Hong Kong, an island to the south of mainland China,was a British colony during the First and Second WorldWars.

FIRST WORLD WAR

Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914 incompliance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and inresponse to the threat posed by German warships oncommercial shipping. On 2 September the Japanesebegan to bombard the leased German port of Tsingtaoin north-east China. They were assisted by a force oflargely British and Indian troops and ships.

The German garrison, despite being heavilyoutnumbered, held out for over two months beforefinally surrendering on 7 November. With the port’scapture British forces were withdrawn and reallocated.

Over 100 of those who lost their lives in this conflictare buried in Hong Kong. Most died in hospitals inHong Kong and Kowloon.

SECOND WORLD WAR

By 1941, with Japan now allied to Germany, a Japaneseinvasion of Hong Kong seemed imminent. Hong Kong’sposition was perilous, close to Japanese bases in Chinaand Formosa (now Taiwan) but separated from otherBritish outposts in the Far East. In November 1941,2,000 Canadian soldiers arrived to reinforce the smallBritish garrison.

The Japanese attack on Hong Kong began on 8December, just eight hours after they had bombedPearl Harbour. The defence of Hong Kong wasimportant, both to deny the Japanese the use of theharbour there and to maintain morale among Britishoutposts in the Far East. Although Hong Kong wouldinevitably fall, Winston Churchill urged the defendersto be strong, telling them,

“Every day you are able to maintain your resistanceyou help the Allied cause all over the world”

Under heavy artillery fire, the Japanese landed on HongKong Island on 18 December. Their invasion was swift,moving across the island and pushing the massively

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

COMMONWEALTH WARCEMETERIES AND MEMORIALS

IN HONG KONG

Sai Wan War Cemeteryshortly after construction

outnumbered defenders into a position where they hadno water or food and were unable to sleep for fear ofattack. By 25 December the British governor of HongKong realised that the position was untenable andsurrendered.

Most of those buried or commemorated in Hong Kongwere killed during the invasion, or died later asinternees or prisoners of war during the Japaneseoccupation. Liberation for surviving prisoners came inAugust 1945; the Japanese surrendered Hong Kong onthe 16th, days after the Allies’ atomic bombing ofHiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sai Wan War Cemetery, on the north-east of theisland of Hong Kong, is the largest Commissioncemetery in Hong Kong with 12 First and 1,505 SecondWorld War graves. After the war, many burials weremoved to Sai Wan from Formosa.

Sai Wan War Cemetery contains special memorials to16 casualties who were buried in Kowloon (Ho ManTin) No.3 Muslim Cemetery and 12 who were buriedin Kowloon (Ta Sek Ku) Mohammedan Cemeterywhose graves could not be found.

At the entrance to the cemetery stands the Sai WanMemorial which bears the names of 2,074 casualties ofthe Second World War who died in Hong Kong andwhose places of burial are unknown. Additional panelson the Sai Wan Memorial form the Sai WanCremation Memorial which commemorates 144Second World War casualties whose remains werecremated in accordance with their faith, and the SaiWan (China) Memorial which commemorates 72casualties of both wars whose graves in mainland Chinacould not be maintained.

Reaching Sai Wan War CemeteryFrom the Chai Wan Terminus of the Mass Transit Railway(MTR)one can either walk or take a taxi to the cemeteryfollowing Chai Wan Road to the roundabout, turning westinto Wan Tsui Road, then south east up Lin Shing Roadwhich leads to Cape Collinson Road, an area with manycemeteries. Sai Wan War Cemetery is about half way upCape Collinson Road and faces the Muslim and Buddhistcemeteries.

THE CEMETERIES

Canadian soldiers in Hong Kong, 1941.The Japanese forces are on the other side of the high ground.

Sai Wan War Cemetery

The Public Light Bus Route No. 16M runs from Chai WanMTR Terminus to Stanley. En route to Stanley the minibuswill pass Sai Wan War Cemetery, stopping only on request.

