Thank you Dearest for your dear and glorious loving letters of 20th June '43, 16th June and 14th June '43 received on 21st June. I am so glad that you are well and still liking your job in Inverness and not finding it too heavy for you, you are very plucky Nell.
I'm terribly sorry that you are not receiving word from me but hope that you'll receive some of my postcards one day just to let you know that I'm still in the land of the living. It must be a very great strain on you.
((Following text not dated:))
Several night alerts. Sound of planes. Kids very scared. Twice on 13th, second time about 2 a.m. no all clear so went to bed.
Handcart built on two motor tyres with five rows of seats for ten passengers is pulled by four coolies Causeway Bay to town. Fifty sen per section.
Overcast, squally & muggy.
Paper news very heartening even as printed by Japs. We are advancing on all fronts. The “new weapon” seems to have been accounted for, 19,000 tons of bombs on the release area in two days has quietened them down somewhat. Japs stress vital importance of Saipan, 1,268 naut. mls from Tokyo & 1,500 from the Phillipines [sic]. Russians started new offensive in Vitebsk area. Japs significantly silent about Imphal.
C. H. Goodwin (HK Police) died.
A typed Red Cross message dated 18th March 1943 arrived from Aunt Lily in Gillingham, Kent, stamped la Croix Rouge, Geneve, with a Japanese chop on it, saying
'Hope you and girl are well... Having lovely spring weather. All well. Love'.
((At some unrecorded time, another, plain typed postcard dated 28.1.44 and stamped by British Censor arrived, saying:
Charles Henry Goodwin of the Hong Kong Police dies today, aged 44. He was one of a number of policemen who married their Chinese girlfriends in a mass ceremony at St. John's Cathedral on Boxing day 1941. His wife, formerly Kwong Yuet of Kowloon, was accepted into Rosary Hill Red Cross Home.
George Wright-Nooth's diary entry describing the kitchen system in 1944 mentions Goodwin:
Overcast & showery all day.
Ground rice & chopped wood.
Some canteen gear arrived but no veg for tomorrow, sprats only.
No paper today. Chinese paper arrived & is in the course of translation.
With Steve pm.
Air-raid warning 9pm, for practice it seems.
Much better day, occasional showers.
News excellent. Cherbourg captured 25th. Garrison established on Saipan, & more attacks on Bonins. Anything can happen now.
Black-out ordered.
With Steve pm.
Lovely day.
Current came on 2pm.
Ground rice for bread.
Firewood problem in town more acute. Kerosene Y38 per catty & candles Y13 each. Death sentences imposed on thieves of electric wire.
Fine, hot day. Aired bedding or what is left of it.
Rec. RC letter from Mother 9-2-43. Seems Marj hadn’t written to her at all.
Japs made special search of lorry.
OBJECTIVE: Reconnaissance flight over Canton airfields
RESULTS: Pilots overfly Tien Ho and White Cloud airbases to take pictures with recon cameras; they also overfly satellite fields and report that the White Cloud satellite field has been ditched to render it unusable.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~3:30 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Two P-40s from the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (attached to 23rd Fighter Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major Edward O. McComas; Lt. Penning
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None
((Following text not dated:))
No canteen due to lack of goods.
Lovely day.
Started demolishing a wall in order to procure bricks to build a hot water boiler with.
Allies advancing on all fronts. Nil re Saipan. Japs praising up their own war in China & Burma. 6 Chinese executed this afternoon.
I’ve run out of everything again damn it.
With Steve pm.
(HK to be relieved in 2 weeks? (camp rumour))
OBJECTIVE: Block channels in Victoria Harbor with anti-ship mines
RESULTS: Five B-24s drop anti-ship mines into Victoria Harbor (Lei Yue Mun, Sulphur, Rambler, and Kellett channels); a sixth B-24 drops mines into the Pearl River.
TIME OVER TARGET: ~10:10 to 11:42 p.m.
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Six B-24Js from the 374th, 375th, and 425th Bomb Squadrons (308th Heavy Bomb Group)
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Twenty Mark 13 and Mark 13-5 anti-ship mines
((Following text is undated:))
Owen, my husband, was taken out of the camp one morning at nine-o-clock, by the Japanese for interrogation concerning the airport, and, as the day wore on, and he did not come back, I was in a dreadfully anxious state and wondered whether I would ever see him again. Thankfully, at nine-o-clock at night he returned, but I will never forget that day.
OBJECTIVE: Block Pearl River channels with anti-ship mines
RESULTS: B-24s drop anti-ship mines into the Pearl River
TIME OVER TARGET: Evening
AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Three B-24Js from the 308th Heavy Bomb Group
AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Unknown
ORDNANCE EXPENDED: Twelve anti-ship mines, most likely a mix of Mark 13 and Mark 13-5
JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: None
AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None