Over in Sham Shui Po, the POWs are ready to enjoy the first night of the show "La Czigane":
Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp: View pages
Thirty three people are executed on Stanley Beach soon after 2 p.m. All have been involved in one way or another with resistance activities organised by the British Army Aid Group.
The Stanley internees among that number are:
The condemned are taken out of solitary confinement and assembled inside Stanley Prison. They are refused a visit from a priest, but are allowed five minutes together to compose themselves Captain Mateen Ansari gives an impromptu talk:
We will die strong and healthy for an ideal; not as traitors but nobly in our country's cause.
Wong Shiu Pun, who had worked at St. Paul's College, leads prayers. Then it's time to go.
As well as the six men arrested in Stanley, there is at least one other whose fate is of deep personal concern: the wife (Florence) and son (Michael) of Charles Hyde are living in Bungalow D. And Thomas Monaghan, who sent in relief to Irish policemen and smuggled in medicines for Tweed Bay Hospital, is also in the execution party.
Former Camp Quartermaster W. J. Anderson has heard the rumours about impending execution that swept the prison in the morning and has managed to get himself on gardening duty so as to witness the condemned starting on their final journey.
The van sets off on the short drive to Stanley Beach soon after 2 pm.
Chester Bennett was briefly interned in Stanley before being released to buy extra food for the Camp. War reporter Hal Boyle tells the story from Bennett's perspective, starting with the American's last moments in his cell:
He gave the note ((a final message to his wife)) to a friendly guard and soon it was time to go. The crowded black van pulled out from the steel gates of Stanley Prison and moved slowly down the rough, narrow road leading to the small bay where British redcoats had planted the empire flag more than a hundred years before.
As the van passed a number of internees toiling up the slope someone put his face up to the rear wire grill and called out: "Goodbye boys. We shan't be seeing you again." ((Believed to be Scott or Fraser.))
At the bottom of the hill the prisoners were forced to dismount and follow a trail winding around the edge of the bay. It must have been torture at every step to Chester Bennett. Rope burns on his left leg had become badly infected, the leg had become gangrenous and needed amputation. But he walked upright and limped only slightly. To all outward appearances he was utterly calm. The prisoners marched in single file to a small clearing. Ringing the hills around them were scores of Chinese gravestones. Before them in the center of the clearing the prisoners saw two trenches dug by Indian warders and knew how they were to die.
The beheadings begin, but the executioner tires and the swords lose their sharpness: some of the victims have to be finished off with bullets - Anderson hears these shots from the prison garden, as do some internees, leading to the idea that the prisoners have all been executed by firing squad.
Anne Ozorio describes the unflinching demeanour of Wong Shiu Pun, who does his best to pray with and comfort the victims, as these dreadful events play themselves out:
By the time it came to him the swords were blunt. But he kept praying.
There were 33 victims in total: seventeen Chinese, eight British, four Indians, one Canadian, one American, one Portuguese, one Eurasian. 32 were male; Lau Tak Oi, the wife of resistance leader David Loie, was the only woman.
Rumours fly around the Camp, but official confirmation of the deaths is not given until November 2.
Dorothy Jenner is lying in her cot; she believes she sees Walter Scott appear in the doorway and say, 'I'll see you again'. A quarter of an hour later a friend tells her that Scott has been executed and gives her, at Scott's request, a small parcel containing his police uniform, badge and arm-tags.
Sources:
Ansari's talk, Wong Shiu Pun: George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 186.
Anderson: rumours and garden: Deposition, page 24, points 211-213, shots: 215; some of Wright-Nooth's account is based on points 212-215 of this (HK Public Records Office 163-1-104) and Hal Boyle's account (below) are the most reliable near contemporary sources for the executions;
Hal Boyle: https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/part-4-of-hal-boyles-…
(Boyle's source was Bennett's friend and fellow BAAG agent Marcus da Silva, who made it his business to find out what happened; Anderson and da Silva give substantially the same description and I believe all other accounts to be inaccurate. Some details are different though, and there are, for example, a number of possible versions of the exact wording and circumstances of the farewell message from the van).
