Interview with Hubert Charles Weston Mitchell

British gunner served with 75th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 28th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 6th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1939-1940; served with 5th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Fortress Command and Headquarters, Fortress Command in Hong Kong, 1940-1941; prisoner of war in Sham Shui Po Camp in Hong Kong, 1941-1942; survived sinking of SS Lisbon Maru off Zhousham Archipelago in South China Sea, 10/1942; prisoner of war in Kobe House Camp, Kobe, Japan, 10/1942-6/1945

REEL 1 Background in Bristol, GB, 1920-1937: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of period as gunner with 66th Field Bde, Royal Artillery in GB, 1937-1939: joining Territorial Army, winter 1937-1938; training in GB; attitude of his employer to his mobilisation, 9/1939. Recollections of period as gunner with 75th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, 28th Anti-Aircraft Bde, 6th Anti-Aircraft Div in GB, 1939-1940: issue of 3.7 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun for defence of Bristol Docks; amusing story about misuse of battery telescope; discovery of his double hernia; how commanding officer sorted out his rations whilst Mitchell was on sick leave; move to hutted camp at Easton in Gordano; background to being placed on draft to Hong Kong, 1940. Aspects of journey on draft from GB to Hong Kong, 1940: train journey across France to Marseille; embarkation aboard HMT Andes at Marseille, France. REEL 2 Continues: voyage aboard HMT Andes from Marseille, France to Hong Kong, including problems encountered on being issued with a drill only rifle and speed at which ship got to Hong Kong. Recollections of period as gunner with 5th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regt, Royal Artillery, Fortress Command in Hong Kong, 1940-1941: drafting to unit at Lai Moon Barracks, 1940; paying for services of Chinese servant; financial situation of troops; receiving seven days Confined to Barracks (CB) for allowing servant to clean his rifle; contrast between attitude of older and younger soldiers towards treatment of servants; role of barrack servants; methods of drawing pay; low prices in Hong Kong; segregation of Europeans and Chinese on public transport and cinemas; British troops' keeping of Chinese girlfriends with the 'down-homer' system; consequences of contracting venereal disease; faithfulness of 'down-homers' even when British Army troops became prisoners of war. REEL 3 Continues: lack of marriages between British Army troops and Chinese females; economic conditions in Hong Kong; different roles of gunners on artillery pieces; technique of keeping aircraft high by means of anti-aircraft fire; volunteering for radar detection finding course; how he built a sailing boat; employment of Chinese servant to look after boat. Recollections of operations as gunner with Headquarters, Fortress Command during Battle of Hong Kong, 7/12/1941-25/12/1941: transfer to Fortress Command; duties on multi-phone; reaction to sight of civilian casualty; plan for defence of Hong Kong, 12/1941; underestimation of Japanese forces; evacuation to Hong Kong Island. REEL 4 Continues: fall of Sai Wan gun position and wounding of despatch rider sent to confirm this; Imperial Japanese Army bayoneting of prisoners at Sai Wan; behaviour of Battery Sergeant-Major Ernest Shirley under Imperial Japanese Army artillery fire; surrender to Japanese forces, 25/12/1941. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Sham Shui Po Camp, Hong Kong, 12/1941-10/1942: assembling for move to camp; sight of prisoner of war column from Stanley; incident of Chinese civilian who spat on prisoner of war and Imperial Japanese Army guard's reaction; marching into camp; conditions of Canadian prisoners of war at North Point Camp; making camp habitable by prisoners of war; initial problems prisoner of war cooks had in preparing rice; psychological effect of doctor's announcement that rations were insufficient to sustain health; effect of news of fall of Singapore, 15/2/1942; on work party at Kai Tak Airfield; sabotaging Japanese reward system; sabotage of drainage system on Kai Tak Airfield; escape attempts from camp; initial refusal to sign parole and how defiance was ended. REEL 5 Continues: first shipment of prisoners of war from Hong Kong. Recollections of period as prisoner of war aboard SS Lisbon Maru on voyage from Hong Kong to Japan, including sinking off Zhousham Archipelago in South China Sea, 10/1942: question of legal aspects of transporting prisoners of war with Imperial Japanese Army troops; conditions on board ship including diseases; death of Battery Sergeant-Major Ernest Shirley; reasons why he survived sinking; conditions for prisoners of war after torpedoing by United States Navy submarine USS Grouper (SS-214); break out of prisoners of war from after hold; sight he saw on emerging from middle hold; fate of Imperial Japanese Army guards left aboard; Japanese firing on survivors; attempt to swim to island; fate of survivors in water; Japanese Government's reaction to British Government's complaint about sinking; period on wharf side at Shanghai, China; embarkation on board Shinsei Maru for voyage to Japan. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Kobe House Camp, Kobe, Japan, 1942-1945: conditions on arrival in Japan and train journey to Kobe; lack of hostility from Japanese civilians towards prisoners of war during march through Kobe; allocation of bed spaces in camp. REEL 6 Continues: prisoner of war obsession with rations; prisoner of war medical problems; kindness of prisoners of war manning hospital; work unloading ships; conditions of prisoners of war working in factory; methods of stealing food; story of Sergeant Albert Hobson who owned up to stealing tinned fish; prisoner of war who hid sugar in pillow; problems experienced with his feet and medical treatment received; reaction to sight of United States Army Air Force high-level bombing of Kobe; evacuation of camp and his move to northern Japan, 6/1945; work on dock side; psychological survival techniques; attempt by Australian prisoner of war to organise strike; Japanese authorities treatment of strikers; news of dropping of atomic bombs, 8/1945. Recollections of liberation and return to GB via Philippines and Canada, 1945: organisation of camp after VJ Day, 15/8/1945; United States Army Air Force air supply drops of food to camp. REEL 7 Continues: contents of food containers; attitude to prisoners of war burning of surplus food; reaction of prisoners of war to encounter American forces at Yokohama, Japan; over eating on voyage to Manila, Philippines; conditions for former prisoners of war in Manila, Philippines; reasons for refusing to fly to GB; entertainment in Manila, Philippines including Gracie Fields; voyage aboard HMS Implacable from Manila, Philippines to Vancouver, Canada; conditions aboard SS Ile De France on voyage from Nova Scotia, Canada to Southampton, GB including reactions of former prisoners of war to serving of rice pudding; reception from Salvation Army in Southampton, GB; conditions in camp for former prisoners of war. Reflections of period as prisoner of war in Hong Kong and Japan, 12/1941-8/1945: question of after effects of period as prisoner of war; problems of mixing with civilians; joining British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association. REEL 8 Continues: activity with Bristol Branch of British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association and its benefits; attitude towards Japanese; role of Japanese atrocities and brutality in moulding his attitudes; attitude to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; opinion of behaviour of British Army troops; reads poem 'The Lisbon Maru'; reads poem 'The Reunion'; reads 'A Prisoner's Prayer'; reads untitled poem about keeping boots in repair at Sham Shui Po Camp; reads poem 'Would You Have Fought' about imaginary conversation between a boy and his former Far Eastern Prisoner of War grandfather.