25 Dec 1941, INTERNED - DECEMBER 1941

((The following text is undated:))

We lost so many friends during the war in Hong Kong; one of them was stepping out of his front door when he received a direct hit from a bomb.  A very dear friend of mine, who was one of the sweetest and gentlest souls one could ever meet, had a dreadful death.  She was looking after the wounded at a makeshift hospital at Repulse Bay. ((Kathie has mixed up two different events. Her friend was at the temporary hospital in St Stephens in Stanley, not at the Repulse Bay Hotel.))  Amongst many others, her husband was brought in.  When the Japanese captured Repulse Bay, the soldiers came into the hospital and bayoneted every bed.  She tried to save her husband by putting him under the bed, but to no avail.  Dr. Black, a well known and delightful man, was in charge of the hospital, and had a bayonet put through him straight away.  Then all the nurses were raped so badly by all the soldiers that their bodies were burnt for fear of reprisals by the officers.

My husband had survived, and came with a jeep immediately the war was over and took Mary (an old friend of the family's) Carmen, and myself to the Gloucester Hotel which was inundated with people.  There we stayed with little to eat and no fresh water as the pipes had burst.  We awaited the arrival of the Japanese who entered the town the next day.  We had no idea what they were going to do with us, but soon found out.