January 21st 1942

Dear Diary,
Today, the first major change after the Japanese have taken over and captured us have
occurred. The Japanese Military have replaced Hong Kong Dollars with Military Yen. Also,
staying in this awful camp and being treated in this way is just unbearable!

Even though Ive just been staying in this camp, but I already cant stand it. Also, the
place is filthy, and it reeks of rotten flesh and dead mice. Partnered with the scary officers, it
is just a horror movie! Its uncanny! Speaking of the officers, everyone fears them because
they are the people in charge of all of us. All it takes for them to wipe out all of us is just
giving an order, and were all dead.

Also, the Japanese have treated all of us as slaves, they have threatened us that if we
dont obey them and help expand the Kai Tak airport by building a runway, they will let us
starve and may even possibly shoot us. To revenge on them, weve came up with a cunning
plan. Us prisoners have decided to mix the gravel that we were provided with different
sands and rocks to weaken the runway when the aircraft lands.

I know that this is a big bet, but I think that everyone will keep this secret because we
are all on the same boat. But if our plan backfired, this might just be the last day that myself
and other prisoners will live. I hope that the plan will work successfully.

February 1st 1942

Dear Diary,
I think that I may just stand a chance of escaping from the terror and the savagery of
this prisoners of war camp. I have recently joined a secret group in this camp and we are
planning to make an escape after the runway is fully constructed. But our first task is to try
and get as much detail as possible of this camp. So, all of us will start to walk around the
camp after being tortured by the soldiers during the day so that we can map out the camp
as thoroughly as possible. Then at midnight, we will meet up in a cramped dark corner in the
camp to discuss our plan to escape from the misery of this awful camp.

Also, the runway project was going well, all of us are still working on our plan and the
Japanese doesnt seem to know about our amazing plan. This week, we are mixing wet sand
that someone smuggled from the camps sand bags to the construction site. I think that this
plan is going to successfully ruin the runway surface and make sure the first aircraft that
lands will crash straight into the ocean. I dont know when will we eventually finish this
project, but all I know is that it wont be anytime soon.

I miss my family back in Canada, I wonder how they are now, what is going on back
home, but all I know is that the family is missing me and they want me to go back as soon as
possible. Thats why I joined that secret group so that I can get out and hide, and once a
chance appears, I will go for it and get to Canada to reunite with my family.
February 25th 1942
Dear Diary,
I think that I may be getting out of this camp sometime soon, we have managed to get
a map of the camp and we can sneak out of this place. We are now working on planning for
a route so that we can escape in the middle of the night when the guards cannot see as
clearly as in daylight.

Also, I have heard rumours about a group called Peoples anti-Japanese guerrilla force
was formed and they may be coming to save us from the danger and the horror that all of
us in this camp are facing. We will soon be able to reunite with our family and forget all this
soon. But none of us can be certain if they will make it through tomorrow. But I do hope
that all the prisoners in this camp can survive through this event which requires you to be
extremely determined that they will make through this camp alive.

Work on the runways in Kai Tak is starting to come together and the mixed gravel and
are starting to form the tarmac. We have kept on dumping the sand that the Japanese have
provided us with into the ocean near the runway while the Japanese werent looking at us.
My biggest concern is the Japanese seeing the unfinished runway and finds out that the
colour of the sand that we have used and the ones that they have provided us with is
completely different. If they ever find out, all of us are dead.

April 15th 1942

Dear Diary,
Again, there is another major thing happening again. Many of the streets in Central are
being renamed in Japanese. Also, the rationing of food has begun in the community. But the
people in the camp have been fed rarely since we are captured by the Japanese in
December and January, we can see their bones showing in their skin and they are literally as
thin as a stick. Also, I have witnessed many of them lying on the dirty floor of the camp and
are on the edge of survival because they are starving and their body is battle scarred.

Also, many members of my secret group are absent to meetings at night because they
are starving and are unable to move. But the remaining members of the group including
myself are almost done with the planning of the route to escape from the gruelling camp.
But in this situation, I dont know should I bail out from the plan because Im scared that we
may collapse because of starvation during the escape which means a chance for the
Japanese to capture and kill us all.

