23 Jan 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary

Submitted by Barbara Anslow on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 21:45

My kitbag arrived by sea.

I happened to be near the bungalows when the Japs evicted internees from them.  An unknown young woman who was among them  came over to me, distraught because she had a 6-month old baby  and couldn't carry away the child and luggage.  She asked me if I would take the baby Dorothy and keep her until she had found another billet.  Her name was Mrs Evelyn Kilbee, I told her my Block and Room Number, and gathered up the child.  Never having held a baby in my life, I felt very nervous carrying her down the hill, over shell holes and stony ground.  Dorothy didn't cry or fuss at all.  On the way I met my boss, Mr. B.H.Puckle, who looked surprised and said 'I didn't know you had a baby Miss Redwood!'  ((Some fifty years later, Evelyn visited me with Dorothy to say thank you.  Last year (2015) I met Dorothy again at the VJ Celebrations in London.))

Was given some ARP provisions ((from the kitty kept in Tai Koon Hotel)) - packet of Kellogs Cornflakes and some Oxo. 

Eileen Grant was arrested at Stanley Village.  ((Eileen was youngest of 3 daughters of Mrs Grant, the overweight lady who had such difficulty in jumping from ferry to junk at Stanley; I think Eileen was arrested because she had walked beyond the camp boundary, but she was soon released.))

Rice and stew .. ingredients sent by Japs, cooking arrangements by our people makeshift... waited hours and hours for it, queuing in quadrangle.. about 700 of us. There was only water to drink – unless you had private supplies.

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