CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

West Through Panama to Hong Kong

August 1945 to February 1946

It was very hot at the beginning of August when we arrived at Honolulu, but happily my promise of shore leave was realized and the troops were allowed ashore in parties and were given the most cordial welcome by the Americans and the people of Hawaii.

Freddie and I went ashore and were invited by a Mrs Macropolis to her lovely bungalow overlooking Waikiki. The next day we went bathing at the Outrigger Club in Waikiki, where my lasting impression was of sparkling clear surf and sand too hot to walk on with bare feet. We were invited to drinks at the Hawaii Hotel on the American Base at Hickham Field, and we had lunch at the Mowana Hotel with the Hawaiian Chief of Police, who made us both honorary members of the Hawaiian Police Force. I have my membership card to this day, just in case it should be needed! On 6 August a conference was called ashore, followed by a party with a group of charming and welcoming American nurses. All too soon they were all recalled aboard to be told of the ‘Little Boy’, the American nuclear device that had just been dropped on the South Honshu city of Hiroshima. Although it was a centre of industry and military supply bases, it was horrific news, with an estimate of some 150,000 people killed at one stroke. The significance of this dreadful event for all people on earth was not lost on the members of Shield Force, who were so near to it, and, no doubt, by most thinking people. Another nuclear attack four days later on Nagasaki convinced the Japanese that they had no course open to them but to surrender, which they did on 15 August 1945.

After another day of rather subdued festivities ashore at Waikiki, the force sailed in the Empress of Australia for Eniwetac, a small island of the Lesser Marshall Islands. En route we crossed the International Date Line and thus missed the day of 12 August. On the 16th we arrived at Eniwetac, no more than a coral strip, but the Americans had established an officers’ club of some comfort where we spent a few hours bathing and relaxing. The troops were also allowed ashore, but after only a day or two our ship set sail again, this time for a unknown destination. Our course was now taking us north of New Guinea into the Bismark Archipelago. Here we anchored off the Island of Manus, and the group captain aboard appeared from his cabin at last and was taken ashore to be casevacked by air to the Philippines, while I was appointed officially in command of Shield Force aboard the ship. The next day I went ashore to the shore establishment, which was extensive and included a large Royal Navy base and dockyard. I was briefed by the SBNO that our destination was Hong Kong, and that the whole force would probably be put ashore there to help rehabilitate the Colony. Thus the remainder of our voyage was to be used in preparing for this task, and Freddie and I set about putting this in hand. Duty done, I went to a party aboard HMS Vengeance (the first of many), and the next day, having lunched aboard our four-stacker with Tiger Force, I went ashore again to see a Gang Show at the officers’ club. On the 27th I had a further briefing from the SBNO, followed by drinks and lunch aboard HMS Montclare, where I met Admiral Fisher. It was a good lunch, and as always the Navy was most hospitable, to the extent that I nearly missed my ship, which was already moving out of harbour as I was escorted down the gangway. Luckily there was a ‘Skimmer’ to hand, and I was whisked out to the liner, which was already moving at about eight knots. A rope ladder had been dangled down its cliff-like side, but the climb aboard was formidable, and when I was finally dragged aboard at the top my arrival bore little of the dignity that the newly appointed Officer Commanding Troops should have shown.

Now that our destination was known, our morale improved, and Shield Force personnel all joined in the planning and training for the rehabilitation of Hong Kong with enthusiasm. But our troubles were not yet over, and on 31 August the ship ran into a typhoon and conditions on board became extremely uncomfortable. The captain had told me that if the ship rolled more than 28º there was a real danger that she might capsize. During the night she rolled to 34º! We had to reduce speed considerably and let our escorting American frigate lie in the big ship’s lee as she was on the point of foundering. Thus the Empress of Australia was delayed in joining the Royal Naval Task Force under Rear Admiral Harcourt, which now lay off Hong Kong. The Admiral had sent an Avenger aircraft escorted by Hellcats into Kai Tak to pick up the Japanese commander and return him to HMS Indomitable to discuss terms for the British takeover. The Admiral demanded to know details of offshore minefields guarding approaches to the harbour, and information on the possible use of Japanese suicide boats still known to be sheltering off Lamma Island. The following day the Admiral transferred his flag to HMS Swiftsure, and having received all the necessary navigational information, entered the harbour with an air escort. This precaution turned out to be a wise move, as three suicide boats did in fact leave their lair and were sunk by aircraft from HMS Indomitable.

