70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries
21 Oct 1942, Barbara Anslow's diary
Submitted by Barbara Anslow on Sun, 2012-03-04 11:27Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Wed, 21 Oct 1942Just finished writing Chapter 12.
Prof. Digby had an operation today - suddenly.
Mabel fed up, because she hasnt been put in the ward with babies.
21 Oct 1942, R. E. Jones Wartime diary
Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2012-10-01 11:53Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Wed, 21 Oct 1942News apparently good.
2 Bank people escaped last Sun. ((See notes for 18 Oct 1942 for more about the escape))
21 Oct 1942, John Charter's wartime journal
Submitted by HK Bill on Sat, 2021-04-24 11:40Book / Document:Date(s) of events described:Wed, 21 Oct 1942Many happy returns of the day, Father. I see in the ‘HK News’ that the Viceroy of India has advised all British women and children who can possibly manage to do so, to leave India as soon as possible. I heard a story some time ago that women and children had been evacuated from Ceylon, but do not know if this is true or not. It makes it difficult about the occasional Red Cross messages we have been able to send as I am not sure where to address them. So I suppose it is possible that Mother and Father may now be separated, though I think this is improbable.
The Kamakura Maru which was scheduled to arrive here on 2nd October, arrived in fact on the 1st of the month. That may have been because of a typhoon which was blowing up. It was not a severe one though the wind howled pretty fiercely. It was late in the year for a typhoon. Apparently some 500 tons of comfits were landed for British prisoners of war, we hear from Zindle of the Red Cross. Hardly any letters seem to have come at all. The Kamakura left on the 3rd and she took no one from here to Shanghai. So Harold and Elsie and the others bound for Shanghai have had their hopes somewhat dashed, poor things. We also hear that the Japanese are tightening up their regulations concerning British and other enemy nationals in Shanghai. If they ever reach the stage of interning them (at present they live in their own homes and lead fairly normal lives) Harold and Elsie will be no better off than here. In addition there is always the risk of being torpedoed on the way up by a British or American submarine!
We are still not allowed to hold concerts!
We are still sporadically fighting bed bugs. The Fortescues have at last thrown out their mattress to be burnt, but I’m afraid the bugs must have spread a bit again in the mean time. We shall have to pour boiling water over our beds periodically until they finally disappear. To think that we should ever descend to bed bugs! Well, we can console ourselves with the frequent sight of patient internees pouring boiling water over bed frames on the tennis lawn! Also, in the early days of this camp, the respectable people next door had lice - which are worse!
