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. <Read more ...>
John Prettejohn Pte 2681 Wounded 19 Dec 1941 at Wong Nei Chong Gap. Interned as POW at Shampshuipo, transported on Toyama Maru 1943 to Nagoya #2 Branch Camp (Narumi) working in locomotive factory. Repatriated to HK after war. DBS Senior Prefect 1934-35. Reporter for SCMP to 1973. <Read more ...>
The name of Gilbert Harriman is remembered in my family as the trainer of my grandfather, Charles Warren’s racing ponies, known as the “Tile” ponies, during the years 1920-1923. When one of the Tile ponies won the Professional Cup at the Happy Valley Derby, a photographer was hired to commemorate the occasion, snapping Charles Warren and his daughter Evelyn together with Harriman and the magnificent trophy for posterity.<Read more ...>
ON the anniversary of VJ Day I posted a brief article about my family who were interned in Shanghai. I have copied it below:
75 years ago today I expect my grandparents heard the incredible news of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Americans which brought about the end of their war. All my grandparents and their children were interned in Shanghai (in Chapei Camp) where there were 6 civilian camps.<Read more ...>
-My name is Michael Souza and Henry Souza was my father.
-He joined the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp in 1938 and when war began, he was a member of the Field Ambulance Section of the Volunteers. He became a POW when Hong Kong surrendered.
-He spent his time as a POW in the Shumshuipo POW camp and in April 1944, he was shipped to Japan and was incarcerated in Sendai Camp #2. He laboured at the Iwaki Coal Mine in Yoshima until the end of the war. <Read more ...>
Osmond Skinner was born in Lee in the Lewisham district of London and his birth was registered Quarter 4 Lewisham 1900. In 1911 he was living with his parents Alfred and Edith Skinner in Lewisham.
He married age 31 to Hazel Agnes Goodburn (1900 - 1987) in Manila on 22 August 1931
Consular Birth Indices
Elizabeth Anne Skinner born in Manila Philippines abt 1932/3 aka Anne. She was the child of Osmond Skinner and Hazel Agnes
