On the day that Japan surrendered, my mother Julia, my brother Frankie and I attended a Te Deum at St. Teresa’s Church in thanksgiving for the end of the war. Afterwards, we were amongst a small group of Portuguese (mainly ladies) standing in front of the church when a work party of POWs, marching back to camp from Kowloon City where they were made to dig tunnels for the Japanese, were stopped by their guards for a break in front of the church. There were many Portuguese Volunteers in this work party, including my Uncle Luigi Soares. They had been unaware that Japan had surrendered and basically that they were free. We informed them of the situation in Maquista. As they continued their journey back to Shamshuipo POW Camp, Frankie and I walked alongside them down Prince Edward Road and Lai Chi Kok Road almost to the Camp when my Uncle Luigi told us to go back home. He felt the Japanese camp guards could do something nasty to us and was concerned for our safety – although their escorting guards, who must have been aware that the war was over, were easy-going and did not discourage us from accompanying the work party.

The next morning – the day after Japan surrendered – we were two of the first civilians to enter Shamshuipo POW Camp. We went there every day thereafter to visit our two maternal uncles Mem and Luigi Soares until the British authorities broke camp a week or so later.