Gordon Dewar was Captain Commanding No. 7 Company in the HK Volunteer Defence force. He had had a long connection with Shanghai, from 1922 with first the Shanghai Dock and Eng. Co and then the Kiangnan Dock and Eng. Works, and then in Hong Kong with Taikoo Dockyard from 1937.
To complement the vast amount of information regarding the Stanley camp internees, it would be useful to document on Gwulo any remaining first and second hand memories from Shamshuipo of HK Volunteers POW experiences, anecdotes, and other details, - before there is no-one left to do so.
It may already be too late to get a lot of info, but I have made a start with the little I know of Robert Main's experiences in camp, and subsequently with postwar reconstruction.
Robert was interned as a HK defence volunteer in Shamshuipo POW camp, and later was shipped off to Amoy, Shanghai, and Peking for forced labour. He assumed he had been headed for Japan when the war ended.
In camp he worked in the kitchens as often as possible, so as to get the more nutritious scrapings and rice husks from the bottom of the pans.
He also became adept at catching flies in his fist to relieve the boredom, after studying their habits when disturbed. A good party trick in later years.
In 1941 he was a corporal with the HKVDC, source: http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/hkvdc.html
He's mentioned in the 1941 Jurors List: