54118/42
Colonial office,
Downing Street,
S7. 1.
January, 1943.
35
25
34
Dear Mrs. Shields,
Many thanks for your letter of the 25th November which'arrived here just at Christmas time. I can assure you that your report has been very interesting to us and has definitely added details to our necessarily scanty knowledge of what happened in the last hours of resistence at Hong Kong just over a year ago. For instancè re have been rather puzzled by the appearance among the civilian internees at Stanley of the names of some men whom we know were in combatant forces, like the Volunteers. Your story of events at Repulse Bay now makes it clear how they got there. Again we know that the Japanese had sent one of their "peace offers" on Christmas Day to the Governor through a member of the Executive Council whom they had taken prisoner. We were not aware before that this was Mr. Shields.
I will try and see if the Military Authorities here can contact Sapper Bcb Heath's family and let them know of your generous tříbute to his conduct at Repulse Bay.
Our Enquiries and Casualties department state that your husband's name is included in the list of civilians interned at Stanley Camp which have recently been telegraphed by the Japanese Frisoners-of-war Bureau at Tokyo. No further information has yet been received but they have noted your address in their records so that you now
duir odlar lay mon cordinðar. VIIBIŠIAS
MRS. ALOHA R. SHIELDS.
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