John Charter's wartime journal: View pages | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

John Charter's wartime journal: View pages

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20 Nov 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

The list ((of people to be repatriated)) is published and Maudie is going!! It was so unexpected. Last Friday week, Nov 12th, I had gone to the garden to do some watering and Yvonne had arranged to join me after she had been to the BCC, for we heard the list was to be published at about 2.30 p.m. Some time elapsed and there was no sign of Y and it just crossed my mind that perhaps she had seen Maudie’s name on the list and had gone off to tell her about it. Sure enough, when she did arrive, she came full of excitement to say that, “Auntie is on the list and I’ve just been to tell her”.

Poor Maudie, for days past she had resigned herself to being left behind and she had been the most wonderfully cheerful and (one can say) plucky about it, for she disliked Hong Kong at the best of times and in this beastly camp, away from Capt. Minn, she has simply lived for the day of her departure and repatriation. When it was made known 700 people were to go by selection, both she and Vera Murrel, with whom she shares a room, were quite convinced they would be left behind and latterly Maudie had given up hope of ever getting out before the end of the war and that she believed this is going to be the one and only exchange of British prisoners and not, as many of us fervently hope it is, only the first part of the complete repatriation of internees from this camp.

Later, Maudie told me that when Yvonne burst in on them, first with the news (she was playing bridge with Elma) she was so dumbfounded that the news gave her quite a shock and though it was quite warm, her hands and feet went quite cold and it took her the rest of the afternoon to get her blood circulating again. She said her hand simply shook, holding the cards.

Y and I went to Danny Wilson’s concert in the evening and on the way we called on Maudie so that I could congratulate her and I found her most surprisingly subdued. In fact she had really had quite a severe shock and it was about two days before she felt it was really true. Even now, poor thing, she dare not let herself dwell on it too much and she has not so much as started to think of getting her things ready because she feels it would be tempting Providence and that for some reason or another, she may be struck off the list. Yvonne said there was such a crowd of people trying to see the list that men took turns to read through the names, over and over again.

Since the original categories were formulated, the selection committee has added others to the list, most of them coming under the ‘women’ category. These include HK war widows (a very good thing – Anne Muir, Sheila Mackinlay, Mrs Black, amongst those of our closest acquaintances); the Queen Alexander (Army) and the Naval sisters; the age of girl repatriates has been raised from 15 and under to 18 and under, though mothers of girls over 15 cannot accompany their daughters unless they themselves are being repatriated for some other reason. This has helped several families where some children were under 15 and some over, and where the father was a Prisoner of War in another camp. Also wives of sick men are being repatriated with their husbands.
21 Nov 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Fathers of motherless children are being allowed to go ((i.e. to be repatriated)) – there are five such fathers and eleven children. This was made possible by an appeal made to the Japanese by one of the fathers (through Gimson) and was not suggested by the committee itself. Then there are one or two compassionate cases. Alison Black, for instance, who is 22 is being allowed to accompany her mother – we were very glad to hear of that. Mr Wilmer is being allowed to accompany Mrs Wilmer, who poor thing has had a severe heart attack and whose life at one time, was despaired of, but who, somehow or other, has managed to pull round a bit now. I don’t know if she will survive the voyage. And there are other such cases. Maudie was put upon the list because of her illness through kidney trouble. She had a bad time with gall-stones just before the war and a recurrence of the trouble while in camp and she was X rayed more than a year ago. In a way it is disgusting to think that her physical condition is bad enough to warrant her inclusion in the list, but at any rate it is comforting to think that when she gets outside she will be able to undergo proper treatment.
27 Nov 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

No Date has yet been announced for the repatriation. The reaction of various people to the published list of probable repatriates was really quite remarkable. Of course it was easy enough for people like Y and me to read the list quite dispassionately; I, because I had never expected to go, and Y because she had not wanted to go by herself in any case. But it came as a bitter blow to many women who had been led to expect repatriation for themselves before the end of the year and many (especially the more elderly ones) have given a display of jealousy and acrimony which is quite disgusting, though really very understandable. I feel sorry for them as they had built all their hopes and had planned their camp lives and economies on the expectation of going soon: “Before the end of the summer,” first and then, “probably some time in November”. 

Heavens above! This camp is teaching us patience if nothing else. Meanwhile we still fervently hope that this is the first move only towards complete repatriation of the camp.

Poor old Maudie has been conscious of much jealousy and hostility at her inclusion on the list. She has always been cheerful in camp and in any case she hates the idea of being ill and will never stay in bed, let alone the hospital, one moment longer than she considers necessary (whether the doctor likes it or not!) and consequently I think very few people realised that she had been threatened with quite serious internal trouble. It seems to me that people here are very small minded, but I daresay it would be the same the whole world over. Vera Murrel, one of the disappointed people, has been really marvellous and is so pleased for Maudie that she is going.

After the repatriation Yvonne and I hope that we shall be able to secure a small amah’s room to ourselves or, preferably, one of the converted kitchens in the old American blocks, A1, 2 or 3. As yet the billeting committee is not making any plans for re-billeting people as they do not know yet which rooms will definitely be vacated, neither do they know if the Japanese will take it into their heads to shut off part of the camp (say, the bungalows and St Stephens) and push us all into a smaller number of buildings at our present rate of overcrowding. Some people seem to think these married quarters blocks may be closed as they overlook the gaol. However, we are taking what steps we can and are giving our names to the block chairmen in question pending the preparation of re-billeting lists.

We have got on very well with the Bidwells, Mr Lammert and Isa, but a little privacy would be marvellous after two years of this communal existence. If we get a room we really intend to make something of it. I am trying to devise a method of cutting our double bed in two and fixing two bunks, one above the other, in such a way that the top bunk will swing down during the day time and form a back to the other bunk, so we shall have a comfortable seat – rather like a railway carriage seat! These rooms are very small – about 6’ x 10’ or 11’ (amah’s rooms) or about 8’ square kitchens, so conservation of space is most important. Maudie is bequeathing a lot of her gear to us (including a most important hot plate) and Olive Burt is also giving us one or two things; so we hope to feather our nest quite nicely (if we are successful in securing a nest).
28 Nov 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

About a fortnight ago, Monday 15th I believe is the exact date, we had all gone to bed and lights out at 10 p.m. as usual. The moon was just past the full and had risen at about 9.30. I was practically asleep when Yvonne suddenly said, “Aeroplanes!” and hopped out of bed. I listened and sure enough there was the drone of distant engines. Harold and Elsie joined us on the verandah and we heard the planes passing right over head. I strained my eyes to see if I could catch a glimpse of their ghostly shapes against the stars, but saw nothing. They passed over in the direction of the harbour and then, after a little while, we saw a great flash behind the hills and some seconds later we heard the heavy crump of bombs. At that we all rushed into the next flat and into the end room that faces north (occupied by Christine Wyatt, Jill Beavis and two other girls) and with scarcely so much as by your leave we crowded around the French windows and overflowed onto their small balcony. Soon there were some 15 of us (clad in all kinds of peculiar night attire ranging from a singlet and a pair of cotton pants in my case to a pair of short sleeved pyjamas made from flour sacks in the case of Richard Mills) all talking excitedly and exclaiming at the flashes and resounding thuds. Then the Ak Ak guns got going furiously – not a search light lit up at all so I imagine the AA guns were putting up box barrages over important objectives. We saw little stars of light bursting high in the moon lit sky and then a very pretty display of reddish orange star shells or ‘flaming onions’ or whatever they were, following each other in rapid succession and shooting like large rockets into the sky about six of them in the air at the same time, making a ladder of glowing balls. They were not tracer shells and I believe Very lights are white, so that cannot have been what they were. The last night raid over Hong Kong (which I had not witnessed) took place over a year ago.

