70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

The South China Morning Post is not impressed by some aspects of the new regime:

The seeming neglect of the Chinese population for the first fortnight of our freedom revived some dying bitterness, and the queer contradictions and changes in the evacuation system for Stanley internees has added to it.

Those remaining in Stanley have their own, rather less serious, problems: 200 out of the 400 women are disappointed to find that there aren't enough coats, pullovers and sandals for them in the consignment sent by the Australian Red Cross. The reporter is quick to add that this wasn't the fault of the Australian Red Cross or the camp authorities.

Les Fisher, recently released from Shamshuipo, writes to his wife:

Local News: Sheila Mackinlay whose husband was killed on Xmas Day 1941 has today married a police officer - a Stanley romance.

In the course of a description of the suicide (after the murder of his mistress and the attempted murder of his secretary) of Japanese intelligence chief Ekichi Endo (or Ando), the China Mail's front page notes the attendance of one Watanabe of the Foreign Affairs Office at his death. It notes, 'not to be confused with the Watanabe who did what he could do for the British POWs'. This must be one of the first references in a public printed source to the heroic interpreter, Kiyoshi Watanabe.

Governor Harcourt and other dignitaries tour the New Territories by car. Among the places they visit is Taipo Orphanage, which the recently-departed Mildred Dibden and her team kept open throughout the occupation..

Sources:

SCMP: Editorial, September 19, 1945, cited Philip Snow, The Fall of Hong Kong, 2003, 427

Stanley clothes: China Mail, September 20, 1945,3 

Fisher: Les Fisher, I Will Remember, 1996, 252

Harcourt: China Mail, September 20, 1945, 2