ROYAL HONG KONG REGIMENT (THE VOLUNTEERS) ASSOCIATION www.rhkr.org July 2011 Message from the Chairman Ron Taylor MBE TD ED The contents of this newsletter shows the diverse activities which continue to be undertaken by Association members and these are only a few in which members are involved. Adventure Corps, the Shooting Club and the Association s assistance to community groups (Trailwalker, Hike for Hospice and the YMCA) are just some of these other activities. The next newsletter promises to include some of these other activities and also notes of historical interest. The Battlefield Tour combined tours of two significant areas in the Battle of Hong Kong with some gentle exercise and a good buffet lunch; the Family Walk included both the exercise and a lunch while the Foundation Day Dinner did not include any exercise! The attendance at these and other events shows that the Spirit of Volunteering remains strong as ever. At the Foundation Day Dinner we were able to thank the outgoing Canadian Consul General, Ms Doreen Steidle, for the contribution that she has made to Hong Kong in her time here and we wish her well in her retirement from the Diplomatic Service and her new ventures, whatever they will be, back home in Ottawa. We look forward to meeting her successor whom I am sure will build on her achievements. The dinner was also an opportunity to thank Canada for providing homes for so many Volunteers and it was pleasing to be able to confirm to Ms Steidle the strong contributions these Volunteers are making to the Canadian community. December this year will be the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong and events are currently being planned to mark this historic occasion. Members will be informed of details when these become available and I have no doubt that a record of these events will be included in the next newsletter at the end of the year. 1
Battlefields Tour It is already many years since we organized a battlefield tour. I planned this tour when I occasionally hiked in the Shing Mun Reservoirs a couple years ago and found that the Shing Mun Redoubt was renovated and new sign boards were posted up to illustrate the deployment and fighting there during the invasion of Hong Kong in December, 1941. We set the date of the tour on the second Sunday of January so that it would not be too close to the Chinese New Year holidays. It was a fine weather Sunday but we didn t recognize that the route was closed to any coach or bus from Wong Yee Hop Road, so everyone needed to start walking for about 30 minutes before we toured our first location in Shing Mun Reservoir. Mr Tony Banham was our first guide and told us what happened there during the Japanese invasion in December, 1941. We walked through the bushes and some of the tunnels and ruined bunkers and saw how amazing that the street names of London were also used for those tunnels. After almost one and a half hours there, we walked back to our coach parked at the Wong Yee Hop Road and headed to the hotel in Ching Yi for our buffet lunch. After the lunch, we went to the start point of the Jardine Lookout battlefield trail which is just opposite to Parkview Gardens. Mr. Albert Lam was waiting for us there and he briefed us, using his own prepared sign board, on the attack route used by the Japanese troops after landing in North Point in 18 th December, 1941. We walked along the trail and visited the bunkers. We can still see the structure of the bunkers from the windows and there was a sign board illustrating the interior structures of the bunkers and some of them were manned by the HKVDC. It was ended up the tour at the relics of the HQ, West Brigade where Brigadier Lawson was killed. Albert was so excellent in story telling and we could imagine how fierce the fighting was there at that time. It was really a wonderful tour as we could have two excellent Hong Kong Battle history tellers, Mr Tony Banham and Mr Albert Lam, and we did enjoy the light exercise hiking up and down Shing Mun. 2
Family Walk CC Leung MBE ED The annual Family Walk took place on Sunday 13 th March 2011. It was a very beautiful Sunday for walking with good participation of thirty-five persons plus a pet who set off from Wong Nai Chung Gap to start the hike. We started at Wong Nai Chung Gap little garden at 10 AM and walked along Tsz Lo Lan Shan Path., Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir and ended up at Tai Tam Road at about 2.30pm. The view was beautiful. The group went by bus directly to a restaurant at Shaukeiwan for a good dim sum lunch and cold beers. I firmly believed that they all enjoyed the walk and the lunch. 3
Here I would like to express my thanks to our club manager, Tony Chan and member, Wong Man Chu, helping us to make the walk such a success.. 157 th Foundation Day Dinner The Foundation Day Dinner this year was held on 27 th May, the last Friday night of May as usual. The chief guest was the Consul General of Canada Miss Doreen Steidle and we had also invited the WW II Veteran Dr Dan Waters, the Chief Staff Officer of CAS Mr. Lam Kwok Wah, and Mr Cowen Chiu and Mr Yeung Man Cheung from the HKESA. The CAS Band was invited to play the music for us during the dinner and most importantly those regimental marches at the end of the dinner. This year the dinner finished a bit earlier, at about 10:15pm, as the CAS Band had to leave before 10:30pm. The guests and our members proceeded to the club house for drinks after the dinner. 4