Well, after much talking we got back to bed – it was after 11 p.m. – and then we heard the roar of a single low flying plane and leapt up again. We saw this plane in the moonlight flying very low down Tytam Bay and wondered if it was one of ‘our’ planes. The noise died away and then later it came back again and yet again so we concluded it was a Japanese plane which had probably taken off from Kai Tak to avoid damage and was waiting till it could return again.
02 Dec 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

(Day 705 of captivity). We have started yet another month of internment. How long, Oh Lord, how long?

To continue with air raids: a daylight raid followed the night raid at about 11.30 a.m. next morning, while we were in the middle of our meal. As usual, we dashed along to the end room. After much banging everything seemed to have died down when, suddenly, through the gap by Mount Parker, roared a single two engined bomber. It flew down Tytam Bay and seemed to be loosing height (much to my dismay) but as it got further out to sea it turned East-ward and started to climb again. Both raids were reported to have been driven off by AA fire with negligible damage inflicted.

Yesterday, at 3.50 p.m. we were rehearsing ‘Laburnum Grove’ in St Stephen’s ‘lower kitchen’, the roofed over, open drill space that is part of St Stephen’s school. We heard the deep droning of planes and presently another raid was under way. We saw AA shells bursting and then heard the crumps of some extremely heavy detonations. We could hear the wail of a distant air raid siren and then the whine of planes going into a dive, followed by more heavy explosions – the heaviest we have yet heard, I think. We saw two planes high up and making off to the west and a little fighter following. Then two big planes came zooming round the corner of high point and, flying over Stanley Village, made for Tytam Bay and out that way to sea. They were evidently two of the dive bombers. We saw their markings – a white star on a blue circle – and believe this must be the marking of American planes attached to the Chinese forces. We waved excitedly and then were sent scuttling under cover by a couple of rifle shots and a burst of machine gun fire from the direction of the Maryknoll Mission (now used by the gendarmerie or Japanese Militia).  We thought at first, they were firing at us as we are not allowed in the open during a raid, but they must have been having a potshot at the planes. All seemed to have quietened down, when, suddenly, there was a tremendous explosion which echoed and reverberated amongst the hills and presently, over our ridge, rose a vast column of white smoke or vapour which gradually blew away. It sounded like an ammunition dump or something.

Today we heard (unofficially) that the Taikoo Docks and Kowloon Docks had been heavily bombed and that a cargo ship had received a direct hit and had simply blown up. Perhaps it was a munition ship which had blown up after catching fire, or perhaps the delayed explosion was from a time bomb. Any way, it was most exciting. Then at about 5.30 p.m. that same afternoon, either nine or ten planes sailed in to deliver another attack (probably the same ten coming back with another load of bombs) and again our meal was interrupted. This time the explosions were much more distant and were over the New Territories somewhere.
03 Dec 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

It was amusing to read an official Japanese report in the papers, issued from their HQ in Canton, reporting this raid over HK. It was obviously issued for home consumption and publication in other Japanese areas and I think it got into our local papers by mistake, for it claimed that at the approach of the American bombers, Japanese fighters immediately went up to intercept, shooting down three or four (at least – I cannot now lay my hands on the newspaper) and dispersing the others in such confusion that they hastily jettisoned their bombs into the sea, thus causing no damage at all. All the Japanese planes returned unscathed to their base.

From this fabrication, one gets a good idea of how much to believe of other fantastic claims the Japanese are constantly making of the operations in progress in Burma, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and other areas. In these places they often claim to have shot down as many as 40% to 50% of an attacking force, while their own losses are always so small that the whole thing becomes palpably absurd and unreal. Also, the percentage of enemy planes that their ground forces claim to shoot down (compared with the figures they publish of even German claims) are quite fantastic. This sort of propaganda is altogether too clumsy to be at all convincing.

From time to time their newspapers (reporting in English) adopt or coin a new English phrase:  with regard to naval actions the latest phrase which constantly occurs is ……… “instantaneously sinking”…… or………   “which sank instantaneously,” and it is extraordinary how many British ships seem to sink instantaneously these days. The invariable phraseology for announcing the small Japanese air losses is as follows, “Of our planes, two (or perhaps even four) deliberately crash dived into enemy objectives or failed to return to their bases.” However, I believe it is quite true that many of the Japanese airmen are completely wreckless of life and limb and will dive their plane, with its load of bombs, straight at an enemy ship or important target.
31 Jan 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

The old and the new years have gone and come; Christmas has come and gone and so has ‘Laburnum Grove’ and I am very much behind with my diary.

We had another air raid on Sunday 23rd Jan and a rumour went round that a Japanese cruiser in the harbour had been hit. Japanese officials from the camp and prison are supposed to have gone to town to attend the funeral ceremony of some Naval officers who were killed.
21 Feb 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

The dates of my diary have been pretty gappy of late – not because nothing has happened but because I seem to have been fully occupied during the day and have felt disinclined to do anything after supper but read.

We had yet another raid on Feb 11th. We saw 12 big bombers and two tiny fighters – some people say they saw three fighters. Yvonne saw a small white cloud descending (as did many other people) and think it was a parachute. The Japanese claim to have shot down four of the planes, though so long as we could see them they kept in perfect formation – flying very high. Parts of one of these allegedly destroyed planes, is on view now in HK. Of course the wreckage could have been brought from anywhere, but of course one or two of these many raiding planes may have come to grief.

Taken all round, the war news is excellent for us. The Americans have occupied islands in the Marshals Group; in Burma there seem to be signs that the long awaited British offensive is beginning; the Russians have steadily pushed the Germans back to the Polish border in the Central Sector and in Italy the British and American armies are slowly advancing on Rome, although German opposition is stiffening.
08 Mar 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

‘Laburnum Grove’ had a somewhat difficult and interrupted voyage. Originally it was due to be performed on Nov 4th and I had the first play reading on 18th Sept. Then for various reasons the production date was postponed from one week to another – either the Japanese withheld their permission for some of the earlier shows to be performed, or sickness in the cast of earlier shows meant postponement and every entertainment was therefore pushed back a week or two. Then at the beginning of Nov, when the news of a repatriation list was first announced, Mrs Tinson (who is on the list) said she thought she ought to drop out in case the date of repatriation fell too near the date of the production. I hastily searched round for a suitable substitute but the four women I approached, although liking the part, declined either for reasons of health or time. In the end I decided to take the risk – and Mrs Tinson is still here with all the other repatriates!