Anne Ozorio: https://www.facebook.com/groups/308617469269780/
33 victims: this is the best estimate of nationalities and ethnicities I have been able to arrive at so far. I suspect that it underestimates the number of Eurasians who gave their lives; for a list of names see
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/the-executions-of-oct…
Jenner: Dorothy Jenner and Trish Sheppard, Darlings, I've Had A Ball, 1975, 214
Note:
I'm gradually writing posts on my blog about all of the 33 victims. For some of the people mentioned here see:
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/alexander-christie-si…
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/thomas-christopher-mo…
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/charles-hydes-resista…
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/chester-bennett-the-a…
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/lau-tak-oi-gladys-loi…
Franklin Gimson receives notice from the Japanese of the executions of October 29, and of the prison sentences imposed on others, although only those who were arrested in Stanley or have a wife there are mentioned.
All religious services and other forms of memorial are strictly forbidden, and no representations or appeals are allowed for those in prison.
Source:
John Stericker, A Tear for the Dragon, 1958, 182
A talk by Miss P. A. Ayrton does NOT take place. It was to be called 'Confessions of A Militant Suffragette' but was banned by the Japanese authorities perhaps because of the word 'militant'.
Leslie Steyn reports from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, giving brief statements from some of the Gripsholm repatriates.
Emily Hahn says the Japanese are bad winners and worse losers, while Dr. Jim Henry, formerly of Lignan University and Hong Kong, says that the Chinese are dying like flies from starvation in the streets of Canton. Canadian F. F. Sullivan states that the prison camp in Hong Kong is 'the worst in the Far East'.
Steward Carl Morgan reveals that the passengers were never served rice and fish on the voyage as that was what they'd been living on for the previous two years.
Source:
Poster in M. L.Bevan's Album, Imperial War Museum 69/6/1
The Lowell Sun, November 4, 1943, page 13
Yesterday the delegates gathered in Tokyo to begin an international conference of leaders of the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Zone. This is in effect the Japanese Empire, and 'The Captured Territory of Hong Kong' is part of it, although not represented at the Conference. The delegates had been welcomed by Japanese premier Hideki Tojo with a speech contrasting the 'materialistic civilisation' of the West with 'the spiritual essence' of Greater East Asia.
Today the Conference issues a joint statement:
The countries of Greater East Asia through mutual cooperation will ensure the stability of their region and construct an order of common prosperity and well-being based upon justice.
The countries of Greater East Asia will ensure the fraternity of nations in their region, by respecting one another's sovereignty and independence and practicing mutual assistance and amity.
The countries of Greater East Asia by respecting one another's traditions and developing the creative faculties of each race, will enhance the culture and civilization of Greater East Asia.
The countries of Greater East Asia will endeavor to accelerate their economic development through close cooperation upon a basis of reciprocity and to promote thereby the general prosperity of their region.
The countries of Greater East Asia will cultivate friendly relations with all the countries of the world, and work for the abolition of racial discrimination, the promotion of cultural intercourse and the opening of resources throughout the world, and contribute thereby to the progress of mankind.
Sources:
W. G. Beasley, Japanese Imperialism, 1987, 242
Franklin Gimson notes in his diary that Lady Grayburn seems to have recovered her mental balance and can now see things more impartially.
Gimson also prepares a notice with today's date outlining arrangements for a hoped for repatriation of some of the aged, the sick, the young, the mothers of the young - and even of the women.
A committee including Ben Wylie, J. Jolly and Doctors Ashton and Valentine will serve under him to select the lucky internees to be sent home in a prisoner swap - but in the end all hopes but will be dashed,
Source:
Franklin Gimson, Internment in Hong-Kong March 1942- August 1945, 21b
Note 1:
Vandeleur Grayburn died on August 21, 1943. Lady Mary was not called to the prison next door to see him at any stage in his last illness. Gimson seems surprised that she reacted strinly to her husband's death.
Note 2:
There's a typescript of Gimson's notice in the Red Cross Archives with 'Stanley, 12th. November, 1943' unambiguously typed at the bottom - but R. E. Jones knew all this on November 2!
James O'Toole in Shamshuipo:
Sent letter to Alan (Barwell) & 1 yen. There is some talk of them being sent away, hope so, for news of my safety & well being to reach England....
Now allowed to write 25 words on a p.c. twice in three months, to Stanley counting as a turn. Letters come in every Sunday as a rule.
