[ { "id": 208628, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 85, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "58\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nand he helped others to loosen theirs, at least to some extent. Some, though, spent the whole night with hands tied, but how they managed I do not know. Later the marks on their hands showed for weeks.\n\nTo cap it all, poor Father Bauer still had dysentery, and Father Madison also developed a similar malady. Well, we used the water jar, which so fortunately had been left in the garage. Thus passed our first night in the garage—the Christmas night of 1941.\n\nAltogether we were thirty-four—a Bishop, a Salesian Seminarian, Brother Bernard, two laymen, Mr. Brown and Michael, and Fathers Benson and Norris, C. P., Szeliga, the Polish Salesian, Toomey, Troesch, Meyer, Downs, Keelan, Quinn, Bauer, Reardon, Callan, Allie, Madison, Gaiero, Siebert, McKeirnan, Walter, Moore, O'Connell, Tackney, Knotek, O'Connor, C. M., Charles Murphy, from Scarboro Bluffs, Canada, and our Brothers Michael, Anselm, Lawrence, Thaddeus and William.\n\nDawn finally came, and we welcomed the new day. Fortunately for us the weather was mild, and despite the fact that all except Father Szeliga slept without their cassocks, and some just in trousers and underwear, we felt no ill effects, except a natural stiffness in our joints and bones from the hard floor. The ominous silence of the preceding night continued, and we began to wonder if in reality the war was over or what was brewing. Later we learned that an armistice had been agreed upon about five o'clock Christmas afternoon, though at Stanley sporadic fighting continued until around seven, when the few men still defending the prison surrendered. On receiving telephonic instructions from Hong Kong the big guns at the Fort also ceased firing and the Fort was soon in Japanese hands.\n\nAs the morning wore on we began to think of food and drink since we had nothing in our stomachs since eleven o'clock the preceding day, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. The sentry peeked in from time to time, and whenever he did so we always managed to turn our faces towards him and slip our hands back into their nooses. About ten o'clock we tried to make signs to the sentry that we were hungry and thirsty but to no avail. Finally, after repeated representations and the offering of a very valuable wrist watch by Father Toomey, the sentry handed in through the crack in the door, his canteen which was about half full of water.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208630, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 87, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "60\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nremaining hardtack biscuits and the rest of the milk in the can. In the course of the morning our door was pushed ajar and we were given a pail of water and a few more biscuits. (The water, as we learned afterwards, came from a well nearby, the city water supply having been shut off or the mains broken since some days before Christmas. At our house during that time we had filled all available bottles with the precious liquid and had even drained out the water from the hot water heating system.) With the pail of water was one small cup, and as our hands were still tied, one of the soldiers who brought the water held the cup to our lips and we drank in turn.\n\nDuring the day we continued to clean up the debris in the garage, and succeeded in getting rid of a little more rubbish. We had to work quietly and in the absence of the sentry as we did not wish to excite his suspicions. During the night the rickety wooden bed had fallen apart, and in the morning the old iron bed was taken away we surmised for the purpose of cremating the dead bodies that left us with a little more floor room. As previously mentioned there were a few odd articles of clothing on a line in the garage and these we commandeered as substitutes for pillows.\n\nSo\n\nIn the afternoon of the twenty-seventh our hands were untied by the guards for the space of about an hour, so that we could eat our biscuits and drink our water. This was certainly a relief. We were likewise allowed to go outside for a short period in order to limber up, and were also informed that we could go to a nearby well for more water. Accordingly Father Keelan and I started off in company of a soldier to a house just in the rear of Dr. To's home. As we walked through the little ravine which leads to the beach we could see the vestiges of soldiers' camps, and in the unusual stillness which reigned, Stanley looked very desolate. We drew two pails of water from a rather deep well and brought them back to our brethren. In the meantime, a half dozen of us, under the lead of Father Troesch, were allowed to go up to our house to secure some clothing and blankets. They soon returned bringing with them a few armfuls of odds and ends of clothing, a blanket or two and a few tins of foodstuffs. Someone then brought us a small Chinese firepot; we found a large tin can which had contained the army biscuits and we were allowed to cook a