Cheung Huen TAM [c.1900-1941] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Cheung Huen TAM [c.1900-1941]

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Submitted by David on Thu, 2015-04-30 16:33
Names
Given: 
Cheung Huen
Family: 
Tam
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
c.1900-01-01 (Year, Month, Day are approximate)
Death
Date: 
1941-12-25
Cause of death: 
Killed by Japanese soldiers

Dates of birth and death from the CWGC: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3169610/TAM%20CHEUNG%20HUEN

Henry Ching writes:

Under the heading “21 Aug 1942, BAAG Reports and Weekly Intelligence Summaries”  there appears a report made by Lt.Col L.T.Ride to the Military Attache, H.B.M.Embassy, Chungking.  Within the section headed “Atrocities” there is an account of the treatment of Rev.& Mrs Martin by the Japanese when they entered St Stephen’s College in Stanley. The report says “When the Japanese captured Stanley Rev.Martin and his wife were living in a part of St Stephen’s College together with a number of overseas students. They were all severely handled......”.
 
In the  College at the time was a teacher, Tam Cheung Hon, who was killed by the Japanese.  There is a Memorial Plaque in Chinese in the College commemorating Mr Tam. I believe he was killed trying to protect the boys and Mrs Martin during the incident described in Lt.Col.Ride’s report.  I wonder if there is any written record corroborating this?

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Comments

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2015-04-30 17:01.

There's a letter from Fred Sue Yek in October 1945 that mentions Tam's death, but the author didn't know why Tam was killed:

[...]

I moved to my own flat in September, 1941, but spent a good deal of my time at SSC, ((St. Stephen's College)) which was turned into a military hospital, when war was declared.

Bombs then began to drop perilously near and when one dropped about 50 yds from the Martins' quarters, where we were waiting for the radio, we realised that even hospitals were not immune. Anybody who had friends in the city or comparatively safer place went off, leaving the Martins and Tam Cheung Huen in charge of the 30 or 40 overseas boys, who have no home in Hong Kong.

The Martins were severely wounded and very badly molested, and Tam
was murdered on that Christmas morning. Nobody knows why Tam was killed, but he was last heard talking to a Japanese officer in English.

[...]

From: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/56390638?searchTerm=Tam%20Cheung...