Wright-Nooth's diary:
This afternoon we struck water at 16 feet. I must say we did not expect it.
Source:
George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 209
Pages tagged:
Overcast, mist, muggy, warmer.
Sewing shop wall & wood chopping.
French occupy Belmont & Strassburg.
Firewood arrived 6pm.
Machines & troops being concentrated in India.
Death of 74 year old architect Ernest Manning Hazeland.
Before being sent to Stanley he was held in room 507 of the Mee CHow Hotel.
His wife Helene Clare is also an internee.
Sources:
Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong Internment, 2008, 188
http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.html#_Toc43367497
Overcast thin mist, a little drier, E ground wind.
Sewing shop.
Water on.
Paper has no E. news whatever but plenty of tripe about Leyte.
Rumours re receipt of Parcels on 13th Dec & repatriation of women & childrens [sic] have grown stronger.
Planes over W to E & E to W about midn’t. Heavy stuff dropped to the W.
Overcast, E wind.
Canteen No.20.
Lorry 5pm with fish.
Paper has no E news again, Japan raided 27th by 40 B29s & according to paper hit nothing but churches hospitals, shrines & residential quarters.
The Hong Kong University Senate meets in camp. It looks forward to the post-war situation - 'a unique opportunity for a new start'. The expansion of the university is called for, with a new site and buildings prepared over a 3-5 year period:
There would be a grave danger of the future being crabbed if it were suggested that a small start be made in the hope that the institution would grow.
"sing as we go" (p.by???? &Nor?? B??? Sullivan, Jenner, McLeod, Pearson, Todd,??, M.O'Connor, E. Curtis, J.& B. Keates, D G Wilson, Betty Mills, Heath, C. Thornhill, Luke, I. Stevens, E. Grant, ???, ???, A. Farqhar Scott, S. Bruce, June Winklemann)
Warmer, dry, cloudy. E wind.
Finished on Sewing shop.
Lorry arrived with wood & veg.
U.S. 9th reach Roer river, the last natural fortification before the Rhine. Allies have massed troops etc on Western front & are waiting for drier weather in Poland & it seems that a general double offensive will take place from E to W. Frazer rejoins his fleet from London probably with orders etc for Pacific offensive.
Workers oil & sugar issued.
Saw Himsworth re another job.
Full Moon.
a.m. Outdoor roll-call
((Following text not dated:))
Rosary Hill sung to be cut out. Rice supplied only. Other food cook your own in basement
Upstairs burgled. We didn't know. Bag of rice and charcoal worth Y5,000. We now sleep worse.
Alerts almost daily during December. Mostly daytime.
Heavy rain early am.
Another new officer arrived. Supposed to be an ex R.C. Padre. ((Jones is noting the arrival of interpreter Kiyoshi Watanabe.))
Roll-call 8.30am weather cleared, colder & overcast.
Paper up to 80sen.
Tokyo raided early 30th Nov. No Euro news.
Pork 88Y per catty in town. 2 oz Suk yin issued Y7.
Painted name on Mary’s suitcase aft.
Oil 4oz & sugar 1.09oz issued.
Water on.
My 26th birthday.
In the middle of the night there was a BIG BANG, which the camp decided was a raider blasting a gun emplacement on the hillside on the other side of the bay.
Outside roll call therefore no Mass.
George Wright-Nooth spots a new face among the Japanese calling the morning roll. Suzy Potts tells him that he's a Roman Catholic priest who the police call 'Father John' and that he's done good work for 'our troops in other camps'. 'This may be so' notes Wright-Nooth with a degree of scepticism.
Last night at 12.15 a.m. we were all awakened by some shattering explosions. It awoke me with a most peculiar feeling - not exactly alarm, but with a feeling of considerable tension. In peacetime one would have wondered, for a few moments, what it was, but these days one’s mind automatically says “bombs”. My mind registered four bangs, but those who were already awake said there were five. Apparently the sound followed very close on the heels of the flashes and people who both saw and heard, estimate that the bombs must have been less than a mile away.
Awakened about midn’t by heavy detonations. A plane flying E to W dropped its load very near (Taitam Bay) despite heavy cloud & rain.
In Pengelly’s store & shifting rubble.
News in Chinese paper from Axis sources tells us that Churchill in a speech warned against over-optimism adding that next Summer might see the end of the war in Europe & that he could not tell when the war in the East would finish.
Cold N wind & overcast but cleared up somewhat pm.
I came out of hospital on Thursday 30th November (St. Andrews' Day). I persuaded Prof Digby to give me my discharge as there seemed to be little chance of him having the time or opportunity to snip the tag off my bottom. I shall go back to the hospital at the beginning of the New Year and get it done then.