Overcast, rain, SW wind.
Some pigs killed 4am.
G trifle remorseful am congee?
US bomber over during the day. Letters “P.W.” cut into turf etc around the Camp.
Gimson & nucleus of Govt. to town am.
Few visitors arrived.
Swim with G & V afternoon.
2oz oil issued.
Lorry with onions & pumkins [sic] 5.20pm.
Japs seem to be obeying the order to increase our rations.
Had instructions to work at CSO starting Wed.
Loads of troops from Shamshuipo came in. Saw Mr Hudson, a neighbour when we Redwoods lived in Naval Terrace.
We had LUMPS of meat - lashings.
C.S.O went to town to Spanish Mission
To town and then Stanley. Two loaves bread which Giffen says all they want. Japanese at office agree let fitter in to overhaul machinery. Allow me to take old Hongkong files. Two left out of six.
Truck to Stanley. Bumpy ride. No one meets us. Wylie can't come out. Doctor's orders. Going home on first ship. Giffen power of attorney as Franklin may not be demobbed. People less cordial.
Government servants been in town some days at French Mission building.
Telegraph and Post to merge.
Some low cloud but brighter.
Painted traffic sign.
P o Ws & visitors in.
Gesellshaft mit G ist fast endete zeimlich. ((Jill Fell: "Companionship with G is almost at an end seemingly". "ziemlich" actually means "fairly", but I think he's improvising here, as he's already said "almost".))
Swim aft. & investigated for hole above beach & came round by Prison reservoir.
G searched for me 6pm but I saw first, sehr schõne. [very lovely]
Large crowd of Shamshuipo folk have just come over by launch.
It is Tim Fortescue's birthday as well as Peggy's, she is 22.
We had raw meat issue - a colossal amount, some we fried.
Radio messages say that food and other supplies have been dropped on pow camps in Japan; the pilots report that some of the men were naked ((they were probably wearing just fandushis)); it's said they are going to be taken by carrier plane to Okinawa first.
Franklin Gimson broadcasts from a restaurant with a link to the old Z.B.W. radio station on the top of the Gloucester Building
As the chief representative of the British Government now resident in Hong Kong, I have already established an office in the City of Victoria, with the concurrence of the Japanese, and have in preparation the essential steps towards resuming the British administration on the arrival - which I trust will not be much longer deferred - of the British Forces to take the surrender of the Colony.
Fine, hot, light SW wind.
G hat smerchen, zu viel essen. ((smerchen most likely is "schmerzen"=pain, so the entry is in English: G has [stomach] pain, has eaten too much.))
Fixed up & painted traffic signs.
Fan for G & V.
Ground coffee beans (3oz each issued)
P of W arrived by launch, other visitors as usual.
Starving villagers being fed from Camp. Coolies employed in kitchens & other jobs.
What a day - didn't even get time to write about it (it's 30th now).
A fighter zoomed over us very low several times - frightened me.
A 'rainy, leaden, steamy day'.
At noon Harcourt's fleet catches its first sight of the 'storm-clouded island of Hong Kong'. Planes ('hell cats') are making regular sorties to protect the ships, but there is no opposition.
Commander Phillip 'Percy' Gick flies a reconnaissance plane over Hong Kong. He passes above the Camps twice; the first time they seem empty, but the second time large crowds wave at him.
Supplies dropped by parachute
I weighed myself the other day and find I have already put on 10 lbs.
Showery, S wind.
Plane [draws little symbol of circle with line thro’ and dot in centre] white gave us a few thrills during am.
Rigged enclosure around flagstaffs.
Twin-engined bomber [another little symbol, a star with 2 lines] –white dropped supplies to us during the aft. Everyone thrilled to death almost.
Supply vessels anchored S. of us.
Japs supplied, 2 Fandosis [?], toilet paper, 5 boxes matches & a pencil.
Rained all evening.
Photos of Hong Kong from the last 3 years and 8 months are few and far between, but that is about to change with the arrival of the Allied Fleet.
The Canadian ship, HMCS Robert, was the fifth ship of the fleet to enter the harbour, and the first to berth in Kowloon, at Holt's Wharf. You can read about the Robert's experience that day, and see photos, at: http://gwulo.com/node/28372
11am: Mabel's 22nd birthday, and Mary Taylor's 27th.
Tens of planes have been over all the morning, some of them zooming frighteningly. Fleet movements have been seen on the horizon.
The sky was clear and clean. There was no wind - just the faintest dawn breeze. The sun was storming up out of the China Sea in a roar of colour.
It's the day the Colony's been waiting for since December 25, 1941, and, as it unfolds, the weather is perfect:
(A) brilliant sun is scorching its way across a blue sky dotted with white clouds. A breeze from the east makes it cool in the shade...
Thanks to Elizabeth Ride for contributing this text from the diary of Capt H. L. White, Winnipeg Grenadiers, who had been a POW in Shamshuipo camp:
"Aug.30, 1945. Had a great day today. Some of the people in Stanley sent invitations to Canadians to come over for a visit. I went along with Ted, visited some nurses. Had a very nice time. They were so glad to see us, gave us a nice lunch. We took some liquour. Had a swim.
Allied Fleet entered under Rear Adm. C.H.J. Harcourt, C.B., CBE.
((This is the first entry in the diary in ink - and the last entry in the diary.))
This marks the end of Eric MacNider's wartime diary. Thanks to his nephew Keith for sharing this valuable document with us.