Cecil BOON [1896-1986] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Cecil BOON [1896-1986]

Names
Given: 
Cecil
Family: 
Boon
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
1896-11-16
Birthplace (town, state): 
Brighton, Sussex, England
Birthplace (country): 
Death
Date: 
1986-10-27

Major Cecil Boon of the Royal Army Service Corps, an army dancing champion before WWII, was named the Chief Administrator Officer by the occupying Japanese Imperial Army with the responsibility of the overall administration of the Sham Shui Po POW Camp. He was hated by the bulk of his fellow POWs who called him "Cissy" and "Queen of all stooges". They saw him as a mouthpiece for the Japanese military. Major Boon had his own network of cronies who informed him of the camp's gossips which he then relayed to his Japanese superiors. Boon, in his defence, claimed that the POWs were better off to be punished by him and his cronies than by the Japanese. He was arrested after the war as a collaborator and was court-martialled over 22 days in London. On 21st September 1946 he was acquited and exonerated of all 11 charges of aiding the Japanese whilst being a POW.  

There is a thumbnail sketch of Major Cecil Boon in Charles G. Roland's The ABCs of Survival behind Barbed Wire: Experience in the Far East, 1941-45

Comments

Military Records

First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Nationality: British

Information: Special Appointment Class FF

Rank: Lieutenant

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Battalion: 3rd Echelon

Seniority Date: 27/05/1920

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Nationality: British

Information: Removed from the Corps and still on the Active List

Rank: Lieutenant

Duty Location: Iraq

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Seniority Date: 14/10/1921

Source: UK Army List 1922

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Incident Date: 1923

Rank: Lieutenant

Clasps Awarded: Iraq

Authority: Army Order 4 of 1923

Service: British Army

Primary Unit: Royal Army Service Corps

Source: WO100/421

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Nationality: British

Rank: Captain

Duty Location: Glasgow

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Seniority Date: 20/10/1930

Source: UK Army List 1936

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First Name: C

Surame: Boon

Nationality: British

Rank: Major

Duty Location: Glasgow

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Seniority Date: 01/08/1938

Source: UK Army List 1939

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Nationality: British

Information: Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master-General., R.A.S.C.

Rank: Major

Service: British Army

Regiment: War Office

Battalion: Commands and Staff

Seniority Date: 28/07/1941

Source: UK ARmy List 1942

First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Fate: Prisoner of War

Incident Details: Reported to the War Office Casualty Branch for the 24 hours ended 09:00am

Incident Date: 23/06/1942

Information: Casualty List No. 857. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 724 as Missing 25/12/1941

Rank: Major

Service Number: 22599

Duty Location: Hong Kong

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Source: WO417/003

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Date of Action: 25/12/1941

Fate: Missing

Incident Details: Reported to War Office Casualty Section for the 48 hours ended at 09:00

Incident Date: 19/01/1942

Informatton: Casualty List No. 724

Rank: Major

Service Number: 22599

Duty Location: Hong Kong

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Source: WO417/2

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First Name: Cecil

Surname: Boon

DOB: 16/11/1896

Birth Town: Brighton

Nationaility: British

Date of capture: 25/12/1941

Date of Liberation: 05/09/1945

Information: Wrote pro Japanese impressions for captors. Court Martialled 1946. Royal Army Service Corps

Rank: Major

POW Camp: Shamshuipo

Service Number: 22599

Profession: Regular Army

Duty Location: Hong Kong

Next of Kin: Parents: George & Louise Boon

Service: British Army

Source: WO392/23 and WO361/1974

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Rank: Major

Service: British Army

Primary Unit: Royal Army Service Corps

Seniority Date: 01/08/1938

Source: UK Army List 1942, April 1944 and UK Army List 1947

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First Name: C

Surname: Boon

Incident details: Reported to the War Office Casualty Branch for the 24 hours ending 09:00am

Incident Date: 06/02/1946

Information: Casualty List No. 1979. Previously shown on Casualty List No. 857 as reported Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Hong Kong.

Rank: Major

Service Number: 22599

Service: British Army

Regiment: Royal Army Service Corps

Source: WO417/010