meagre supper just outside our garage door. Hardtack was soaked in a large tin of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208646, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 103, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "76\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n2 Feast of the Presentation: Once again, we start classes in the language, but under manifest difficulties. One classroom is our tiny, six by six combination chapel, laundry and kitchen. The other classes held forth in rooms occupied by from four to seven people. The fish we received today for our rations was spoiled and as a result, we had only rice and vegetables. Some of the internees went to \"The Hill\" this afternoon for various purposes, and while waiting to transact their business with the authorities, sat on the low wall at the edge of the road, which incidentally happens to overlook the prison below, now occupied by Japanese. As a result, three Sisters had their faces rudely slapped, and one or two were kicked around, because of their behavior. In the evening, just in front of our Block “A”, a number of internees gathered around a piano impromptu and began singing popular songs. This was immediately stopped, as no permission had been requested.\n\n3-Fathers Keelan and Downs bless throats at the little chapel at the Maryknoll Sisters quarters. Misty weather. Meat ration spoiled and unacceptable. We organize ourselves into morning duty squads and sweep and dust and help out in the kitchen by turn. (Our private kitchen, by the way, where Father Troesch has an iron range, and for which Father Meyer \"scrounges” faggots and coal dust, the latter being made into coal briquettes on the roof). Before leaving Stanley, Father Meyer had purchased a pig and had salted it down in a small barrel. This we managed to bring with us, and today when our meat ration failed, we fell back on this piece of fat, hairy salt pork, and we were glad to even eat the hide. On the Hong Kong Prison grounds (now within our Camp confines) there is a small field of alfalfa, which was grown as an experiment in feeding the prisoners. I do not know whether the experiment worked or not, but at the present time, we are eating alfalfa with our rice and other short rations, and “like” it. Father Meyer has also given us some \"grass\" tea, and we find anything goes these days.\n\n4-Bishop O'Gara called a meeting of his priests and appoints a Council: namely, His Excellency himself, and Fathers Toomey, Charles Murphy and Haughey, the latter a Salesian. Father Meyer is Pro-Vicar, and Father Keelan, Chancellor. Bishop Valtorta gives everyone all faculties. A series of sermons is also to be given.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208653, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 110, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n83\n\nfruits of yesterday's work were so alluring, a general scramble took place from the ranks with the result that, in the melee, only British succeeded in getting the plums. However, Father Keelan contrived to disguise himself as British and got a job. This incident shows how much the question of food affects even civilized people. Rumors of repatriation. During the night, a drunken Japanese soldier was seen prowling around our apartments, and it was only with difficulty that he was persuaded to go away.\n\n26—No more volunteers wanted for loading food. Instead, the Japanese have secured coolies for the work. It seems yesterday that the British did too good a job in loading: or rather, they tried to load the goods in the wrong places, with the result that the goose that laid the golden eggs is now dead. A new system at the Canteen. Cards are distributed, or rather drawn as lots, and one will not need to wait so long in line as hitherto.\n\n27—It is reported, or rumored, that some Russians are due to arrive in Camp. The British have evidently gotten fed up on their cooks and today they ousted the crew and signed on a new batch of helpers in the galley. The British have been very slow to get organized and there is much complaint in their quarters, and much envy of the American kitchen which is now functioning as smoothly as could be expected under the circumstances. Not, of course, that we are entirely satisfied with our present chefs, but we are watching events. As we were able to bring with us from our House only a very limited supply of Mass wine and candles, we are now using the very minimum for Mass, and we estimate with extreme care, and counting the drops, to get some two hundred Masses from an ordinary bottle. Father Meyer had some tiny spoons made for measuring out the wine and water. We likewise use only one candle at Mass, as we don't know how long we are going to be here. The British are very downcast at the news from Singapore, and we are all hoping for some kind of release, whether repatriation or otherwise. Originally our apartments had a number of electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, electric ranges, and so on, and today the Japanese took inventory of all these. We understand that one dollar U.S. now brings $8.00 Hong Kong on the \"black market\" and large denomination Hong Kong bills bring only 70 per cent of their value.