Page 80 - Fr. Charles Murphy and Hong Kong

ISSUE : Issue 62

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/1/1

Fathers were there. There were 32 of them there. And I was the only Canadian,... But we sang there, and they sang their hearts out. There were Jews there, Jewish people. And they were from Hong Kong; they were living in Hong Kong, business people. (You mentioned when they made you kneel down in the square, and your hands were behind your back. Were your hands tied behind your back?) Yeah. And there were these prisoners- of-war--these men who had been soldiers in Australia--there were six of them. That night they were all together. This was the night before we were settled in. And they were thinking of home and their loved ones, and they were drinking. They got soused, some of them. And I didn't make any mention of this at all to the people. But I knew what was going on, and I knew they were heart? broken, these fellows, being separated from their wives and their families, and being in a strange land and amongst strangers. So by my influence, I think, they came closer to? gether. 'Cause I treated everybody the same. '' SPECIAL PRICING FOR SENIORS! BURGLARY FIRE & SMOKE ?? ] • ROBBERY SHOPLIFTING EMPLOYEE PILFERAGE FOR CUSTOMER FROTKHION INDUSTRIAL - COMMERCIAL - RESIDENTLL • Burglary Alarms • Locksmith Service • Sprinlcler Monitoring • Close Circuit TV • Fire & Smoke Alarms • Medical Alert • Vehicle Alarms • Intercoms • Central Monitoring Station BE SECURE WITH 'alarm & SECUMTY SYSTEMS! 24-HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE FREE ESTIMATES: 564-9408 'lSki for All Before You Hit the Slopes This Winter • Check with Us First! The Latest Ski Conditions Daily 7:30 am • 12:40 pm • 5:10 pm (Sundays 9:10 am) or Call the CJCB Snow Phone • 24 Hours • 539 - I Ski "Listen to Win Great Ski Prizes All Winter" CJCB AM stereo - Cape Breton's Super Station! Some of the girls here call me "Smiler." (I've watched documentaries, and I've read different versions of the fall of Hong Kong and the treatment of prisoners after by the Japanese. One version, you read that the prisoners were treated fairly well.) They weren't. (Then another one you read, there were atrocities committed.) Oh, plenty. There were--this girl, she was a Salvation Army girl and a nurse. And she came to me after quite some time. She said, "Father," she said, "we're going to effect an escape tonight. And there are about 8 of us. And we'd like you to come with us, if you will." I said, "I can't go." I said, "These people are depending on me, and how can I leave them? If I escape, and the es? cape is effective," I said, "they'll take it out on these people." I said, "I'm only one, and these people are many." I said, "Rather take it out on me and leave them go." So I said, "Thank you for the offer." I said, "I can't make it." So the next morning they escaped. They went over to Macao. And they escaped from there, and came back to Canada and the United States and wrote articles and things like this. But she and those people thought so much of me that they wanted me to escape with them. (What did the Japanese do after this es? cape? Did they retaliate about that?) They were always retaliating. They'd cut our meat supply. We never got any supplies in, other than what they allocated to us. And they examined everything. I had these lit? tle Sisters of the Immaculate Conception from Montreal--French girls. There were 8 of them in one room, not as big as my room down there. And they were sleeping on the floor and everything. And I said, "Well, we have to clean this up. We have to get proper beds for you people." I got cots for them. And they slept on cots.... And I Breakfast & Lunch Specials Daily Warm, Friendly Cape Breton Atmosphere //Charlolle Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 4:30 pm -Very Reasonable Prices- 191 Charlotte Street, Sydney Fresh Baked Goods Daily

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