an absolute forest of arms with forked fingers, or arms joined at the elbows and forking out to make bigger ‘Vs’, and a perpetual tittering and babble of sound, while every flash from the photographer was accompanied by an absolute roar of laughter!! I had the best laugh since I came to camp!

It really was too funny to think of this photographer taking pictures for newspaper publication of the kindness with which the British Civilian Internees were being treated by the all victorious Japanese, and all he collected was a forest of V’s from these wretched ungrateful people! No one paid any attention to the unfortunate artistes (except Tim who seemed to think the audience was behaving very badly - which no doubt they were!) and one or two of them, who perhaps could not see what was afoot beyond the footlights, certainly looked rather peeved; however they carried on with grim and truly British determination - and I have no doubt fully appreciated the joke afterwards! And what was the sequel to all this?  Why, the tender pride and dignity of the Japanese was deeply offended and in consequence the concert for this following Saturday (in which Y and I were taking parts!) was cancelled!  Can one imagine anything more puerile?

The C.S. had a long talk about the matter with a gendarmerie officer in which he put forward the really truthful point of view that no insult or offence was intended to the Japanese but that the whole incident was merely the expression of prisoners of war who naturally hoped their own side would ultimately be victorious; and he said, furthermore that if the tables were reversed he was certain the Japanese would make similar gestures of optimism and faith and they would not be resented. I, for one, cannot imagine British authorities behaving in this manner which seems to lack all sense of humour. I think the Japanese would have gained considerable ‘face’ in the eyes of the British here if they had just laughed the whole thing off. As it is, they have lost considerable face by our standards by admitting their exasperation and annoyance.

It appears that the unfortunate Yamashita and Nakazawa (No. 1 and No. 2 Japanese Camp Superintendents) were found (when the photos were developed with wide grins on their faces in one of the pictures. Apparently they were summoned before the authorities and severely dressed down, and (rumour has it) had their faces slapped. Elma told me that with the party of photographers was a fairly high Japanese official (rumour says a gentleman from Tokyo) who had been told that the internees of Stanley were docile and well behaved; so it was unfortunate he should choose that particular night to visit the camp, for he was evidently much annoyed at what occurred. Tim said that later, Gimson was summoned and it was explained that for the British to give the V for victory sign was to suggest the possibility that one day the Japanese army might be defeated, and this was a gross insult to the Emperor as the Japanese army had never been defeated. Well, I suppose an army can go on making tactical withdrawals to the bitter end. But I think these Japanese gentlemen take themselves rather too seriously.

A day or two ago, Yamashita and Nakazawa came down and tore a whole number of our notices from the board. These notices all, apparently, contained some reference to the war, and that, evidently is now strictly forbidden. In future all notices have first to be signed by the Chinese block supervisor before being posted.

Finally, and it would appear, to close this episode, the whole of the B.C.C. was summoned before Mr Yamashita who evidently spoke to them with admirable restraint. He informed them that they must remember we are prisoners here, that there are camp rules that must be observed; that it is incumbent upon us not to upset or offend the gendarmes as he, Yamashita takes his orders from them and cannot do much to intercede on our behalf. In fact he really does seem to do his best for our well being here. In our position it is foolish to attempt to be defiant, but I am glad we showed we have not been quite cowed!  

The internees have been allowed to bathe since the beginning of July. We bathe at Tweed Bay beach, the nicest little beach on the island. It used to be the Governor’s private beach, though the senior prison officers were allowed to use it. The Hackett’s and James Norman had often invited Y and me to tennis or dinner at their houses on the hill here, and we had frequently bathed at the beach. ((After the war we continued as a family to use this beach, which is just below Stanley Prison and for which my father had an official pass, until 1967. Each visit must have brought back poignant memories for my parents.))

I was in the original gang of about 6 workmen that the Japanese allowed to go down and clear the way. To start with, we had to remove one of the steel French windows from Billy’s shattered house on the hill. We dug the frame from the brick jambs and concrete lintel without unhinging the door. Then we lugged this down to the barbed wire fence which cut off the approach to the beach along the western wall of the prison. This was at the beginning of June. We propped the door there (the glass of course had been shattered) and there it remained for a month pending final sanction from the Japanese authorities to carry on. When this permission came at last, they provided us with some rough timber for framing and Fraser, Purves and Murphy, all of the PWD, whom I had selected, and I went along with Neilson (still Chairman of the B.B.C.) and MacLeod (head of the camp Sanitary squad), cut the barbed wire fence and with the timber framing erected the door, nailing up the barbed wire to the door post again. Next, we went down to the beach and cut a way through the triple barbed wire fence, erected months ago by our troops as part of the Colony’s defences. We had chosen a couple of very hot days for this job, but it was delightful to get on to the beach; how we longed for a swim.

There was quite a pleasant little Japanese gendarmerie officer from the prison who had been having a swim and he talked to us for some time. A Sikh guard, who had been hovering about at the top of the high bank above the beach, shouted to us to come up; but the Japanese officer (whom he had not seen) shouted at him to come down instead! So the mountain had to come to “Mahommet”. We wandered up and down the beach picking up odds and ends. Purves found a fairly big leather holster (probably for a ‘very light’ pistol) which later he let me have for shoe repair purposes. I found a new looking shoe (Chinese woman) and a small tin of nugget shoe polish. I also found a recent human skull, the lower jaw bone being there, though detached. I examined it and found the teeth quite good (probably the skull of a young man or woman) and the few that were stopped had been stopped by a good dentist. The bridge of the nose seemed very low so I concluded it was the skull of a Chinese, probably washed up from the sea. I removed the skull and pitched it into the shrubbery, to clear up the beach.

Some days later Purves told me that the body of a European soldier had been observed on the beach for many weeks when we first came here. It was along time before we managed to obtain permission from the Japanese to remove and bury the remains of two Canadian soldiers which were on the rocks below the hospital. But I found no bones other than the skull and am still inclined to think this skull or head had been washed up - possibly from a junk.