\n\n28 Our Sunday evening songfest was in the charge of the Rev. Mr. Higgins, with Father Allie at the piano and Father Moore at", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208655, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 112, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n85\n\nsix rooms with two tiny kitchens and pantries, and two baths. We are quartered as follows: in room 7, Fathers Hessler, Walter, Knotek and Brothers Michael, Lawrence and Anselm; in room 8, Fathers Callan, Reardon, Allie and O'Connor, C. M.; room 9, Fathers Downs, Quinn, V. Walsh, Tackney, Moore, Madison and Brother Thaddeus; room 16, Fathers Troesch, Meyer, Bauer and Brother William. In this room, we had been saving a cot for Father Feeney, but before the Sisters were interned he managed to secure a pass on the plea of being a neutral alien and was later allowed to go to the interior of China.\n\nIn room 17, Fathers Benson, Norris, C. P., and Brothers Cornelius and Anthony; room 18, Fathers Toomey, Keelan, O'Connell, Siebert, Gaiero and McKeirnan. With six and seven in a room, and even with four in the smaller rooms, we are pretty crowded, like bees in a hive. Our tableware consists of a soup plate, a large spoon and a cup. As our cups are breaking one by one, we are falling back on discarded jam tins, with a small wire handle. Our dishes are thus easily washed. We also wash our own clothes, wherever we can, in the kitchen sink or bathtub, or in a pail, of which we have one or two, and hang them out on the verandahs or, in wet weather, in the corridors, all of which gives our apartment the appearance of a New York East Side tenement.\n\n4—Mr. Walsh, a sergeant of the Hong Kong Police, died suddenly today of heart failure. However, Father Toomey was in time to anoint him. Brother Anthony comes down with malaria. Brother is a very big man, and has worked very hard both during hostilities in caring for the sick and wounded at LaSalle College, and in the Camp on manual labor. One small slice of bread today.\n\n5-Mr. Walsh buried this morning after a High Mass of Requiem on the tennis court, at which quite a number of internees, both Catholic and non-Catholic, were present. Interment took place in the old Military Cemetery (within the confines of the Camp) on the hill near the Prison. In this ancient cemetery are the graves of many British and Irish soldiers and their families who died shortly after the founding of Hong Kong either from malaria or from wounds. Now new graves are multiplying, being those of soldiers fallen in this present war, and of internees. Father Quinn starts a class in Spanish. One slice of bread again today.\n\n7-Our Saturday evening songfest was put on tonight by the ...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208663, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 120, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46 \n\n93 \n\narticles is opened. The display was most interesting, and American skill and ingenuity were much in evidence. Articles included various forms of clothing, shoes, slippers, clogs, chairs, stools, baby cribs, thermos bottles, a fireless cooker, clothes pins, knitting needles, scales, a vise, etc., etc. A small wood turning lathe was also shown, and hats woven of grass. The repatriates' departure has been postponed until the end of the month. \n\n11—It is reported that the recent escapees have been captured, they not having succeeded in getting out of the Colony. A large scale having been found somewhere, the Americans weigh in, with Dr. Hackett and the Maryknoll Sisters, nurses, Sisters Camillus and Dominic, assisting, the latter, by the way, having long since returned to Camp from the Civil Hospital. The following statistics will give a graphic idea of our present status: Father Toomey lost 18 lbs; Troesch, 28; Meyer, 38; Downs, 13; Keelan,?; Bauer, 50; Allie, 18; Reardon, 27; Callan, 11; O'Connor, 16; Hessler, 0; Walter, 12; Knotek, 12; Quinn, 23; Walsh, 22; Madison 36; Moore, 9; Tackney, 23; Norris, 15; Brother Anthony, 50; Brother Cornelius, 6; Father O'Connell, 0; Siebert, ?; Gaiero, 19; McKeirnan, 14; Brother William, 23. A Mr. Hill, in the Camp, lost 65 lbs. \n\n12—Masses now at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. Today, Confirmation at the Mass, when Bishop O'Gara confirmed four children and two adults. Today, the Britishers follow suit and are weighed in. Perhaps this presages better food. Report has it that two Britishers were caught stealing sweet potatoes in Stanley village, which is out of bounds. When warned that they were in danger of being shot, they said they were so hungry that they took the chance. Then they were assured of better rations, so says the rumor. Let's hope it is more than a rumor. Speaking of rumors, they still flood the Camp, and they range from the abdication of Mussolini, to the landing of the Allies in Europe, and to the proximity of the Chinese troops ready to retake Hong Kong. According to the Japanese paper, the American Navy has been sunk several times, and they are going to crush the United