Then I decided that Bevan would never make the grade in his part and had to tell him so. He was very sporting about it – tone inflections was his bug bear; he is quite tone deaf and was quite unable to get the expressions I wanted into his words. In his place I put Margrett (to play the part of Bernard Baxley) leaving him only three weeks in which to master his part. At first he made gigantic strides in memorizing his part; he learnt one act per day and though by no means word perfect, he kept the sense of the dialogue going and needed very little prompting. He was a school friend of Melville Cooper, who played the part in the original production at the Duchess Theatre, and was very keen about it. But unfortunately he simply would not get nearer than an approximation of his lines and ‘fluffed’ with enormous vitality and gest to the bitter end – rather putting off for the other players who were never quite sure whether he was off the rails or not, and when they had to come in! He also started off by telling us how he thought the part should be played and I thought there might be friction, but he soon seemed to become quite amenable to my ideas.

This is the first play I have produced with actors and actresses with, in some cases, many more years of seniority and acting experience than I possess and I felt rather diffident at first: however, I lost my temper a bit at one rehearsal and did a bit of shouting and that gave me all the confidence I needed!

A few days after bringing in Margrett, the Japanese decided to allow only two shows per month instead of four and that put us back two more weeks. At that point Tony Cole who had been playing the rather unsympathetic part of Harold Russ (and doing it quite well I thought) told me he did not feel happy in the part and would rather drop out. He said he would have gone through with it but for this extra two weeks which would give me time to find a substitute. I decided that if he felt unhappy in the part it would be better for him to drop out and after trying out one or two people I rather reluctantly took on Colin Coles. It is a difficult part to fill and I was afraid Coles was going to be the weak link in the show. He was poor during rehearsals but somehow became galvanized into life and action during the performances and put up a very creditable show.

Gordon Stopane-Thompson was playing the part of Detective Inspector Stack, but he was not well and developed boils and so I decided (very reluctantly) to understudy the part myself. Richard Mills – who was already rehearsing as Joseph in the Christmas Nativity play and as an ugly sister in the pantomime ‘Cinderella’ – offered to play the part if I did not want to do it myself. I had said I thought he would do it very well, but knowing how booked up he was I did no more than drop a hint. However, I gladly accepted his offer, and a good job he made of it. Even in the very small part of Sgt Morris I had to make a change as my first pick did not come up to expectations. Eventually the dates for our production were fixed for Thurs, Fri and Sat, Dec 20, 21 and 22.
05 Apr 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Maudie and Vera Murrell had undertaken the unenviable task of Properties and Stage Managers and had slaved away, begging, borrowing and arranging until they had collected the props for a very convincing suburban living room. On Wed 19th we had our full-dress rehearsal. In the meantime, as a precaution against night raids, the Japanese had ordered a complete blackout after sundown during the second and third quarters of the lunar month. This was the first of a series of blackouts that have continued ever since and, of course, it had to fall on the date of our production! However, Mr Nakasawa assured us that the blackout would be lifted by Thurs 20th, as by that day the moon did not rise till after 10 p.m., by which time the camp lights are always turned out. Anxiously we awaited news, but by Thurs morning there was still no news of the blackout being off. This meant we could either start the play in time to finish it before sundown – say 4.45 p.m., or postpone it yet again.

However, Margrett settled the question for us by developing a severe bout of malaria on Wednesday night. He woke up with a high temperature and a violent rigor. Mrs Margrett came to break the news to me and said that Dr Talbot had told him he could dope him sufficiently to bring his temp down for that night but, as with malaria, one’s temperature is usually up one night and down the next, it is probable that he would not have been available on the Friday night. So once more we decided to postpone; this time till after Xmas.

Eventually the play was performed on Thurs, Fri and Sat of Dec 30, 31st and Jan 1st. We had Bow Bells and Auld Lang Syne on the Fri night, after the final curtain which was quite fun. On the whole I think the production was quite a success, though I would by no means call it inspired. I think it is a mistake to produce an ordinary modern play twice. I found that instead of approaching it with a completely fresh mind one is apt to try and think back to the first production and try and remember what was done there, and the second production therefore tends to lack inspiration. Yvonne did very well in a somewhat colourless part. Old Phil was really quite good though his diction was poor. He could either speak slowly and distinctly or, fairly fast and incoherently, but never fast and distinctly! The only person who was at all adversely criticised was Mrs Hyde-Lay. Curiously enough, the cast and I thought she filled the bill very well. It was the first play she had ever acted in, so any short comings on her part were probably my responsibility.

Well, we all heaved a mighty sigh of relief when it was over and I vowed I would do nothing further in the dramatic line until next winter at the earliest. Actually I took the part of a blind shepherd in Cyril Brown’s Xmas Nativity Play and also the part of John, the disciple, in Cyril’s Easter Passion Play. They were small parts and did not entail much rehearsing. He wrote the Passion play himself and it was quite a creditable effort, though the performances did not do it justice. It was put on in too much of a hurry and at too short notice.
26 May 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Just before Christmas the camp, as a whole, was feeling very dispirited and mouldy. We had been led to believe that the repatriation of invalids, women and children would take place either in November or December, but the end of Dec arrived and still nothing had materialised. On Empire Day 1943 we were first told of the repatriation of women and children from this camp. It is now exactly one year and two days since the date of that announcement and still there is no sign of it materialising! It really is disheartening, people whose spirits were buoyed up with that hope have gradually lost heart and grown more and more discouraged. It is especially hard on the invalids – such as TB cases, pernicious anaemia and other such malnutrition cases who simply cannot receive proper treatment in this place through lack of equipment and the necessary food and drugs. Their chances of final recovery are steadily growing more and more dim.

T.V. Harmon, the Govt Furniture Store man was the first of these. He was very kind and helpful when we were choosing Govt furniture for our flat. I remember bumping into him about a couple of days after the capitulation of HK to the Japanese and he took a very gloomy view of things. Poor chap, I never thought he would end up in Stanley Cemetery. His wife’s name was on the repatriation list with those other wives whose invalid husbands were to be repatriated. I do not know if this now means her name will be removed from the list. I hope not; it would indeed be hard.

A few days before Christmas, things seemed to cheer up a bit. We were each given 2 ozs of margarine, one 12 oz tin (340 grams) of bully beef between 4 people, ¼ lb brown sugar each and an 8 oz tin (half size tin) of baked beans between 4 (Chinese brand). I never really discovered whether the Japanese donated any of this; I believe most of it came from Canteen profits.

