26 Dec 1941, Sheridan's diary of the hostilities

From here on it was not possible to keep a day to day record of events. I can only give the outstanding occurrences in my mind and in sequence as near as I can remember. I must have slept sound during the night but everything seemed very quiet on waking. No shooting or bombing. No chance of a wash or shave. On going downstairs I find a Jap captain and a group of soldiers in conversation with Brown the Manager and some of his henchmen. The Jap Captain speaks fairly good English, his name is Tanaka, he is a communications officer and all his men are technicians. ((Captain Tanaka is mentioned in this and three other sources for his acts of kindness to the defeated.)) He has come to take over the Telephone Exchange and spends a lot of time with the staff on the top floor. Meanwhile he tells Brown to make out a list of names of all the people in the Building. As we look out the windows on to the street we see Jap sentries at every corner, no one is allowed to move about other than Japs. We see some men of the HK Signals being marched out under escort to Murray Barracks. I go and see Brown and he explains to Capt. Tanaka that Hammond and I are also Military and wish to go to Murray Barracks. Tanaka orders us to stay where we are. There are two sentries on the front door, and the side doors are locked, no one is allowed to enter or leave the building. We are stuck in the building for a few days with no interference from the Japs. 

((Note: This is the final extract from Staff-Sergeant Sheridan's Memoir in this document. Extracts relating to his escape from Hong Kong will soon be available on Gwulo. For a full account of his time in the Exchange Building see

http://brianedgar.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/sheridan-exchange-building/))