States. \n\n13—Bungalow No. 7 vacated by its British occupants to give way to the segregated American repatriates, who move in after the British got out, only to find that the British had pretty well despoiled the whole building, thinking that the Japanese were moving in. It is also reported today that the American Consular officials' bag—\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208672, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 129, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "102\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n8-Mr. Southare and Mr. Bourne, the former, American Consul General, the latter our Council Secretary, to go to Hong Kong, presumably on repatriation business and while in the city, they met Sister Paul by chance. We understand that we Maryknollers may have a choice of either repatriation or to go to Hong Kong but will not be allowed to proceed to our missions in the interior, at least directly, and this, on condition that we can support ourselves or that someone will vouch for us, and guarantee our support. Thereupon we considered the question: there were many minds on the subject. Some were for direct repatriation, others wanted to stay in Hong Kong; some wanted to stay in Camp. Finally a list was made up, or rather two lists: Fathers Bauer, Quinn, Walsh, Callan, Reardon and Allie, and Brothers Michael, Lawrence, Anselm and William to be repatriated, and Fathers Toomey, Troesch, Meyer, Downs, Keelan, Hessler and the nine new language school students to go to Hong Kong. Later we learned that there will be no choice: that is, if we are not repatriated, we must remain in Camp. Another hurried meeting was held at 9:30 in the evening and further steps taken. At this meeting, a vote was taken and the majority decided on repatriation. Some of the minority were willing to abide by any decision reached by Father Toomey, as Superior, while others wanted to remain in Camp if necessary. Fathers Troesch and Hessler would try to get to Hong Kong as third nationals if possible. Accordingly, a second list was made out and handed in to our Council officials, only to be informed that our first list had already been submitted to the Japanese and that we had to await further developments.\n\nDuring the day, Mr. Bourne succeeded in contacting Bishop Valtorta at our request, and we learn that the Bishop is opposed to the repatriation of all Maryknollers and he is willing to guarantee the support of 14 of us, that is the House staff and the language school men, until Bishop Paschang or Maryknoll can assume the burden. The Maryknoll Sisters still in Camp, in the absence of any further instructions from Sister Paul, contemplate remaining. Incidentally, we later understood that Maryknoll had cabled to the effect that we all should be repatriated, but this message did not reach us until too late.\n\nFirst Communion and Confirmation at 8:30 on the ninth, when some 21 persons, mostly children, received the Sacraments, the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208681, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 138, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "The Maryknoll Mission, Hong Kong 1941-46\n\n111\n\nall agreed was quite tasty. His helpers in the galley are Fathers Keelan, Downs and Madison.\n\nFather Toomey is named temporary head of the Red Cross in Hong Kong, by the repatriated manager, Mr. Fifer. The Red Cross, by the way, is on hand but not operative and the Japanese do not seem to take kindly to it.\n\nWhen the repatriates went on board the Asama Maru, no one was allowed anywhere near the pier, although we stood on the hill-top and watched them embark. No one was allowed to go on board either, from the Camp. We were anxious to learn if there were any other Maryknollers on board from the North, but could not secure the information. The Asama Maru remained at anchor that night and all the next day and night, when it left on its long voyage around the Cape.\n\n30-The Camp is extremely quiet after the departure of the Americans, and even the British remark on it. We are now awaiting orders to move into our new quarters. The father of Mr. Wong, our Chinese Superintendent, died in Hong Kong, and Father Toomey says a Mass for the repose of his soul. By the way, in the administration of the Camp, the Japanese early placed a Chinese superintendent in charge of each section of the Camp, as sort of liaison officer, and ordinarily we had to negotiate through him with the Japanese.\n\nJULY\n\n1-We are to move tomorrow into Block A-3. The Sisters keep one of their rooms on the third floor, and we 16 Maryknollers get three rooms on the same floor but in the other half of the flat. By arrangements with Mr. Wong, we are also allowed to retain our little chapel on the same floor. The other Americans take up quarters in the various small servants' rooms in this block, while the British take over the remaining larger room downstairs.