DRAMATIC STORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 65, 18 March 1942, Page 6

DRAMATIC STORY

j ESCAPED FROM HONGKONG SCOTSMAN PAYS TRIBI TE TO CHINESE LOYALTY. Rugby, March 14. The first man to reach England after escaping from Hongkong, following the capitulation, has just arrived in London. He is David Mercer MacDougall, a 37-year-old Scot of the Colonial Civil Service, who lirst went to Hongkong in 1929. He has an extraordinary story to tell of Chinese loyalty and co-operation in Hongkong under the Japanese attack. The civil defence services were maimed chiefly by Chinese. Their A.R.P. activities were maintained eflectively and with the utmost steadfastness to the last. Their heroism in fire-fighting, says Mr. MacDougall, cannot be too highly praised, 'i hey earned out the most efficient food control. To preserve law and order they manned what were called street guards, whose duties ranged from maintaining traffic control to watching for possible looters. Chinese women worked as nurses, cooks tind in all manner of ways. < Chinese sappers, in the face of fierce lire, coolly carried on. Largely as a result of the Chinese coolness, there was neither panic nor rioting on the island; nor was there any food shortage. L'he Japanese tried hard, but in vam, to undermine the civilian morale. They showered leaflets on the town, set up loudspeakers in the harbour. Mr. MacDougall escaped a few hours alter the tall of the colony. He was a member of an escaping party headed by the famous Chinese admiral, Chan Chak. Finding a small launch, they set out, but soon Japanese snipers and machine-gunners on shore, and then shelling, compelled them to abandon the launch and take to the water. There were severe casualties. The admiral, wao had only one leg, was shot m the wrist, And -Mr. MacDougall got a bullet in the back. A long swim to an island followed. Hiding on the island till dark, the party eventdaily made its way to the China coast in a motor torpedo-boat. A hazardous journey through the Japanese nnes followed. The journey lasted 12 days, and at last, four week* after leaving Hongkong, Mr. MacDuugail reached. Chungking.—B.O.W.