Source:
O'Toole Shamshuipo Diary at
http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/James_OToole/html/dairy_1943.htm
Note on November 12 O'Toole notes:
Letter from Alan. Very cheerful & fit has heard from home and Betty (Barwell, his wife).
Dr. Harry Talbot is admitted to the hospital at Stanley Prison by an arrangment with the warder Kader Bux, probably to treat the banker David Edmondston, who he finds in poor physical condition made worse by anxiety. He has a large carbuncle on his neck which Talbot treats over the next two weeks, leaving it much cleaner.
Source:
Harry Talbot, Medical Report on David Edmondston, in HKMS163-1-104
Note: Kader Bux was an Indian warder who conistently tried to help the Allied prisoners. The details are not clear from Talbot's account, but Mr Bux seems to have somehow managed - no doubt at considerable risk to himself - to get Talbot into the prison hospital either on a day to day basis or for the whole fortnight. The doctor had been in the prison himself, but at this time had served his sentence and was back in Stanley Camp.
Birth of Katherine Fiona Kinlock.
She's the daughter of policeman Wallace Kinlock/Kinloch and his wife Joan.
Source:
China Mail, September 15, 1943, 3
Note: Constance Murrays's diary gives the 17th. for the birth of 'Fiona K. K. K.'.
Death of Thomas Victor Harmon, a 46 year old civil servant. He is survived by his wife, Mary (39), a pharmacist, who is also interned. Before being sent to Stanley he'd been held at Hong Kong University - presumably as a 'refugee', perhaps because he'd joined Mary, who was working at the University Relief Hospital.
Source:
http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.html#_Toc43367489
Dr. Sidney Gerald Kirkby-Gomes, aged 78, dies at the French Hospital in Causeway Bay.
He was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, trained in Edinburgh.
Sources:
Greg Leck, Captives of Empire, 2006, 634
http://gwulo.com/node/8741 (work of Patricia Lim)
Red Cross delegate Rudolf Zindel visits Stanley, spending all day in the camp and interviewing 59 internees. He notes the beneficial effects of the extra foods supplied by his office - these include soya beans, peanuts, bran and lard.
He reports a full discussion with Franklin Gimson on 'several current subjects concerning the internees'.
Source:
LAC, RG25 Volume 2929, Telegram from the International Committee of the Red Cross, received December 8, 1943
M. L. Bevan notes in his diary that banker R. A. Camidge is released from prison but his colleague William Cruickshank is arrested.
Note:
Although the transcriber was uncertain of the first name, it's clearly Camidge, and this entry helps to clarify the question of the dates of the arrests of the four bankers taken from the camp in 1943-1944. Camidge was to be rearrested. For an overview see:
Death this morning of Hong Kong tramways engineer George Sinclair Rodger(s). He'd been held in the New Asia Hotel before being sent to Stanley.
It seems that there rumours about his death will soon begin to circulate; on December 26 a notice will be issued by John Stericker saying that an enquiry has completely vindicated Tweed Bay Hospital. The enquiry was carried out by Edward Raymond, John Fleming and J. D. Danby. They find that he died of acute Nephritis with beri beri and myocarditis as secondary causes.
Sources:
http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.html#_Toc43367489
MacNider Papers: unheaded, typewritten copy of statement
James O'Toole in Shamshuipo hears back from a friend in Stanley:
Signature from Alan Barwell for the yen I sent. He is quite well.
The Gripsholm steams into New York Harbour 'with all lights blazing'. Many passengers join in a chorus of 'God Bless America' as the ship passes the Statue of Liberty.
Sources:
O'Toole: Diary of Staff-Sergeant James O'Toole: http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/James_OToole/html/dairy_1943.htm
Gripsholm: Ken Cuthberston, Nobody Said Not To Go, 1998, 278
Just before 10 a.m. the Gripsholm is guided by tugs to pier F in Jersey City. At 12 noon the passengers start to come down the gangplank, but before they can leave they’re interviewed by military and FBI agents looking for spies and collaborators. The interviews take so long that two hundred passengers, including Emily Hahn and her daughter Carola, have to spend another night on the ship. Thirty repatriates are taken to Ellis Island for further questioning.
