Chapter 17: Local Forces and Civil Defence Services
THERE are no regular full-time local forces, other than the Police Force. The Auxiliary Services described below are manned entirely, save for small training and administrative staffs, by citizens of the Colony who devote their leisure time in the evenings or at the week-ends to this form of public service, or are released by their employers for more extended training at annual camps.
ARMED FORCES
Volunteer service in Hong Kong began with the formation on 30th May, 1854, of the Hong Kong Volunteers. Between then and 1920 the popularity of volunteering fluctuated, chiefly in relation to the personality and enthusiasm of suc- cessive Commanding Officers. In 1878 the Hong Kong Volunteers were renamed the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps and in 1917 the Hong Kong Defence Corps. In 1920 the title was changed to the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps.
The Corps was mobilized, about 1,400 strong, to meet the Japanese attack on the Colony on 8th December, 1941, and fought with the Regular Forces against overwhelming odds until ordered to surrender on 25th December, 1941. For their gallantry in battle and subsequent escapes from Japanese prison-camps in Hong Kong, fifteen decorations were con- ferred upon members of the Corps; eighteen members were mentioned in despatches. In June 1956 workmen excavating a building site on Garden Road discovered part of the old Colours of the Corps which had been buried there in Decem- ber 1941 to avoid capture by the Japanese. The officers who