CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG
151
Bowen Road. This report was fortunately completed long before the Japanese on 9 June, 1945, burned the original case sheets, operation books and other records from which they were compiled. Also preserved were records of rations provided by the Japanese, of gifts from the British and other Red Cross Societies, of gifts from Local Red Cross sources and local well-wishers, and menus of our meals and special diets. I still have all this material and it provides the basis for the account I now write. I did not, unfortunately, preserve any copies of the propaganda leaflets dropped by the Japanese during hostilities or of the English language Hongkong News, published under Japanese auspices in Hong Kong during their occupation.
The delay of thirty years in writing this story needs explanation. When I first came home I shared the plight of thousands who returned after years when we were completely out of touch with the changes that had taken place in the world, ignorant of the details of war, of the changes in the country and in the services and of the way people lived. The vocabulary was new, the developments were enormous and we had much ground to make up physically. It was not too difficult to acquire a veneer; it was less easy to take our places with any assurance in the new world of 1945 and 1946. Much work was needed. When I resumed duty in the army, after my release, I was given a chance to play a part in the Royal Army Medical College, Millbank, in the postgraduate medical training of R.A.M.C. officers, and in expanding the training of specialists. I seized this opportunity eagerly for I was well aware of the defects in the training of myself and my contemporaries. My time became fully engaged in this work. Four years later a chance was offered to me to play a similar part in civil life on appointment as a Regional Postgraduate Dean, in the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, University of London. The need for improved training was quite as urgent in civil life as it was in the army, the field was bigger, and it was not until I retired from that appointment many years later that I found time to return to the task I had wanted to tackle for so long. It seemed to me that an account of events in Hong Kong, as known to me, might provide a useful contribution to the history of the Colony, and that the achievements of the staff and the fortitude of the patients deserved to be recorded. I thought also that here and there perhaps, those serving today might discern from the story something of value to themselves and their Corps.
CAPTIVE SURGEON IN HONG KONG
151
Bowen Road. This report was fortunately completed long before the Japanese on 9 June, 1945, burned the original case sheets, operation books and other records from which they were compiled. Also preverved were records of rations provided by the Japanese, of gifts from the British and other Red Cross Societies, of gifts from Local Red Cross sources and local well-wishers, and menus of our meals and special diets. I still have all this material and it provides the basis for the account I now write. I did not, unfortunately pre- serve any copies of the propaganda leaflets dropped by the Japanese during hostilities or of the English language Hongkong News, published under Japanese auspices in Hong Kong during their occupation.
The delay of thirty years in writing this story needs explanation. When I first came home I shared the plight of thousands who returned after years when we were completely out of touch with the changes that had taken place in the world, ignorant of the details of war, of the changes in the country and in the services and of the way people lived. The vocabulary was new, the developments were enormous and we had much ground to make up physically. It was not too difficult to acquire a veneer; it was less easy to take our places with any assurance in the new world of 1945 and 1946. Much work was needed. When I resumed duty in the army, after my release, I was given a chance to play a part in the Royal Army Medical College, Millbank, in the postgraduate medical training of R.A.M.C. officers, and in expanding the training of specialists. I seized this opportunity eagerly for I was well aware of the defects in the training of myself and my contemporaries. My time became fully engaged in this work. Four years later a chance was offered to me to play a similar part in civil life on appointment as a Re- gional Postgraduate Dean, in the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, University of London. The need for improved training was quite as urgent in civil life as it was in the army, the field was bigger, and it was not until I retired from that appointment many years later that I found time to return to the task I had wanted to tackle for so long. It seemed to me that an account of events in Hong Kong, as known to me, might provide a useful contribution to the history of the Colony, and that the achievements of the staff and the fortitude of the patients deserved to be recorded. I thought also that here and there perhaps, those serving today might discern from the story something of value to themselves and their Corps.
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