[Civil Defence] Arthur Garcia
Description:
Born:
3 July 1924, Hong Kong
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Arthur Garcia came from a family that settled in Hong Kong since his father was born in 1870. He studied at La Salle and became a civil servant in around 1940, working as a clerk in the account's office of the Public Works. Before the outbreak of war, Arthur served as an Usher and Clerk of the Chief Justice in the Supreme Court.
Wartime:
He was quartered in Central under the Auxiliary Quartering Corps settling people from the mid-levels who suffered from bombing. He was interned in the Stanley Camp after the British surrendered, then evacuated to Macau because of its neutrality by 1943.
First-hand Account:
Interviewer: during the wartime you went to Macau?
Interviewee: No, not yet. I went to the war service. I did War service from December 8th till December the 25th when the Japanese came in. And then we went back home.
Interviewer: So the War Service was full time? (Or) just a part time thing?
Interviewee: No part time. We were in this Auxiliary Quartering Corps. In fact, in the beginning, we were supposed to go to the Air Raid Precautions as a dispatch rider but because I wasn't allowed by the Courts to go for training during the day to tackle the new motorcycles. So I had to go to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps which is some sedentary business. No riding around on a bicycle. So I went there to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps and so, as soon as the war came everyone was mobilised, so I had to go to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps headquarters where we got some people who were bombed out in their houses up on the Peak, to bring them down to town and when we kept them in quarters. There were a lot of people in Happy Valley. We brought them from there because many of them were attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese movement from Happy Valley upward to town. you know, all along from Repulse Bay, Happy Valley on to Central area and spread out to Wanchai. I was quartered in Central.
Interviewer: The soldiers just came, the Japanese soldiers or just landed? Or did they bomb?
Interviewee: They first bombed at Kai Tak. That was the first place we knew about. At about 8 o'clock in the morning and I was going to work then. I was working in the Supreme Court at that time but we couldn't get the ferry across. So everybody was rushing to catch the ferry. And the ferries, as you know where the Star Ferry is now - certain ferries were near where the Ocean Terminal is now. The Star Ferry had to go down, one big company and I met a solicitor who I knew very well - a very well known solicitor who was Portuguese and he was dying to get back to Hong Kong side. And I wanted to go to the Hong Kong side to see what had happened to the Courts because not many people stayed in Kowloon. They were living on Hong Kong side. So we took a sampan across. It was a very foolish thing to do, because if they had ever bombed the harbour we would have been caught into it. The sampan was very slow and we finally reach the other side and we got off. I went back to the Supreme Court. And the following day they bombed that lane. I can't remember the name. Tram Lane or something; between the Hong Kong Club and that part. And that left to the present Legco building. They threw a bomb there and it almost struck the Chief Justice Chamber.
(excerpt)
Interviewer: During that time when the Japanese came, Hong Kong just stopped? The court closed and everything?
Interviewee: Everything closed up. In fact when the War came, practically everything closed. there was quite a lot of panic buying of rice. Although, I think, in a way I think the Hong Kong Government, at the time, had amassed or stocked up a lot of rice in Kowloon and also, I think in Hong Kong. And also a lot of tinned goods I thought, in a way they had enough food to last about 5 years.
Interviewer: But they kept it. They didn't sell it to the people?
Interviewee: They couldn't. You see one of the things they didn't want was the go-downs. And there was a lot of looting. In fact the looting was very great. On the night of the 18th, cos just when the Japanese were consolidating their movements in Kowloon, there was a lot of looting in Kowloon. I can't remember my dates very well. Either it was the 12th or the 18th. It's very difficult to remember these things because the Japanese advanced very quickly. In fact the advance was along Nathan Road on that particular day. I think it was on the 11th, so the looting could have taken place on the 12th of December. All the rice and everything was carried out and taken away and all the food and everything.
Interviewer: Why was there fires or bombings?
