John P. Tackney was an Irish-born Maryknoll missionary. He was ordained on 22 June 1941 and assigned to Kweilin (Guilin), China. He and his group of newly ordained priests had arrived in Hong Kong just before the Japanese invasion and became trapped in the city and not able to proceed to their inland missions.
Margaret Mary Cunningham was better known as Sister Henrietta Marie. She served the Maryknoll Sisters and was sent to China in October 1936 to the Kongmoon (Jiangmen) mission, Guangdong for language study. However, in January 1937 likely due to her teaching background, she was quickly reassigned duties as a kindergarten and primary school teacher in the Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon Tong.
Dorothy Elizabeth Walsh was better known as Sister Mary Dorothy. She served the Maryknoll Sisters and was assigned to Hong Kong in 1934. Sister Mary Dorothy started off as a teacher at Maryknoll Convent School in Kowloon Tong and in later years became the Superior and Principal of the Primary Section of Maryknoll Sisters' School (later called Marymount Primary School) on Blue Pool Road.
Thomas Henry Revers was a Maryknoll missionary. He was called Brother Thaddeus and better known as Brother Thad. Brother Thaddeus was an experienced builder, master carpenter and general handyman. His skills were put to good use in the parishes and mission stations that he was assigned at the time.
Father Leo. J. Walter was a Maryknoll missionary. He was ordained on 22 June 1941 and assigned to Kweilin (Guilin), China. He and his group of newly ordained priests had arrived in Hong Kong just before the Japanese invasion and became trapped in the city and not able to proceed to their inland missions.
Father Ralph Henry Siebert was a Maryknoll missionary. He was ordained on 22 June 1941 and assigned to Kaying (Meizhou/Meixian), China. He and his group of newly ordained priests had arrived in Hong Kong just before the Japanese invasion and became trapped in the city and not able to proceed to their inland missions.
Father Francis X. Keelan was a Maryknoll missionary. He was ordained on 17 June 1934 and assigned to Wuchow (Wuzhou), Guangxi in the same year. Father Keelan was later stationed in Kweilin (Guilin).
He was on business in Hong Kong before the Japanese invasion. After the fall of Hong Kong, Father Keelan and other Maryknoll priests were interned at Stanley Camp until September 1942 (see here). In camp, he was co-chairman of the athletic committee.
Father William J. Downs was a Maryknoll missionary and ordained on 17 June 1916. In 1925, he was assigned to Kaying (Meizhou/Meixian) in Guangdong. In 1939, Father Downs came to Hong Kong to teach the Hakka dialect to new missionaries.
After the fall of Hong Kong, he was interned at Stanley Camp. In September 1942, Father Downs and other Maryknoll missionaries were released from Stanley Camp and permitted to proceed to their mission stations in China. See here. He returned to the United States in 1943.
Father John Cornelius Troesch was a Maryknoll missionary. He was ordained on 21 May 1932 and served as Procurator of the missions in Hong Kong, Manila and Shanghai between 1937 and 1945.
Father Troesch was present in Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion. He was interned at Stanley Camp. In "Prisoner of the Japs", the author, Gwen Dew got to know the Fathers of the Maryknoll Order as they were interned in the same building as her. Father Troesch was in charge of their kitchen.
In the 1941 Jurors List, Francis Neville Merritt Jr. worked as a "pupil" in the British Cigarette Co,. Ltd, (likely the British American Tobacco (BAT) Co., (China) Ltd.). His father by the same name worked as manager of BAT.
He and his father were interned at Stanley Camp. They were repatriated to the Unites States in 1942. Upon return, Francis Neville Merritt Jr. joined the Air Force.
Source: The Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury
