72 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries |
- 23 Jul 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary
- 23 Jul 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
- 23 Jul 1942, Rev. Buuck's autobiographical notes
- 23 Jul 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary
- 23 Jul 1942, Ella Buuck's wartime diary
- 23 Jul 1942, "Exchange Ship" by Max Hill
- 23 Jul 1942, Eric MacNider's wartime diary
| 23 Jul 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary Posted: 19 Feb 2012 05:28 AM PST Book / Document: Barbara Anslow's diary Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 2 years today since Dad died. Elec. off on our floor. Shanghai people standing by.  |
| 23 Jul 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp Posted: 10 Mar 2012 02:18 AM PST Book / Document: Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 Missionaries Robert and Helen Hammond and their family are on board the Asama Maru: July the twenty-third is another day we shall never forget. The sailors on the Gripsholm, Swedish crew, called to us that they had plenty of good fruit, and to prove it they threw us apples - American apples - also large oranges and pears... We were exchanged about ten that morning. A long string of boxcars divided the dock. The Japanese with their new suits and happy, smiling, well-dressed children were carrying lovely new leather suitcases. We saw their trunks, new wardrobe trunks, but here were all of us with our dirty rags.... The call to dinner rang. We watched the head steward bring a great, big brown turkey. Our reactions were such that we cannot describe them. Besides there was all the bread and butter we wished, and all the different cold meats, various kinds of salads, potato, macaroni; then fruit and milk. Then, after grace had been said, we began to eat; we ate and ate and ate. In the afternoon the Americans - who'd been confined to ship by the crew of the Asama Maru - are allowed to look around the town. The first thing Norman Briggs does is get a haircut. Then he heads back to the Gripsholm in plenty of time for the first dinner sitting which starts at 6 p.m.
Samuel Bitting, a repatriated banker with the National City Bank New York, writes from the Hotel Polona (Lourenco Marques) to assure Mr le Cocq d'Armandville that his daughter and son-in-law, Jacobus and Guillaumine van der Laan, are 'both well and as happy as one can be when living in conditions of semi-confinement' ((at the Sun Wah Hotel)).
Back at Stanley the divisions continue: Murphy starts campaign against council. Set up table with petition.
In Britain the Daily Mirror brings disappointing news for the relatives and friends of those in camp: AGREEMENT Japs in exchange THE Japanese Government has agreed to the exchange of 1,800 British and Allied nationals in the Far East for a similar number of Japanese and Siamese nationals here. Mr. Eden announced in the Commons yesterday that agreement had been reached after protracted and difficult negotiations. The Japanese Government, however, have not agreed to include in the exchange British subjects in Hong Kong, Singapore and other British territories occupied by them. (Page 2) Sources: Hammonds: Robert Hammond, Bondservants of the Japanese, 1957 (originally 1942), 78-79 Briggs: Carol Briggs Waite, Taken In Hong Kong, 2006, Kindle Edition, Location 3602 Bitting: David Tett, Captives in Cathay, 2007, 325 Murphy: Diary of M. L. Bevan: IWM, 523.1 (Bevan) Note: there were at least 4 male Murphies in camp at this time. This one probably wasn't Father Murphy, a Canadian Catholic priest, but the other three are all possible.  |
| 23 Jul 1942, Rev. Buuck's autobiographical notes Posted: 20 Jun 2012 03:22 AM PDT Book / Document: Rev. Buuck's autobiographical notes Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 I don't recall how much we slept that night but you can be sure that the next morning ((ie the 23rd)) we did not take very long to pack our few belongings and get to the promenade deck where the orders were given. We Americans would disembark via the bow gangplank and proceed on the left side of some boxcars on the pier; those from the Gripsholm, the Japanese, would walk on the other side of the boxcars and board the ship at the stern gangplank. Once on board the Gripsholm we were told to remain on deck while the crew readied the cabins. What an unbelievable sight there was on the deck at noon… here were tables loaded with the choicest foods of every description - a smorgasbord fit for a king! With the wonderful ham and cheese sandwiches and meats of various kinds, one could have a refreshing bottle of beer. We had every reason to thank the Lord for this food which for the past months had been only a vague dream.  |
| 23 Jul 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary Posted: 26 Jun 2012 02:11 AM PDT Book / Document: R. E. Jones Wartime diary Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 Fine day. Bowls. Bodies still on Cemetery beach. New Council formed, Gimson chairman. Plenty of Jap air activity today. (Canton in flames, Shanghai about to fall to Chinese? 21 ships sunk in Jap. endeavour to evacuate Aleutian Islands?)  |
