Stop Press - Latest bed bug news! This morning Tim and I took our beds to pieces and carted them out onto the lawn by the tool store shed. Here we unscrewed still more nuts and bolts (I don’t think Tim will ever assemble his again!) untill all cracks and joints were fairly well accessible. Tim then had to depart to work at the C.S.O. and Marjorie took over. Marjorie is swift but, I am bound to add, somewhat slap dash.
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Worrying news that a ship 'Lisbon Maru' carrying British and Australian prisoners of war had left a southern port, and was torpedoed by American subs. Some were able to swim to a nearby island, others were rescued and a few drowned. Every one here worried about their men, but rumour is that Nakazawa has given his word that no soldiers have left Hong Kong yet.
Two Canadian missionaries who have been effectively confined to a flat in Kowloon's Taam Kung Road since the surrender are finally allowed some freedom of movement.
((I discovered that I had a forgotten transcription of a letter I wrote in October 1942 to an acquaintance, having left Stanley Internment Camp at the end of June. At the time of the writing I had very recently become 10 years old. DeKalb, Illinois was our town of residence for six months, then it was on to Omaha, Nebraska.
Having posted on the events earlier, it is interesting for me to now see some forgotten details, and an item or two that may have been remembered wrongly in 1942.
46 people accepted by Japs for Shanghai, date of sailing unknown.
Got 8Y for £1.
I am now considered on the Permanent Government Staff, subject to medical exam. ((Having served 3 years)).
No real news or rumours except that the Volunteers are coming in to the Prison, and Stalingrad still holding.
Extract from letter:
Morale here is excellent. The Chinese have no doubt of the ultimate result. The only thing we wait longingly for is the advent of some American planes on a bombing trip. Despite the risk, the more the merrier. I have an odd bottle in reserve to celebrate...
Source:
The Hong Kong Fellowship Newsletter, No. 2, June 1943, 7-8
Note:
X-rays can start going in again. ((Patients who needed X-rays were allowed to go again. They had been suspended because Stott escaped from the French Hospital in town where the x-rays took place.))
Rosaleen's first wedding anniversary. ((Her husband, Royal Scots, in Kowloon camp))
Eric MacNider summarises a 'long letter' from Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, sent through his town-based Informal Welfare Committee, and received today. The doctor explains that, working with the Informal Welfare Committee, he arranged for families with small children to receive a parcel in June. At the same time he 'farmed out' others, especially single men, to those wiling to 'adopt' them. This explains why a few people have receeived parcels from unknown sources.
fresh ((sp?)) internees issued with 5 1/2 oz. sugar and tinned goods.
Dr. Y-E says Mabel may get up soon and take a walk, and be examined after it. She said she heard something about her tonsils being yanked out.
Lovely fried fritter and baked potato, but everyone is ready to rebel because of no pasty or dumpling since Monday.
Went to Club (Prison Officers') in evening, so crowded – I had to sit behind the piano.
Things might be hard in Stanley but they're much worse in Kowloon's Shamshuipo POW Camp: today the number of deaths in an epidemic of diphtheria and related diseases peaks at 6. In contrast, there were 7 deaths in Stanley between August 18 and 13 December - and the youngest person to die was 45 years old, while most of those in Shamshuipo were of course of miitary age.
Sources:
Shamshuipo: Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, 2009, October 11, 1942
(Sandbach) / Martin
3 years married today & again no celebrations.
Rain & wind.
Japs have lost in 10mths., 197 warships & 4 hundred odd merchant vessels. Russians cut off German supplies at Stalingrad?
Dreadful headlines in Jap paper - the 'Lisbon Maru' which went down on 1st October was full of Hong Kong troops; supposedly 1,800 troops on board and 900 saved. Old Horswell (late P.D.O. Dockyard) said a 'Major M. Greenwood' among the missing; the rank could be mixed up, feel so sorry for Mrs G if it's her husband (he isn't a Major). Also a Lieut Wood is missing – I don't know if that's Joanie's husband. ((He was an officer in HK R.N.R. - but it wasn't he)).
The Hongkong News carries a grim headline:
Hong Kong Prisoners On Torpedoed Vessel
Nearly Half Of Total Lost Through Action Of American Submarine
The article claims that the more than 900 British POWs who survived expressed 'chagrin' that their comrades lives had been lost through the action of an Allied power and 'gratitude' to the Japanese authorities for their treatment.
The news that finds its way into camp seems quite cheerful, both from the Eastern and Western theatres of operations. We have heard rumours that all prisoners of war are to be removed from HK and apparently some of the regulars have definitely left. I don’t know what this may mean; evidently something is afoot, but it seems that my hope of something happening at the end of September is not going to materialise. Now I am inclined to name a possible date as the end of the year and a more probable date as February or March of next year! Another winter here; what an appalling thought!