The canteen makes a 7% profit on all sales and this is used in the camp at the direction of the Welfare Committee. Some of these things might have been sent in by Zindle from IRC funds. Well, that was a start. Then, over 1,000 parcels came into camp from friends in town. To our surprise we were given two numbers and were really most excited about it – just like small children at a Xmas party! One, of course, came from the generous Yvonne Ho. She has been a good friend to us. Her parcel contained 2 lb tin of golden syrup! A tin of peas and one of beans and a most welcome pair of socks and shoes for Yvonne. The shoes were in good condition and must, I should think, have belonged to Yvonne (Ho) or one of her sisters.

The second parcel came from Devaux and contained more of our own clothes! I opened the sack and saw a pair of corduroy jodhpers which I had never set eyes on before. I next pulled out a very smart white tropical jacket which looked much too good to belong to me and I had a horrid fear that the parcel had been sent to me by mistake. However, when I got back to our room and we opened the sack properly we found they were our clothes. The jodhpers were Yvonne’s (a pair which, apparently, travel the world with her in case of equestrian expeditions!) and the two smart tropical suits were my own – looking smart by comparison with the ‘any old duds’ we are obliged to wear in here.

The parcel also included two of Yvonne’s dresses, one being quite a plebian office sort of dress and the other a nice silk afternoon frock. So by the time Xmas arrived, people in general were feeling quite cheerful. It was a funny thing, though, that not nearly so many people said, “Well we shan’t be here this time next year,” as they did at the first camp Christmas.

People have grown more wary of raising their hopes too high these days – the disappointments have been depressing. We have found it pays to be optimistic, but certainly not to be over optimistic.

For Xmas Day, Y and I opened our last IRC tin of meat and vegetables. Yvonne made some rice flour pastry with which she lined the tin, tipped in the meat and vegetables, stuck a piece of pastry on top and steamed the pudding for an hour. The result was a really delicious sort of suet pudding. For a sweet we had a ground rice blanc-mange with a tin of lychees that Maudie had given me for my birthday about 18 months earlier, I think! On Xmas evening Maudie had a party of about 15 people. We all took along something or other – Y and I a coffee cake and a flask of coffee (the coffee being our home made brand, made from roasted soya beans). Alec Potts brought his ukulele and we had a good old sing.

We had some nice Christmas services. One was a carol service with 7 lessons, like the one at Kings College, Cambridge and I read one of the lessons. I represented the choirboy – a somewhat ancient one!

Yvonne made me a kahki tie from left over bits of the IRC jerkins and very useful it proved, for my winter dress was kahki trousers (ex jerkins) and shirt, old school cricket XI sweater and brownish coat. I was able to ring the changes on warmer days with a wine coloured pull-over and tie. My old school tie, apart from being worn out, had been soaked in peanut oil when the shelf which accommodates our precious provisions collapsed and sundry bottles were broken. Y and I had agreed on no presents, so she rather stole a march on me.
01 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

(Day 887 of captivity).      The beginning of a new month thank God. Time passes wearily along. One day is so exactly like another that it is extremely difficult to fix the dates of events in one’s memory. I suppose I may read this diary one day and it will bring back many things I have already forgotten about. Incredible it is to think we have been in this place for over 2 years 4 months now! If we are still here, (as I fear we shall be) by July 8th of this year, I shall by that day, have spent just half my sojourn in Hong Kong in this camp.

Since the beginning of this year there have been some quite radical changes in the camp. In the first place, this camp is no longer designated ‘Stanley Civilian Internment Camp’ but is now ‘The Military Internment Camp HK’. We are no longer under the control of the Civil Administration and Gendarmerie but under the control of the Japanese Army. We have no definite information concerning this change; I cannot think that the whole of HK is now under Military administration. It is thought by many that the change is due to a request made by the British Govt that we be treated as prisoners of war in order that we should enjoy all the privileges laid down in the Geneva Conventions appertaining to such persons.

I think I am correct in stating that we (the civilians here) are the first British subjects, in the history of the British Empire, to be interned in British Territory. Had we been allowed to live in HK in our own houses, I suppose the Japanese could not be held responsible for our welfare; now, however, that they have interned us we are their responsibility. But as this is the first time that civilians have been interned by an enemy power in their own territory, there is no precedent to follow and no international conventions to be used as guides as to the treatment of us by the Japanese. Actually, as the Japanese were not signatories of the Geneva Convention, concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, they deny any obligation to be bound by the convention although they have stated that, in actual fact, they are treating us according to the rules of the convention.

In reply to requests from Mr Gimson that our rations be improved the Japs have stated that we are receiving the same rations as the Japanese territorial soldiers. I presume this means the Japanese private. I cannot believe this statement to be true; or if it is, then God help the territorial soldier! It is true that the diet of the Japanese nation is more largely vegetarian than our own, but we can barely subsist on these rations, let alone fight on them.

One benefit that we have derived from this take over by the Military Authorities is that they have prior claim to all supplies entering the Colony and that though the rations are gradually becoming poorer and poorer, they would, in all probability, be poorer still were we still under the civil authorities when our rations were supplied by a contractor who obviously would not supply more than he could possibly help. So we derive what small comfort we can from that.

Following the change in administration here the Japanese gendarmerie were replaced by Formosan military guards. This change took place at the beginning of Feb and, as it is customary (evidently) in POW camps for the prisoners to salute their guards on meeting or passing them, the internees here were instructed by Mr Gimson either to say, “Good morning” (O-hi-o in Japanese) or raise their hats or make some gesture of salutation. This we endeavoured to do to start with, but the guards (especially the one stationed in the main road) seemed rather surprised at all this friendly greeting and grew so tired of acknowledging hundreds of salutations that the formality in a general way was soon dropped!

Another sequel to this take over by the Military was the declaration we were all obliged to sign on the 24th or 25th of Feb. We were ordered up the hill in groups, at specified times on those days and there we had to sign a form to the effect that, “I declare on oath that I will not attempt to escape or divulge any military information on my release by the Japanese Military Authorities”.

It further stated that any contravention of this oath would be severely dealt with and would, if necessary, include the sentence of death. We were informed that pressure would be put upon any who refused to sign and people would be coerced by such methods as being made to stand for an indefinite period holding, say, a weighty tome in either hand; or being made to sit up in a straight backed chair all night etc. Those refusing to sign would probably be kept in solitary confinement in the gaol. Gimson pointed out that no useful purpose could be served by refusing to sign and advised everyone to do so. Everyone did sign the declaration, though most, if not all, made the inward reservation that since we had signed under duress we were not morally bound to honour the oath.

This, I imagine the Japanese realise and the only object of the whole business is to give them some sort of right or excuse for imposing the death sentence, if they feel like it, should anyone try to escape. Actually they have no right to do this thing in the first place, or to sentence a person to death for attempting to escape in the second.