Lately there has been a great deal of air activity about. On several days flights of 3, 6 or 9 planes have passed overhead. Last Tuesday there was a buzzing of many planes at about mid-day and I rushed out onto the balcony and watched them (9 of them) until they disappeared past the corner of our block. Then I saw several people pointing excitedly so I rushed down and looked up again at the planes. By then they were about a couple of miles away and below them, floating slowly down, were two enormously long and narrow white streamers, one descending or fluttering about in the definite shape of a large V and the other something like a  W. Crowds of people came out of their rooms (this during the sacred rest hour) and there was much speculation as to what they were. Some people thought they were friendly planes that had dropped these V for victory streamers; others said they were pamphlets. But I know this second guess was wrong because I had seen Japanese planes dropping leaflets during the war and the leaflets always blew out into great clouds and did not keep in a narrow line. Well, there was a great deal of excited speculation about these white lines, but nothing was definitely established about it.

The evening before yesterday we watched a convoy of two cruisers and three merchant ships slipping out between the islands as the light faded from the sky. Later that night under a brilliant moon, we had heard a ship’s hooter out at sea giving continuous single blasts. Harold said it was a distress signal and we all jumped out of bed and ran onto the balcony. Then the sound died away and we retired again to bed. Soon after we heard the much deeper siren of another ship and again dashed out onto the balcony straining our ears for gunfire or explosions. But nothing else happened. It was certainly a grand night for submarines. Numerous tramps come in and out every day. I wish we knew what it all means.

There is a feeling of optimism in the camp just now. By its silence on the subject of the Libyan and South Russian Fronts, the HK News virtually admits that the British and Russians are doing well in these vital sectors. The news that somehow filters into camp about the war out here and local conditions is all very heartening. Oh! When will we be out of this wretched camp? September is nearly finished so I am hoping my second prophecy will prove correct and we shall soon have an indication of what will happen to us.

Last day of September. We have been in this camp for over 8 months now. The paper today announces that the Kamakura Maru, the Japanese ship which returned from Lorenco Marques with Japanese nationals, is due to call at Hong Kong on 2nd October where it will unload about 1,000 tons of parcels and comfits for British prisoners of war. I wonder what that means! Does it mean that all that amount of stuff is for HK or is most of it to be transhipped in smaller vessels to Shanghai? Also, does it mean tons weight or tons displacement? If it is all for HK where there are about 15,000 European, Canadian, American etc. prisoners, it means we should average about 150 lbs each! What a hope!! But it would be lovely if we got a few letters from people at home. All packages will be carefully censored, so it will probably be some time before we hear anything about them. The Bidwell’s, with the 100 lucky other people who have permission to go to Shanghai, are now very excited, because it is quite possibly that they may embark on the Kamakura Maru: they have heard they may be departing very soon.

Last night I went to the first meeting and practice of the newly formed male voice choir. Mrs Elizabeth Drown is, apparently, the instigator of the idea. I was a little bit late so am not sure of the aims of this choir, but I gather it is being formed to produce something for the Christmas celebrations - horrible idea! (not wishing still to be interned by then.) That something is Canterbury Pilgrims (or Tales), who the author is I do not yet know - in fact I seem a bit vague! Any way, about 30-35 men turned up; one tenor, about 5 baritones and the rest bass baritones or basses. About 5 or 6 sheets of music, the prologue, which Betty Drown had laboriously copied out, were distributed.

The tenor and light baritones crowded round one and the rest divided into groups of 5 or 6 and tried to read the pencil written sheets. Any way, we got going and I was quite surprised at the number of men who seem quite able to read music after a fashion. I was fortunate enough to have a sheet of music given to me and I kept a firm hold on it! I found Mansell, an overseer in our office, grasping the other corner and various other gentlemen behind breathing down my neck and bellowing in my ear. Mansell has a lusty voice with plenty of volume, if not much tone, and inspired by his example, when we imagined he had roughly the hang of the bass part, we let fly to some effect: we drowned the other basses, we drowned the tenors, and we drowned the piano! That was the trouble, we made so much noise that we did not know if we were in time and invariably reached the end first! Well, perhaps I exaggerate a little. However, what I heard of the harmony certainly sounded very pleasing and I like the music very much. What little we have seen of it seems simple and melodious.

We had only the two parts too. Betty Drown is going to try and get all the little boys together for the sopranos and I suggested that some of the older boys and perhaps one or two men will be able to sing contralto. I know that the two or three contraltos in the Temple choir were men. Anyway, it looks as though it is going to be good fun. There are several more tenors in camp who can be pressed in. I think too that the number of basses should be reduced, though I hope I should not be one of those to go!

Yesterday morning Y and I had a great thrill. We had been told that a parcel had arrived for a Mrs Charter, so Y went up the hill to collect it! On returning we found it contained some of our own clothes! Aileen Stevens, a friend of Devaux, had obtained permission to leave camp and live in town and we asked her, if possible, to look through the one box containing some of our clothes that Devaux had kindly taken into his custody. The parcel contained two silk dresses, a summer playsuit and some summer slacks for Yvonne, and my crimson silk dressing gown! I’m afraid the box contained only odds and ends of summer clothing; nothing so useful as shoes or warm winter clothes. However, everything is more than welcome here. Y, has been very lucky with dresses here: she has had about 5 given to her. Now she can give some away again to more needy cases.

Yesterday too, most of us signed a paper written by Dr Smalley and addressed to the Hon. C.S.  It contained an appeal that he should endeavour to contact the Home Govt through the I.R.C. and press for our repatriation. The desirability for this was based almost entirely on medical considerations and the question of food supply, mentioning also overcrowded conditions, lack of adequate clothing, shoes etc. It stated that most people survived last winter chiefly because of the reserve of strength they had built up during previous months of proper feeding. This winter we shall have no such reserve and the position will be more serious. Dr Smalley also said that it took years for Europeans, unused to a rice diet, to adjust their digestive organs so as to assimilate more than a small amount of rice, so it will be a very grave matter if the Japanese reduce or stop our flour ration (as they have informed us may be necessary because the stocks of flour are nearly exhausted) and give us a corresponding increase of rice. I don’t know what effect this will have on the C.S. His avowed policy is to do nothing that will embarrass the Home Govt, which is very sound; at the same time, if nothing is forthcoming from this end the Home Govt. may assume that conditions here are fairly good and allow internees here to suffer hardships and deaths that they would not permit if they were informed. But I believe the C.S. has already informed the Japanese authorities that he would like all women, children and aged and infirm to be repatriated. Well, if that were achieved it would be a good thing, for there are many old people here who I am sure will not survive another winter.