| 23 Jul 1942, Ella Buuck's wartime diary Posted: 03 Jul 2012 02:40 AM PDT Book / Document: Ella Buuck's wartime diary Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 Today started very early, 5:30 for me. Breakfast was early and we were to be all set at 9 o'clock for the exchange. After 23 days we were again to move to different quarters. Right on the appointed time we were left off the gangplank to go over to the Gripsholm. Arriving there we were directed to the upper deck and told to sit down, that no cabins were to be assigned until evening as they had to clean the room. First the Japs were taken off the lower decks, and turned over to their ship. We found chairs and sat down and talked to the Kleins, Zimmermanns and Thodes. At noon we discovered that we were to be served a buffet lunch on long tables out on deck and we shall never forget the grand sight. The big plates of cold turkey, ham, salami, pressed ham, cheese, etc. with olives, pickles and fruits. Really, we couldn't believe it. Were we really seeing such good foods again? They had the best bread. Oh how we did eat! Then Lorenz went downtown and later he took care of Bobby and I went with Mrs. Ziegler to do some shopping. I had to be sure to get Elaine a birthday present and Bobby just had to have a toy, the first since the war started. Leonard of course had to have stamps from here. Then at 7:30 we had supper, right after that we heard we had cabin 317. Rev. Klein had asked as he stood in the queue early and so we did not need to stand in line for hours as did 1000 others. Many never got their cabin assigned until 2:30 or 3 am. We were happy as could be to have a 4 bunk cabin and all be together. I was so dead tired and went to bed early. Lorenz walked downtown with Kleins and had ice cream.  |
| 23 Jul 1942, "Exchange Ship" by Max Hill Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:41 PM PDT Book / Document: "Exchange Ship" by Max Hill Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 The Indian Ocean finally ran out of water for us to cross. We were so far south of the equator it was early spring, not summer. Lightweight suits were comfortable again. Just after dawn on the morning of July 23, a Portuguese pilot came aboard to guide us into Lourenco Marques harbor, where we were to be transferred to the Gripsholm for the rest of our journey home. The Gripsholm, which had brought the Japanese who were to be exchanged for us, was already there. The actual exchange of passengers was a simple thing. We had thought it would be complicated with the neutral governments-Switzerland for the United States and Spain for Japan-having representatives at desks who would check off name against name. Instead, the passengers merely walked down the gangplank of the Asama and up that of the Gripsholm. Ambassador Joseph Clark Grew and Admiral Nomura already had been exchanged. Most of the Americans and the Japanese didn't see each other. We were to pass on opposite sides of the flatcars the Negroes had laboriously pushed into place on the tracks. But Grew and Nomura almost brushed shoulders. They nodded with severe formality. "I received a message later saying Admiral Nomura wished to talk with me." Ambassador Grew said, "I didn't respond. I had nothing to say to him." After the ceremony of exchanging the ranking diplomats had been observed, the rest of us stepped on the free soil of Portugal for the first time. I went up the gangplank, dropped my luggage on the deck of the Gripsholm, and returned to the wharf. For the first time in two years I didn't have to think about a Japanese policeman snooping at my heels. It was a good feeling. No meal will ever taste better than the cold buffet lunch served us at noon on the Gripsholm. We wouldn't have been hard to please, but the stewards spruced themselves up in starched white coats and put on a parade. There were big plates of white bread, soft and tasty, not gray and tough; bowls heaped with fresh butter; tender and rare roast beef; chunks of cheese and bottles of beer, and ham from pigs that hadn't been fattened on fish; mounds of potato salad glistening with oil and mayonnaise. You have seen audiences in theaters rise and with spontaneous enthusiasm cheer and applaud a fine performance by an actor or a singer. Those stewards, with their platters and trays, received that sort of welcome as with accurate toes they pushed open the swinging doors which shut off the kitchen and deposited the tempting array of foods before us on tables. After packing away my share, I left the ship and walked down the wharf past sweating Negroes working with cargo for freighters and went on into the town. The Japanese had a two-day start on us in buying clothing and food and books. I tried to find a dictionary, and finally located the last one in Lorenco Marques at an obscure shop on the waterfront. You may wonder why the Japanese would strip the town of dictionaries. It is because none of the conquered peoples of Asia understand Japanese, and the only language in which they can issue their commands is English. The Japanese from the Gripsholm were everywhere, scampering around the town in their new American clothes and American shoes and wearing out the leather they can't replace when they get home: but if I know them, they had at least a ton of unattached soles packed away in their luggage. They flattened their pocketbooks and every time they returned to their ships they were loaded down with packages, and many had a half-naked Negro boy trotting behind with additional supplies. But that was nothing compared to what the Japanese brought with them from the United States. They had sewing machines, metal filing cabinets, typewriters, cameras, electric refrigerators, and phonographs. Ton after ton of possessions which would make their Japanese owners the envy of all of Japan was shifted from the Gripsholm into the holds of the Asama.  |
| 23 Jul 1942, Eric MacNider's wartime diary Posted: 16 Jul 2014 11:47 PM PDT Book / Document: Eric MacNider's wartime diary Date of events described: Thu, 1942-07-23 Went swimming
B.C.C. Resigned – new constitution resolve by blocks 2/5.  |
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