Bidmead, Fay, Morrison and Randall will have completed their 2 years imprisonment by 20th June and Maejima has stated they will then return to this camp. Poor devils, I’ll bet they are on their best behaviour just now. I also bet, like the other few prisoners who were lucky enough to get back here alive from the gaol, they will be forbidden, under penalty of dire punishment, to say anything of conditions in gaol. I believe when a prisoner is once convicted, he is handed over to the prison authorities, his treatment is infinitely better than while he is in the tender care of the Gendarmerie awaiting trial.

The bankers who went in some months ago, Foy, Cruickshank of the HK Bank, Leper and Camiage of the Chartered Bank, are still, apparently, awaiting trial. Selwyn-Clarke is in prison, for how long I do not know. The remand periods are generally very long, but they do not count towards the sentence.

Another inconvenience which we suffer as a result in the change of administration is a weekly parade and stricter rules regarding roll-calls. Roll-calls take place between 8.00 and 8.15 a.m. and at 9.30 p.m. every day at which time everyone must be in their rooms. The Block Representatives come round at those times to check up. Every Thursday at 8 a.m. the camp parades. This means that all internees form up outside their own blocks in groups – five rows of four people per row, then the next group. These parades were held at 2.00 p.m. at first, but at that time the sun was so hot that the Japs were prevailed upon to change it to the mornings. If it is wet the parade is held next morning or next. At these parades the Japanese from the hill come round and just check up the numbers. We usually sit and read for half an hour, except when the officer arrives, when we stand (unless he has had a good breakfast, when he motions us to remain seated!). It doesn’t take long but it is rather a nuisance.

The other great change that has overtaken the camp is gardening fever. Y and I started our garden last Sept and very glad we are that we did, for we are able to get some beds in the old Married Quarters Garden beside the prison. This garden was cultivated in the early days of camp by a squad of gardeners from these Married Blocks, with Cox in charge. All the communities had their various gardens at the beginning of camp and then, for various reasons, one by one they dropped off. Either there was no nearby water supply; or (as in the case of the Indian Quarters) the area was put out of bounds; or the stuff was stolen; or (as in our case) the gardeners were taken off the list of labourers receiving extra rations at the time when the IRC parcels had been finished and Jap rations were very bad, and the Block Committee decided to eliminate as many extra rations as possible in order to make the ordinary queue rations as large as possible. This question of extra rations has always been a thorn in the flesh, but of that anon. Our community gardeners, who had never received a great deal of encouragement, decided their efforts were not appreciated and decided to give it up.

The garden was, however, kept for Married Quarters people and Cox agreed to remain in charge as his piece of community work. He and the Committee drew up rules and regulations which were briefly: only gardeners were allowed in the area (no friends or children); no tools whatever were to be taken from the area; rules regarding the use of the tool shed etc. (Incidentally, the tool shed is used as the mortuary and the coffin is kept in the shed so we cannot use the tool shed on the day someone dies – all a trifle grim, but these things just cease to worry one in a place like this). Cox has kept a few beds for the community where he grows chilies for the kitchen and a few for residents if they like to pep up their own food. He also looks after the plantain trees – last year every resident received about three or four bananas during the year. There are some guavas but, without lots of sugar, these are not much use. There are some papaya trees there too and these fruits he distributes amongst the people who have gardens in this area. So far, we have had only two little green fruit which blew off in a gale, so we don’t look to this source for any great supply of edibles.

By about the end of last Oct all the available beds in the Married Quarters gardens had been allocated to private gardeners. We asked the Bidwells if they would like to join us in our enterprise, but they decided it was not worth while. However, by Nov they had changed their minds and as there was no space left in the MQ gardens, Mr Lammert selected a site on the hill above the old tennis lawn in front of this block and finding quite good soil there they proceeded to dig up the ground. Watering in the dry weather is their difficulty, and Harold has to carry water up the hill in buckets from a tap that has been laid onto the tennis court. By this time various other people had started cultivating patches of the hillsides.

Just before the end of the year the football committee finally decided that even if the IRC parcels did arrive, no one, would be fit enough to play football, and so it was decided to make this field (or most of it) available for gardens. It was divided proportionally between the three A Blocks and our four MQ Blocks and applications were invited for plots. People whose names were on the repatriation list were debarred from applying. In the end the whole plot was divided into about 120 small allotments measuring approx 9’ x 17’. Married people had double plots; families of four could have four adjoining plots if they wanted them. Then the ‘gold rush’  started. Such activity was never seen!  It was limited only by the scanty supply of spades and hoes available and the gardeners’ small reserves of surplus energy!

When these Prison Warders Quarters were built about 6 years ago, this lawn had been surfaced with about 1’ of black earth, or no lawn could have been produced; for most of the soil round about is just red, disintegrated granite. So these plots have comparatively good soil, though the beds are not really deep enough. In the mean time all the slopes round the Indian Quarters, St Stephens, the bungalows etc., began to change from scrubby hillside into little, terraced garden plots. In many cases the soil is very poor and water must be a problem. Many water pipes have been laid however. As none of the domestic water pipes in any of the buildings are used here, the pipes and the corresponding taps were stripped out of the buildings by amateur plumbers and were laid to convenient spots of the garden areas. In areas where no water is anywhere near, people have planted chiefly sweet-potatoes, which, in the summer, look after themselves. Anyway, there is usually enough rain in the summer weeks to make watering unnecessary, but from Oct to Feb, when hardly any rain falls it is the biggest and heaviest item in garden cultivation.
07 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Rome has fallen! The news was received in camp with great jubilation. The Japanese paper makes a pathetic effort to explain the German withdrawal as an instance of the consideration displayed by Germany for Italy’s famous capitol and priceless buildings of antiquity showing up by contrast the barbaric vandalism of the Anglo-American armies. They fail to say why the Germans allowed these vandals to get so near Rome; nor did they mention the fact that America and Britain had declared they would not attack Rome if it were declared an open city. Anyway, it gives a good start to June.

To return to gardening, we ate our first vegetable from the garden on 31st Oct 1943, when we picked some of the bigger leaves of the Chinese cabbage we were growing (Pak Choi). At first we considered we were doing pretty well if we had vegetables twice a week from the garden; Later, in fact from about Nov onwards we have had something every day and often have cooked enough at the morning meal to carry over some for the evening meal as well as having tomatoes and or lettuce for supper and tea. In fact, although it has meant a lot of energy output, we have had a lot in return, and it has been a Godsend. Recently, since the rations have been so terribly bad, it has meant the difference between going hungry and feeling reasonably well filled.

We have grown a considerable variety of vegetables and they include; tomatoes, carrots, turnips, pak choi (Chinese cabbage), Tientsin cabbage, English cabbage, gai laan choi or Macao cabbage, lettuce, New Zealand spinach, beet spinach, onions (spring and shallots), garlic, French beans, Chinese green string beans and white string beans, brinjals, Ceylon spinach, peanuts or ground nuts, pumpkin, cucumbers, several kinds of sweet potatoes, chilies and mint.

