Revisiting the Reed Brothers
This is an edited version of an article by Armando "Pinky" da Silva*, with pictures added.
All posthumous war accounts have a Rashomon-like quality in their telling. The story of the four Reed brothers who died in the Battle of Hong Kong is no exception. Theirs is not only a distinctively proud Hong Kong story but also a tragic family story of brotherly bonding.
John Amaro and Rita Maria (née da Silva) Reed had seven sons. John was second only to the Post Master General of the Hong Kong Post Office by heading its issuing and philatelic stamp division. He reputedly held the finest collection of Hong Kong postage and Chinese Customs revenue stamps in Hong Kong. John and his family were considered Hong Kong upper class for that time. The Reeds lived in a stately mansion on a ridge above Wong Nai Chung Gap Road overlooking the Hong Kong Jockey Club race course. (The writer visited the site in January 1946. The house was not a looted shell but totally in rubble).
All seven Reed brothers were at some time or another educated at a Catholic public (read private) school in England. Of the four Reed brothers killed, Edgar (the writer's godfather) would become a Chartered Accountant (rare in those days) with the Hong Kong Government. Arthur was an electrical engineer with China Light and Power. He married Marie Diniz of Shanghai. Their daughter Mary Rita lives in Toronto, Canada. Francis, who married Vera de Carvalho of Shanghai, was an investment accountant with Hong Kong Land Investment Company. Stephen headed a departmental position at the Hong Kong General Post Office.
The subtle nuances of status, class and education of colonial pre-war Hong Kong affected the lives of the Reeds. The brothers fell into the category of "local Britishers" (not to be confused with "expatriate Britons", a clear distinction), and accepted the status attendant with this category. They belonged neither to Lusitano Club nor Club de Recreio. Instead they were members of Craigengower Cricket Club and Kowloon Cricket Club. Being Roman Catholics, (their parish church was St Margaret's at Happy Valley) as with others of the faith, they were expressly prohibited to marry outside the Church. Thus their choice of suitable mates, in keeping with class, education, religion, was limited in scope.
A digression is needed here to continue the story and a question to be raised. Why were so little said of and about the Battle of Hong Kong itself by the Portuguese/FilhomacFilho-Macau: Son of Macau, one of the terms used by Macanese to refer to themselves — Ed. members of The VolunteersHong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps; click to see a list of all Portuguese involved in HKVDC. — Ed. long after the war was over? Many FM families could recount how a son or a father was killed in action, but no one seemed to want to talk about experiences encountered during the fighting. There may be one explanation for this reluctance. An official order, not to be challenged, was imposed (a gag order really) by the British military camp authorities to all PoWs, not to discuss their battle experiences. The reasoning was that such battle details may be of help to the enemy, that exposure to knowledge of battlefield conditions may be considered as "giving aid to the enemy", quite an intimidating prospect! This gag order may also allow British military historians to set their own standards of post-battle inquiry to their advantage.
At Shumshuipo and Sendai camps, the FMs spoke in Macanese and formed a tight-knit ethnic group, one acting with grace and gallantry under stressful conditions, as reported by other non-FM internees. Word was passed around that Bobbie and Reggie Reed were to be shielded and sheltered from undue pressure from both Japanese camp administrators and British informants. The FMs already knew that the two had lost four siblings and should be assisted somehow to survive the war. Both were accepted as "Nossa Gente".Nossa Gente: Our People, one of the terms used by Macanese to refer to themselves — Ed.
Sai Wan Hill, December 18, 1941
Sai Wan Hill is close to the tramway terminal at Shaukiwan. Francis and Bobbie Reed and Manuel Ozorio were attached to No.5 Light Anti-aircraft Battery, HKVDC. This battery emplacement came under constant bombardment from Japanese howitzers firing from Kowloon hills. More often than not the men were hunkered down in underground bunkers, tired and sleepless.
There are conflicting accounts as to how Francis Reed and Manuel Ozorio died. One held that on invasion day the gunners were taken by surprise at their shelters by the sudden appearance of rushing enemy soldiers hurling grenades. By-passed wounded were bayoneted. Many of the surprised gunners retreated through various exits. A brief retreating firefight at close range occurred in the dark. Gunners were bayoneted where they fell. Bobbie with some others slipped into the sanctuary of the darkness to safety.
