72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

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• 9 Mar 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary
• 9 Mar 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary
• 9 Mar 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

9 Mar 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary Posted: 10 Feb 2012 12:14 AM PST Book / Document:  R. E. Jones Wartime diary Date of events described:  Mon, 1942-03-09 D.E.Is. ((Dutch East Indies)) likely to surrender. Yarn re Argentina revived.

9 Mar 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary Posted: 08 Mar 2012 06:19 AM PST Book / Document:  Barbara Anslow's diary Date of events described:  Mon, 1942-03-09 Warmer. Lots of hard work in office - census. Soon our little stock of firewood (Marina Kingdon's doll's house) will be finished, and that will be the end of the porridge.  ((We found that the Kingdon family had pre-war occupied the flat of which our room was part.  Mr Kingdon was in camp but family evacuated to Australia.))  Meantime we are cooking 2 lots of porridge at night so as not to waste the fire once started, and eat some cold in morning. I still haven't got my glasses back. Mum has written to Dr Selwyn Clarke (H'Kong's Director of Medical Services, not yet interned) to try to get Mabel here with us.  Over 3 months since we've seen her.   Bread ration has slumped - it no longer comes direct to us, but via the Chinese Chief Supervisor. Olive now a kitchen worker and sometimes gets extra food, though she is generous to Mum with it. Canteen still functioning, but prices colossal.  Sugar $1.50 a pound, 20 toffees for $1 etc, and we have to save some of our little remaining precious money for my glasses' frames.   Often dream of going back to our flat and trying to rescue various things, but the general idea is that there's nothing left in our homes - not even the floorboards.   Today's paper mentions repatriation for the Americans, and that it may be a matter of arrangement for the British.  Some think it is out of the question.  Others seem to think we will just be released from internment and left to our own devices.   Went to dentist (Shields)  but he said he can't find anything wrong (despite aching).  ((Mr Shields was a private dentist. There was also a Govt. one, Dr. Lanchester.  Both functioned as best they could with what things they'd been able to bring into camp.  Their 'surgery' was the only part of the Married Quarters which had been damaged during the fighting - a devastated ground floor room which no one wanted to live in, there were no facilities for major repairs in camp.))

9 Mar 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:56 AM PST Book / Document:  Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp Date of events described:  Mon, 1942-03-09   Just over six weeks after Stanley was set up, conditions are still grim, as the American community hears at its monthly meeting, where reports are made about conditions and prospects. Continual representations are being made by Bill Hunt and the British leaders to try to get the Japanese to provide milk for babies, medicines and many other basic supplies. Many people are still sleeping on concrete floors. It's announced that there are 324 Americans in camp and their food rations are listed:   80-100 pounds of meat daily (bones and fat included) 80 lbs of green vegetables 4 ozs of rice per meal 8 or 9 loaves of bread, enough for a slice or half a slice daily. Some of these rations are reserved to increased shares to babies, growing children and convalescents.   Source: Maryknoll Diary, March 9, 1942

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