70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

Maryknoll Sister Mary Clement, who was guaranteed out of Stanley on June 5, leaves Hong Kong. The Maryknoll authorities in the USA have ordered all sisters to return home or go to Free China - they've heard 'harrowing tales' from those repatriated on the Gripsholm. All will be gone by the end of January.

As Mary Clement and her colleagues leave the harbout, they pass another boat-  they think it's the Asama Maru-  a troop ship, and it's carrying a draft of Canadians from Shamshuipo to 'an unknown destination' - in fact Japan:

As we stood on the deck our last wave of farewell was to those brave boys to whom Hong Kong had given such an unfriendly welcome.

In fact the ship they passed wasn't the Asama Maru - which had been used in the June 1942 repatriation of Americans, but it ssiter ship the Tatuta Maru, which was carrying 1,176 POWs to labour in Japan. This draft - the third - was the first to include Canadians. The ship was a luxurious one, and some lucky POWs were assigned cabins, but most men are crammed into the hold - 'four airless steel walls with a bare steel floor' - and don't have enough space to lie down at the same time. Luckily it's a short voyage and they disembark at Nagasaki on January 22nd.

Sources:

Maryknoll: Cindy Yik-yi Chu,editor, The Diaries of the Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong, 1921-1966, 2007, 134-135

Draft: Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, 2009, 19-22 January 1943.