\n\n2- Moving all day and getting settled, even though we have few possessions, leaves us pretty tired at night. We had to move our camp cots, as when the repatriates left, their rooms were almost completely denuded of their meager furnishings by those, of course, who had even less. We find that we will have the use of the two small kitchens on the top floor, one being for all the Americans and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208682, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 139, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "112\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nthe other for the use of our Sisters and us, the large Camp kitchen in the garage below being turned over to the British. The British have also been enlarging and perfecting their other kitchens, and they are pretty well fixed now. For hot water, as hitherto, we have a small electric boiler which gives us enough water for drinking, shaving and other purposes.\n\nIn this change of quarters, roommates were chosen by lot, and Fathers Toomey, Hessler, Madison, Siebert, Knotek and Brother Thaddeus drew the end room; Fathers Downs, Gaiero, Walter and McKeirnan take the middle room, and Fathers Meyer, Troesch, Keelan, Tackney, O'Connell and Moore get the large room. Father Meyer turns the cooking job over to Mr. Gingles. Formerly, Mr. Gingles, a retired American Navy man, had a number of restaurants in Hong Kong and a hotel in Kowloon, and while in Camp he did the cooking for the group of Americans in the American Club building. His fame as a cook spread through the Camp and now that he is living with us, he has kindly consented to do the work again. Incidentally, everybody liked Father Meyer's meals.\n\n3-Under the new hotel management, our meal hours undergo somewhat of a change. We Maryknollers (when we have the wherewithal) have coffee, bread and cereal about 8 a.m., then Mr. Gingles gives us tiffin at 12 and dinner follows as usual at 5.\n\nHaving heard a lot of our new chef's abilities, we naturally looked forward to something different, and for our first tiffin, we were not disappointed. While we had only rice and a thick soup, the soup was chicken, and very delicious. It seems there must be some community stores still extant, hence this chicken soup. For supper, he gave us fried rice and a little pork. At the present time, for 41 people, we get from 9 to 11 pounds of meat, bones and fat included, mostly beef, and probably water buffalo at that. Our present issue of green vegetables consists of a few sweet potatoes, some very poor, wormy water spinach and chives, which Mr. Gingles frowns upon and usually throws away as unfit for human consumption.\n\n4-Rain ushered in the Fourth of July and we did not celebrate. Tiffin, again rice and a thick tomato soup (the latter not from the Japanese!) However, we had a very good supper, the Sisters adding a cake, and Father Troesch some cocoa. Mr. Gingles' kit-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208690, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 147, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "120\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\n5- \"The Optimists\" appear again in an entertainment on the Green and delight their audience. A Mr. Shaw, British, died of heart failure in bed just after tiffin. Today, we received HK$5.00 as our portion of the allocation of relief from His Holiness, the Pope.\n\nSunday. General meeting of Catholic Action in the afternoon. A good crowd was present and various reports read. Father Meyer hands over his share of the cooking to Mr. and Mrs. Kiley. Father Walter and Father Keelan still continue to feed us at night, with hamburgers and \"rubber plant\"-Excuse me! I should have said \"hamburger.\"\n\n7-Labor Day and no classes for the Language School. Three adults were baptized in the Maryknoll Chapel. Due to some wiring difficulty we had no electricity at night.\n\n8-Nativity of Our Lady, and First Communion Day for the newly baptized. No news of our impending departure! Patience! Lights on again.\n\n9-Big News: Maryknoll, in a cable, orders all Maryknollers in occupied areas to be repatriated! But how? and when? Rumor has it that we are to get news of our release tomorrow.\n\n10-No news!\n\n11--At Last!! We are to leave Camp tomorrow, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, and Father Price's anniversary. Evidently we have friends in Heaven. Laus Deo!\n\n12—What a day! We are to be released from our confinement and go back to civilized life! We toted our baggage in the morning down to the American Club Block A-4, and there at 10:00 a.m. it was examined, not too minutely, by the gendarmes. Nothing was confiscated, however. At about eleven o'clock the truck which brings the food out to the Camp backed up and the first group, consisting of Fathers Toomey, Troesch, Downs, Keelan, Siebert, Walter and Knotek, Brother Thaddeus and Sisters Dorothy and Henrietta Marie, got in. At the Depot were many of our friends to see us off and to wish us well. At 2:30 in the afternoon the second group, consisting of Fathers Tackney, Madison, Moore, McKeirnan, Gaiero and O'Connell, and most of our baggage, left.