The above mentioned petition ((see his previous diary entry on 30 Sep)) has aroused quite a storm in the camp and has evoked quite a sharp reply from the C.S. There are many people who did not sign it and their hinted inference (and I regret, the inference of the C.S. too) is that the petitioners here, “Can’t take it”, and that all we are worrying about is getting out of here with whole skins as fast as we can so that we can reach a safer place and live in comparative comfort again.

The C.S. started his reply by assuring petitioners that the American Red Cross, the Canadians (Col Doughty, who went with the Diplomats), Sir Arthur Blackburn (the British Consul from Peking, or some such place, who was with his wife, caught here at the outbreak of war; all these and others had instructions fully to acquaint the Home Government with the state of affairs here: that it might gravely embarrass the British Government at this moment to receive appeals from this Colony for the repatriation of civilians: that it was impossible for him to make direct contact with the Home Govt and he had already done all he could to put the facts before the House and he must now wait for them to take action as they, naturally, were in possession of the facts in all theatres of the war while we are almost completely in the dark. He also made the statement, based on the supposition that Britain and Japan might be negotiating for an exchange of prisoners or internees, that should the knowledge of such a petition reach the ears of the Japanese authorities, it might enable them, quite conceivably, to demand better terms for their side of the exchange. So far so good.  All this was reassuring: petitioners received the answer they had asked for, that so far as was possible in the circumstances, all details of conditions here and their likely effects had been placed before the Home Government;  and I am certain that none of us had any intention of embarrassing the Home Government in any way.

But the C.S. then proceeded to administer a severe and, in my opinion, quite unjustified rebuke by saying that all petitioners, by their actions, laid themselves open to the charge of dis-loyalty to their country by endeavouring to push forward their own case to the prejudice, perhaps, of other more vital factors affecting the national war effort. What the Hon. C.S. and the anti petitioners seemed to overlook is the fact that many of the signatories of the petition were motivated by the intensely loyal and patriotic impulse to get away from here where we are completely useless and get to a place where, far from saving our skins we may considerably endanger them by joining up, in the case of many of the men, and by doing essential war work by the women and many of the others.

It seemed a sensible petition to me: if we can be got away from this place, where we are useless to our countries’ war effort and where we might start dying off like flies (at any moment!), so much the better: if we can’t, well we see it through as best we can and keep our chins up. And that’s all we could see in it - no need for base insinuations.

Today is Mr Lammert’s birthday: he is 63. Poor man, he does not yet know that his son Ernest, who was in the HK Volunteers, and whose name is not on the lists of any of the Prisoners of War camps, has in fact been killed. Elsie and Isa know that he is probably dead but even they still entertain the hope that he is alive. Harold, however, has received definite news of his death. Apparently he did or said something to a Japanese officer which was considered by that individual, to be an insult (as it might have been according to Japanese custom but not to ours). At all events, he was apprehended and given a certain length of time in which to apologise. This, apparently, he refused to do and was executed then and there with a sword. Perhaps he was foolhardy, there is no doubt he was extremely brave and he must have felt his honour or chivalry involved if he was prepared to give his life in that way. This all happened a week or so after the surrender. Ernest was 26. (In fact new evidence suggests that his execution occurred on 19th December, when he was captured, as the Japanese advanced through Causeway Bay.)

I poisoned my thumb the other day by quite an insignificant little scratch. However, the poison began to inflame my arm and Billy Hackett dressed it and gave me a dose of Strepticide pills (11 of them over a period of 12 hours). They have made me feel rather low for the past few days but they certainly prevented the poison spreading any further and my thumb is nearly better again now.

One highly novel and, I hope, never to be repeated discovery that we made today was that we had bed bugs in our beds! Sanitary Inspector Purves (the vermin expert!) came along at our request to inspect our beds, because during the last few nights both the Fortescues and Y and I had been bitten by some mysterious creature. An inspection of our bed frame disclosed the presence of the horrid bugs living in the cracks and joints of the frame. Fortunately there were none in our mintoi. The Fortescues had a mattress from the Mee Chow Hotel that someone had given them a month or two ago. This, I think has been the source of infection, for these Chinese hotels are extremely verminous and the other furniture in our room had all come from rooms and flats previously occupied by Europeans and was, I therefore think, quite free from such horrific pests. At all events, the Fortescues mattress had several enormous bugs in its seams and creases and there were scores of eggs round the edge. Their bed frame will be full of them as well. The Bidwell’s and Isa seem to have escaped. Well, tomorrow we are going to have a field day.The bed frames have to be completely dismantled and taken to bits, scrubbed with soap and have boiling water poured over them and into all cracks.

Stop Press - Latest bed bug news! This morning Tim and I took our beds to pieces and carted them out onto the lawn by the tool store shed. Here we unscrewed still more nuts and bolts (I don’t think Tim will ever assemble his again!) untill all cracks and joints were fairly well accessible. Tim then had to depart to work at the C.S.O. and Marjorie took over. Marjorie is swift but, I am bound to add, somewhat slap dash. She brought some hot water, soap and a scrubbing brush and scrubbed pretty vigorously round the end of their rattan straw mattress. I think she got rid of most of the eggs and the bugs that were not quick enough off the mark to dive inside the mattress before her scrubbing brush reached them. I’m afraid there is only one way of getting rid of the bugs from the mattress and that is to burn it. However the Fortescues are evidently determined not to do this until another mattress is forthcoming or until they get a couple of camp beds, and as I hear there are still people sleeping on the floor in some of the buildings, it seems unlikely that they will speedily acquire any additional sleeping material. So I fear this looks like another bone of contention in our room!

It is hard luck on the Fortescues, for it means they have to choose between sleeping on a bed bug infested mattress or the wire springs of their bed. I should prefer the wire, which is the old fashioned type of fine wire mesh stretched over a frame: but to each one, his own choice I suppose. I shall be most annoyed if our bed becomes again infested from this wretched mattress!

I spent all morning scrubbing with soap and water, the rectangular wooden frame on which our wire springs are stretched. I removed scores of little white eggs and several smallish bugs. After lunch I obtained two big enamel mugs full of boiling water and poured it carefully all over the wooden frame, douching thoroughly all the cracks and pouring water between the eased joints. I think that has settled the hash of any remaining bugs and eggs as hot water quickly kills insects. Unfortunately there is no disinfectant or paraffin available in the camp. Tomorrow I will turn my attention to the supporting teak bedstead and treat it similarly. Teak is excellent wood and seldom harbours insects, so I don’t anticipate much trouble here. We shall leave the whole bed out in the wind and the sun for about three days during which time we shall have to revert to our old custom of sleeping on the floor. So much for bed bugs!

