Fine weather to begin with but rained heavily aft.
Ground rice & beans for bread.
Fine weather again pm.
Food carrying. No paper today.
Congee pm. Very welcome. Rice & veg for evermore it seems.
With Steve pm gardening & mending cistern.
Pages tagged:
pm raid warning
Gardens incidents (2 men slapped)
Bulletin - light & power reduced to 26,000 units per month ((sp?)) lights from 8 - 10 pm only - no hot plates or appliances as from 10.6.44.
B.O.
Death - Ewart Connors Oates (30) (typhus)
Zindel interview with G.S.
The death from Typhus of Merchant Service Officer Ewart Connors Oates in Tweed Bay Hospital at the age of 28 (or 30). Before being sent to Stanley he was held at the War Memorial Hospital.
The final round of arrests for resistance work in the camps begins today (or on June 7) in Shamshuipo.
((Following text not dated:))
Heavy rain. Mavis ((Xavier)) invites us Rosary Hill to see amateur dramatics, Cinderella.
Rose Souza got Y5,000 for furniture and flat.
Full moon. black-out at 10.30 p.m. Alert but nothing happened.
Fine, cloudy.
Rec. letter Mar 23rd ’43 from Marj. Tells of their holiday on a farm & of how the cream & milk put weight on them. I’m so glad, it proves she can afford a holiday & to enjoy herself.
Chopped wood.
New electrical regulations published. It seems we’ll end up as we began, with nothing.
Air-raid alarm 1.45pm. All Clear 2pm.
Trouble with Comm. Garden party. The guard got tough with one of them & it seems now that the whole party are going to refuse to go anymore.
With Steve pm.
OBJECTIVE: Block Pearl River channels with anti-ship mines
RESULTS: B-24s drop anti-ship mines into the Pearl River
TIME OVER TARGET: 9:40 to 10:50 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Four B-24Js from the 374th, 375th, and 425th Bomb Squadrons (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Three of the four B-24s drop twelve Mark 13 anti-ship mines into the Pearl River
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None
Fine, hot, cloudy.
Rigged mosquito net.
Ground rice for bread.
Allies pushed Goering’s Div. back. Our forces 5 klms east of Rome (4th) Air-raid alarm of yesterday coincides with US raid on Kwongchauwan. Jap paper really very heartening although that is not their intention.
Choir practice 5-6pm. Steve at practice till 7.45pm.
Lovely moonlight night. I hope we are together again pal by or before next June’s full moon light.
Several internees went to Q.M. for X-ray. ((Probably Queen Mary Hospital))
Trading can be done through R. of I. (Notice posted)
B.O.
Rome has fallen! The news was received in camp with great jubilation. The Japanese paper makes a pathetic effort to explain the German withdrawal as an instance of the consideration displayed by Germany for Italy’s famous capitol and priceless buildings of antiquity showing up by contrast the barbaric vandalism of the Anglo-American armies. They fail to say why the Germans allowed these vandals to get so near Rome; nor did they mention the fact that America and Britain had declared they would not attack Rome if it were declared an open city. Anyway, it gives a good start to June.
Fine, hot, nice SW wind.
Some unpleasantness re dust-bin & stinking fish.
153 ½ lbs. wood to Dutch.
Rome fell 4th. Usual Axis tripe re humanitarian reasons, desire to preserve the place & being of no strategic value. Seems the Axis are catching it pretty well all round.
Lorry did not arrive until after 5pm. Wood had to be fetched from pier by our party despite protest made yesterday.
With Steve pm. talked of war & possibilities. Hurry up Yanks.
Classical concert (Barton, Quintette, Welsh choir)
Second front opening announced in H.K. News. ((The Normandy landings happened on 6th June 1944, so the news reached the Hong Kong public very quickly.))
B.O.
The Anglo–American invasion of the continent has begun! What excitement. When I heard someone in the yard below yell out the news at the top of his voice I thought he was trying to be funny capping yesterday’s news of the fall of Rome! But it is true. The feeling in camp is one of great excitement. “At last”, says everyone. We know that it means hundreds and thousands of our countrymen will be killed and that is a sobering thought; but we also know the invasion had to come sometime or other and the sooner it came the sooner would this ghastly war be ended.
Les Fisher in Shamshuipo:
I have just sent Y10 to Andy in Stanley. If he is not in Stanley, or prison, I shall get it back, but if does get it I shall see his signature. I am very worried because of the long silence.
In fact James Anderson is in Stanley Prison, arrested on July 7, 1943 for his role in operating an illegal radio (see http://gwulo.com/node/12347)
Source:
Les Fisher, I Will Remember, 1996, 124
Showery, hot.
Ground rice for bread.
2nd. Front opened between Cherbourg & Le Havre with attacks on Channel Islands early am 6th. Ann. of Dunkirk. Badoglio resigns in favour of Prince Umberto who instructed him to form a cabinet. (Prince U. seems to be destined for the throne) Everyone very happy at the news. Jap. paper rubs it in about our losses as usual.
Sang in concert tonight, all the old stuff. Went OK too. Japs hung around to see if we made any 2nd.Front celebrations in the hall.
Letter from P.O.Ws in Japan posted outside C.S.O.
B.O.
((Not clear where the following text belongs. Believe it is today)) Allotment of Y30,000 for distribution amongst internees in June.
No further information about repatriation or parcels ex Teia Maru. P????? ((Unclear)) possibility of purchases in Macau, where prices are cheaper.
Heavy storm early am. & showery all day.
Paper keeps up the usual note re our hopeless efforts at trying to win the war, it seems that the word “annihilate” and its derivatives was coined in order to describe the fate of the men opposed to the Axis.
There are internees who still think we have another eighteen months to exist in this Camp that the Germans will still be fighting well into next year. Time alone will tell of course but I sincerely hope they are wrong.