STANLEY INTERNMENT CAMP, HONG KONG 1942-1945
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fruit and ice cream for the children. In their departure there was promise that our own repatriation would follow.
The writer's own repatriation did not follow until the war ended.
Soon after the second repatriation, the Camp was stunned by the news of the executions of seven internees who had been involved in possessing a radio set. The troubles had begun in April 1943, when the Japanese arrested several internees concerning the radio set and passing messages in and out of Camp on the ration truck.
Military trials were held and the seven internees were sentenced to death. On October 29, 1943, a group of children passing the prison saw a van drive out. As it went by, English voices shouted out, “Goodbye, boys". The van drove down to the jetty in Stanley Bay and internees at Bungalow C, as well as others, saw seven men walk from the van to the hillside. They knelt beside trenches and were shot. Apparently to lessen the impact of the executions, the Japanese announced that about 700 persons would be repatriated "shortly". This never took place.
1943 was a particularly bad year. In April, an internee returning from treatment at St. Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay was found to have a large sum of money hidden under his bandages. At this time a number of British bankers, including Sir Vandeleur Grayburn, the Chief Manager of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank, had been kept in the city to work on liquidating non-Axis assets in the bank. Furthermore, the Director of Medical Services, Dr. Selwyn-Clarke, had been allowed to remain in the city to assist with medical matters. Soon after the discovery of the money, both Sir Vandeleur Grayburn and Dr. Selwyn-Clarke were arrested. Mrs. Selwyn-Clarke and Lady Grayburn were sent into Stanley. In August 1943, Sir Vandeleur Grayburn died in Stanley Prison. His body was released to the internment camp and medical examination revealed that he had died of malnutrition. He rests today in Stanley cemetery. Dr. Selwyn-Clarke was kept in the prison until December 1944, when he was transferred to Kowloon. In 1975 he published his memoirs, under the title Footprints.
Speaking of Dr. Selwyn-Clarke, this is a good point to talk about medical treatment in camp. The internees were fortunate that
* Sino-American Publishing Co., Hong Kong.