70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

Anne ((Muir)) told of her experiences during the war where she had been a V.A.D. nurse at St Albert’s - normally a monastery run by Italian Fathers. They, according to Anne, proved to be most unsympathetic and in fact quite objectionable: it seems a pity they were not turned out of the Colony with the other Italian fathers when Italy entered the war in her stab - in – the - back manner. Anne had had news of Gordon’s death some days before the surrender and shortly after a seriously wounded Japanese officer was brought in and she had to help nurse him. She said it was difficult for her not to feel very bitter against the man, though of course she knew he was not personally responsible for Gordon’s death. Poor Anne, what an ordeal for her. She said that though he was seriously wounded he kept up his part of pretending to know no English. When he was thirsty he pointed to his lips and said, “Makee leetie wet please,” and yet a day or two later when he was almost dying he said in good English, “May I have a drink of water please?”  He seemed to trust those who were trying to save his life.  

When he died, they laid him out and covered him with a Japanese flag - apparently all Japanese soldiers wear their rolled up flag about their person. Anne said that when St Albert’s was taken (a day or two before the surrender) she peered out of the window at the advancing Japanese. They were very skillfully camouflaged, having their helmets and tunics covered with nets into which they had stuck sprays of leaves and small bushes which, on the green and bushy hillsides, made them quite indistinguishable from the rest of the landscape. They wore rubber soled boots (with a cleft for the big toe) which made their movements completely silent. Anne said that when they closed in on the hospital it looked as though the whole hillside was moving and these soldiers uttered shrill cries like shrill bird cries, and as they came nearer she could see their black beady eyes peering out from amongst the screens of foliage in their helmets. She said it was absolutely terrifying to see them. Then in a moment they were swarming all over the hospital.

The officer in charge of the regiment asked almost at once about the wounded Japanese officer and when he was shown him, laid out under his national flag he seemed satisfied at the treatment the dead man had received, and the hospital staff think it was chiefly due to this that they escaped the horrible experiences suffered by some of the V.A.D.’s in other hospitals. Anne said that some of the soldiers had even smeared their faces with mud. Everyone had to stand to attention while the hospital was examined, or searched, including every patient who was physically capable of standing. Mrs Pritchard and Pam were there too and the Blacks.