238
DONALD C. BOWIE
was specially poor also about this time some of our rice was wet and a stock of bran became hot but we still used every scrap of food. We did have one splendid feast in August 1944 when we received one issue of unplucked pheasants and partridges packed in Manchuria in 1941. Our cooks prepared a stew which made a memorable addition to our rice and vegetables. The game had obviously been in cold store in Hong Kong and electricity cuts must have endangered the refrigeration and so we benefited. In August the Japanese were very active in storing rice and a total of 250 sacks were stacked partly in our hospital building where the Japanese held the keys and partly in the Japanese medical quarters. This was another of the very heavy fatigues which devolved upon staff. It was usually non-nursing staff who did work of this kind, though some of the nurses joined in which clearly meant that they welcomed even heavy labour if it involved a change in their routine.
The Red Cross local bulk supplies allowed us to make our basic diet of rice and vegetables much more palatable and, just as important, they showed our people that a valiant attempt to meet their needs was being made. Our morale, depressed by the third year of our captivity was lifted.
Mr. Zindel visited us in August and again in December 1944. In August after the usual formal and silent round of the wards I was summoned to the Japanese office where I found Tokunaga, Saito, Zindel and an interpreter. Zindel then asked me what food stuffs we needed, making the point no doubt for the benefit of the Japanese that he had asked similar questions of the officer placed in charge by the Japanese of the other ranks camp in Sham Shui Po. I asked for food containing protein and vitamins, saying that these were our main need though we also needed sugar to replenish our falling stock. He told me that fresh meat was not available which came as no surprise to me but most helpfully offered beans, which I welcomed. I followed up this very short talk with a list addressed to Zindel through the Japanese, again limiting our requests to items which we judged might be available. At Mr. Zindel's December inspection no conversation was allowed though the visit was marked by an air raid.
In August 1943 we had no mains water for 36 hours and had to carry what we needed from the reservoir where the water level was too low for our pumps to be effective. Thereafter we had no trouble for some months though we were reproached for using