Thus, on 30 August the Royal Navy, through the Fleet Air Arm, reestablished a British air presence in the Colony. Originally the Fleet Air Arm base had been built at Kai Tak some twenty years previously, precisely to meet the need for a base in the Far East.

Because of the delay caused by the typhoon, Shield Force entered Hong Kong aboard the Empress of Australia on 3 September, by which time Admiral Harcourt had taken over as Military Governor. The ship docked alongside the go-downs on Kowloon Dock, and I have never forgotten the impressions of that moment as I looked across the busy waters to Hong Kong Island and the beautiful panorama that lay before me. The great harbour itself was dominated now by five large Royal Navy warships dwarfing the countless junks and sampans already criss-crossing around them. The Hong Kong Peak formed an impressive towering background, with houses and bungalows dotted among the trees right up to the summit. To the west I could see countless small islands, with a dim outline of the largest, Lanthau, dominating the western approaches. Looking north, over Stonecutters Island, the highest peak around the Colony, Tai Mo Shan, was a formidable obstruction to Kai Tak, but even nearer to the runway was Lion Rock, which in later years made approaches to the runway by the big jetliners an exciting experience. The next day, when I went out to Kai Tak, I could see how it nestled at the base of the surrounding hills, the only level ground before the sea. At the other end of the runway was more rising ground, and to the right the Lymun Gap leading out into Mirs Bay and the open sea. From Kowloon the Hong Kong waterfront looked a jumble of wharves and go-downs, and a handful of modern buildings clustered around the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, then a modest six storeys high. This was the first time I had ventured far abroad, and I found it immensely exciting: at that moment, standing on the upper deck of the huge liner, now sitting docilely at its moorings, with the permeating smell of the tropics in my nose, I was entranced with the unforgettable experience.

Ashore the romantic dreaming was soon dispelled, and I found that the Japanese had looted and despoiled nearly everything within the Colony. Latterly, bombing by the USAF had done great damage in the docks area and the airfield, but nothing could compare with the Chinese widespread looting and ravaging of property and murderous attacks on the Japanese since the declaration of surrender and before the British had time to have troops on the streets. The joyful but painful business of releasing prisoners and seeing to their welfare was an urgent priority, and Freddie’s and my first duty was to visit the prison camps at Shamshuipo and Argyle Street. It was a moving experience, but to our surprise the ex-prisoners’ main needs were not material things as much as news of home and what had been happening in the world outside their prison walls. However, a few hours later, when Freddie and I returned to the Peninsula Hotel, where we were billeted, the smart salute that we received from the naval guard was acknowledged by two very bedraggled officers deprived of most of their uniform and personal effects gratefully handed over to the ex-prisoners. Our hotel accommodation in the recently ‘liberated’ hotel was spacious but sparsely furnished, and when Freddie complained of the dirty rust stains in the bath he was told by the manager that it was not rust but the blood of a disgraced Japanese colonel who had previously occupied the room and had committed the only recorded act of ‘Hara-Kiri’ in Hong Kong. We asked for another room, and one was found for us, but accommodation was a minor matter and our duties that lay outside were far more urgent. Clearly there was going to be a great deal to do, and my first duty on being posted to command Kai Tak immediately on getting ashore was to get the airfield serviceable and capable of receiving aircraft. On 4 September I was established on the airfield with a nucleus staff, and the RAF Regiment Squadron was deployed around the perimeter, mainly to prevent looting by the Hong Kong Chinese. There had been sporadic firing from the hills behind the airfield during the night, and there were still quite a lot of armed Japanese skulking around, so on 6 September No. 201 Staging Post was established on the station, and I organized a small parade and took the salute when the Union flag was raised to mark the taking-over of command of Kai Tak by the Royal Air Force after nearly four years of occupation by the Japanese. The next day the first Dakota landed at Kai Tak, having flown over ‘the hump’ from Burma, and the following day it took off, outward bound, with urgent dispatches, while another Dakota landed to uplift casualties.