UK Branch Foundation Day Celebration and the HKVDC Memorial Capt John Lam RRF The Foundation Day Celebration 2011 of the UK Branch was, probably for the first time, not only not being held on the last Friday evening in May but also not being held at the usual places of London or Bovington Camp. The 157th anniversary celebration was indeed a series of events held in the middle of a week on a Wednesday afternoon in a location at the heart of England. It was held on Wednesday 25 May at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, some 130 miles north west of London. Over a hundred people assembled at noon at the Arboretum first for an official unveiling of the Hong Kong Volunteers Defence Corps Memorial and then a 3-course luncheon in a marquee. The event was very well attended by not only the usual Association members but also some veterans and their guests. For this very special occasion of unveiling of the HKVDC Memorial, some official guests were also invited from the Military Attachés from Canada and Pakistan, the Argyle Street POW Association, the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, the Regimental Associations of the Royal Scots and Middlesex. Sir David Ford (formerly Honorary Colonel and Chief Secretary of Hong Kong), Mr Tony Au and James Chan from Canada were also present. Brigadier Rudi Wertheim (formerly Defence Attaché to Beijing) whom I met at the Remembrance Sunday Service in Hong Kong two years ago was invited as my private guest. The Service was conducted by Canon Stephen Sidebotham (formerly Dean of St John s Cathedral of Hong Kong) and the Memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir John Chapple GCB CBE DL (formerly Chief of General Staff and Commander British Forces Hong Kong). The Service followed by official guests and members laying their respective wreaths. 5
The luncheon was marvellous. Not only the 3-course meal was superb but also the atmosphere in a garden marquee was excellent. It was certainly amazing seeing many people attended, in particular those from overseas. It was hoped that the Foundation Day celebration can be held at the National Memorial Arboretum again on a regular basis. 6
A Tribute to Major Lau Po Chi MBE ED Maj Lau Po-chi, as he was known to us, passed away at the Prince of Wales Hospital on 8 March. He had a long and distinguished career in the Regiment but also in the Housing Department and elsewhere. Maj Lau Po-chi, born in China on 25 October 1932 and educated in Hong Kong, began his career in 1953 as an Education Instructor in the British Army after undergoing a tough basic recruit training in Lyemun Barracks. After three years, Po-chi left the army and joined the civil service serving initially as a Resettlement Officer in the Resettlement Department. He went onto serve in the Housing Department, retiring in 1993 as Assistant Director of Housing. He then joined a property maintenance company looking after the Central to Mid-Levels Escalator and Gallipoli Lines (now Fanling Barracks) to name but two of the many properties under his care. It is of his time in the Regiment that we remember him best. He joined the then Hong Kong Regiment on 5 September 1958 and was still serving in the Regiment when it was disbanded in 1995, some 37 years later. Colonel John Heywood knew Po-chi both as a soldier and as a member of the Housing Department. He recalls that Po-chi joined him in A Squadron in 1960, following his service in the HKMSC as an Education Instructor. He very quickly made his mark in the Volunteers with his experience in the British Army and rapidly attained the rank and position of Troop Sergeant. This was followed by equally rapid promotion and commissioning to become Troop Commander. Further promotion followed and John later appointed him to take command of the newly created E Squadron, based in Kowloon. He subsequently commanded C Squadron and then the Junior Leaders Corps expanding it to subsequently become the Hong Kong Adventure Corps. Those who worked with him often found him to be a strict taskmaster, when needed, but they all agreed that it was well worth the effort, looking back with enjoyment and 7
satisfaction of the time with him. We will remember you Bernard Yuen My father, Yuen Yin Mow, was in the same recruit cadre with late Maj Lau in the Hong Kong Chinese Training Unit in 1953 (later renamed as the HKMSC in 1962). I was also interviewed by Maj Lau when I applied the Officer Cadet in the Regiment. Maj Lau was a very kind senior officer and was very much admired and respected, and I can truly say that I have never heard an unkind word spoken about him. Whenever he met me, he always asked me to send his regards to my father. Rest in peace and we will remember you. Memories of a friend and colleague John Heywood Po chi joined me in A Squadron of the then Hong Kong Regiment in 1960 following his service in the HKMSC as an Education Instructor. He very quickly made his mark in the Volunteers with his experience in the British Army and rapidly attained the rank and position of Troop Sergeant. This was followed by equally rapid promotion and commissioning to become Troop Commander. Further promotion followed and I later appointed him to take command of the newly created E Squadron, based in Kowloon. Po chi also served with me in the Housing Operations Department where we were responsible for the management of squatter areas and their planned clearance for development. This invariably entailed confrontation with angry and aggressive squatters. Po chi organised and managed his Housing staff in these difficult situations in the firm, disciplined way that his Army and Volunteer experience had taught him; and when the Housing Department was tasked to manage a number of factory buildings in the New Territories, to accommodate Vietnamese refugees, Po chi was the first choice to undertake this role which demanded strict control with understanding and 8
compassion. Po chi and Sau chuen and the family were also firm family friends and we always looked forward to seeing them at our home at Shing Mun every Chinese New Year. We have kept in touch all these years and now mourn his passing. A very true friend, colleague and Volunteer. Veronica, I and our three children extend our sympathies to Sau chuen and her family. Coming events Victory Day Ceremony 14th August, 2011. AGM and Annual Dinner 2 nd September, 2011. Chung Yeung Ceremony 5th October, 2011 Remembrance Sunday 13 th November, 2011. Trail Walker 2011 18 th -20 th November, 2011. Canadian Day Ceremony 4 th December, 2011. 70 th Anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong Parade December, 2011 Charity Walk for the WW II veterans December, 2011. Editor Bernard Yuen 9