All along the water’s edge, both on the Island and at Kowloon are crowded native huts surrounding the dock areas. On the water itself live a real floating population of tens of thousands. They live in barges, junks, and houseboats of the flimsiest construction or anything else that will float. I was told that the native population of Hong Kong had doubled during the Japanese war with China as hundreds of thousands of Chinese had fled here to escape the Jap. They sought protection under the British flag and constituted quite a problem to the authorities. There was at the same time we arrived a million people to be fed and housed. Many died of neglect and starvation. It was not unusual to see a dead child lying in the gutter with people hurrying by paying no attention. The fear of starvation was seldom removed from these people. Crowded into such a small space they were dependent on supplies, mainly rice, brought in by ship. When the lifeline of shipping was out, as happened even before the Japs attacked, the position of the civilian population was desperate. Robbing and looting added to the chaos.
We were welcomed on the mainland of Kowloon by the bands of the British Garrison, the Royal Scots and the Middlesex Regiments. Besides these the Garrison consisted of two Indian Regiments, one Rajputs the other Punjabi, garrison artillery, engineers and medicals. Altogether, including the Canadians, there must have been eight thousand troops of all arms. Wearing battle order equipment and dressed in tropical shorts and shirts we marched through the dock district of Kowloon, headed by our bands, to a local football field where we were officially welcomed by the Governor, Sir Mark Young, and the British Commander, Major-General C.M. Maltby M.C.
After the ceremony we marched a distance of four miles to Sham Shui Po Camp. This camp, in which many others and I were to be held as prisoners, was a permanent British Garrison Encampment. As we marched through the streets of Kowloon we carried ourselves proudly. We were all big men and hoped to make a good impression on the inhabitants. We eagerly scanned the streets for all that was strange and different. We breathed deeply the smell of the Orient, camphor and sandalwood, cooking and drains. We stared blankly at Chinamen pulling rickshaws. How they scampered. No one seemed to pay any particular attention to us. A hasty glance and they went about their business. The only flags we saw were the cotton and paper streamers with Chinese lettering that bedecked many of the native stores. This is where we first sensed the ominous. Something was foreboding.
These people were evidently afraid. Afraid of what? The average Chinaman has a full share of human intelligence and he knew, I now believe, what was in store for Hong Kong and for us. Many of them had seen the Jap in action. Seen the rape of the great cities of China, like Nanking. They knew what the Jap was capable of. Knew his numbers. Knew how near he was and that Jap emissaries were already among them. They were afraid.
At Camp Sham Shui Po we found excellent quarters, compared to the troop ship, and all thought this was the life of “Reilly”, Sergeants seemed to be somebody in this neck of the woods. We were waited on hand and foot. We could also procure the services of a Chinese servant. A young Chinaman, who asked to be my boy, approached me. His pay? Two Hong Kong dollars a week, sixty cents in Canadian money, for this amount he did as much as any personal servant could do, cleaning equipment, shining buttons, ironing and pressing clothes, running errands, etc. He even wanted to shave me before I was awake in the morning. I remember I awoke the first morning feeling rather damp and saw a razor being flourished in front of my face held in a skinny yellow hand. I had trouble distinguishing my grinning boy from a Jap. Wiping the soap from my lips I spluttered, “Don’t do that any more!”
These services were all very pleasant at the time but not so pleasant is the memory. Later, in the same camp when we were hungry prisoners, we learned that the East Indian employed by the British to supervise these personal servants was a Japanese agent and spy. He came into our prison camp where many Indian troops were also held and in their own language asked the Indians to desert and serve the Japs. He got few recruits.