From an audio tape by L T Ride:
‘A New Zealand engineer off a Hongkong-owned ship, probably chartered on war work when the Japs attacked Hongkong, got in touch with the authorities in India to see whether he could be given permission to go into China in order to find out whether it was possible to get his wife out from Hongkong. Obviously she was not interned, and was therefore either Chinese or a third national. He was willing to get leave from his company and spend it in China helping in any way he could.
‘This most unusual request was sent up to the Military Attache in Chungking, because this sort of thing had to be strictly controlled in order to ensure that it did not endanger any of our official operations. It was cleared with our Advanced Headquarters, the husband came into China, and the wife was contacted by one of our agents. This was achieved by sending the husband down into the forward area where personal messages could be exchanged between him and his wife in a relatively short time. At the same time, I changed the escaping route from Waichow to Macau and Western Kwangtung so that if there had been any leakage of information the Japanese would not have been led to Waichow and any of our operations disclosed to them.
‘The operation was a complete success, and today there is, somewhere in New Zealand, a family that owes its integrity and happiness to the efficiency of B.A.A.G. agents and their organisation, to a trusting and brave wife, and a devoted husband.’
Extracts from a letter from Vincent Broom, May 1982:
‘… After escaping from Singapore … I joined one of my company's steamers as Chief Engineer. At sea October 1942, [I] heard on the radio war news US planes had bombed the Hongkong Electric Power House not half a mile from our home, so decided that with limited funds I would try to make the family rescue.
‘On returning to Sydney at the end of an eight month trip I visited <Read more ...>
