INTERNMENT IN HONG KONG

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28158, 22 December 1956, Page 3

INTERNMENT IN HONG KONG

Passport to Eternity. By Ralph Goodwin. Arthur Barker. 192 pp. To readers of escape stories Ralph Goodwin, a New Zealand naval officer, needs no introduction, for he is already well known for his previous book, “Hong Kong Escape,” an enthralling personal story which will undoubtedly always rank high in merit in any escape library. In this new book the author gives another vivid picture of further incidents that occurred in the camps in which he was detained by the Japanese whilst a prisoner of war. “Cut off as the prisoners were from all contact with the outside world,” he writes, “fantastic rumours spread with astonishing rapidity and gained a credence that in normal circumstances could never have been achieved.” All this was bad for morale and it was the aim of every camp to have some source of authentic information. The prisoner-of-war camps in Hong Kong were no exception despite the fact that any attempts at communication with the outside world the Japanese ruthlessly punished, often with death. In the first part of this book the ceni tral character is another New Zeai lander. Lieutenant H. C. Dixon, R.N.Z.N.V.R., now living in WellingI ton. In civil life Dixon had been a | radio technician and soon after he had been interned, with much ingenuity and at great risk, he commenced to make a wireless set for the camp. Using bits of wire, scrap metal, silver paper from cigarette packets he gradually put together a wireless set that worked. The story of how he made the set, of how it was concealed from the Japanese, the account of the operating of the set and the dissemination of reliable news from the 8.8. C. is all full of excitement. Ultimately the Japanese did discover the set, and with others Dixon was arrested. He was treated most bestially by the Japanese, yet his steadfastness and courage under torture were such that he never revealed the names of his accomplices. His fortitude was tested to the utmost, yet he managed to “hang on” and at the end of the war he was released and repatriated. For »his outstanding services he was decorated with an M.B.E. Goodwin comments: “If that honour fails to reflect the true measure of his contribution, he has the satisfaction of knowing that the world over there are men who remember with gratitude, the thrill of hearing those eagerly awaited words mimed from the 8.8. C. ‘Here is the News.’ **

In the second part of the book the author describes the various schemes by which those in the camps made contact with friends outside. This also is an extremely moving story: of efforts to evade the vigilance of guards and captors, of the smuggling in of desperately needed drugs and medicines, of eventual detection, and again of torture, and finally of tragedy, for many died and others were mercilessly executed. Ralph Goodwin tells the story without heroics, and yet one senses his quiet pride in being able in this grim narrative to write this memorial to those who in creating a lifeline for others secured for themselves a passport to eternity. The book as a whole makes a deep impression in the reader’s mind and will be long remembered when other war stories have been forgotten. An excellent map of Hong Kong showing the localities of the different internment camps and of other places mentioned in the text is of considerable interest and help to the reader.