Interviewee: Probably due to the defending forces shooting and all that. There was a lot of gunfire at that time…I think as far as I can remember it was about the 12th that we noticed all the way from Hong Kong side that the Japanese were over running parts of Kowloon. You know on the way like Shum Shui Po and all those places. And then they came, I don't know how they did it, to Hong Kong side. No! Not Hong Kong side, they came into Tsim Sha Tsui and everyone had to evacuate all of Kowloon, as far as we can go, from Kowloon, came over to Hong Kong, and later on they landed somewhere, perhaps Repulse Bay or somewhere there. They came through that way and they came in through Happy Valley, Causeway Bay and all through that.
Interviewee:[when the Japanese] came to Kowloon there was a fair amount of shooting and at night there was a lot of shooting as well. And they were firing, I don't know whether there was this light artillery from Kowloon to Hong Kong side as well so as to silence various other batteries among the coast. And then the army which consisted of a lot of Canadians. We had a lot of Canadians who came only a week before they started the war. And they had to retreat all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui and from there board the boats to go to Hong Kong. In fact they did have sort of a last stand near the Ferry.
Interviewer: I remember Chatham Road used to have the barracks there
Interviewee: That barracks was for the Hong Kong, I think, light artillery. They were manned by people from India. They had a Punjabi military and also by some British troops. Opposite there was St Mary's.
Interviewer: Your job was in the Supreme Court at that time. So it closed down right away?
Interviewee: Well I couldn't do any more work. My job was day and night in fact. I had to go around with somebody else in a car, go up to the Peak, come to Causeway Bay, or to Happy Valley and various other sites along Hong Kong to see how they were getting on.
Interviewee: …to see the people who were bombed out of their homes or evacuated their homes and we had to feed them.
Post-war:
Arthur returned to Hong Kong and resumed his career in the British colonial government in 1946. He was granted a scholarship to London to study law and returned three years later to become a barrister. He then received an appointment to be a magistrate in Kowloon Magistrate until the 1970s. He worked in the High Court from 1979 to 1989 and became the first Ombudsman from 1989 to 1994 before his retirement.
Born:
3 July 1924, Hong Kong
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Arthur Garcia came from a family that settled in Hong Kong since his father was born in 1870. He studied at La Salle and became a civil servant in around 1940, working as a clerk in the account's office of the Public Works. Before the outbreak of war, Arthur served as an Usher and Clerk of the Chief Justice in the Supreme Court.
Wartime:
He was quartered in Central under the Auxiliary Quartering Corps settling people from the mid-levels who suffered from bombing. He was interned in the Stanley Camp after the British surrendered, then evacuated to Macau because of its neutrality by 1943.
First-hand Account:
Interviewer: during the wartime you went to Macau?
Interviewee: No, not yet. I went to the war service. I did War service from December 8th till December the 25th when the Japanese came in. And then we went back home.
Interviewer: So the War Service was full time? (Or) just a part time thing?
Interviewee: No part time. We were in this Auxiliary Quartering Corps. In fact, in the beginning, we were supposed to go to the Air Raid Precautions as a dispatch rider but because I wasn't allowed by the Courts to go for training during the day to tackle the new motorcycles. So I had to go to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps which is some sedentary business. No riding around on a bicycle. So I went there to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps and so, as soon as the war came everyone was mobilised, so I had to go to the Auxiliary Quartering Corps headquarters where we got some people who were bombed out in their houses up on the Peak, to bring them down to town and when we kept them in quarters. There were a lot of people in Happy Valley. We brought them from there because many of them were attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese movement from Happy Valley upward to town. you know, all along from Repulse Bay, Happy Valley on to Central area and spread out to Wanchai. I was quartered in Central.
Interviewer: The soldiers just came, the Japanese soldiers or just landed? Or did they bomb?