Quite a number of people are growing maize, but having tried a few out of season we decided they were not worth our while. Sweet corn is a very greedy plant and takes a lot out of the soil. We are able to order seeds from town through the canteen and we tried to get sugar cane cuttings, but unfortunately without success.

Our garden is somewhat on the old feudal system - the plots are not together but scattered all over the garden! We started modestly with three beds and as we got going Cox let us have other beds until all available were taken. Then we indulged in the rather heavy work of breaking new ground and made several more new beds, one or two in rather poor soil but some in quite good brownish earth. Our ambition then led us further afield and we went to the slope just below the cemetery where we broke more ground for sweet potatoes. The site was on a steep hillside but this did not matter as we built furrows one below the other. We have also dug another pumpkin pit there. To do this bit of the garden we had to borrow tools which was rather a fag and watering would be difficult – hence our choice of the crop. Actually we had decided to plant more sweet potato cuttings and so it did not matter where we located our site. The soil there is not too good but should do better at the second crop. (I hope we shall not be here for that. That is what we say every time we plant anything!).

One day Y and I are going to measure the total area of our garden. I think its size will quite surprise us. Yvonne has really been marvellous in the amount of work she puts in – the heavy work too of watering and hoeing new ground. I try to do as much of the heavy digging as possible, but one hasn’t the strength to do much at a stretch and the dull work is less tedious when two of you are at it.

In the MQ gardens are situated the huge septic tanks for the gaol. Dr Macleod, the camp health officer, allows the tanks to be opened alternately about once every 6 weeks. The MQ gardens then have the doubtful priviledge of extracting the partly decomposed soilage for purposes of manure! It is a pretty niffy job and in its half decomposed state is not such very good manure, but it still has some quite good properties. In addition we collect what kitchen vegetable refuse we can and cut and dry grass which, when buried decomposes and forms useful humus. We also try and get hold of wood ash from time to time for potash, but it is difficult to come by as nearly all of it is reserved for Mrs Lanchester who makes lye for the community for the purpose of washing clothes. ‘Lup sup’ decomposes rapidly here, especially during the summer and so it can be buried directly in the beds.

We really have learnt a lot about gardening and mean to keep a really good garden when we ‘get out’. Whether we shall or whether we shall find as many more things to interest us that we let our gardening ideas fade into the back ground remains to be seen. It will be nice to cultivate flower gardens in peacetime; so far our efforts in horticulture have only got us as far as the cultivation of some nasturtiums – the struggle to grow food is too stern to permit an indulgence in the lighter and prettier side of gardening!

Our tomatoes and carrots were a great success and we mean to plant double the amount this autumn. Our tomatoes haven’t finished yet and may last till July. Our biggest fruit weighed 11 ½ oz, not bad! Though one or two people produced a few one pounders! At present we are eating quantities of these Chinese string beans. They are delicious fried in oil. They are really rather fun as they grow to 3’ in length and you really feel you have got something when you pick a dozen or twenty of those!

I measured one of ours the other day and it registered 27”. One could concoct some quite artistic dinner party dishes by plaiting or twining some of these beans into circlets and filling the centres with mashed potato and a cutlet on top of whatever you fancy.

We had great success with our New Zealand spinach. We had more than we could eat ourselves and after giving quite a lot away to friends we were able to swap quite a lot for tea, curry powder and salt. We found this type of spinach very astringent and it ‘hit’ the back of our throats if eaten plain boiled, but it was very good curried. One thing we have discovered here is that vegetables are much tastier fried than boiled. Why the population of England persists in eating boiled cabbage (when all the goodness of the salts is boiled out into the water and lost) when cabbage chopped up and fried is so infinitely nicer, I do not know. I cannot remember having tried fried cabbage before coming to Stanley! Even so we have only oil in which to do it; the thought of butter – yum – just makes my mouth water! It is true that the greater heat engendered in the frying process may destroy the vitamins more than would boiling, but there is nothing much in it, I think; boiling itself destroys most of the vitamins anyway, but frying preserves the salts.

Another scheme Yvonne and I have (it was her bright idea) is to fill an ex coffee tin with vegetables – beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes etc., chopped up - pour some oil and salt over them and then take them to the bakery to be baked. We are each allowed to bake a cake once in six days, so instead of cakes we bake our vegetables, and done this way they are delicious too.
08 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

The Anglo–American invasion of the continent has begun! What excitement. When I heard someone in the yard below yell out the news at the top of his voice I thought he was trying to be funny capping yesterday’s news of the fall of Rome! But it is true. The feeling in camp is one of great excitement. “At last”, says everyone. We know that it means hundreds and thousands of our countrymen will be killed and that is a sobering thought; but we also know the invasion had to come sometime or other and the sooner it came the sooner would this ghastly war be ended. And now the great day has arrived. Apparently it was launched on the night of June 5th to 6th. How we should love to hear a BBC news bulletin now instead of having to deduce what we can from the reports from the enemy news agencies which appear in a garbled form in the ‘HK News’.

This paper attempts to make out that Germany has long been awaiting the invasion and welcomes its advent as it now gives her the opportunity of smashing the Anglo–American forces and thus assuring her of final victory. That might well read well for a Japanese, but we know that Germany’s fear has always been that of a double front and that she launched her forces against Russia in the earlier stages of the war in the fond expectation of settling the Russian’s hash and thus obviating this dreaded predicament. We also know that after ‘Dunkirk’ the British and American commands would not dare to launch a second expeditionary force unless success was completely assured.

Premier Tojo of Japan has solemnly assured the Japanese nation (as apparently have various German spokesmen) that the German forces will soon have flung the invaders into the sea and that the invasion is already doomed to failure. I can never imagine Churchill making a sweeping statement like that – just throwing dust into his countrymens’ eyes and blinding them to the gravity of the situation. What will Tojo and company have to say when the invaders are not thrown back but continue to advance? They will have to think up ever weakening and less convincing stories of how the German Army is artfully drawing it’s enemies deeper into it’s terrain before starting the counter-offensive that will utterly destroy them. And so confidence in their leaders will gradually be lost and Japanese morale will begin to drop – not to mention German morale if that is the sort of stuff their propaganda machine is serving out to them.

Well, we know that our forces attacked in the Seine Bay between Le Havre and the Cotentin Peninsula, chiefly north of Bayeux on the sandy Normandy beaches. There will be grim and bitter fighting. The very pick of British and American manhood will be there. Now we shall anxiously and confidently await the arrival of the paper each day. If only we could be of some use here instead of just frittering away our time in a bare kind of subsistence. It is small comfort to tell ourselves we did the best we could in the circumstances in Hong Kong.

