His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government has been pleased, pursuant to Section 11 (7) of the Compulsory Service Ordinance, 1939, to permit the following persons to quit the Hong Kong Defence Reserve :—
Journalist and war correspondent. Norman Stockton was an editor with the Hong Kong Telegraph and then chief correspondent Far East for the London Daily Express during the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, when he covered the Japanese side of operations in South China. Based in Australia from April 1942, he was briefly war correspondent attached to General MacArthur's General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area. Stockton was sent from Australia to the United Kingdom in 1942, via the United States, to become the London representative of the Sydney Sun newspaper. Stockton died on 2 December 1943 whilst with No. 460 Squadron, RAAF, on a major bombing raid on Berlin and is buried in the British Military Cemetery in Berlin.
I am satisfied with all the information provided by various parties that Norman Stockton is the person on the KCC Roll of Honour I have been looking for. I had been missing his Hong Kong connection. Only J W McCleod/McLeod now remains to be found, and I will then have information on all 30 names on the Roll of Honour. Once found, I shall contact David Bellis and give him the list to be included on gwulo.com
Comments
Stockton was killed in WW2,…
Stockton was killed in WW2, but not in Hong Kong.
The 1934 clipping shown above says he was a member of the HKVDC.
But notice 1051 in the Govt Gazette for 20 Sep 1940 records that Stockton was allowed to leave the Hong Kong Defence Reserve:
No. 1051.
ORDINANCE No. 32 of 1939. (COMPULSORY SERVICE).
——-——
His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government has been pleased, pursuant to Section 11 (7) of the Compulsory Service Ordinance, 1939, to permit the following persons to quit the Hong Kong Defence Reserve :—
N. L. SMITH, Colonial Secretary.
18th September, 1940.
A short bio on the page for Stockton's memoirs at the National Library of Australia explains what happened next:
A Bit More on Norman Stockton
A few more bits of information on Norman Stockton:
Norman Stockton
Dear All
I am satisfied with all the information provided by various parties that Norman Stockton is the person on the KCC Roll of Honour I have been looking for. I had been missing his Hong Kong connection. Only J W McCleod/McLeod now remains to be found, and I will then have information on all 30 names on the Roll of Honour. Once found, I shall contact David Bellis and give him the list to be included on gwulo.com
Peter A Hall
re: Norman Stockton
Thanks for confirming this is the right man. I've updated the details at the top of the page to match the latest information.