Near Sai Wan War Cemetery is Hong Kong HolyCross Catholic Cemetery which contains the gravesof two Second World War casualties.

Stanley Military Cemetery is situated just beyond thesmall fishing village of Stanley in the southern part ofHong Kong Island on the Tai Tam Peninsula, which hasStanley Bay on the west end and Tai Tam Bay on thenorth.

Stanley Military Cemetery was established in the 1840swhen there was a permanent garrison at Stanley Fort.During the Japanese occupation, Stanley jail and villagewere used as a prisoner of war and internment campand the cemetery which had been unused since the1860s was reopened for burials from the camp.

There are now 598 Commonwealth Second World Warburials in Stanley Military Cemetery. Of these 175 areunidentified, although there are special memorials to anumber of casualties known to be among them. Thereare three First World War graves.

Reaching Stanley Military CemeteryTake the MTR Hong Kong line to Central Station. Crossthe pedestrian walkway outside the station to the busterminus at ground level in Exchange Square and boardCitybus 6A to Stanley Fort. The bus will stop outside thecemetery.

AND MEMORIALS

Sai Wan Cremation Memorial

Stanley Military Cemetery

Prisoner of War graves in Stanley Military CemeteryThe granite markers were pulled from the city walls and

engraved by fellow internees.

Hong Kong Cemetery is known locally as Hong Kong(Happy Valley) Cemetery and is a large civilian cemeteryopposite Happy Valley Racecourse. The cemeterycontains 79 First and 62 Second World WarCommonwealth burials. Nearby are otherdenominational cemeteries which contain war burials;Hong Kong (Happy Valley) Jewish Cemetery (2Second World War graves), Hong Kong (HappyValley) Parsee Cemetery (1 Second World War grave),Hong Kong Muslim Cemetery (7 First and 19 SecondWorld War graves) and Hong Kong St. Michael’sCatholic Cemetery (7 First and 9 Second World Wargraves).

Also in the Happy Valley area is the Hindi and SikhCremation Memorial which stands behind the Hindutemple and commemorates eight First World Warcasualties whose remains were cremated according totheir faith.

The Hong Kong Memorial standsat the main entrance to the BotanicGardens, Victoria. It was erectedafter the First World War as ageneral memorial to Chinesepersonnel who died while in theservice of the Commonwealth.Many served with the ChineseLabour Corps on the WesternFront during the First World War,others with navies, merchantservices and water transport. Alarge number have known andmarked graves. During the SecondWorld War, Chinese living in HongKong and Singapore served withlocal auxiliary units, such as theHong Kong Volunteer DefenceCorps. The majority of those whodied during this time do not haveknown graves, but all arecommemorated by the memorial.

The Hong Kong Memorial bears the followinginscription:

“IN MEMORY OF THE CHINESE WHO DIEDLOYAL TO THE ALLIED CAUSE IN THE WARS OF1914-18 AND 1939-1945”

The names of those commemorated are not inscribedon the memorial but the accompanying registers record941 First and 1,494 Second World War casualties.

On the mainland, there is one Second World Warcasualty buried in Kowloon St. Raphael’s CatholicCemetery.

The Hong Kong Memorial

Photo page 1: CWGC page 2: AWM All other images by Brian Harris

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission isresponsible for marking and maintaining the gravesof those members of the Commonwealth forceswho died during the two world wars, for buildingand maintaining memorials to the dead whosegraves are unknown and for providing records andregisters of these 1.7 million burials and commem-orations which are found in most countriesthroughout the world.

Enquiries about the location of individual burialsand commemorations may be directed to theoffice below or the Debt of Honour Register- asearch by surname database on the Commission'swebsite at www.cwgc.org

For further information contact:Commonwealth War Graves Commission

2 Marlow Road

Maidenhead

Berkshire

SL6 7DX

Tel: +44 (0) 1628 507200

Fax: +44 (0) 1628 771208

Email: casualty.enq@cwgc.org