Interview with Thomas Drummond Hunter

British officer served with 2nd Bn Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), Kowloon Infantry Bde in Hong Kong, 1/1940-12/1941; prisoner of war in Bowen Road Military Hospital, Argyle Street and Sham Shui Po Camps in Hong Kong, 12/1941-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in Cumnock and Edinburgh, GB, 1918-1939: family history and circumstances; education; period at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, 1933-1937 including academic and sporting activities; membership of Officer Training Corps. Recollections of period as student at University of Edinburgh, GB, 1937-1939: hospitalisation with severe blood poisoning; opinion of Professor Vivian Galbraith; influence of Thomas Carlyle; question of efforts to secure scholarship to University of Cambridge; membership of Officer Training Corps; reaction to Spanish Civil War; joining Communist Party of Great Britain; participation in marches to burn effigy of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain over question of appeasement of Nazi Germany, 1938-1939; reaction of family to Communist sympathies and question of influence on decision to enlist, 9/1939. REEL 2 Continues: question of student attitudes towards Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin; student activities helping under privileged children; attending political street meetings during holiday in London, 8/1939; introduction of blackout following German invasion of Poland, 1/9/1939; difficulty in getting on to crowded train back to Edinburgh, 1/9/1939. Aspects of enlistment with Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) in Edinburgh, 9/1939: volunteering for commission with Royal Scots at High School Yard Office, University of Edinburgh, 2/9/1939; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; opinion of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Recollections of training as officer at Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) Regimental Depot, Glencourse Barracks, Edinburgh, GB, 9/1939-12/1939: reception; kitting out; accommodation; drill; bayonet and rifle training; rations and abandonment of vegetarianism; relations with other recruits; status as wartime officer; sight of air battle over Edinburgh following German Air Force raid on Firth of Forth; subsequent reception as duty officer of first German Air Force prisoner of war, 16/10/1939; sand table tactical training and question of introduction of flexible tactics. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Nevasa from Marseille, France to Hong Kong, 12/1939-1/1940: secrecy; story of elderly officer with drink problems. REEL 3 Continues: move to France; embarkation aboard HMT Nevasa at Marseille, France; prior kitting out with tropical kit; impression of visits ashore at Egypt, Ceylon, India and Singapore, Malaya. Recollections of period as officer with 2nd Bn Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), Kowloon Infantry Bde in Hong Kong, 1/1940-12/1941: initial impressions of skyscrapers; activities of elderly officer with drink problem which culminated in court martial and his return to GB; initial accommodation at Murray Barracks; role of Chinese servant; pay; nature of officers' mess; question of gradual posting away of regular officers; D Coy's initial role as machine gun company and Bren Gun training; relations with NCOs; duties erecting barbed wire defences around beaches; relationship with Other Ranks and nicknames. REEL 4 Continues: duties erecting barbed wire defences around beaches; sporting activities including boxing contests; recreational activities; story of missing opportunity to speak to writer Ernest Hemingway; relations with British civilian population; lack of contact with Chinese civilians; abandonment of Communist beliefs on joining British Army; reaction to Soviet Union and Japan joining war, 1941; leaning music; opinion of Major David Pinkerton, Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan McDougal and Lieutenant-Colonel Simon White; accommodation on move to Mount Austin Barracks, 6/1941; story of meeting and establishing relationship with future wife Peggy Scotcher serving as a nurse with the Nursing Detachment of Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps; duties erecting barbed wire defences around beaches; question of Japanese position in China; promotion to lieutenant; duties tracking Japanese movements and concentrations in River Sham Chun on appointment as intelligence officer; move for annual training exercises in New Territories; arrival of Major General Christopher Maltby and his policy of strengthening defences of Gin Drinkers Line anchored on Shing Mun Redoubt; move to Gin Drinkers Line defences, 12/1941; attempts to remedy poor state of defences; reporting signs of build of up Japanese forces at Mirs Bay, 5/12/1941; continuing social events, 7/12/1941; visit to fiancee Peggie Scotcher; story of friend's decision to leave Hong Kong. REEL 5 Continues: reporting signs of Japanese forces' build up in Mirs Bay to battalion headquarters, 5/12/1941; Japanese strategic offensive, 8/12/1941; question of response to intelligence warnings; recall to unit, 6/12/1941; lack of familiarity with Gin Drinkers Line defences and Japanese registration of location of pillboxes; attempts to improve defences; location of battalion headquarters; neighbouring units. Recollections of operations as officer with 2nd Bn Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), Kowloon Infantry Bde on Gin Drinkers Line, New Territories, Hong Kong, 8/12/1941-10/12/1941: Imperial Japanese Army Air Service air raid; posting as second in command to D Coy; inadequacies of defensive positions and vulnerability of Shing Mun Redoubt; prior defensive plans; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army troops and rumours of their inability to see at night; narrow escape from sentry opening fire in error; patrols' reports of Imperial Japanese Army approach; Imperial