91�ȱ�

This contribution to WW2 People’s War was received by the Action Desk at 91�ȱ� Radio Norfolk. The story has been written and submitted to the website by Rosalie Davis Gibb (Volunteer Story Gatherer) with the full permission and on behalf of John Barton.

2,500 allies, mostly British, were crammed into Stanley Internment Camp on the south of Hong Kong Island. We had curfews from 6.00pm till 6.00am and meagre food rations. We soon had a school, hospital, shop, etc and various activities organised. Sport was popular and a great morale booster.

We had an underground movement. One day I found two hand grenades and told dad. He said “say nothing to anybody but mention it to Mr Randall when he’s on his own”. Another day I found a belt of machine gun bullets on the beach. I borrowed a bucket from a friend, put the bullets at the bottom and covered them with my towel. I took these to Mr Randall. One day, Mr Waterton of the Hong Kong Police was made to dig until he unearthed a radio and was arrested as a spy. It gave me a chance to let down the tyres on the policemen’s car. Eventually 7 British policeman and 25 Chinese from outside were rounded up and shot — we heard the 32 shots. It was thought a Canadian had informed on them. After 6 months there was an exchange of prisoners. The Americans and Canadians returned home. We heard our suspected informer was arrested on arrival in America.

The shop only lasted a year. The Japanese gave us pocket money to prove we were being well treated but it wasn’t worth queuing for. They said we could order goods or food to the value of HK$75.00 — about £4.70. Dad made me order clothes as well as food. We didn’t believe we’d get them, but we did.

All school classes were held in the main hall of St Stephen’s College, in little groups set apart from each other by about ten feet. The school curriculum prepared you for the Hong Kong matriculation. We shared books and wrote with pencils on any piece of paper we could get our hands on — usually cigarette packets or hard, parchment-like toilet paper.

Concerts were very popular. The Barton family played their part in several performances. We had Shakespearean plays too and I remember being Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice”. The Japs thought a variety show an ideal opportunity to take photographs for propaganda purposes. When the photos were developed they were furious because every member of the audience was giving the ‘V’ for victory sign, which they hadn’t seen in the dark.

Shortage of food became acute. We had no meat for months on end and chrysanthemum leaves instead of vegetables with our small bowl of rice. Searching dustbins brought forth nothing. Even the cockroaches were starving. Several times I’d wake up to find all my finger tips eaten away to the last layer of skin.

All open land was cultivated for food. We each had our allotment. Storms and locusts often destroyed our efforts. I remember watching my entire allotment blow away. My father, standing next to me, said “heart breaking isn’t it John?” I nodded, too choked to say anything.

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