By Anthony Correa
I recently came into my possession some files from my father Frank Correa that shined a light on the
disgraceful British colonial government treatment of the members of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp "the Volunteers" that were interned in POW camps. As a child I remember one of those Volunteers was my grand uncle Mem Maria Alves de Vasconcelos Soares "uncle Mem" (pictured with his moustache below behind the machine gun). He served as a Volunteer in the Portuguese Machine Gun Company No 5 and after fighting bravely against the might of the Japanese Imperial Army was taken prisoner.
Top row standing: Army Instructor, Victor Maria Nunes, Germano de Pinna, Luís Romano Sequeira, Charles Edward Mackintosh, Alfredo Silva, Army Instructor, Sebastião Rui da Silva, Sílvio Silvino de Sousa, Alfredo Soares, ?, Eduardo Franscisco dos Passos, Joaquim Jerónimo Guterres, Army Instructor.
Middle row kneeling: Thomas Castilho, Paulo Reis
Front row sitting: ?, Mem Maria Alves de Vasconcelos Soares(with machine gun), Arthur James Brown, Caetano Maria Dias Azedo, Francisco Vicente Vieira Ribeiro, Meno Silva [?Filomeno Henrique Gomes da Silva #6856], Jock Gardner (with machine gun), Luís Gonzaga de Pina
Collection J Bosco Correa
He was interned at the infamous Sham Shui Po Prisoner of War ("POW)" Camp, where he and his fellow Volunteers were subjected to the same cruel, inhumane treatment as enlisted Allied soldiers from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the Commonwealth. In breach of the Geneva Convention, these men were forced into manual labour such as breaking rocks at Kai Tak with hand tools, given starvation rations that were unfit for animals, and the water that was unclean. They were tortured and beaten by their notoriously cruel guards on a daily basis. Many died in POW camps during their 3 and half years of captivity. The POWs emerged from these camps malnourished, sick and broken men.
However, after the war this "equal treatment" by the Japanese was not returned by the British Army or the Hong Kong colonial government. The British enlisted soldiers that were POWs were provided pensions and healthcare at British Military hospitals to care for them and bring them back to health with the best available care. The Canadian and other Commonwealth governments likewise took back their enlisted soldiers and provided them with every care and support they could in their home countries.
The Volunteers were not afforded this privilege. In fact they were cast aside by the British Colonial authorities to fend for themselves without a pension. Most importantly no healthcare was provided to these men at British Military of Hong Kong Government hospitals to care for the illnesses and trauma caused by their time in the POW camps. My uncle Mem suffered from kidney failure, and he and his family had repeatedly approached the Hong Kong government and the British Army for dialysis treatment at their hospitals to treat his condition. He was not provided any healthcare assistance and died from kidney complications in 1977. Many other Portuguese, Eurasian, Chinese and Indian POWs suffered the same fate (SCMP article 'Awaiting the Last Post', 29 August, 1982).
On 10 May 1977, my father wrote to the South China Morning Post shortly after uncle Mem's passing to highlight this terrible injustice and appeal for the needs of the remaining Volunteer POWs. Other's subsequently joined in a public campaign against the Hong Kong government, most notably Luigi Ribeiro (see attached 28 August 1979), Jack Edwards, Arthur Gomes and Christopher "Bippo" d'Almada e Castro.
Every year Club Lusitano members attend the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Central Cenotaph for men like uncle Mem and the Portuguese Volunteers. If you have a chance to attend, please register at the Club office.
