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along the mountainside, bullets started whizzing by us. We all dropped flat on the ground, except the two Carmelite Sisters who apparently didn't know what live bullets were. One of the Sisters was standing by me, and I reached up, grabbed her arm and pulled her down. She later was the Mother Superior, and whenever I wanted anything, I was careful to remind her that she owed her life to me. The allied soldiers manning the road block finally, after much shouting back and forth, were convinced that we were not Japanese and let us through.
The house was in the middle of the last battle for Hong Kong which was fought on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1941. On Christmas Eve occasional bullets were slamming into the North side of the house, so several temporary altars were set up on the south side of the house for Christmas Masses. The masses were staggered, so I put up my hand for a late mass.
That night another priest moved his mattress from the north side of the house into my room on the south side on the third floor. All night we were awake watching the tracers and explosions and the shouts and cries of the soldiers. We finally went to sleep about four in the morning and slept soundly. We got up about ten o'clock, and were petrified to note that there was not a sound in the house. It was all quiet, in contrast to the usual noise of a house full of people. We looked out the door, and the place was empty with much debris already scattered down the corridor. Then we looked down the stairwell, and we could see the Japanese soldiers in battle array on the ground floor. Needless to say, this was a bit of a shock. We thought the other residents must have got word during the night to evacuate, and they overlooked us.
So we two got dressed slowly, and started making our way down to the ground floor. On the second floor landing, a Japanese soldier came charging out of one of the rooms with his bayonet. The two of us backed up against the wall with our hands up and the soldier made like he was going to run us through. Not so! Just wanted to scare us, which he did. Then he pushed us down the stairs, and we found the rest of the household sitting on the floor in the front room under guard. In the afternoon, we asked the Japanese if we could get something to eat. They allowed us to take from our storeroom things that were ready
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along the mountainside, bullets started whizzing by us. We all dropped flat on the ground, except the two Carmelite Sisters who apparently didn't know what live bullets were. One of the Sisters was standing by me, and I reached up, grabbed her arm and pulled her down. She later was the Mother Superior, and whenever I wanted anything, I was careful to remind her that she owed her life to me. The allied soldiers manning the road block finally, after much shouting back and forth, were convinced that we were not Japanese and let us through.
The house was in the middle of the last battle for Hong Kong which was fought on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1941. On Christmas Eve occasional bullets were slamming into the North side of the house, so several temporary altars were set up on the south side of the house for Christmas Masses. The masses were staggered, so I put up my hand for a late mass.
That night another priest moved his mattress from the north side of the house into my room on the south side on the third floor. All night we were awake watching the tracers and explosions and the shouts and cries of the soldiers. We finally went to sleep about four in the morning and slept soundly. We got up about ten o'clock, and were petrified to note that there was not a sound in the house. It was all quiet, in contrast to the usual noise of a house full of people. We looked out the door, and the place was empty with much debris already scattered down the corridor. Then we looked down the stairwell, and we could see the Japanese soldiers in battle array on the ground floor. Needless to say, this was a bit of a shock. We thought the other residents must have got word during the night to evacuate, and they overlooked us.
So we two got dressed slowly, and started making our way down to the ground floor. On the second floor landing, a Japanese soldier came charging out of one of the rooms with his bayonet. The two of us backed up against the wall with our hands up and the soldier made like he was going to run us through. Not so! Just wanted to scare us, which he did. Then he pushed us down the stairs, and we found the rest of the household sitting on the floor in the front room under guard. In the afternoon, we asked the Japanese if we could get something to eat. They allowed us to take from our storeroom things that were ready
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