Philip Cracknell writes:
I assume James Thomas Dupuy was Isabelle Dupuy's husband. He was serving with HKVDC as BSM of No 5 (AA) Battery and would have been based at Sai Wan Hill AA Fort although the battery personnel were divided into two sections - one on and one off. Each with about 40 personnel. The off section was based at West Bay AA Battery where there are still a number of extant and destroyed splinter proof accommodation shelters for West Bay AA Battery and Sai Wan AA Battery (off section).
J T Dupuy is listed in the Jurors Lists for 1939 and 1940 as:
| Dupuy, James Thomas | Banker, H.K. & Shanghai Bank | 10 The Peak |
Oddly he doesn't appear in the 1941 Jurors List. Was he definitely still in Hong Kong, or had he moved away?
Philip to the rescue again:
He is listed in Evan Stewart's HK Volunteers in Battle as being a POW at time of Japanese surrender. So I assume he was present and serving during hostilities. There is also reference in the official HSBC History of Mrs Dupuy taking money into Stanley Camp for HSBC staff when she entered camp which the History suggests was November 1942.
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J T Dupuy
Henry Ching writes:
James Thomas Dupuy was Battery Sergeant-Major of 5th (AA) Battery, HKVDC which was stationed at Sai Wan Hill. As Philip Cracknell correctly points out, he is listed in the appendix to the book “Hong Kong Volunteers in Battle” as being a POW at the time the Japanese surrendered. He is also listed as a POW in Tse Dickuan’s lists.
5th (AA) Battery was overrun by the Japanese late on the night of 18th December. Tony Banham in “Not the Slightest Chance” records that 20 men of the Battery were captured and bayoneted in the first known massacre of the invasion. Philip Cracknell explains that the Battery was divided into two groups, one of which remained on duty while the other off-duty group rested at West Bay, so presumably those who were captured and massacred were in the group on duty at the time.
Gunner Bruce Hoy Poy, a Chinese Australian, makes an interesting comment in an article in the book “Dinky-di” by Morag Loh and Judith Winternitz. According to him, the married men in the Battery had been given leave, and after they returned to duty the single men were given leave to visit their families (including Hoy Poy). It was while the single men were away that the Japanese overran the Battery, and so those who were killed were married men. I wonder where BSM Dupuy was at the time?
Sgt.David Bosanquet in his book “Escape Through China” tells of how he and several others managed to escape capture at Sai Wan HIll, but makes no mention of BSM Dupuy. 5th (AA) Battery had a total of 30 OR casualties (killed and wounded) out of a strength of 65.