The plan about ruining the construction of the runway is almost complete, they are
just missing some final touches and the first Japanese plane will land on the runway and
eventually crash into the sea because the runway will collapse and the aircraft will just skid
off the runway. I hope that the British will send some soldiers here to save us all from the
misery.
January 1st 1943
Dear Diary,
I cant believe that I have been living in this dreadful place for a year already, which
also marks the first anniversary of the Japanese taking over Hong Kong from the British. A
lot have happened this year, the Japanese changed the Hong Kong Dollars into Japanese
Military Yen, many people are killed in the war and a lot more in the camp in 1942. There
was a small celebration of the new year in the camp today. Some of them are dancing, some
kids are performing plays that are written by other prisoners in the camp. But we had to
hide this from the Japanese guards and soldier who are in this camp because they would
just stop us and then send us to be tortured because we arent working for long hours for
them.
I hope that this will be that last year we will be staying in this camp. Also, I also had a
long meeting with the secret group that I am in talking about escaping this camp.

June 28th 1943

Dear Diary,
I think I am getting more used to the camp of this nature slowly. Staying in this
sweatbox may be tough and challenging to get through. But despite these terrible
conditions that we are in, I have met new friends who are also the prisoners in this camp.
We talked day after day about what lives we lived before we were captured by the
Japanese. Ive met a British soldier who was captured while trying to fight and defend the
Gin Drinkers Line. He told me that he had a family with three children back in Britain and
they went to ride horses during the weekend.

Even though there were good times, most of them are bad, for example being treated
like slaves. But to pay them back we have built a runway that they believed is made up of
strong tarmac, but instead, we mixed a variety of different sand and rocks into the mixture
to weaken the result. By the way, the runway that we have built is done and Ive heard that
the first Japanese aircraft will land on it in just a matter of weeks.

July 7th 1943

Dear Diary,
I have heard that the Japanese are renaming the streets and the buildings in Central, I
think that they are going to slowly rename every single place in Hong Kong and they will
change what Hong Kong looks like before and after the war. But honestly, they have already
change some of the things about Hong Kong. For example, to build the runway and expand
Kai Tak, they have demolished the Kowloon Walled City for materials. The Kowloon Walled
City is a major thing in Hong Kong and I think that it is very interesting because it is like a
mini town in a big city, and there is everything that you need every day.

Recently, the first aircraft from the Japanese have landed and our plan have worked.
The aircraft have overrun the runway and crashed into the ocean. The aircraft skidded off
the runway and then in just a few seconds, they lost control and went nose down into the
ocean as it runs out of runway to stop. I guess we are experts now at building unstable and
dangerous runways.
August 6th 1945
Dear Diary,
Word have spread that the US have dropped an atomic bomb into a city in Japan
called Hiroshima. After the atomic bomb, have landed on the city, it exploded instantly and
then killed everybody in the city instantly and reduced them into dust. I think that what the
US have done in Japan can help make the Japanese surrender and hand control back to the
British so that us prisoners can be released and we can go back home to see our families
which we didnt see for what seems like a million years. I sure do miss my family in Canada.

We have been planning to escape from this camp for years now, but we still didnt
reach an agreement of when and what route should we take to escape from the camp. But
after knowing that Japan is being attacked, we decided that escaping when we know that
the Japanese are going to surrender soon would not be wise because we will be risking our
lives trying to escape. So, we have decided to abandon the plan and just wait for us to be
released when the Japanese eventually surrender.

August 15th 1945

Dear Diary,
Yay! This is the first time I have been happy in three years! The Japanese have finally
surrendered! This means we are going to be released from the misery of this camp. I am
very excited to tell my family that I will be going back home soon! This is the first time that I
have felt that the time is not moving very slowly in this three years and eight months that I
have been staying here. I think that this is the first time that I have ever smiled in a long
time. But sadly, the British Soldier that I have met in the camp who talked with me when I
had free time have died of starvation recently. I am very sad about his death but I am also
very tempted to meet my family at home.

Also, the US have dropped another atomic bomb that in a Japanese city and I think that
this is probably why the Japanese finally surrendered to prevent further attacks in Japan by
the US.

August 30th 1945

Dear Diary,
Finally, Freedom! Today is the day where Hong Kong is handed back to the control of
the British and we are released from the camp for the first time in the three years and eight
months that the Japanese have taken over and captured us into the prisoners of war camp. I
am now waiting for my turn to leave the camp as the massive group of prisoner rushes to
escape from the misery. The first place I am going to is a decent restaurant to eat some nice
food to reward myself for staying determined enough to survive the torture in the camp.
Then, I will probably go and send a telegraph to tell my family that I am safe and will
be going back home soon. Thinking back, we were being sneaky and trying to escap e or ruin
the Japaneses plan the whole time, but all that we have achieved is to crash a Japanese
aircraft. I am more excited than ever to be going home soon because I can get a chance to
reunite with my family who I havent seen for years already.