The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46
97
Old road boundary stones are being made into headstones, and as for coffins, we have only one and that is used for every funeral, the body being sewn up in a burlap sack and buried thus after the mourners leave. Rumors of more extensive repatriation persist, and according to the Bamboo Wireless now, we are going back to the States by June first. However, according to the super pessimists in Camp, of which there is no dearth, there is to be no repatriation at all; it is only a hoax. Incidentally, also we have in our ranks, some very able statesmen and generals who, if the devil were given his due, could settle all the world's problems. Father Bauer improved under his new treatment and diet. Evidently Dr. Kirk has found the root of the trouble.
EXTRA: Our flour ration has been stepped up to 8 ounces per person per day, and today, we get one bun and a piece of bread for tiffin. Our garden and other tools have been returned but they must be kept locked up at night in the community storeroom lest we dig our way to safety.
23—Funeral Mass at 8:30 for Mr. Simmons. Burial service at 6 p.m. in the cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Martin, former Head Master of St. Stephen's College. This was occasioned by the finding of some human bones around St. Stephen's which may be those of soldiers, British or Canadian, who fell during the fighting at Stanley. Included among the names of those on the small box containing the bones were those of Dr. Black, Capt. Whitney and the three English nurses (one a Catholic lady) who were killed in St. Stephen's College Hospital on Christmas Day.
In the early days of the Camp, a number of unburied bodies of soldiers were found at various spots, and when possible, buried by the internees, and as we take our evening stroll, we often pass and repass these graves of unknown soldiers. A few, however, have been marked and a small wooden cross erected, and in some instances, friends of the dead soldier have fixed up the grave quite attractively with stones. In the cemetery, too, a few very industrious and charitable men are working, making paths and in many ways trying to beautify the grounds with the limited material at hand.
24----His Excellency, Bishop O'Gara, preached a eulogy this morning at a Requiem Mass, said by Father Hessler, for those whose remains were buried last evening. Another death among the British, of cancer. Quite a good-sized piece of bread today.