Roll of Honour, Stanley Military Cemetery, Hong Kong

Many of those who died in the defence of Hong Kong in December 1941 are buried in Stanley Military Cemetery and recorded in the Roll of Honour. I have extracted the names of those whom I could identify as Macanese from that list. (In this I was aided by J Bosco Correa.) – Henry d'Assumpção

BASTO, Volunteer, CARLOS HENRY, British Army Aid Group. 31st August 1944. Age 56. Son of Jose Maria; husband of Ellen Mary Cooper Basto, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. Sp. Mem. 1. E. Coll. grave 1.

BRITTO, Warrant Officer Class II (C.S.M.), HENRY MARIA, 1290. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 31st January 1943. Age 33. Husband of Mrs. H. M. Britto, of Hong Kong. 1. A. 23.

CAMPOS, Gunner, HENRY MARIA, 4836. 4 Bty. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 18th December 1941. Son of Mrs. E. L. Campos, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. 6. E. Coll. grave 1-20.

GUTERRES, Lieutenant, JOAQUIM JERONYMO, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 27th July 1942. Age 33. Husband of M. C. Guterres of Lisbon, Portugal. 8. A. 2.

HUNT, Sergeant, HUBERT JAMES, 1835. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 31st May 1944. Age 52. Son of Frederick James Hunt and Flizabeth Martha Hunt; husband of Julia Gertie Hunt, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. 1. A. 31.

HUNT, Driver, PETER NORMAN, T/215978. Royal Army Service Corps also served with the British Army Aid Group. 7th September 1943. Age 19. (Served as ROSARIO). Son of Sjt. Hubert James Hunt, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, died on active service, 31st May, 1944, and Julia Gertie Hunt, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. Sp. Mem. No. 18. Coll. 1. E. 1.

HYNDMAN, Sapper, EDWARD FILOMENO, 5002. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 31st December 1941. Age 17. Son of Edward Robert and Laura Emerenciana Hyndman, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. 5. A. 8.

OZORIO, Gunner, MANUEL HELEODORO, 4198. 5 A.A. Bty. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 18th December 1941. Age 24. Son of Mrs. E. B. Ozorio, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. 6. E. Coll. grave 1-20.

REED, Gunner, FRANCIS OSWALD, 2798. 5 A.A. Bty. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 18th December 1941. Age 28. Son of Amaro John and Maria Rita Reed ; husband of V. H. Reed, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. His brothers Arthur Augustus, Edgar Vincent and Stephen Arnold also fell. 6. E. Coll. grave 1-20.

REED, Private, STEPHEN ARNOLD, 3856. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 15th January 1942. Age 32. Son of Amaro John and Marie Rita Reed, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. His brothers Arthur Augustus, Edgar Vincent and Francis Oswald also fell. 6. A. Coll. grave 1-12.

ROSARIO, Driver, PETER NORMAN, T/215978. ALIAS. 7th September 1943. See HUNT, the true family name.

SILVA, Private, AMBROSIO CAESER, 3615. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 8th July 1945. Age 41. Son of Francisco Assis Silva and Ambrosia Silva; husband of Sarah Maria Silva, of Kowloon, Hong Kong. 1. D. 11.

SOARES, Private, ALBERTO CARLOS, 2440. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 3rd January 1944. Age 31. 4. E. 1.

Extract from the Introduction to the Roll of Honour

Hong Kong fell to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 following a brief but intense period of fighting. During the Japanese occupation, Stanley jail and village were used as a prisoner of war and civilian internment camp and the cemetery, which had not been used for more than 70 years, was reopened for burials from the camp. After the war, the cemetery was extended on its northern side when graves were brought in from civilian burial grounds and isolated sites in the surrounding country.

Although the cemetery as a whole is laid out and maintained as a military cemetery, in the older part, service graves and the graves of civilian internees who died during the Japanese occupation are intermingled. A number of the graves in this part of the cemetery are still marked by the original headstones erected by the prisoners of war, who collected the granite from the 19th century fortifications and carved the inscriptions themselves.

Nearly all casualties of the local defence forces, chiefly the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force and the British Army Aid Group, are buried in this cemetery. The British Army Aid Group was a military establishment which came into being early in 1942 to encourage and facilitate escapes, to assist escapees and to get information and medical supplies into the camps. Attached to the establishment was a large staff of civilian employees operating in an extensive area of enemy held territory and the group gradually developed into an organisation for the collection of intelligence of military value and later into an escape and evasion organisation for the American Air Force.

There are now 598 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 175 of the burials are unidentified but a number of special memorials commemorate casualties known to be buried among them. The names of the 96 civilian internees buried in this cemetery are recorded in volume 7 of the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour.

The cemetery also contains special memorials to three First World War casualties buried in cemeteries in Kowloon and Hong Kong, whose graves have since been lost.

Stanley Military Cemetery is just beyond the town of Stanley in the southern part of Hong Kong island on the Tai Tam Peninsula. From Stanley take the Wong Ma Kok Road. The cemetery is adjacent St Stephen's College and is close to St Stephen's beach. It is reached from Victoria by car along a winding, hilly road which at first overlooks the harbour and mainland. After climbing to the pass called Wong Nei Cheng Gap the road descends to the sea at Repulse Bay and then continues along the rocky hillside to Stanley.