Before the blitz out here I know that I, in my ignorance, looked upon Hong Kong as a well defended and almost impregnable fortress – the Gibralter of the Pacific. But after the fall of such places as Singapore, Corregedor in the Philippines – a very powerful American fortress – not to mention Guam and Wake Islands and the Dutch East Indies, and after reading some books in camp, chiefly ‘Fight for the Pacific’ by Mark Gayne, it is quite clear that HK never stood an earthly chance and, in fact, it was rather ludicrous attempting to defend it at all. However HK was a mere pin-prick when compared with the enormous scale of the total war. Well, I hope and pray, for the sake of stupid and suffering humanity, that it won’t last much longer.
12 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Hot plates are off! Alack and alas! Why must things get more difficult than they are already? We were told on Tuesday that for the rest of the week we should all be allowed only half our normal quota and that after Saturday they were to be used no more – no electrical appliances whatsoever; that means kettles, saucepans, irons etc. This is due to drastic retrictions which have recently been made in town where there are no longer any trams (including Peak Tram) or lifts working. It won’t be all fun in town, in the boiling hot weather, having to tramp along the streets and toil up six or eight stories to one’s office.

This camp was suddenly told it must reduce its electrical consumption by half. The committee decided that communal services such as the bakeries, electric water-boilers, clinic cooking etc. should use all available current (after 2 hours electric lighting per day was deducted from the total) and that private use of current must stop. This of course is the wisest thing. We must have a little boiling water for our tea and our home made coffee; and the bakeries and clinics are even more essential. People have really taken it most philosophically. We all feel it is a hell of a bore having to go back to filthy smoky chatties but we all feel it is a good sign - things are growing difficult for the Japs – no shipping available and therefore no coal for the dynamos.

I am quite amazed at Yvonne’s and my ‘sang froid’ because Fate has dealt us rather a vicious blow – but we don’t really care. For two or three months now we have been contemplating the purchase of another hot plate element wire. Some three months ago we heard of some more element wire that was available, going now at Y23 per piece. We hummed and hawed. Already there were rumours that hot plates would  be ‘off’ next week and MY23 seemed an awful lot of money (about 30/-) (pdv £ 67.50) and we hated to spend money on anything but food. So we decided to wait, especially as Maudie had kindly promised us her hot plate when she was repatriated. But repatriation never seemed to get any nearer and in the meantime Maudie’s hot plate wore out and she had to borrow another! So in the end Y and I decided we would risk the reduction in electrical current as, like everything else, it appeared as though that too was never going to materialise.

All this time Isa had very kindly lent us her plate (she cooked on Mr Lammert’s plate with the Bidwells and Mr Lammert) but we felt we could not go on using it forever; also we always had to make sure none of the others wanted to use it before we started (not that they often did, but we wanted to be independent); then , if ever we were given an amah’s room we should need our own and, finally, (looking a gift horse in the mouth) Isa’s was a rather slow hot plate!

I went to the man who dealt with the elements and found they were now Y35 (pdv £102). However, the price of all things has risen and as I proposed to conduct the transaction on the barter principle it did not matter. I exchanged one of my tropical palm-beach suits, which had been sent in, for the element. Three months ago the suit would probably have fetched only Y25. There had been trouble with the Japanese authorities over ‘trading’ with the Jap guards and this man said he would not let me have the element just then as it was hidden away. He offered to give me Y35 for the suit but I said I would wait and in the meantime I set about making a new plate (my first one I had given to Mr Lammert whose plate was not satisfactory). On Monday 5th he came along with the element and on Tuesday 6th we were told, “No more hot plates”!! However, I still have the element and one never knows! It may come in very handy yet - during the early days of our reoccupation of HK. And owing to Isa’s kindness we had never lacked cooking facilities. But really our experience with hot plates has been a trifle unfortunate.
16 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

A week ago a labour squad was organised to re-surface the road from the pier below the Prep School to the camp, along which the Jap lorry brought our dry stores – rice, oil, firewood etc. To obtain the broken bricks which were used as a foundation for the surface, we demolished a small disused Chinese temple on the shore. I was with the demolition party and during operations we knocked down some old and dry China fir poles that had supported the roof. When we knocked off work we broke these poles into manageable size lengths and hopefully carried them with us when we lined up to be checked by the Japanese guards. The squad who worked on the previous day had not been allowed, by the guards, to take away wood at all. This day, as luck would have it, the guards were different and they raised no objections. So I carried home a 6’0 length of about a 6” diameter dry pole – a most useful supply of chatty firewood. That is of tantamount importance now as fire wood is simply non-existant.

It really is a problem. During hot plate days Y and I used our daily quota in cooking our vegetables for lunch, our congee for supper and coffee every other day after lunch. Now we just put our coffee in the thermos, the committee has made arrangements for cooking communal congee and we are able, as I have already mentioned, to bake our vegetables two or three times a week; so we have reduced chatty cooking to a minimum. This winter we plan to grow a lot of tomatoes, carrots and turnips which we can eat raw!
18 Jun 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

The war news is marvellous for us these days. The invasion of France is progressing steadily with no sign of our forces being hurled back into the sea. The Russians are making big advances in the Central sector and in the South the Germans must have lost thousands of men and vast supplies of material when the Russians recaptured the Crimean Peninsula. Our forces in Italy have forged ahead since the fall of Rome and out here things are certainly moving.

Saipan Island was subjected to heavy air and naval bombardment by a simply enormous American fleet on June 11th and American forces landed on the island three days ago. It is amazing to think of this enormous fleet or fleets operating about 2,000 miles from Pearl Harbour, its nearest big base, and right in the enemy’s inner defence line of islands. And yet the enemy’s main fleet refuses to come out and do battle. They dare not risk a decisive action for should they suffer a defeat, the whole of the sprawled out system of Japanese occupied islands, not to say the Japanese mainland itself, would be at the mercy of the American fleets with only their land based planes and submarines left to protect them. And now that the news is so good we are all getting more and more impatient!

Chester Nimitz states his intention of driving across the Pacific and landing somewhere on the South China coast. We all wonder if it will be Hong Kong and Canton. How thrilling if it were! We spend our time speculating how we shall leave this camp – whether we shall be liberated by American forces, whether the Japanese will just leave the Colony or whether this place will remain under Japanese occupation until the armistice. Well, time will prove!
21 Jul 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

My birthday tomorrow and the Japanese have just issued a warning that a typhoon is heading straight for the Colony and is due to strike us within the next 24 hours!

Today has been another stupendous day for news. The Japanese cabinet has resigned en bloc. It would appear that the fall of Saipan island is chiefly responsible for this. I think the Japanese leaders are extremely worried men today. As for Germany, I don’t think she can last beyond the end of this year. The Russians in the central sector have been advancing at the rate of about 20 miles per day, recently! The Anglo-American forces have made their first real break through in France – towards Cagny, and the Cotentin Peninsula has been in our possession sometime now. In Italy too our forces are steadily advancing and I heard that in the Chinese paper of 20th July there was an unconfirmed report that Turkey has entered the war against Germany and her allies and that General Tito in Yugoslavia was waiting with a fully equipped army of 300,000.