The ‘Hong Kong News’ reported that the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru, while transporting 1,800 British troops from a southern port to a destination in Japan, was torpedoed and sunk by an American submarine. Apparently the ship was near some islands or hugging the coast, for it said that some of the survivors swam ashore. A later report states that many of the prisoners and crew were rescued but that about 1,000 perished. That sort of thing is appalling to hear of, when allies of a cause unwittingly destroy one another. To make things locally worse, we heard news to the effect that 1,700 of the Canadian military prisoners in HK had embarked for transhipment to Japan, and the fear is that it was this luckless contingent that has suffered. Poor Canadians - if so - they have had a rotten deal in Hong Kong.

However, we have also heard another rumour (some weeks ago) that an advance guard of the British prisoners in Singapore were being taken to Formosa or Korea to form a labour squad with the object of building a prisoner of war camp for all British war prisoners taken by the Japanese during this war. If this is true, the men on the ill fated Lisbon Maru may quite well have been some of these British troops from Singapore (re-christened by the Japanese ‘Shonan’). The only cheerful part of it is that we know American submarines are operating along this coast and must be taking a toll of Japanese transports and supplies en route to the Solomon Islands and New Guinea which are apparently, the present scenes of operations between American, British (largely Australian) and Japanese forces.

The day following the announcement in the Japanese paper of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, the paper made the further report that the British prisoners of war aboard the ill fated ship had all come from Hong Kong. This was a horrible piece of news for us in this camp, especially for the many wives, sisters and mothers here of HK war prisoners, for no less than 900 are reported lost (just half the number). We hear it was not the Canadian contingent and the guess is that it consisted chiefly of the regular British troops here - the Middlesex and the Royal Scots plus (probably) all British Sappers. The C.S. applied immediately for particulars and Yamashita forwarded them straight away. Up to date no details have been returned.

The Japanese are rather extraordinary in this respect. I consider that, in the main, their conduct of the war against the British has been very fair, but I criticise the harsh way in which they refuse to allow any communication whatever between prisoners of war out here and their wives in this camp. It seems odd that they should allow people here, with next of kin in England, to write to them (by Red X) and yet not allow a person like Isa to write to her husband not more than 10 miles distant in Argyle Street Camp. And it seems a long time now since the news of the Lisbon Maru. 

The news that finds its way into camp seems quite cheerful, both from the Eastern and Western theatres of operations. We have heard rumours that all prisoners of war are to be removed from HK and apparently some of the regulars have definitely left. I don’t know what this may mean; evidently something is afoot, but it seems that my hope of something happening at the end of September is not going to materialise. Now I am inclined to name a possible date as the end of the year and a more probable date as February or March of next year! Another winter here; what an appalling thought!

I hear from a perfectly sure source that the Hon. C.S. has written a letter to Otah (Head of all the Japanese prisoner camps in HK) saying that he (the C.S.) had supplied Mr Otah some time ago with the percentage of persons wishing to remain in HK and the percentage that wished to be repatriated. Since then, the C.S. had found that people had changed their views, due largely to reasons of health during the approaching winter, and that he would be glad if Mr Otah would do the courtesy of seeing him to discuss this question of repatriation. Well!  So the petition has had some effect; and it seems to me that our worthy Mr Gimson was just a little piqued by the voice of the rabble! At all events, it proves he is not just pig headed!

The camp is evidently still in disgrace for we have not yet been allowed to hold another concert. Both Y and I are due to appear in different numbers in this next concert - I’m sure the Japs have not been made aware of this! However, they have extended the date for bathing from the end of September to the end of October. At present the N.E. monsoon seems to be alternating with the S.W. (as it does at this time of the year) and for the last few days we have had cooler weather with winds of gale force and bathing has not attracted many people.

Last Thursday Y and I had yet another pleasant surprise. We hoped Devaux would send in some more of our clothes and sure enough he did. This parcel contained for Y: 3 cotton dresses (which she used to wear to the office) and her grey and chalk striped winter costume!  For me - a whitish or very light brown tropical summer suit and a brown winter suit! We were delighted, particularly with the two winter suits. It now makes us wonder what was in the half filled trunk. I certainly never imagined it contained any winter clothes. My brown suit is about my third best and has arrived without its waist coat, but it is in good condition and has years of hard wear in it. (At least I hope so). I hadn’t a suit before at all. I had two odd coats and two odd and very old pairs of trousers. Now all we need are shoes and some underclothes.

Many happy returns of the day, Father. I see in the ‘HK News’ that the Viceroy of India has advised all British women and children who can possibly manage to do so, to leave India as soon as possible. I heard a story some time ago that women and children had been evacuated from Ceylon, but do not know if this is true or not. It makes it difficult about the occasional Red Cross messages we have been able to send as I am not sure where to address them. So I suppose it is possible that Mother and Father may now be separated, though I think this is improbable.

The Kamakura Maru which was scheduled to arrive here on 2nd October, arrived in fact on the 1st of the month. That may have been because of a typhoon which was blowing up. It was not a severe one though the wind howled pretty fiercely. It was late in the year for a typhoon. Apparently some 500 tons of comfits were landed for British prisoners of war, we hear from Zindle of the Red Cross. Hardly any letters seem to have come at all. The Kamakura left on the 3rd and she took no one from here to Shanghai. So Harold and Elsie and the others bound for Shanghai have had their hopes somewhat dashed, poor things. We also hear that the Japanese are tightening up their regulations concerning British and other enemy nationals in Shanghai. If they ever reach the stage of interning them (at present they live in their own homes and lead fairly normal lives) Harold and Elsie will be no better off than here. In addition there is always the risk of being torpedoed on the way up by a British or American submarine!

We are still not allowed to hold concerts!

We are still sporadically fighting bed bugs. The Fortescues have at last thrown out their mattress to be burnt, but I’m afraid the bugs must have spread a bit again in the mean time. We shall have to pour boiling water over our beds periodically until they finally disappear. To think that we should ever descend to bed bugs! Well, we can console ourselves with the frequent sight of patient internees pouring boiling water over bed frames on the tennis lawn! Also, in the early days of this camp, the respectable people next door had lice - which are worse!

