Stanley Internment Camp - Final Freedom

Final Freedom

On news of the Japanese surrender, a 4 man unit from the British Army 5 Commando - George Norton Barnes and 3 unknowns, one of whom was killed- were hastily parachuted onto Kowloon near old Kai Tak airport in the afternoon. On foot they made their way via the Star ferry - the ferryman being very surprised to seem them - to Hong Kong island and eventually reached the camp in the south of the island. The Japanese guards were relieved of their duties, the prisoners were in a terrible physical condition according to eye witness George Norton Barnes. They were freed on 16 August 1945, the day after Emperor Hirohito broadcasted his acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation in surrender. About two weeks later, the British fleet came for the internees, and several weeks after that, the camp was closed. Many internees went back to the city and began to adjust back to their former lives, and many others, particularly those of poor health, remained on the camp grounds to await for ships to take them away. Historian Geoffrey Charles Emerson wrote the "probable" reason the British internees were not repatriated before the end of the war was related to the Allied forces refusing to release Japanese nationals held in Australia. These nationals were the only sizable group of Japanese nationals held by the Allies after the repatriation of the American and Canadian internees. They had been pearl fishermen in Australia before the war, and knew the Australian coastline well. Their knowledge would have been "militarily important" to the Japanese if an invasion of Australia was attempted, hence the Allied refusal to release them.