22 Dec 1944, Barbara Anslow's diary

Submitted by Barbara Anslow on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 18:32

Xmas play The Other Wise Man.  Little Fleur Cheape ( 4 ) played the small child.  Air raid alarms made performance difficult, had to start late; also, half the would-be audience wasn't there because they thought the play would be cancelled because of alarms. Doreen Leonard played her part very seriously and well.

((Doreen, a  Eurasian teenager, was one of the girls in the Girls' Study Group.  I gave her shorthand lessons.  Her English father, and one of her sisters who was married with small children, were in camp. Doreen and I became great friends. After internment, like we Redwoods, she and her father went to England, and we exchanged frequent letters.  She wanted to be a air hostess. I returned to Hong Kong in June 1946, and  on arrival was shocked to receive news that Doreen had passed away.   When her Dad returned to Hong Kong a few months later, he sought me out where I was working, and handed me a little brooch of Doreen's, saying he thought she loved me best of all her friends.. so touching. She was only 17.))

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