The weather recently has been warm and overcast, but three nights ago the wind veered to the N.E. and blew half a gale from that direction. It seemed to blow the clouds right out of the sky and the thermometer dropped about 15 – 20 degrees so that, from sleeping in thin silk night attire (a pair of shorts in my case) and covered only with a sheet, we were still cold last night with two blankets and flannelette pyjamas. Today the wind had dropped to a stiff breeze and the sunlight was simply sparkling; the cold nip has had a wonderful tonic effect, though unfortunately it makes our mouths water for beef steaks and Irish stews and other good, satisfying food.

Yvonne and I decided to take our tea down to the beach this afternoon and sit on the rocks in the sun, sheltered from the cold wind. This beach has a S.E. aspect and is well sheltered from the winter winds. It was beautifully warm in the sun and we wished we had come prepared to bathe. While we were eating our tea we heard a drone of aeroplane engines and then a little while later we heard some distant thuds.

“Did you hear those bombs dropping?” Y said,

“I thought they were ack ack guns”, said I and we both laughed.

There has been a great deal of aerial activity about lately - Japanese planes out on patrol as far as we could make out.

Presently the whistle was blown to clear the beach and we started on our way back. At the Governor’s bathing shed (this beach used to be the Governor’s private beach in pre-war days) we saw Billy Hackett attending to a man who appeared to have had a fainting fit. They were laying him down on a stretcher and I saw it was Alan Johnson of the PWD. Then I saw that his shoulder had been dislocated. He had been bowled over by a wave whilst bathing and had fallen awkwardly on the sand, putting his shoulder out. I helped carry the stretcher up the steps and along the path to the gate where the trolley from the hospital had been brought.

When we reached our room, Elsie told us that a Mr Buchanon, while watching a bowls match this afternoon, suddenly collapsed and died of heart failure. He had had a weak heart for some years so he might have died had he not been in camp. He has a daughter, Nina, who was evacuated to Australia. She left in HK, a father, a brother and a fiancée. Her father died of heart failure; her brother was blown up in the awful accident that occurred when our own troops fired upon the lighter that was bringing over dynamite from Stone Cutters Island when we abandoned that fort; and her fiancée, Ernie Lammert, was beheaded by the Japanese. Poor girl, she may not yet have had the news of any of these deaths and it is possible she will hear of them altogether.

People were all agog with the news of the planes that came over this afternoon. They had seen the planes diving in the Kowloon direction and had heard the thud of the detonations (the same that we had joked about on the beach) and seen puffs of AA shells bursting in the sky. We were all very excited about it as can be imagined. Was HK being attacked at last? Were we near the end of our imprisonment?  After the evening meal we heard more droning and dashed out to gaze skyward with a few hundred other internees. We could make out, very high up, a flight of seven planes. Then following them another flight of six. As they wheeled they reflected the sun and shone like gleaming silver streaks high above us. They disappeared and later came around again in another big circle - Japanese patrols, obviously. Well, it shows they are agitated about something. There is just the possibility that it may have been a big anti-air attack practice for HK, but I doubt it. In any case, the paper had scheduled the practice for Wed. 28th and this is only Monday. Tomorrow’s paper will be interesting!

The last day of another month - and I have a feeling that we may not be here for so very much longer! The last week has been an exciting one: on the night of Monday 26th at about 1:30 a.m. and by the light of a brilliant full moon there was another raid. Our room slept through it but other people heard it and on looking out saw the flashes of guns beyond the Mount Parker range of hills and saw tracer shells and saw the shells bursting. Next morning the Japanese sent in a notice to Gimson to say that no internee must be seen looking at the sky!!! Did we laugh!! Also, no paper was allowed in that day, so there was no doubt about the veracity of the raids. On the following day there was a great deal of aerial activity but it consisted of Japanese patrols only - as far as we could make out.

On Wednesday morning at about 11:00 a.m. I was in the workshop where I had been making an ash tray for Christine Corra's 21st birthday. There was a considerable amount of noise, hammering etc. as there usually is, but above it, or rather through it, I thought I felt rather than heard a thud. I went to the door and outside, I heard the drone of aeroplanes.

Mr Sharp was standing by and I said, “Are those aeroplanes I hear?”

“Oh yes, “he replied, “They’ve been about all morning”.

“I thought I heard a few thuds just now”, I said.

“So did I”, said he, “But it’s very easy to imagine that, I find”.

“That’s true”, I agreed.

But at that moment there was an increase in the roar of planes and then the sharp cracks of bursting shells. I rushed round the block and there, over the Mount Parker range I saw a cluster of puffs of smoke in the sky and some four or five planes buzzing about. Presently one of them went into a steep dive, its engines roaring and it disappeared behind the crest of the hill; then another dived and another. More puffs of smoke from AA shells; thuds of bursting bombs; the sudden rattle of machine gun fire from the air - there must have been a Japanese fighter up too. The planes seemed to dive with great speed. Then presently two planes appeared above the hill crest, climbing steeply and twisting about so much in their climb that I thought they must have been hit. But they were twisting to make it difficult for the AA guns. They climbed and made off in a N.E. direction.

It was all most exciting. Everyone was out (gazing at the sky I regret to say) including the rice boilers and when one of the kitchen orderlies came running out to say, “More rice,” for the food queue, as lunch was being served, no one paid him the slightest attention! There was a great deal of gossip and speculation during the rest of the day as can be imagined.

In the afternoon Y and I went to Christine Corra’s 21st birthday. I had made her an ash tray for the occasion. I cannot claim that the idea was original for I saw Hill making one first and it was he who gave me the principal piece of material, a rectangle cut from the shell case or cartridge of an AA shell. I don’t know the technical name for this metal or alloy, but I believe it is made from a compound of copper, tin and zinc. It is very tough; it can be brought to quite a bright polish but it seems to dull rather quickly though I imagine the metal quickly forms a protective oxide on the surface and further corrosion is then arrested. So it is not the most suitable of metals for this purpose.