Japanese Army's capture of Shing Mun Redoubt, 9/12/1941; retreat to Golden Hill, 10/12/1941. Aspects of operations as officer with 2nd Bn Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), Kowloon Infantry Bde at Golden Hill, New Territories, Hong Kong, 11/12/194: initial Imperial Japanese Army attack on B and C Coys; situation and isolated position; Imperial Japanese Army mortar fire; wounding in arm and shoulder from Imperial Japanese Army machine gun fire; first aid and situation after waking in pillbox. REEL 6 Continues: leaving pillbox and evacuation as walking wounded; ambulance evacuation. Recollections of hospitalisation as prisoner of war in Bowen Road Military Hospital, Hong Kong, 12/1941-12/1942: reception on arrival, 11/12/1941; presence of fiancee volunteer nurse Peggie Scotcher; state of wounds; meeting Major David Pinkerton; confident approach to victory; situation and lull in Imperial Japanese Army attack; story of receiving severe back injuries when ambulance crashed during intended move to convalescent hospital, 24/12/1941; planned medical treatment of back plaster cast; surrender of Hong Kong Garrison, 25/12/194; background to decision to marry fiancee Peggie Scotcher despite advice of Lieutenant-Colonel Simon White; account of wedding ceremony and subsequent celebrations in hospital bed, 25/12/1941; conduct of Japanese guards; continued control of hospital; operation to fit back splint and plaster cast; daily routine and visits from wife; food and water; question of conduct of Japanese; check of cast and refitting, 6/1942; recreational activities including reading and walks with wife. REEL 7 Continues: friends; refusal to sign parole and possible consequences; removal of volunteer nurses to Stanley Internment Camp; cases of malnutrition and pellagra; loss of weight; recovery from back injury and removal of plaster, 12/1942; question being sent to prisoner of war camp. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Argyle Street Camp, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 12/1942-5/1944: prior escort by respected Japanese interpreter to Sham Shui Po Camp; story of being given invisible ink plans for planned escape on toilet paper for transport to Argyll Street Camp; question of plans for mass escape; camp's location; nature of hutted accommodation and facilities; camp defences; execution of officers involved in escape plan; morning roll call; escape of officer and subsequent execution of officer considered to have assisted; behaviour of Japanese guards and question of accepting their requirement to bow to them; British camp organisation; Japanese acceptance of convention whereby officers did no work; role as assistant camp librarian; lectures and learning German language. REEL 8 Continues: theatrical productions; absence of sport and walking for exercise; relations with prisoners of war and organisation by unit; news from camp radio and successful camp search by Kempeitai; writing to wife Peggie Hunter enclosing camp pay; lack of direct contact with GB; minimal Red Cross parcels; parcels received from non-British civilians outside camp; question of camp pay and canteen; loans based on I Owe You (IOUs) notes between prisoners of war. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Camp N, Sham Shui Po Camp at Kowloon, Hong Kong, 5/1944-8/1945: break up of group of Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) prisoners of war; prisoners of war snoring; reduction in size of camp holding Other Rank prisoners of war through working parties; friendship with Major William Lewis, 3rd Baron Merthyr and his role as cobbler; role washing and repairing clothes; food and advantage of previous vegetarianism; question of superior conditions of officers; weakened state of back; following progress of war; work in garden and use of human excreta and urine as fertilizer. REEL 9 Continues: tomatoes grown in garden and minimal impact on diet; story of meeting Japanese guard going to latrine in typhoon; question of learning Japanese language; personal morale; question of wife Peggie's health; impact of General Election, 7/1945; increasing drunkenness amongst Japanese guards; story of prisoner of war beaten for protesting during Red Cross inspection; superior conditions faced by prisoners of war in Hong Kong in comparison to those in Thailand; reactions to news of VE Day, 8/5/1945; hearing news atomic bombs dropped on Japan, 8/1945; confused situation prior to formal Japanese surrender; visit to wife in Stanley Internment Camp; continued Japanese presence; arrival of toilet paper; state of prisoner of war health; proclamation of Franklin Gimson as acting governor of Hong Kong; question of American plans to remove British influence from Hong Kong; establishment of Provisional Government in French Mission and hoisting of Union Flag; liberation celebrations and question of prisoners of war over indulging in alcohol and food; sight of arrival of Royal Navy, 30/8/1945; Japanese interpreter; success of efforts to establish government of Hong Kong; formal surrender of Japanese, 15/9/1945. REEL 10 Continues: Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Empress of Australia from Hong Kong to Liverpool, GB, 9/1945-11/1945: gradual return to normal diet; collection of wife Peggie and initial separation of families; missing chance to meet brother; buying wedding ring in Colombo, Ceylon; meeting brother at Port Said, Egypt; reception into transit camp at Liverpool, GB; leave and family reunion, 11/1945-2/1946; demobilisation, 2/1946. Aspects of post-war life and employment: award of degree from University of Edinburgh; studying law and initial career as solicitor; effect of war service on personal beliefs and consequent commencement of career as administrator at Royal Edinburgh Hospital, 1955; question of psychological and physical effects of war service and captivity; work with Scottish Howard League of Penal Reform, 1967-1999; membership of Royal Scots Regimental Association.