Escape from Shamshuipo Camp January 1942 by Joyce Osmund Van Langenberg “Shit!” swore aloud. “What kind of crap place is this?” He gazed in disgust at the devastation around him. In peacetime Shamshuipo Barracks provided amenable accommodation for thousands of men particularly from The 1st Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment. More comfortable than most barracks, it was […]
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The Long March by Joyce Van Langenberg A feverish excitement swept through Tung Cheong Terrace from building to building, floor to floor and balcony to balcony like a succession of waves that rolled in from the sea towards the shingled beaches. The atmosphere was euphoric filled with wild anticipation unlike the trauma of gth December 1941
Alex 25th December 1941 by Joyce Osmund Van Langenberg Christmas 1941 was one of the greyest and grimmest in Hong Kong’s history, distinctly lacking the flavour and frivolity of Christmases past. Streets and pavements were devoid of last minute shoppers as the spirit of Christmas dwindled to a dim memory now that the battle in
Hetty’s Story by Joyce Osmund Van Langenberg The village of Homantin lay several miles northeast of Tsimshatsui in a stretch of rural land nestling within gentle hills. The Hakka farmers who lived there were content, the soil fertile and productive, their vegetable plots so symmetrical they looked like quilts spread out in the sunshine. Swathes of
