John WHITEFIELD [c.1933- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

John WHITEFIELD [c.1933- ]

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Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2014-03-13 14:53
Names
Given: 
John
Family: 
Whitefield
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Living
Birth
Date: 
c.1933-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Tags: 
WW2: Interned at Stanley Camp
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Comments

Submitted by David on Mon, 2014-03-24 18:39.

I was very pleased to meet John and his wife last month. With their permission, here are a few notes about John's experiences here in December 1941, during the fighting against the Japanese:

At that time, John was a young boy living with his family in Peak Mansions on the Peak. He remembers the demolition of 10 & 11 The Peak, where the residents were given 30 minutes notice to evacuate the building before it was demolished by the British forces. Many of those residents ended up staying with families in Peak Mansions.

Soon after they had to move again, as Peak Mansions was shelled by the Japanese. John moved to live in Altadena on Barker Road. He remembers Japanese shells landing in the building, but they didn't explode. The men there drew lots to decide who would dispose of them. Four men each took one corner of a sheet, and carried the shell outside and deposited it into the swimming pool!

After the British surrendered, John was interned together with his family at Stanley Camp.

Regards, David