[Royal Artillery] Andy Salmon
Description:
Born:
29 July 1919, Mile End, London
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Andrew Salmon attended Gascoigne Primary School, then Hylands Senior School in Hornchurch. He left school aged 14 and started working in factories and doing other odd jobs, before enlisting in the Royal Artillery in 1934. He was posted to Hong Kong in December 1935 as a trumpeter, travelling on the HMT Neuralia. In 1939 he married, in Hong Kong, Martha Gomes who was evacuated the following year. Heavily pregnant, she stayed in Manila where she gave birth to a baby daughter (Gloria) on 5 August 1940 before continuing on to Australia, eventually settling in Sydney until after the war.
Wartime:
When the Japanese invaded, Salmon was a Lance Sergeant in 965 Defence Battery stationed at Stanley Fort. On December16 he was part of a mobile patrol checking on beach defence positions. They ran into Japanese fire at Chung Hom Kok, Mount Davis, Belcher’s, and Braemar. After the surrender, Salmon and the others captured at Stanley were marched to North Point POW Camp, transferring to Shamshuipo later in 1942. He survived the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, sharing floating wreckage with Hargreaves Howell until they were picked up by Chinese fishermen. He was then held in Osaka #1B Camp.
Post-war:
Salmon was repatriated to the UK via the USA and Canada. Staying with the Royal Artillery, he was assigned to a job in Sydney – where he was reunited with his wife - to help with displaced personnel. He left the RA in mid 1949. Subsequently he decided to join the Hong Kong Government, to work for HM Prisons Department. The family returned to Hong Kong in 1949 where he experienced an ironic role reversal as Japanese military officers, including the ‘Beast of Shamshuipo’, were prisoners in Stanley Prison where he worked. Unfortunately Martha passed away in May 1950, aged just 31. Andy stayed with the prison service until retirement as Senior Superintendent in 1974, marrying again, this time to Merandolina (Lina) da Silva in November 1952. They returned to the UK, initially to Essex, but Salmon soon joined the Royal Observer Corps and stayed with them for ten years. Today the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence houses an animation entitled ‘Daily Life of Garrison in Lyemun Barracks’, which is based on Salmon’s written account and illustrates the lives of British soldiers in Hong Kong in the 1930s.
Further Reading:
The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, Tony Banham.
Born:
29 July 1919, Mile End, London
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Andrew Salmon attended Gascoigne Primary School, then Hylands Senior School in Hornchurch. He left school aged 14 and started working in factories and doing other odd jobs, before enlisting in the Royal Artillery in 1934. He was posted to Hong Kong in December 1935 as a trumpeter, travelling on the HMT Neuralia. In 1939 he married, in Hong Kong, Martha Gomes who was evacuated the following year. Heavily pregnant, she stayed in Manila where she gave birth to a baby daughter (Gloria) on 5 August 1940 before continuing on to Australia, eventually settling in Sydney until after the war.
Wartime:
When the Japanese invaded, Salmon was a Lance Sergeant in 965 Defence Battery stationed at Stanley Fort. On December16 he was part of a mobile patrol checking on beach defence positions. They ran into Japanese fire at Chung Hom Kok, Mount Davis, Belcher’s, and Braemar. After the surrender, Salmon and the others captured at Stanley were marched to North Point POW Camp, transferring to Shamshuipo later in 1942. He survived the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, sharing floating wreckage with Hargreaves Howell until they were picked up by Chinese fishermen. He was then held in Osaka #1B Camp.
Post-war:
Salmon was repatriated to the UK via the USA and Canada. Staying with the Royal Artillery, he was assigned to a job in Sydney – where he was reunited with his wife - to help with displaced personnel. He left the RA in mid 1949. Subsequently he decided to join the Hong Kong Government, to work for HM Prisons Department. The family returned to Hong Kong in 1949 where he experienced an ironic role reversal as Japanese military officers, including the ‘Beast of Shamshuipo’, were prisoners in Stanley Prison where he worked. Unfortunately Martha passed away in May 1950, aged just 31. Andy stayed with the prison service until retirement as Senior Superintendent in 1974, marrying again, this time to Merandolina (Lina) da Silva in November 1952. They returned to the UK, initially to Essex, but Salmon soon joined the Royal Observer Corps and stayed with them for ten years. Today the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence houses an animation entitled ‘Daily Life of Garrison in Lyemun Barracks’, which is based on Salmon’s written account and illustrates the lives of British soldiers in Hong Kong in the 1930s.
Further Reading:
The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, Tony Banham.
Sources: Photo: Tony Banham
