R. E. Jones Wartime diary: View pages

Overcast, cold. Strong wind all night. Brightened up 11am. Overcast pm & drizzly.

Bulletin very good.

Chipping gully in Mosque.

All Bonins seem to have been taken. 130,000 seasoned & fully equipped troops in Yunnan. Four hundred odd war vessels in Bonins’ vicinity. No Burma or Euro news in today’s paper.

Lorry with wood 2.30pm.

Rec. letter May 44 from Marj bless her. She says Happy times ahead & sure she’s right.

No parcel news.

Lighter loaded yesterday in HK with building materials unloaded at pier 6pm to 10pm.

Some face slapping today, among the Water carriers, the Building material gang & Mrs Flaherty.

Cloudy, but bright & warmer. W wind.

CS said parcels are in & that we should have them towards the end of this week.

Chipped gully in Mosque. 

Had yarn with Jack re letters etc received.

Movement afoot to have at least 3 District Chairmen included on R.C. supplies Committee.

Win gave me an egg.

Overcast, drizzly, colder.

Aimless day, nothing accomplished.

Brightened up aft.

Steve having trouble with Joan re Y600. ((Not sure which Joan he is referring to.))

Japs doing lots of blasting locally.

Lorry with veg 6.30pm. No papers.

Jap planes around pm.

¼ lb Bran issued free.

Cloudy, brighter & warmer.

Air-raid 3.30am machine guns only?

Outside roll-call 8.30am.

Working on Hosp. roof.

Lorry with fresh fish 5.30pm. 

US big offensive over Roer R. [Ruhr?] in 3 places 23rd. Turkey declared war on G & J 24th. Egypt declared war too 24th. Tokyo bombed 25th.

2 Minelayers & 1 Ex. Blue Funnel 6,000 ton freighter entered Taitam Bay 6.30pm.

Blasting going on all night & day.

Cloudy, warm, brightened later.

Workers oil & sugar issued.

Hosp. roof & roll-call boards.

Felt lousy all day, hungry.

Trying to sell binocs but nothing doing it seems.

Vessels left Bay this am.

Blasting still.

34 towns & villages  captured on W. Front, 8,000 tons of bombs dropped on German industrial areas in 36 hrs. Hitler’s “speech” read by someone else, Hitler was too busy. Ha ha!  Russians take Gubin  & Arirswalde [?] & advance in other sectors. US Chinese army advancing towards Canton to meet US landing.

Lorry brought nil.

Overcast, warm.

Hosp. roof.

Air-raid 1PM – 3PM

Blasting still going on.

Col. arrived, left 2pm.

On 2ble [double?] rations for 10 days.

Foggy, damp.

Hosp. roof.

Tommy [?] measuring store capacities ready for storage of I.R.C. supplies. ((Possibly Thomas Edgar, as RE Jones has mentioned him before.))

“A” Blocks & HQ cooking staffs on on alternate days.

Japs blasting on beaches.

Lorry with veg 6pm. No parcel news.

30,000 casualties in latest raid on Berlin. Manila apparently finished, more advances on W. front & on N. Russian front.

Rained during night, heavy fog, damp.

10 yrs on Prison Staff today. £310.  Back pay roughly £1000.

Hosp. roof. 

Plenty activity re parcels. 600 parcels, 37 US Mens clothing, 21 medical etc. 1 shoe repairs 1 US cigs. 2 Boots & shoes. 5 Toilet, 2 Books & they are Canadian not US. Some 158 private US & Can. parcels among the supply.

Disposition of Internees.

• M.Qs. [Married Quarters] 561,
• T.B.H. 77,
• A1-4 381,
• Dutch 64,
• Norwegian 46, 
• Ind.Qtrs. 727,
• Blocks 8-11 & Bungalows 609.
• Total 2465.

Lorry with Canteen gear 7pm.

Foggy, damp.

Supplies to be brought by road & not in lighters so much activity from 6am. Supplies arrived during forenoon & stored in godowns. Majority seems to be ex. Lorenco Marques stores. Sgt. Major will not release them today damn his hide.

Jack’s tea party to celebrate his wedding anniv.

Much wood arrived.

Today brought much disappointment.

Foggy, drizzly.

Hosp. roof but didn’t get much done.

Nichol asked me re diving experience, must follow it up. 

Parcels released & distributed  4pm. (1 Parcel each similar to our first ones of Nov ’42 & from the same cargo.

