yinpong's Groupon: 72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

29 Oct 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
29 Oct 1943, R. E. Jones Wartime diary
List of people executed on 29th October, 1943
29 Oct 1943, Eric MacNider's wartime diary

29 Oct 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 04:17 AM PDT

Book / Document:

Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Date(s) of events described:

Fri, 29 Oct 1943

Thirty three people are executed on Stanley Beach soon after 2 p.m. All have been involved in one way or another with resistance activities organised by the British Army Aid Group.

The Stanley internees among that number are:

Frederick William Bradley

John Fraser

Frederick Ivan Hall

Stanley Rees

Walter Scott

Douglas Waterton

The condemned are taken out of solitary confinement and assembled inside Stanley Prison. They are refused a visit from a priest, but are allowed five minutes together to compose themselves Captain Mateen Ansari gives an impromptu talk:

We will die strong and healthy for an ideal; not as traitors but nobly in our country's cause.

Wong Shiu Pun, who had worked at St. Paul's College, leads prayers. Then it's time to go.

As well as the six men arrested in Stanley, there is at least one other whose fate is of deep personal concern: the wife (Florence) and son (Michael) of Charles Hyde are living in Bungalow D.

Former Camp Quartermaster W. J. Anderson has heard the rumours about impending execution that swept the prison in the morning and has managed to get himself on gardening duty so as to witness the condemned starting on their final journey.

The van sets off on the short drive to Stanley Beach soon after 2 pm.

Chester Bennett was briefly interned in Stanley before being released to buy extra food for the Camp. War reporter Hal Boyle tells the story from Bennett's perspective, starting with the American's last moments in his cell:

He gave the note ((a final message to his wife)) to a friendly guard and soon it was time to go. The crowded black van pulled out from the steel gates of Stanley Prison and moved slowly down the rough, narrow road leading to the small bay where British redcoats had planted the empire flag more than a hundred years before.

As the van passed a number of internees toiling up the slope someone put his face up to the rear wire grill and called out: "Goodbye boys. We shan't be seeing you again." ((Believed to be Scott or Fraser.))

At the bottom of the hill the prisoners were forced to dismount and follow a trail winding around the edge of the bay. It must have been torture at every step to Chester Bennett. Rope burns on his left leg had become badly infected, the leg had become gangrenous and needed amputation. But he walked upright and limped only slightly. To all outward appearances he was utterly calm. The prisoners marched in single file to a small clearing. Ringing the hills around them were scores of Chinese gravestones. Before them in the center of the clearing the prisoners saw two trenches dug by Indian warders and knew how they were to die.

The beheadings begin, but the executioner tires and the swords lose their sharpness: some of the victims have to be finished off with bullets - Anderson hears these shots from the prison garden, as do some internees, leading to the idea that the prisoners have all been executed by firing squad.

Anne Ozorio describes the unflinching demeanour of Wong Shiu Pun, who does his best to pray with and comfort the victims, as these dreadful events play themselves out:

By the time it came to him the swords were blunt. But he kept praying.

There were 33 victims in total: seventeen Chinese, eight British, four Indians, one Canadian, one American, one Portuguese, one Eurasian. 32 were male; Lau Tak Oi, the wife of resistance leader David Loie, was the only woman.

Rumours fly around the Camp, but official confirmation of the deaths is not given until November 2.

Dorothy Jenner is lying in her cot; she believes she sees Walter Scott appear in the doorway and say, 'I'll see you again'. A quarter of an hour later a friend tells her that Scott has been executed and gives her, at Scott's request, a small parcel containing his police uniform, badge and arm-tags.

Sources:

Ansari's talk, Wong Shiu Pun: George Wright-Nooth, Prisoner of the Turnip Heads, 1994, 186.

Anderson: rumours and garden: Deposition, page 24, points 211-213, shots: 215; some of Wright-Nooth's account is based on points 212-215 - this (HK Public Records Office 163-1-104) and Hal Boyle's account (below) are the most reliable near contemporary sources for the executions;

Hal Boyle: http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/part-4-of-hal-boyles-series-on-chester-bennett/ (Boyle's source was Bennett's friend and fellow BAAG agent Marcus da Silva, who made it his business to find out what happened; Anderson and da Silva give substantially the same description and I believe all other accounts to be inaccurate. Some details are different though, and there are a number of possible versions of the exact wording and circumstances of the farewell message from the van).

Anne Ozorio: https://www.facebook.com/groups/308617469269780/

33 victims: this is the best estimate of nationalities and ethnicities I have been able to arrive at so far. I suspect that it underestimates the number of Eurasians who gave their lives; for a list of names see http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/the-executions-of-october-29-1943-update/

Jenner: Dorothy Jenner and Trish Sheppard, Darlings, I've Had A Ball, 1975, 214

Note:

I'm gradually writing posts on my blog about all of the 33 victims. For some of the people mentioned here see:

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/alexander-christie-sinton/

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/thomas-christopher-monaghans-resistance-work/

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/charles-hydes-resistance-work/

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/chester-bennett-the-american-hero-of-hong-kong/

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/lau-tak-oi-gladys-loie/

Note:

It's possible that Thomas Monaghan was briefly interned in Stanley in early 1942.

29 Oct 1943, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Posted: 04 Oct 2013 11:59 PM PDT

Book / Document:

R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Date(s) of events described:

Fri, 29 Oct 1943

Dry, cloudy, cooler.

Executions down by pier.

Choir practice 6-7.30 in a field W of Prison.

Canteen buyer.

List of people executed on 29th October, 1943

Posted: 15 May 2015 11:26 PM PDT

Book / Document:

Additional notes

Date(s) of events described:

Fri, 29 Oct 1943

The following list shows the people who have a page on Gwulo, and who died on 29th October, 1943. This was the day that the Japanese executed over 30 people on the beach at Stanley.

Brian has more details about these people and the day's events at:
http://gwulo.com/node/11380

Alias / nickname	Given	Family	DoB	DoD	Sex
	Mateen Ahmed	Ansari	1915	1943	M
	Ahmed	Basher		1943	M
The American Hero of Hong Kong	Chester	Bennett	1892	1943	M
	Frederick William	Bradley	1893	1943	M
陳炳勳	Ping-fun	Chan		1943	M
	Cleveland Elroy John	Changyit		1943	M
	Yung Sam	Cheung		1943	M
	John Alexander	Fraser	1896	1943	M
	Frederick Ivan George	Hall		1943	M
Ginger	Charles F	Hyde		1943	M
BAAG No. 60.i	George	Kotwall		1943	M
劉德愛	Tak Oi	Lau		1943	F
劉德光	Tak Kwong	Lau	1905	1943	M
	Hung Hoi	Lee		1943	M
	Hung	Leung / Leong	1912	1943	M
	Ching-kit	Luk	1925	1943	M
	Thomas Christopher	Monaghan	1890	1943	M
	Stanley	Rees		1943	M
	Walter Richardson	Scott	1899	1943	M
	Alexander Christie	Sinton	1897	1943	M
	Douglas William	Waterton	1901	1943	M
	William John	White	1883	1943	M
BAAG No. 71.ii / James Kim	Cheuk-ming	Yan		1943	M
BAAG No. 105 (?) / 楊守德	Sau-tak	Yeung		1943	M