However, with an ungainly 2 lb ball headed hammer and ye olde blacksmiths anvil, I managed to hammer out a rectangular ash tray with a lip, leaving an indented or ‘beaten’ surface finish.  Then I fished out our old matshed latch key, scratched its outline on the tray and with a small chisel, cut out the key shape from the centre of the tray. Then I filed the edges smooth, pushed the latch key into position (it was slightly thicker than the tray and so its surface is therefore slightly raised) and then got the tin smith to run a little solder into the crack or joint to hold it tight. It was a job scraping and cutting off the superfluous solder, but I managed it with the aid of Jack Armstrong’s pen knife (on condition that I sharpened it again for him!); Y polished the whole thing up with wood ash and it really looked presentable. I had not time enough in which to cut an inscription, but if Christine wishes, I can put on her name, date and ‘Stanley Internment Camp’. I wish I had thought of the idea for Yvonne’s 21st. The latch key purports to be a ‘Yale’ and on reversing the tray the words on the back of the key are ‘Made in Germany’!  A British shell case and a German key: not inappropriate and, I hope symbolical of better relations in the future.

The party was sumptuous and Christine had some lovely presents considering this is an internment camp. Someone had sent her a box of paints from town from ‘Daddy’, who is a prisoner of war at Sham Shui Po. The Corra’s are Austrians by birth and though they applied for British nationality some years ago, they have not yet quite completed the necessary 5 years. Mr Corra lost his very good job in ‘Standard Oil’  ‘A.P.C.’ or ‘I.C.I.’  (which ever firm it was) when the governing body of the firm decided to employ no foreigners. Mr and Mrs Corra and Christine were all interned as enemy aliens for the first few days of hostilities in HK, but I am glad to say Mr Corra was allowed to join his unit in the HK Volunteers, and Miss and Mrs Corra were allowed to resume their VAD duties. They are naturally sensitive to this position and some people in this camp have said the most unkind and outrageous things to them. I am quite convinced they are intensly pro-British and anti Nazi though naturally enough they love their own Austria. I have met Mr Corra once only, but Christine and Mrs Corra are really charming. Christine has a younger brother in America. She hopes after the war to go to America to study art.

Christine and Yvonne now take a class between them at the camp school at St Stephens. They take alternate days (Mons to Fri from 8:30 to 11 with 5 half hour periods. They have a mixed class of children, from 9 to 11 years old. They have worked out their own syllabus which I believe includes Scripture, French, Arithmetic, Dictation, Spelling, History, Geography and Drawing………oh, and English grammar. Christine is Catholic and Y Protestant and they both teach Scripture (Old Testament) so it is very democratic or interdenominational (or whatever the right word is), though I daresay they attempt nothing in the nature of doctrinal instruction. Yvonne seems to enjoy it considerably. They started about the middle of October. 

The other exciting piece of news is that there is a whole consignment of goods from Australia, brought here for war prisoners in the Kamakura Maru. The prisoners of war in Sham Shui Po and Argyle Street Camps have had their allotments and the remainder is for Stanley Internment Camp. The list of goods is as follows (to be divided amongst the 2400 now remaining here):- 3,600 individual parcels – 500 boxes of sugar – 100 cases of tea (Indian I hope) – 130 x 28 lb cases of cocoa – 30 cases of vitamin caramels – 76 cases of dried raisins – 27 cases of dried fruit – 113 cases of dried pears – 120 bales of assorted clothes – 4 cases of hats.

No one seems to know how much the boxes of sugar are likely to contain, but in any case we can get 1/5 of a box per person and I doubt if any box would be made to contain less than 20 to 25 lbs of sugar - so we should get 4 or 5 lbs each. That will be marvellous! One hundred cases of tea sounds a very liberal supply and the cocoa works out at 1 ½ lbs per person! And it seems we shall each have a fairly liberal helping of the other things. It sounds horrid to gloat over and calculate out the gifts in this way but one has to allow for the mental outlook of an under nourished internee who has been largely cut off from all his accustomed luxuries!  Anyway, our Australian friends who sent out the gifts would, I think, be pleased and gratified if they could see the excited anticipation that the news has created. Now we are only afraid it may never actually get here!

Mr Zindel has, apparently opened one of the individual parcels and says they contain 12 different things. What these different things are we are not quite sure and (as is usual in this camp) the length of the list and variety of articles has grown and grown and now includes a tin of bully beef, cheese, butter, milk, 4 lbs chocolate, a tinned cake, plum pudding, tobacco etc. Well time (we hope) will prove.

Today has been quite a gala day; there have been processions but no decorations. Our ‘comfit parcels’ have been distributed! And the processions consisted of the willing ‘able bodied men’ who carried the parcels from the godown to their various blocks. A prize giving wasn’t anywhere near it, and when we opened our parcels in our room we were like a lot of little kids at Christmas! An additional and unexpected thrill was to find that all these parcels came from London, England!  Mine was packed in Bermondsey. Good old Bermondsey say I! The parcels were beautifully packed in cardboard boxes, the boxes being packed up in lots of 4 and 6 in sacking and marked ‘British and Dominions Prisoners of War, Far East, c/o South African International Red Cross Assn, in transit, Lourenco Marques’. ‘Suisse’ and ‘Geneve’ came into it too somewhere and one or two other words, but I wasn’t really concerned with the covers!

A case of 6 boxes was pretty heavy (I made sure I got a case of 4!), but we got them all onto the lawn and they were then distributed by Blocks. The contents of the parcels were the same in general although different in detail. For instance, the types of tea were different, also jams, puddings, tinned meats etc. and we had great fun comparing tins. Even so, the parcels were grouped in two categories because one type contained a packet of fruit drops which the other lacked! Married couples had one parcel of each kind and single people had those with the sweets, and I think it worked out like that pretty completely. There are still about 2,000 parcels left and these, I hear are to be distributed one between two, just before Christmas. I am sure it would have given the folk at home a kick to see us opening the parcels! Any way, we are very grateful to them and the IRC (and the Japs too) and we feel we are not forgotten in a far and distant land. Now I will tabulate the contents of the parcels:

4 x 3 oz tins of Sugar:  2 x 10 oz tins of Tomatoes: 1 x 10 oz tin of Meat Galentine 
1 x 10 oz tin of Spiced Meat Roll: 1 x 14 oz tin of Beef and Vegetables: 1 x 14 oz tin of Steak & Vegetables
2 x 8 oz or 12 oz tins of Bacon: 1 x 12 oz tin of Marmalade Pudding: 1 x 12 oz tin of Apple Pudding
1 x 12 oz tin of Raspberry Jam (Morton’s) : 1 x 8 oz tin of Golden Syrup: 1 x 12 oz tin of Creamed Rice !!
2 Large tins Nestles Condensed Milk: 2 x 3 oz tins Cheese: 1 x 3 oz tin of Shrimp Paste
2 x 8 oz tins of Margarine: 2 x 2 oz packets of Tea: 2 x 4 oz tins of Plain Chocolate (York & Meltis)
1 x packet Lime Drops: 2 x 8 oz tins of Peak Freanes Biscuits: 2 x Tablets of Assorted Soap.

