Memories of Hong Kong

Some of Our Intrepid Explorers

Search for the Elusive Plaques

We had been told that the location of Sham Shui Po barracks had been marked with plaques. We weren't sure if they would be easy to find, and had no idea what they might look like. No information about their exact location was available.

Since all of "C" Force lived there until the day before the Japanese attacked, and many of the POWs spent the rest of the war there, we thought we would take our free day and mount a search.

Eight of us made the journey to the Sham Shui Po area. That part was easy as it is a suburb of Kowloon. The question was, how would we know where to look once we got off the subway?

A map study pointed us in the direction of Maple Street. Seemed logical, but after searching the park we found there, we were empty-handed.

Anne, disregarding the "Staff Only" sign, cornered a policeman who was working at the park and asked him to help. He spent some time on the telephone, and finally came up with a number to call. In the meantime the rest of the group wanted to go and check out another area that looked promising, so off we all went.

After walking for awhile, it was becoming obvious that we were not making progress. More than once, Ken Skelton was heard to say: "I'm giving this two hours, then I'm out of here!". As luck would have it, a phone booth appeared and Anne phoned the number she'd been given earlier. Thanks to the information she was given, we now had one thing we never had before: directions. (Hey... that's why us guys brought women along!)

Commemorative Plaque presented in 1991 by HKVA of Canada. Click for larger imageWe ended up at the entrance to Sham Shui Po park and Justin Mondor spotted the plaques right away.

Both plaques commemorate the planting of trees in memory of the POWs.

As we looked around, it was hard to believe that this quiet park with water fountains and children's laughter was once the site of so much suffering, misery and death.

Presented by the Hong Kong Prisoners of War Association in 1989. Click for larger imageAfter some reflection and photos, we decided to celebrate our success by heading off to the Peninsula Hotel for a cool one.