Another version maintained by the British military later was that surrendered captors were systematically butchered. Perhaps both occurrences may be true in their telling allowing for different accounts by different eyewitnesses. That Bobbie survived the confused melée in the dark provided credence to the first account.
Jardine's Lookout, December 19, 1941
Jardine's Lookout is a prominent knoll with a commanding view of the north and south shorelines of Hong Kong island. Blockhouses, emplaced concrete shelters, and connecting trenches studded its slopes. It overlooks Wong Nai Chung Gap. The Gap straddled the main vehicle road linking Happy Valley to the north and Repulse Bay to the south. So it became of strategic military value to defend this pass. From Jardine's Lookout across the Gap to the west is Mount Nicholson also well fortified. The critical battle for Hong Kong focused on the control of this vital pass.
The No.3 (Eurasian) Machine-gun Company HKVDC was pre-positioned at Jardine's Lookout. Edgar and Arthur Reed, and Tony Maher and one other, were ensconced in machine gun pits on the forward-most northern perimeter at Jardine's Lookout. They were to defend their positions with Lewis machine guns. Their emplacements provided a commanding view of converging hillside paths some 100 yards away. The battle was joined when weary and confused Japanese soldiers actually rested on this pre-aimed spot. As night hikers know one can discern moving objects in the dark some distance when conditions are right. The forward gun pits raked the surprised Japanese with telling effect. Re-appearing soldiers continued to gather at the converging trails from all sides as if pre-ordered. Then the Japanese regrouped and mounted an upslope attack under cover of accurately lobbed mortar bombs. Their sappers broke through the outer barbed wire coils. The Volunteers were pitted against confident infantrymen well trained in night mountain warfare; their operational tactics being to use close range accurately directed mortar fire, followed by tossed hand-grenades, and finally a Bushido banzai charge to rattle their opponents. Some of the defenders along the forward line managed to break engagement and retire back upslope. Retire or stay to fight, and, in the din and confusion in the dark, there can be no surrender. The machine-gun nests manned by the Reeds, and Tony Maher were obliterated in a flurry of hand grenades.
Meanwhile, Stephen and Reggie were together but on the southern side of Jardine's Lookout. Artillery shells and mortar bombs arced over the rise. One exploded close-by and Stephen was wounded by shrapnels. Reggie helped him to a sheltered dressing aid station. During a lull in shelling Stephen was evacuated in a field ambulance to Bowen Road Military Hospital. (He died of his wounds about a month later.) The scene was chaotic. Men in trenches were sitting around and about with hands on their heads shell-shocked, stragglers from various units without leaders walked down slope away from the carnage. No gung-ho heroics here. Reggie, who knew his bearings, managed his way from the scene by using hillside trails to avoid capture. He eventually reported to Volunteer Headquarters a day or two later; as did Bobbie after his battle encounter at Sai Wan Hill. Both would serve their imprisonment for the duration of the war at Shamshuipo PoW camp.
Post-war
Reggie, who pre-war was with the solicitor law firm of Deacon's, left for England at an earliest opportunity. He was chosen to represent the Hong Kong Volunteers at Britain's "Great Victory Parade" in 1946. He married twice, a first marriage being legally dissolved, and named his only son from the second marriage Stephen after his beloved brother. This son is now the only Reed to carry on with the family name.
Bobbie became a school-master and excelled in teaching English. Furthermore he took up learning Cantonese and could read Chinese text well. He joined Club de Recreio and played hockey in the immediate post-war years.
Willie (Wilfred) who cared for his mother in Macau during the war and the only Reed not in uniform, married Ana (Belle) d'Almada e Castro from a well-respected Hong Kong FM family. Angela Niles who is their daughter now lives in Seattle, Washington.
* The writer, who experienced the Battle of Hong Kong at Cannosian Convent at Caine Road, was an avid hiker in the early 1950's. He has been to the summits of Mount Parker, Mount Butler, and Jardine's Lookout, sites of intense fighting during the Battle of Hong Kong. In 1953 he served with the Reconnaissance ("Recce") Unit of the Hong Kong Defence Force until his leaving for America in mid-1955.