It is a very well selected list of foods, and as most of the contents of the tins have been specially vitaminised the nutrient value will be very high. The chocolate is very much appreciated because we know it has not been available in England for the ordinary civilian since war began. The one tin that has raised a laugh is the ‘Creamed Rice’. Fancy, sending rice all the way from England to Hong Kong, when we have been eating practically nothing but rice for the last 10 months. Still, I have heard some people have already opened their tin and say it is delicious, the creaming part having been carried out with real cream. I suppose it is really like a creamy rice pudding. Also, these comfit parcels have been packed up by the British Red Cross for distribution amongst British prisoners of war in Germany who would appreciate rice. They are dated April, May and June of this year, so in all probability the tins contain fresher food than any of the tins still left in Hong Kong.

I saw a long message scratched with a pin or nail on the outside of one box. Amongst the many sentences were: “There’ll always be an England”. “Germany for a while” (obviously intended for a prisoner in Germany). “Chins up”, “I am slim, blonde and blue eyed”, “Write soon you lovely boys”!  I hate to think how disallusioned the fair originator of the message would be if she knew that in all probability the parcel was given to a scrawny, sun-baked empire wallah. I hope she would not just have written “Rats”.

4,420 of these parcels were sent to this camp. A parcel was given to all the remaining Americans and also to all the Dutch community although the latter have been receiving regularly Y80 worth of food per month in extras from town as the Dutch Government has made the necessary arrangements with the Japanese. This still leaves some 2,000 parcels and they are to be distributed, I hear, shortly before Xmas.

The food that has come in bulk has all come from Australia. We have heard a story that the HK evacuees in Australia obtained permission to hold a 3 day flag day collection to raise funds to send the food, and the story goes that the sum they aimed at was collected in the first 3 hours of the first day! Well, if that is so it shows a generous spirit in Australia. This bulk food is an absolute godsend. The official list is as follows:

Bully Beef in 12 oz & 8 oz tins      40,175 lbs
Meat & veg with peas in 16 oz tins   32,640 lbs
Dried fruit (Pears & Raisins)         9,000 lbs
Sugar                                50,000 lbs
Cocoa                                 3,640 lbs
Vitamin Caramels                         30 cartons
Clothes (Cardigans, shirts & vests)     120 bales
Felt Hats                             1,400 hats

This means that per head we each receive about 17 lbs of Bully Beef (34 lbs for Y and me together!), 13½ lbs of meat & veg; 4 lbs dried fruit; 20 lbs sugar; 2 lbs tea; 1½ lbs cocoa.

It has not been finally decided how to distribute these goods. Dr MacLeod, the Camp Health Officer, has said we should be eating a minimum of 25 grammes of protein per day while in fact we have been getting about 15 grammes. He suggests we should be issued with sufficient tins of meat to give us 35 grammes per day to the end of the month and then enough to bring up our daily protein supply to the requisite 25 grammes. Sugar is to be distributed at 3 lbs per person per month. I think this is quite a good idea.

My last entry was made on the Armistice Day Anniversary of the last World War. On the previous Sunday, 8th Nov., we had an Armistice Day Sunday Service. It was conducted by Revd E. Sandbach, he being chosen as the only person in camp who fought in the last war as a soldier. He gave an inspiring address; his theme being that the sacrifices of those who died in both the last war and in this were made in the faith and belief that they were setting the stage for a world at peace; that it is the duty of those who survive to see these sacrifices are not made in vain again and to dedicate oneself afresh to God and His kingdom on earth. Mr Sandbach read three of Rupert Booke’s poems and “We will remember them”.  Wreathes and poppies made in camp were placed on many of the war graves. It must have been a sad day for many in this camp, living on the very battlefield on which their husbands and sons were killed and with their graves in their midst. All those that I know have been wonderfully plucky. We observed no 2 minutes silence on the 11th; I believe the 2 minutes silence has been discontinued in England since this second war began.

I have many memories of past Armistice Day observances: last year Y and I stood alone in the hills above Tytam reservoir, where we had taken our food for a picnic; I can remember the silent and crowded scene at St Giles Circus in London where we used to go from the Architectural Association, the motionless men on scaffolding and in the suspended cradles on the façade of an adjacent building, the two sounds of a flag flapping at half mast and the jingle of a horse shaking it’s bridle miles down New Oxford Street. I can remember the little service on the greenswood outside the estate office at Welwyn Garden City when an ex-army bugler sounded a somewhat uncertain “Last Post” on his old bugle. But during the last war I was too young to remember any lost individuals; it was, to me, far more a national and international day of remembrance. Now, alas, I shall associate Armistice Day with the loss of many good friends. Still, Armistice Day for this war has not yet been fixed and, who knows, we may yet have some more work to do.

News lately has been magnificent: the Germans virtually finished in Libya (one cannot fail to pay tribute in passing to the brilliant soldiering of the German General Rommel); that the Americans have landed and occupied many parts of French and Italian North Africa; that air raids have been continuing in Hong Kong chiefly over Kowloon and New Territories. We sometimes hear distant thuds and we hear and see on nearly all days planes buzzing about to the N.E. They are too high to identify markings, but the drone of the engines are different between the Americans and the Japanese planes and we spend our time listening and guessing. Harold saw three planes yesterday, unmistakably going down behind the hills in steep dives, one after the other. Anyway, the Japanese, who seem to be doing their best to keep out of the camp news of air raids, made a pretty naïve admission of them on Wednesday.

Last Friday morning the camp was buzzing with the incredulous rumour that all men between and including the ages of 21 and 34 were to be put in prison. After the lunch meal an official notice was posted which stated that men of these ages who had not got their wives in camp with them were to spend the hours between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. in the prison.

A meeting for these men ((the single men who had to spend the night in Stanley Prison - see Charter's previous dary entry)) that afternoon had been announced, and Gimson and Yamashita (by interpretation), addressed the men – there were about 240 of them. Yamashita announced that owing to air raids on Hong Kong and the consequent blacking out of the Colony, the Japanese military authorities thought it likely that the younger men in camp might take the opportunity to de-camp and that, therefore, these men would have to spend the nights of the next three weeks in prison. He regretted this etc. etc. and made quite a nice little speech, which was quite well received. Everyone (except the 240 men) was delighted! Why three weeks? Obviously they must be expecting an attack on the Colony within the next three weeks…………or perhaps the Japanese were going to clear out within that time! A lot of unlikely guesses were made.

