Evening star., 1942-08-16
Dy BENJAMIN PROULX.
Gas told to Carl Wan.)


hard to tell. It would be like som'
one living in New York and trying
to guess how many people were rur
over or mangled by automobiles ir
single day without looking at the
. newspapers or the death notices
30 I will tell only about those as
sA,lltS and murders that definitely
know about.
One of those attacked and stran-
Eled by the Japanese was the wife
Of one Of my lifelong friends. She
was about 20 or 80 and quite beauti-
,ful. She was a volunteer nurse in
6t. Stephens College Hospital on
Hong Kong Island. When the Japa-
: .hese attack started she could have
. hed to the hills but she decided to
stay In the hospital and help take
care Of the sick and the wounded
She was not a professional nurse
It was not her job but that was what
she chose. There were scores of
other Hong Kong women who did
the same.
The short, squat men with the
bayonets flooded over the island and
came to the hospital.
Doctors Head Cut on.
There were other volunteer and
professional nurses there. A doctor
3 tried to protect them. He had a
8 small revolver against their rifles
and bayonets. He was one man
> against many. They shot him and
bayoneted him and cut his head
cleanly from his shoulders. Then
they attacked the nurses.
Three days after that, my friend
found his wife. Her body was lying
under hospital bed. She had been
strangled.
Japan is not member to either
the Hague or Geneva agreements
concerning the treatment of prison.
ers OF war"
The day the Japanese landed in
force In Hong Kong the men at our
Naval station received this order.
Blow up your mines, get hold of
whatever arms you can lay your
j hands on and make for the hills.
Join any military unit for last
stand"
. We blew up the mines and set out
for Repulse Bay which was on the
ade OF Hong Kong Island farthest
from the city. We had orders to
make . stand there against the in
vaders. The place chosen for the
stand was the Repulse Bay Hotel.
i had been chosen because there
were few other places left.
. 6 Once = Swanky Place.
Repulse Bay had been q very
swank place before the Japanese
came. The Grown Colony society
people had their summer swimming
cabanas there. Wooded hills sloped
down gently to a strip of white,
:, sandy beach.
The Repulse Bay Hotel was a
great, sprawling, huge, rectangular
shaped building with wings to the
east and west. 1T had a wide We
randa facing the beach and to the
rear, green lawns and flower gar
.dens sloped up to the hills.
In these hills, all around the hotel,
we're Japanese snipers. We knew
what these snipers were like. They
had been trained for jungle fight
ing. They wore excellent camouflage.
They were sharpshooters. Each of
them carried concentrated food pei
lets, medicine to protect themselves
against disease. Each sniper was q
sslf-sipporting anti. He could sus-
tain himself for days. It was his
job to work his way III behind the
lines and do whatever damage pos
sible.
When We reached the hotel we
found two groups. There was
garrison Of about $50 volunteer and
military men under major and
about 200awomen and children and
q few civilian men. 1t was the job
of the soldiers to keep the road
which led from Stanley Peninsula to
Aberdeen Bay clear of the Japa-
nese.. We had strong garrisens at
both these places and the road had
toshe kept open.
Gunllre Didn't Worry Children
Nv wife and two boys were in the
civilian group. They had come down
from oar villa in the hills when the
japanese began swarming over the
island. It was good to see them
again The boys were racing around
the hotel They didn't seem to mind
the fact that the Japanese were out
side the hotel. The gunfire only ex-
6ilarated them.
There were several infants among
the children and about 40 between
; and TO-, The water supply had
been cut OF by shellfire. Sanitary
conditions were gradually becoming
worse.
There was not enough food for
the infants. I don't know which
was the harder to endure. The cry
ing OF these hungry infants or the
asonized groans of the wounded men
who had been brought into the hotel.
The men lay on improvised cots with
nothing but bandages to stop the
pain.
Running beneath the hotel there
vas . concrete drain pipe about
eight feet in diameter which was
used to drain the water from the
hills In back of the hotel to the
beach. This had been fixed up as
q shelter against Japanese shellfire
and bombs for the women and chill
dfen. All through the day, the
women, children and infants hud-
died there and then came back to
the hotel at night. 1t was cold and
damp but 1t was safer than the hotel.
On the morning of December 81,
the Japanese shellflre became quite
heavy. Three inch shells pierced
the hotel walls. There were women
and children in the dining room
who had not yet gone down to the
tunnel. Several OF them suffered
from shock.
JAps Start Closing In.
We knew that the japanese were
closing In. We knew that it was
now only q matter of hours before
they would close in on us. We knew
what would happen to the women
and children when the japanese
came. They would overpower the