Soon Dakotas were coming in regularly, bringing administrative personnel and urgent stores, and after turn-round returning to Burma with ex-prisoners in need of urgent medical attention.

Transport was one of my big difficulties, but the MT Section managed to make an old motorcycle serviceable, and I rode this across the airfield to visit the Royal Navy MONAB that had then been established there. This was a Mobile Operational Naval Air Base, whose task was to carry out major servicing of Navy aircraft flown ashore from aircraft-carriers. I lost no time in getting to know the Commander Flying of HMS Knabcatcher, as it was called, and on the following day I managed to borrow a Navy Corsair to obtain experience of all the airfield approaches and to carry out a reconnaissance of the local area. The Corsair was the first American fighter with a radial engine that I had flown, and I found it a delight to fly, without any vices once one had remembered to unfold the wings and make sure they were locked before take-off. I flew the Corsair the next day and went nearly as far as Canton on a reconnaissance flight.

The motorcycle soon packed up and my adjutant produced a horse for me to ride on my airfield inspections. Poor animal, it was so thin that its saddle was in danger of slipping off, and after one slow amble across the airfield through the sensuous mimosa which covered the area between the runways I returned it for what I hoped would be a happy retirement. Finally a twelve-year-old American Pontiac saloon was produced, which the Japanese had acquired and done their best to wreck. The clutch did not work and it was permanently in second gear, which made it dodgy to drive. Luckily American Jeeps were not long in arriving in the Colony.

I was just settling down and getting Kai Tak organized when I was very disappointed when a wing commander from the UK was posted in to command Kai Tak, and I had to return to staff duties with 302 Wing on Hong Kong Island. This meant living in the Gloster Hotel and working in an office in the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank. This did not prevent me from getting the odd flight, and on 23 September I went across to Kai Tak and flew an American L.5 Sentinel light aircraft on a reconnaissance of the Colony and the New Territories. No. 302 Wing was soon absorbed into Air Headquarters Hong Kong, and I was attached to fill a post on the C-in-C’s staff as Air Adviser. Admiral Harcourt was now, of course, Military Governor and living in Government House, but his offices were situated in the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank. On my birthday I flew a Spitfire XIV on an anti-piracy patrol around the islands. Piracy in the South China Seas had always been endemic, but it was a major problem now that goods of all sorts were being poured into Hong Kong, and the rich pickings were well worth the risk. Air patrols might be a deterrent but needed to be coordinated with naval units to be really effective. Cdr Gick RN (later Admiral Sir Percy Gick) was the anti-piracy coordinator, and as well as flying on air patrols he also operated a ‘Q’ junk with a powerful diesel engine and twin Oerlikon cannon under covers on the foredeck. This was a most effective unit and had considerable success in catching pirate junks, in cooperation with air patrols. Late in September I went out on an anti-piracy patrol in the RAF high-speed launch, accompanied by several other officers, including Lt Col Tim Evill of No. 1 Commando, who was later to become a good friend. On 4 October No. 132 (Bombay) Fighter Squadron arrived on board HMS Smiter. Its Spitfire XIVs were ferried ashore on lighters, as the runways at Kai Tak were still in need of further repair. Accommodation was becoming a major problem, and the old officers’ mess was still quite uninhabitable, so a convent belonging to the Little Sisters of the Poor on the Clear Water Bay road was taken over as an officers’ mess, and shared with the Sisters, who benefited with more generous rations than those they had been used to. Later in October No. 681 Squadron, also with Spitfires, arrived in the Colony on SS Highland Monarch. There was a large shortage of Spitfire spares at this time, and No. 681 Squadron never became operational while in the Colony, but moved to Kuala Lumpur at the end of the year.

By 13 October there were four squadrons sharing Kai Tak. As well as the two Spitfire squadrons, No. 209 Squadron flew in three Sunderland flying-boats from Koggala in Ceylon, and No. 96 Squadron with Dakotas was established at Kai Tak. However, I was kept busy on the C-in-C’s staff, and only managed to get in the occasional flight in a Corsair or Spitfire on anti-piracy patrols or a reconnaissance in a Sentinel. But on 2 November an interesting flight came my way when I was asked to fly a certain Portuguese gentleman called Dr Lobo across to Macau. At that time there was no recognized airfield on the Portuguese colony, so I flew him in the small L.5 Sentinel and landed on the rather boggy padang on the sea front. It was only on my return that I was told that Dr Lobo came from one of the richest families in the Far East, and owned a very large percentage of the gold in the area; and I never even asked him for the taxi fare!