• 1 tin Galantine 10 oz,
• 1 tin Jam 12 oz,
• 1 tin Biscuits 8 oz,
• 1 tin tomato  juice 10 oz,
• 1 Curry Mutton 1lb,
• 1 tin cheese 2 oz,
• 1 tin meat paste 2 oz,
• 2 tins sugar each 2 oz,
• 1 Pkt Chocolate ¼ lb,
• 1 Pkt Rowntrees gums 2 oz,
• 1 Treacle pudding 1 lb,
• 1 tin Nestles milk 12 oz,
• 1 piece soap.
• 1 Pkt tea 2 oz,
• 1 tin Margarine 12 oz,
• 1 tin Bacon 12 oz)

Had nice rice pudding & some chocolate tonight.

Blasting still.

All news good.

Overcast, brighter.

Lovely cup of tea this morning.

Newspaper no longer comes to the room so I miss details of the war news.

Hosp. roof.

Indulged in Cond. Milk, biscuits & sugar today with my rice. Much conjecture re possibility of US parcels.

Identification parade at St. Stephens 4.30pm.

Lorry empty 6pm.

Nimitz said Iwojima was taken at very little cost. Cologne & Dusseldorf in ruins & fighting going on on outskirts.

Overcast, colder, 12’.

Workshop.

Spoke to Nichol re diving job and it seems my age is against me damn it.

Rec. Mar 44 from Marj. Rae at kindergarten now bless her.

A/r. alarm 1-2pm.

Formosa being continually bombed by planes from Luzon. Germans expect Allies to cross the Rhine, hence their bridge destruction. Finland at war with Germany & Roumania declared war against her 3rd Mar.

Overcast, dry, cold.

Joined R.N. 24 yrs. ago.

Latest rumour re US parcels. “To arrive 16th inst.”

Jap rock blasting.

Repaired Hosp. kitchen tap & in Wkshp. aft.

Eire declared war on G & J?

Weather improved aft.

Lorry with veg. 7.15pm.

Big Russian offensive begun with a frontal attack on Berlin. Letters rec. in Camp indicate that Black-out restrictions & A.R.P. duties have been eased in many parts of B. Isles.

Overcast. N wind.

Workshop.

Steve gave me nice cut fresh pork.

Draw for clothing took place.

Block draw for surplus food items. Tin tomatoes, sugar & soap.

Lorry with Canteen gear 6pm.

A/r alarm 8.45pm. Plane around to the S.

Bright, windy NE, warmer.

Workers sugar, oil & cigs issued.

Workshop, made hacksaw.

A/r alarm 11.15am – 12.15. 

Rec May 44 from Marj. Posted card to Marj.

Rec. Tunic & pr. of socks in clothing draw but changed them for overall.

Wind to SE stronger.

Overcast, colder. SE wind gusty.

A/r noon – 1pm. 1 small vessel off Lamma blown up 1 B29.

Rec. boot polish & razor blade in draw for toilet gear.

Allies seem to have reached the Rhine.

Mrs K.S. altered my overall. ((Who could this be? It sounds like Mrs Kennedy-Skipton, but the current notes suggest she stayed out of Stanley Camp throughout the occupation. Barbara Anslow writes: "the only Mrs K.S. I can find in Greg Leck's list is Mrs Kathleen Seymour whose husband was also in Stanley, they had a young baby."))

Hara & black-market goods arrived in lorry for Blumenthal.

Rec. Mar 44, from home.

Much brighter, NE gusty wind.

Hosp, cutting hole for chimney.

Yarn re US parcels.

Col. came.

Lorry with veg. 6.30pm.

Oil, sugar & tea issued.

Chinese forces re-take 3 air-fields, 1 being Kweilin?

Clear, SE wind.

Canteen Y75. No.25.

Hosp. wall cutting.

Made Chinese balance scale for Steve.

Sat by Bung.”B” for a while aft. saw what progress Japs are making with their foxholes etc.

Allies cross the Rhine Bonn & Coblenz & Japs intern F.I.China Gov’t. [?] & troops etc. Ribbentrop’s speech although not clear indicates German trend toward surrender.

Egg from Mrs.B.

Warmer, damp, low cloud.

Hosp chimney & TB ward lavatory.

Much warmer.

Many Canadian parcels had had their contents stolen.

Jap accused French Ind.China of rec. supplies by air from US. US makes disparaging remarks re Pacific R.N.?

1st Multi-vitamin pill issued!

New Moon.

Bright, warm. S wind.

Fixed Hosp.chimney.

A/r 11.15-12.15pm. 3 planes over.

Many people getting into Summer rig once more.

Rice to godown.

No news or rumours today. Japs will not send papers in.

Cloudy over & wind to NE.

6pm lorry with Canteen gear. All lorries go to H.Qs. for search now.