Married men of military age were not included in the gaol squad because, (Gimson convinced the Japs of this), the married men would not want to escape and leave their wives behind (off stage caustic comments by the married men) and Yvonne is already throwing in my face the fact that she saved me from gaol! Policemen up to the age of 40 are included in this squad. They are allowed to take in books, playing cards, musical instruments etc., and they are allotted a cell each (they have to provide their own sleeping gear and have to use the plank beds unless they have camp beds) but are not locked in and can move about any of the three floors of their prison block. They profess rather to enjoy themselves, but they admit it is a compound nuisance. They do at least have some privacy – an almost unheard of thing in this camp. They spent four nights in prison (Nakasawa spent the first night with them and told Yamashita it was good fun so Yamashita went along on the second night!) and then, on Wednesday, when they were congregated in front of the prison, waiting to be let in, Yamashita came down to tell them they need not go in that night as there had been no serious raids in Hong Kong and no blackout would now be necessary. He thanked them all for being, “Very sporting gentlemen”, which remark was hailed with an ironical cheer! But alas for the authorities and gaol birds, there were two raids that very night and back they all went again on Thursday night and have slept there ever since – 10 of the 21 days.

There is one amusing, if slightly shabby incident connected with this gaol which I might mention here. Some weeks or months ago Gray Dalziel was granted a divorce from her husband, Freddie. She has a divorce ‘Nisi’ but not yet ‘Absolute’. Freddie, who is under 35 was counted unmarried and included in the list of those who have to sleep in the goal. He came to the C.S.O. on the afternoon of the first day and was very abusive to Tim – who happened to be on duty – stating that in the eyes of the law he was still a married man! That the CSO had no business to include him in the squad, and that he refused point blank to go in while other married men remained outside and that he demanded to see the C.S. Tim mildly pointed out that married men were not included because the presence of their wives would act as a deterrent to their urge to escape, while the same could hardly apply in his case!  But he stuck to his point and being, I believe legally in the right he was allowed to remain put. But the funny part was the indignation of Mrs Dalziel when she found, as she said, that Freddie was using her to keep himself out of prison!

Now the question of the I.R.C. food distribution again.

I must have been cut short in any intended dissertation about the food. Perhaps that was as well as the matter has not yet been finally settled.

Members of the BCC met together and approved the suggestion put forward by Macleod that the bulk food should be rationed and issued once a week or once a month. John Sterricker, the secretary, in his weekly Camp Bulletin, stated that this scheme of distribution had been submitted to the Japanese authorities for their sanction, he added, unfortunately, that the Japanese had been told it was the wish of internees that the food should be distributed in this manner. This raised a storm – or storms – of protest from various sections of the community, the two chief complaints being the community as a whole had never been given a chance to air its views on the subject and that therefore the BCC had no right to put forward the scheme as one which represented the wishes of the people. Also what guarantee had the community, in the light of former thefts and pilferings, that individuals would ever get their quota of the food: the I.R.C. goods had been sent to British prisoners as a whole but it was intended that everyone was to get an equal share and the only way that this could be done with certainty was to issue everyone their full quota straight away and let internees look after their own stuff and eat it as and when they want to and not as they are told to. People in the married Quarters demanded a public meeting and an explanation by the Block Chairman and Committee. This meeting was accordingly held on 12th December ((typo - the meeting was held on 12th November)) and a sickening sort of meeting it proved to be.

((More about the meeting to discuss the bulk IRC rations)) I think it would not be incorrect to say that the majority of people who wanted to be issued with their full quota of rations had made a point of attending the meeting, while those who had nothing in particular to shout about (and those constituted the majority of people in our blocks) had not bothered to turn up. This was unfortunate because, after sundry pointed questions to the Chairman, a motion was proposed and carried (almost unanimously) that the Japanese should be sounded and if found to be amenable, the suggestion be made to them that the food be distributed pro rata.

((Charter continues describing the meeting about the bulk IRC rations, and the point that food should be all be distributed immediately rather than held centrally.)) This was carried in spite of the warning given by the Chairman that the food (especially the sugar) stored in our already crowded rooms would only encourage ants, cockroaches etc.  The deplorable part about the meeting – or rather about the majority of those that attended it – was the complete lack of faith that these people had, or have, in their fellow men.

“What guarantee have we that once the food goes into a communal store we shall ever get our fair share of it”? -  was one of the questions asked.

“How do we know the store will not be broken into and looted”? - was another. They seemed to forget that it would probably be easier to steal it from the rooms themselves during certain times of the day.

Well, the Chairman and Wittenbach (who was on the BCC sub Committee of 3 who drew up the suggested scheme for food distribution) promised to put forward this resolution to the BCC, but added that they felt it was unlikely to be approved by the Japanese. Wittenbach pointed out earlier in the meeting that most of the bulk food had come from communities in the British Empire who were themselves being rationed and that we therefore were under still a greater moral obligation to use this food to the best possible advantage and ration ourselves as a community instead of just leaving the matter to the conscience of the individual. The majority of people would be wise and economical but a few might eat the whole lot in a couple of months: thinking, if starvation conditions returned, the wise and frugal would feel bound to contribute something to the foolish and prodigal. “No, let them starve” was what a number of people seemed to think: justifiable in it’s way, but a hard attitude to adopt. Needless to say, the meeting showed a hostile attitude to the committee.

One part that particularly disgusted me was a shout from several people of, “They’re jolly well better off than we are,” when Wittenbach referred to the people at home who were rationed and yet sent the food. I left the meeting feeling disgusted with the spirit of some of my fellow countrymen. Thank God they are in the minority here. I do not want to discriminate between classes, but most of these grabbers are the type of wretched ‘white’ who would be nobody at home, but coming to the East reaches a far higher level of living than he would do otherwise, he becomes selfish, greedy and entirely self centered, and probably does not rise in the social scale as he thinks he should and becomes overbearing and self assertive (collectively) because of an inferiority complex. One sees many of these people out here and their behaviour particularly to the Chinese, makes you blush for them and your country which, unfortunately, they represent to many Chinese and Asiatics. However, I digress.