Recently the Japanese authorities here have been allowing Mr North (one of the senior Govt Cadets) a Chinese newspaper and a Japanese paper, both printed in HK. North translates and summarises the Chinese paper and from Bickerton’s translation of the Japanese paper he draws up daily news bulletins. The peculiar thing is that the Chinese and Japanese papers contain far more up-to-date news than does the English paper. In fact much of the news that appears in these Asiatic papers is not reported at all in the English printed paper. We cannot understand why the censorship of the English paper is so strict if they allow us to have the other papers. Anyway, North’s bulletins are much more interesting and exciting than the HK News and there is always a regular scrum in the entrance hall of Block 5 where the bulletins are posted.

We wonder about the food situation in HK which is steadily deteriorating. If HK is retaken by the Americans there may be a period of a week or two during which time the Japanese, though still in possession of the Island, might be unable to obtain any supplies from the mainland and might be unable to send in any rations to us even if they were prepared to do so. With fighting going on here I can’t see them bothering about us in Stanley, unless they thought it diplomatic to try and do their best for us at the end. Rice comes in generally for one month and if we were lucky we might have say two weeks supply waiting in the godowns; but the vegetables and the miserable little quantity of fish comes in daily or every two days and as all the vegetables come from the mainland they would certainly be unobtainable if this place were invested.
24 Jul 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Still good news coming in. The attempted assasination of Hitler by a hand grenade (a persistent rumour is going round that he really has been killed but I think that is wishful thinking - however it all seems a bit fishy); the Americans have now landed 2 divisions on Guam; in the North the Russians are N.W. of Grodno – they must be very close to the East Prussian frontier; the Anglo–American forces have taken St Lo. Altogether things are going pretty well.

I had a very enjoyable birthday. Y gave me a very smart, short sleeved, navy-blue tunic shirt which she had made from a pair of summer slacks – her only pair. I was thrilled with it because my other shirts are nearly all worn out and I felt such a scare-crow, though most other men are in the same plight. Maudie and Vera and Phil each gave me one of their precious packets of cigarettes, although “no presents” is the order of the day. The rest of our room gave me some home made biscuits and three brinjals from their garden which was awfully kind of them.

On the morning of my birthday, Isa brought the news that there were two parcels for us! It was nice that the weekly parcels arrived on my birthday. Usually their arrival does not interest us at all, except to hear what Sophie O’Dell has sent Maudie – Maudie has been wonderfully fortunate in this way, for Sophie has never once missed a possible parcel delivery since they started right at the beginning of camp. I am glad of this because Maudie does not eat much of the camp food and parcels keep her going.

Of course one of our parcels came from Yvonne Ho (who after the war married Eric Cummine of Eric Cummine and Associates, a well known Hong Kong architectural firm). She really has been marvellous, never missing the special occasions – Christmas, Easter and our birthdays. This was a wonderful parcel, a joint birthday present for us both. It contained a 2 lb tin of syrup, 1 lb of soya bean flower, ½ lb of pork fat and a lb of potatoes. Syrup and pork fat are almost unheard of luxuries in camp these days. We heard that somone the other day sold a 2 lb tin of syrup for Y135, £8 -10-0 ! At the local rate of exchange, Y1 = $4 it would be £34 (pdv £1530). We are wondering if we really ought to eat £8-10-00 worth of syrup (which has comparatively little food value) or whether we ought to try and sell it and buy egg powder or soya bean flour which have high protein values or even wong tong, for we should be able to buy about 20 lbs of wong tong (sugar residue) as that commodity costs only 8/- per lb at present! At all events we shall eat the pork fat as that is so good for us.

The other parcel was from R.E. Devaux and contained some more of our own clothes. It really is amazing what a thrill one gets at receiving one’s old clothes in this place. Y had two dresses which she was very fond of, a white linen jacket and a bright blue skirt of which, the last article does not belong to her. My portion consisted of another tropical suit (somewhat ancient) and a white shark-skin dinner jacket of mine! We wonder how Devaux managed to hit our birthday dates, and guess that Yvonne Ho must have told him. We gather that Devaux does not like having Japanese attention drawn to him in the matter of sending parcels here, so we shall have to write a non committal card of thanks if we write at all. Even to Yvonne we write carefully and guardedly.

Dear old Bunny Browne (John’s best man) has now on three occasions sent us Y5. Officers in Argyle Street Camp (and the men in Sham Shui Po too if they have the money) are allowed to send money to people in this camp once a month to the value of Y25. Just at Easter time Bunny sent us his first present, then a similar one the next month and a third on the next month but one. It really is most kind of him and we appreciate it a lot for, if conditions in their camps are anything like ours, they can do with all the extra food they are able to buy, and so it is most kind of him to spare us this from his lieutenant’s pay.
30 Jul 1944, John Charter's wartime journal

Well the typhoon turned up alright on my birthday. It blew up during the night and was going quite hard in the morning, though it had more or less abated by the evening. It was not a severe one as typhoons go, but it played havoc with many of the precious gardens, flattening the sweet corn, blasting the pumpkin creepers and uprooting many plants. Our string beans were blown all of a heap. Fortunately they were nearly finished anyway.

Our pumkins were just coming on marvellously, forming quite a number of female buds which, after fertilisation, would have produced the pumkins. Our pumkin vines had made a slow beginning but they would just have borne fruit nicely by the middle of August which is almost the end of the pumkin season (though there is a minor second season later in Sept and Oct.). But the typhoon blew off half a dozen buds and small fruit – a most serious loss to us. However, four quite big ones remained and a fifth in a sheltered spot managed to survive and is now growing. We cut the first one on the eve of my birthday and it weightd 8 ½ lbs – quite a substantial addition to our larder. Ours are the marrow shaped variety, not the flat round kind. 14 and 18 pounders (and I daresay even more) have been produced in camp, but our first one lasted us 5 days.

We cooked it in different ways: diced it, and with some cooked rice, chopped onion, bean flour and salt, mixed it up, put it into a coffee tin, poured some bean oil over it, put on the lid and had it baked in the bakery; it was delicious. Another way was to use much the same ingredients and fry it in a frying pan (that was when we could not use the bakery and had to manage on the chatty). When we got to the stalk end we cut off thickish discs and fried them in oil. It really has a most delicate and delicious flavour. It will be interesting to try some of these dishes when things have returned to normal again (if we survive) and see if we think them so tasty then, or whether it is because of the poor food we get here that fresh vegetables and our own cooked dishes taste so good by comparison.

We picked the last of our tomatoes in the middle of this month; they lasted marvellously well and saved spreads for our bread. We have had several pounds of sweet potatoes already, though we are keeping them for our standby during August and September when hardly anything else is available from the gardens except summer spinaches.

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