In December 1941, the comfortable life that nine-year-old Robert Hung Ngai was accustomed to was decisively shattered by the Japanese attack on Hong Kong and subsequent occupation of the territory until August 1945. In those intervening years, the territory’s swollen pre-war population shrank by about one million souls, some killed in action or through the privations of the Occupation, the vast majority evacuated back to Mainland China to lessen the problems of feeding so many people.

For the large Ho Tung family, the outbreak of the war caught many members in Hong Kong. They had returned to celebrate the 60th Diamond Anniversary of Sir Robert and first wife Lady Margaret, just six days before the first attack on 8 December. Robert Hung Ngai’s KMT officer father was a notable absentee.

For Robert Hung Ngai, those days of shock, horror at sights witnessed, fear of being discovered to be the immediate family of his much-sought father, tension of going into hiding at the family-built Tung Lin Kok Yuen temple in Happy Valley, and later making a break for Mainland China using false IDs, became an indelible part of his transition from child to adolescent.

The first day of the Battle for Hong Kong

“In those days, there were only a few cars and I always walked to school. I remember I was going along Caine Road to True Light Middle School on the morning of 8 December and saw 30 to 40 planes come in and start dive bombing Kowloon. I could see them very clearly. At that time there were no tall buildings and you had a perfectly clear view of the harbour and Kai Tak Airport from Mid-Levels.

“At first when the siren went, it seemed to be just another drill. There had been frequent practices for a number of days already. Then I suddenly realized they were Japanese planes. I became panicky – very panicky – because I was by myself. I saw the Shell Oil Depot, near Tai Kok Tsui, catch fire. It was a huge fire and I felt very scared. So I just stood there frozen. I started to cry, and eventually I went back home.

“That was a very lasting image of my younger days.”