Hahn herself is one of those under suspicion: her interrogators want to know why she wasn’t interned like the other Americans, why she received favours from the Japanese and why she fraternised with high-ranking enemy officials.
The Canadians are kept on the ship waiting for the Canadian authorities, who are finding American security and intelligence hard to deal with. And there are a number of Canadians suspected of collaboration. It takes twenty hours to get everyone off the Gripsholm and on to a sealed train controlled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Father Charles Murphy is met by a reporter who hands him some cuttings from Canadian newpapers - he modestly disclaims the title 'the hero of Hong Kong' some of them have awarded him. He gives a long interview on his work running a refugee camp for 2,000 Chinese displaced by the fighting. The camp was set up by the Government Medical Department in the grounds of the Maryknoll Mission on December 10 (1941) and all of the occupants quietly slipped away on December 24, as if forewarned.
Sources:
Hahn: Ken Cuthberston, Nobody Said Not To Go, 1998, 278-279
Canadians: Daniel S. Levy, Two-Gun Cohen: An Autobiography, 1997, Kindle Edition, Location, 5583
Note:
See also December 2, 1943
Late in the afternoon Emily Hahn is finally allowed to leave the Grispsholm. The only person left to meet her is a friend of her brother-in-law, who drives her to her sister Helen's downtown apartment where she's reunited with Carola, who'd been taken home by Helen when she began to cry uncontrollably during Hahn's interrogation.
The Canadian train arrives in Montreal. Two-Gun Cohen allows a Paramount newsreel reporter to interview him briefly but refuses to say anything about conditions in Stanley 'because any remark may influence the situation of people who are still prisoners'.
Sources:
Hahn: Ken Cuthberston, Nobody Said Not To Go, 1998, 279-280
Cohen: Daniel S. Levy, Two-Gun Cohen: An Autobiography, 1997, Kindle Edition, Location, 5583
Death from cancer of Lilian May MacGowan, linen store manager at Queen Mary Hospital.
The fifth draft of Prisoners of War sent to work in Japan leaves Hong kong today when 496 men set sail at 4 p.m. on the Soong Cheong. On December 21 they are transferred to a troopship, the Toyama Maru, because the Soong Cheong's engines give out.
The new ship, after a storm-tossed voyage, will dock in a freezing Japan on January 6th.
Sources:
Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, Kindle Edition, Locations 2108-2133
MacGowan: Philip Cracknell at http://battleforhongkong.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/stanley-military-cemete…
The Ottawa Evening Citizen publishes (page 3) an article on three employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company repatriated on the Gripsholm. One Basil G. Ryan, has been interned in the Phillipines, while the other two - George E. Costello and Charles W. Skeet - were at Stanley.
Costello (formerly CPR general passenger agent for the Orient) and Skeet (an accountant) tell the reporter that the food they relished most in their first meal on the Gripsholm was simple bread and butter. Skeet shows the reporter a blue granite mug and says that he used to put an entire meal into it - 'cooked rice, a ladle of soup, spinach water, a piece of water buffalo meat that was very tough and which measured one and a half by two inches and a small piece of fish'.
They reveal an aspect of life at Stanley that's not well documented elsewhere:
Busloads of Jap sailors were brought once to Stanley Camp...to walk through and soldiers used to cycle out to watch the internees.
They discuss a number of aspects of camp life, including the way in which the Japanese managed news of the war, and they mention a 'general demonstration' when the Hong Kong News announced Mussolini's resignation.
Costello became custodian of the camp library (most of which came from the former American Club) after 'the last American had been repatriated'. All three men agree that books made life tolerable for all.
The article ends by mentioning other CPR employees still in Hong Kong; Dave Drummond, Oriental manager, and his family and L. E. N. Ryan, Hong Kong agent.
Notes:
It is not clear from the article if Basil G. Ryan and his wife, a former American newspaperwoman, were in Hong Kong until early January 1942 or were always in the Phillipines.
After the war, Mr. Costello also gave news of CPR manager and BAAG agent Thomas Monaghan (executed on October 29, 1943) to the Canadian press:
https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/thomas-christopher-mo…
(Appendix 2)
Death of schoolmaster Cecil Walter Younger, aged 44.
Source:
Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong Internment 1942-1945, 2011, Appendix 111, page 187