Brian Edgar writes:
[...] by the time the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941 he already had a history of commitment to the Allied cause: just before the outbreak of hostilities he’d figured on a ‘blacklist’ drawn up by the Vichy authorities in French Indo-China. [...]
After the surrender, he remained ((in Hong Kong)) uninterned as a ‘third national’, and threw himself into a campaign of relief for the British POWs and internees. He escaped from Hong on April 5, 1944, arriving at the British Army Aid Group Advanced Headquarters at Waichow three days later. [...]
Mr. de Sercey’s major contribution during the occupation was to provide as much relief as he could to POWs and internees, particularly those who’d worked for the Chinese Maritime Customs and the major Hong Kong firm of Jardine Matheson. [...]