Interviewee: They first bombed at Kai Tak. That was the first place we knew about. At about 8 o'clock in the morning and I was going to work then. I was working in the Supreme Court at that time but we couldn't get the ferry across. So everybody was rushing to catch the ferry. And the ferries, as you know where the Star Ferry is now - certain ferries were near where the Ocean Terminal is now. The Star Ferry had to go down, one big company and I met a solicitor who I knew very well - a very well known solicitor who was Portuguese and he was dying to get back to Hong Kong side. And I wanted to go to the Hong Kong side to see what had happened to the Courts because not many people stayed in Kowloon. They were living on Hong Kong side. So we took a sampan across. It was a very foolish thing to do, because if they had ever bombed the harbour we would have been caught into it. The sampan was very slow and we finally reach the other side and we got off. I went back to the Supreme Court. And the following day they bombed that lane. I can't remember the name. Tram Lane or something; between the Hong Kong Club and that part. And that left to the present Legco building. They threw a bomb there and it almost struck the Chief Justice Chamber.
(excerpt)
Interviewer: During that time when the Japanese came, Hong Kong just stopped? The court closed and everything?
Interviewee: Everything closed up. In fact when the War came, practically everything closed. there was quite a lot of panic buying of rice. Although, I think, in a way I think the Hong Kong Government, at the time, had amassed or stocked up a lot of rice in Kowloon and also, I think in Hong Kong. And also a lot of tinned goods I thought, in a way they had enough food to last about 5 years.
Interviewer: But they kept it. They didn't sell it to the people?
Interviewee: They couldn't. You see one of the things they didn't want was the go-downs. And there was a lot of looting. In fact the looting was very great. On the night of the 18th, cos just when the Japanese were consolidating their movements in Kowloon, there was a lot of looting in Kowloon. I can't remember my dates very well. Either it was the 12th or the 18th. It's very difficult to remember these things because the Japanese advanced very quickly. In fact the advance was along Nathan Road on that particular day. I think it was on the 11th, so the looting could have taken place on the 12th of December. All the rice and everything was carried out and taken away and all the food and everything.
Interviewer: Why was there fires or bombings?
Interviewee: Probably due to the defending forces shooting and all that. There was a lot of gunfire at that time…I think as far as I can remember it was about the 12th that we noticed all the way from Hong Kong side that the Japanese were over running parts of Kowloon. You know on the way like Shum Shui Po and all those places. And then they came, I don't know how they did it, to Hong Kong side. No! Not Hong Kong side, they came into Tsim Sha Tsui and everyone had to evacuate all of Kowloon, as far as we can go, from Kowloon, came over to Hong Kong, and later on they landed somewhere, perhaps Repulse Bay or somewhere there. They came through that way and they came in through Happy Valley, Causeway Bay and all through that.
Interviewee:[when the Japanese] came to Kowloon there was a fair amount of shooting and at night there was a lot of shooting as well. And they were firing, I don't know whether there was this light artillery from Kowloon to Hong Kong side as well so as to silence various other batteries among the coast. And then the army which consisted of a lot of Canadians. We had a lot of Canadians who came only a week before they started the war. And they had to retreat all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui and from there board the boats to go to Hong Kong. In fact they did have sort of a last stand near the Ferry.
Interviewer: I remember Chatham Road used to have the barracks there
Interviewee: That barracks was for the Hong Kong, I think, light artillery. They were manned by people from India. They had a Punjabi military and also by some British troops. Opposite there was St Mary's.
Interviewer: Your job was in the Supreme Court at that time. So it closed down right away?
Interviewee: Well I couldn't do any more work. My job was day and night in fact. I had to go around with somebody else in a car, go up to the Peak, come to Causeway Bay, or to Happy Valley and various other sites along Hong Kong to see how they were getting on.
Interviewee: …to see the people who were bombed out of their homes or evacuated their homes and we had to feed them.
Post-war:
Arthur returned to Hong Kong and resumed his career in the British colonial government in 1946. He was granted a scholarship to London to study law and returned three years later to become a barrister. He then received an appointment to be a magistrate in Kowloon Magistrate until the 1970s. He worked in the High Court from 1979 to 1989 and became the first Ombudsman from 1989 to 1994 before his retirement.
Sources: The Hong Kong Oral History Archives Project, HKU: 192