\n\nAs we in the first group sped out of the Camp and on our way over the familiar winding road to Hong Kong, it was hard to ana-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208713, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 170, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n143\n\nrice at a very low price in order to help the people and giving away bread and canned goods in order to insure that they would have enough to eat. On communications he noted that there were no buses in the city at all. The Japanese had sent them all to Japan early in the war. He got from Stanley to the city and back again by hitch-hiking in army jeeps and trucks. At the same time he applied to the military for a telephone and electricity connections. He noted that business was at a complete standstill. The two American banks had no business at all since they were not allowed to receive U.S. currency from the States. The exchange rate was 8 to 1 when he arrived but by the end of November it was down to HK$4.50. In December the railway between Canton and Hong Kong was reopened and people began flocking to Hong Kong; however, due to the poor condition of the track the trip was taking eight hours instead of the normal three. In normal times most people would have made the trip by boat, but in the course of the war more than half of the Canton boats had been sunk by mines, usually with the loss of all aboard. Nevertheless, as order was gradually restored in the Colony, more and more Chinese who had fled during the Japanese occupation returned and the Colony witnessed a spectacular recovery. People were returning at the rate of one hundred thousand a month, and the population, which had been reduced to about 600,000 in August 1945, rose by the end of 1947 to an estimated 1,800,000.\n\nWhen Father Meyer first returned to the Stanley House he was overjoyed to find that his priceless manuscript and 200 copies of the famous \"Meyer-Wempe Cantonese-English Dictionary\" had not been destroyed. In his correspondence to the Superior General about this he learned that the dictionary had been used by the U.S. Navy during the war years, and the Navy had given Maryknoll 50 copies of the printing they had made for the use of their personnel. In the same correspondence the Superior General announced that former South China missioners Fathers Keelan, Sprinkle, Youker, Weber, Cunneen, O'Neill, and Brother Michael Hogan were on the high seas returning to their mission posts.\n\nJust before Christmas Father Tennien hitched a plane ride from Hong Kong to Kunming in Yunnan Province, the city where every Maryknoller stayed before his thrilling flight \"over the hump\" into India during the war years. At one time there were so many", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208714, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 171, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "144\n\nREVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS\n\nMaryknollers being driven West in the face of the Japanese advance that we had to secure a house to serve them until they got flights out over the Himalaya mountains into Burma or India. Father Frank Keelan received from the Bishop of Kunming a good-sized building, formerly a club for the French who maintained the railway between Kunming and Indo-China, and turned it into a hostel for travel-weary Maryknollers who had been walking, or riding trucks, for weeks in order to reach this city. Father Jim Smith, who had been assisting Father Tennien in Chungking, took Father Keelan's place in Kunming when the latter left for the States, and while there set up a branch of Father Tennien's continent-spanning financial operation to assure a steady supply of funds to the missioners not yet driven out of their posts by the Japanese armies. Father Tennien's mission at this time was to close out this operation; his travels brought him to Calcutta and Chungking, and in the latter place, now manned by Father Tom Brack, it was decided to move the base of operation to Shanghai since the Government was leaving this wartime capital for its former site, Nanking, while the many foreign aid organizations were leaving for Shanghai. Since it seemed that Shanghai would now become the financial center for overseas remittances, he worked out a plan with Father Brack to begin closing down the Chungking operation and move to Shanghai. Following this, he then flew to Shanghai to look things over, and reported to Maryknoll that a priest should be assigned to that city to take care of financial matters for the Society. On his return to Hong Kong, Father Tennien received the first copy of his latest book, \"Chungking Listening Post,\" written while he was in that city during the war years. This copy he autographed and sent to General Wedemeyer, Chief of the American mission in China, and a personal friend.\n\nIn response to Father Tennien's request to set up office in Shanghai, the Maryknoll General Council requested him to do this personally and to continue to manage financial affairs until the post-war situation settled down.\n\n1946\n\nAt the beginning of the year, the Maryknoll Council decided to keep Father Tennien in Shanghai over his repeated requests to return to his mission in Wuchow where there was an unprecedented", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 } ]