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Life in Camp was Difficult
Mr. Flegg discusses several aspects of daily life in the Oyama camp; clothing, heat, and personal hygiene.
Liked As a Honcho
As a honcho, essentially a shop steward, Mr. Flegg was well liked by his men. He earned their respect because although he didn't have to work, he was always helping his men in the mine.
Giving Up
Mr. Flegg comments on how fragile life could be for those who were overworked and starving.
Rotten Fish and Maggot Soup
At the mine, Mr. Flegg's work crew 'feasts' on a soup made from rotten fish and maggots.
Will to Live
Mr. Flegg offers insight into how hard work and starvation reduce men to skeletons, but whose spirit still enabled many of them to work and survive.
Eventful Voyage to Japan
Mr. Flegg survives a dangerous voyage to Japan. His first ship is holed and makes it to port listing badly. He is transferred to a tanker which is sailing in a convoy. The convoy is torpedoed, but his vessel escapes only to then face a storm with thirty foot seas.
Captain Saito
About 50 men, including Mr. Flegg, witness one of Doolittle's bombing raids while he is a patient at Bowen Road Hospital. Their cheers enrage Captain Saito, the chief medical officer and a judo expert. He lines up the men, judo chops them all unconscious and has his guards "put the boots" to them to wake them up.
Kamloops Kid Aka Inouye
The Kamloops Kid was a notorious guard at Sham Shui Po. Mr. Flegg provides two examples of how devious and sadistic this man was.
Kiotski! Kiotski!
Mr. Flegg describes being harassed by the guards in the barracks. The command 'Kiotski!' or 'Attention!' was quickly learned. A slow reaction or an improper bow usually resulted in being rifle butted.
Japanese Atrocities Against the Chinese
The atrocities he witnessed against Chinese civilians still weighs heavily in Mr. Flegg's memories.
Parasites And Cockroaches
Mr. Flegg describes crabs, lice, bedbugs and cockroaches, which were often roasted and eaten, as being persistent pests in the POW camps in Hong Kong.
Beriberi
Beriberi was another serious condition afflicting the POW’s at Sham Shui Po. There were two types; dry and wet. Mr. Flegg describes how the dry beriberi, or electric feet, made grown men cry. He contracted the wet variety, which caused massive fluid retention in different parts of the body. Mr. Flegg discusses the consequences of this edema.
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