On the 27th I was invited aboard HMS Vengeance, and the ship sailed out into Mirs Bay for exercises with a submarine. At the conclusion of the operations I flew off the carrier in a Barracuda and landed back at Kai Tak. In December I again managed to borrow a Spitfire, and also flew a Barracuda on two separate sorties a few days later.

With at least seven Royal Navy ships in harbour there was never any lack of parties, and WRENS and WRAF girls were beginning to arrive in the Colony, so partners were becoming available to add to the fun. I was very lucky to be on the Admiral’s staff, as most of the others on his staff were naval officers with whom I got on very well and made a lot of friends. Admiral Harcourt was a charming and delightful man to work for, and always willing to join in any of the many festivities that his staff thought up. One of the happiest occasions was at Christmas, when the Admiral invited several of the staff, including me, to join him in Government House over the holiday. The celebrations started on the 22nd with a dance at Government House, and lunch aboard HMS Vengeance the next day. In the evening there was a WRAF party, followed by all the crowd going out for Chinese chow. Back at Government House we had lunch and played crazy games until we all went out to a party at the Peninsula Hotel. On Christmas Day we all went down to Big Wave Bay for a swim and lunch back in Government House. Christmas dinner was a wonderful occasion, followed by a riotous evening of ingenious games and ‘in-house’ entertainment. On Boxing Day the whole gang went swimming, and then back to Government House for a musical evening and dinner. So ended a really wonderful holiday, where many friendships were made.

On the 28th I flew up to Kiangwan airfield at Shanghai with Charles Little, an officer from Intelligence, to look at the prospect of establishing an RAF staging post there. We dined with the Naval Attaché, and also there was General Carton de Wiart. That night Charles and I were accommodated in the China Club, but when we went up to our room it was so cold and the bedclothes so inadequate that we had to pull down the long heavy curtains from the windows and sleep under them to try and get warm. The next day we drove around Shanghai, Bubbling Wells Road, along the Bund, and then treated ourselves to vodka cocktails at the Long Bar (100 feet). We had both received an invitation that evening to a cocktail party at the Russian Consulate, but had an urgent signal from Command that on no account were we to attend. We thought it was a pity, but Charles reckoned that our Command HVQs were worried that the Russians might try and compromise us. We subsequently heard that the party was awash with beautiful White Russian girls. The next day, after a visit to Whangpo and the International Settlement, we returned to Kai Tak.

Early in January Percy Gick and I took off in two Corsairs, accompanied by two Spitfires, and intercepted several pirate junks off Ping Chan. A high-speed launch was led to intercept them, several were captured and the crews arrested, and after a thorough search their junks were burnt on the spot. On 21 January I was delighted to be posted back to Kai Tak as Wing Commander Flying under Jackie Horner as the new station commander, with prospects of more regular flying. On the 24th I flew down to Seletar (Singapore) in a Sunderland for an interview with the C-in-C ACSEA. Freddie and I had a very comfortable stay at the Raffles Hotel, where we met a naval officer friend who introduced us to two WREN officers, and that evening we took them out to dinner at the Johore Club. The next day we flew in a Sunderland to Labuan (Borneo), where we found it extremely hot, but we were put off swimming by the sight of sharks cruising off shore. We returned to Kai Tak the next day in the Sunderland in very bad weather with low overcast, but luckily the sea was calm so we were able to land on the sea some distance out and taxi for the rest of the way into Hong Kong harbour under the overcast.

Maisie and I had now been separated for nearly two years, and though we had kept in touch and I had had regular news of Sue’s progress, it had become clear that there was now no prospect of saving our marriage. We were divorced soon after I returned to England from the Far East.

On 4 February I did a further reconnaissance of the Colony’s coastal waters in a Sentinel, and this time I was accompanied by a girl, Eve, from Military Intelligence as observer. She proved to be a very attractive and useful member of the crew, and two years later in England we were married.