Joan Whiteley's wartime diary: View pages

Summary of events leading up to the Japanese invasion on 8 Dec 1941.

The journey from Liverpool to Hong Kong

• Sun 21 July 1940 – left for Gibraltar late at night from Liverpool – Viceroy of India
• 27 July 1940 – arrives Gibraltar –  doesn’t think much to it
• 28 July 1940 – leaves Gib. Sees Ark Royal, Valiant and HMS Hood
  Board St Vincent – holiday cruise, hide all uniform or anything suggesting army
• 11 Aug 1940 – went to aid Ceramic – all women and children – have photos
• Tues 13 Aug  - arrive Cape Town – out all day with Brenda’s relatives – Table Mountain – photo
• Wed 14 Aug – Leave Cape Town
• Thurs 20 Aug – Arrive Mombassa – out for day ‘lovely’
• Wed 21 Aug – Set sail 6am
• Wed 28 Aug – Arrive Bombay – ashore all day – back on board 6pm
• Sun 1 Sept – Arrived Colombo – had lovely time
• Thurs 5 Sept – Arrive Penang – private car to see the place – especially monkeys!
• Fri 6 Sept – Arrived Singapore – nurses for the new military hosp away

Arrival in Hong Kong, and initial experiences:

• Wed 11 Sep 1940 – Arrived Hong Kong – 6am
• Fri 13th Sep – On duty 7.30 – lots of malaria patients, in at deep end!
• Oct 1940 – Brenda rather ill – many malaria patients
• 15 Oct 1940 – off night duty – on days, called to matrons office instructed to give course of lectures to the orderlies – shaking in my shoes!
• 25 Oct 1940 – 1st lecture! About to start – S.M (?) all lectures cancelled for duration of war – relief!
• Nov 1940 – Brenda and Mickey engaged in his flat May Road (shared with John R Harris, Dickie Arrundell) Diary entry – Brenda became engaged the Sunday before she was killed.

Form this point on we read Joan's diary entries.

A Tuesday.  Brenda was killed at St Alberts.  Sometime between this day and the following Sat. Mickey also was killed.

A very bad day for shelling & ........ bombing.  Forbes came to hospital!!  The days following were – well just like passing in a fever of work – sleepless days and hellish nights for me – until the surrender.

Japs landed

St Alberts captured

WHITE_FLAG FLYING – HK surrendered.

Nothing but blood, dirt, rush and the continual noise of shelling and bombing.  When we knew that they had landed on the island it just added to the strain as according to reports they were in the hills around the hospital & quite likely to shoot us going about our work.  I was off night duty 24.12.42.

Surrender. Words can never describe what that feeling is like.  One night spent in shelters under hospital (Sybil sick) 

((Confusing entry in diary – surrender dated 25.12.42??))

All female staff to sleep top floor Barrack Block.  Just in bed 10am nobody asleep, up comes some man who tells us to creep into hosp.  What a nightmare journey. Down the stairs – back again – down again.  RAMC men at various points.  Bright moonlight of course (Sybil blind as a bat) all carrying our bedding, eventually we arrived Ward 3, large holes in ceiling.  Boarded ourselves in best way we could.  Slept on floor.

Working Ward 9. Staff Renate, Joan Wood, Mrs Begden, Mrs Q Jeraige. Wonderful work.  Nursing as it is dreamed about, working til you’re fit to drop

(approx date) Naval Hosp to St Alberts.  Patients from Queen Mary to us.  Patients from War Memorial to us. Patients from St Alberts to us.  Staff from Hong Kong ((? date)).

St Alberts over to St Theresa’s

Forbes arrived hospital.  I was still convalescing.  A few wonderful days.

Forbes went to camp.  A few miserable days until I got used to it.

back a couple of days.  Quite suddenly we were being told that 3 people were to be exchanged from Stanley – Ms Greaves, Ms K Stark & Mabel Redwood left in afternoon – Marion Lee, Mrs MacKenzie & Jester arrived.  Much chattering, as this was the first time we had really had any body from Stanley or outside anywhere – into our place.  We learnt that 10 had been exchanged from Theresa’s & the ones from there were all ill – some more than others - Miss Thompson has complete paralysis of left arm!  We are all agitating to go over to Theresa’s to help but it is no good.  They have an epidemic of Diphtheria in Shamshuipo

Duty on Ward 9 back to my old haunts

The Americans left and I’m more than pleased to feel that the Refo’s and others are away.  Mrs Weilandt also – First letter home – month fades out & the news from what we can gather is desperate ‘Libya’

Great air of tension in the place - waiting for something to happen.  Poor mutts that we are!

A very amusing ‘mock court’.  Money matters much conversation – haven’t had a cent since Forbes went – apart from odd dollars lent to me so am more or less confined to rice, Yam & cucumber.  An odd tin of marmalade still must say that I’m much more contented than those that have much! This feeling probably won’t last!

‘A Big Day!’ all except 12 sisters received money from Argyle Street.  I had 50 Yen from Forbes. Thank god for him.  The days pass – they are mainly meatless days now

Today we had bread for breakfast.  Rice & veg if you can call it veg – falgrass & bit of turnip and for the first time today we had a sort of pumpkin.  Bread for tea – tea as a drink has finished long ago unless you buy your own so we drink very chlorinated water.  Yesterday we had a bit of a bombshell dropped.  The nips won’t take any HK$ which means that many people now are unable to buy any extras from the store.  What the people in town will do goodness knows as the $ for them is now 4 to 1.  We have had to prepare for possible air raids – impossible I should say. i.e all stretchered patients to ground floor & so on.  The moon is full so I wonder... The news we get might be true & it might not we’ve been done! So many times already, but it seems to have taken a turn for the better.  When I started to write I thought I had a lot to say but I must have been mistaken.

Terrific tension Colonel Shackleton & Colonel Simpson and Cmdr Gleave leave for Argyle St (sent message to Forbes). Something else in the air. We are told by Matron at lunch time that all sisters & VAD’s are going to Stanley on the 10.8.42.  Feverish packing, terrific depression amongst staff and patients.

Up at 6 A.M baggage checked by the Japs at 8.30A.M spent morning saying goodbye -1.15pm all on platform all patients who could walk & all staff present.  We piled into 2 buses – staff sang Auld Lang Syne – we all felt awful. Stopped at Queens Pier – all out.  Paraded in formed 4 & waiting boiling sun till we all felt faint, for people from St Theresa’s.  They arrived – all looking terribly pale – we couldn’t speak to them.  Colonel Tokunaga arrived (to our surprise) All called to attention (more surprise) Long speech – praising our work! (your stay will not be short) Out to Stanley in 2 buses.  All to collect in hall & small bundles checked.  Heavy bags arrive and we stand for over 3 hours beside our bags until they are again examined.  Up to our new quarters. 2 room with Rollin & Davies – can’t think when I felt more like weeping.  Were given large pas??? & just fell into bed.  Terrible night – mice & cockroaches – all sleeping on floor.