Ip Kwong Lau was recruited by the British in November 1941 to form the nucleus of the NCOs for the new Hong Kong Chinese Regiment.
The HKCR saw action in the Wong Nai Chung Gap area near the Ridge, and then dispersed. However an unusually high percentage of the survivors of this elite unit managed to escape from Hong Kong, cross into China, evade Japanese patrols, and rejoin British lines.
Ip Kwong Lau was one of these. He reported to BAAG and was soon recruited into the Hong Kong column of the Chindits. Upon arrival, they would be attached to Brigadier ‘Mad’ Mike Calvert’s 77th Indian Infantry Brigade as 142 Company Hong Kong Volunteers.
Ip Kwong Lau was in the Stronghold R.E. Unit and was one of the last men to see General Orde Wingate alive before he got on his last flight in Burma.
He remembered it because Wingate commented on what a nice cup of tea he had made for him for his meeting!
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