A HONG KONG DIARY

by Geoffrey C. Marston

All That fateful day of long ago,
The Japanese had beat their defenseless foe,
But how could we face, or yet erase ...
That losing cause on a human race?

Our best, we did ... the battle strong,
What little we knew when things were wrong,
As odds were great, thus we knew ...
Yet on we fought, but with so few.

With glory and victory remote as could be,
But onward and forward ... until forced to the sea,
The struggle, the strife, the anguish within ...
Like a tide which went out that never came in.

This day being Christmas, a time held so dear,
We thought of our loved ones so far yet so near,
But this was the beginning of things more sever ...
As our captors had reveled for nightmares of fear.

The days that did follow or the years that went by,
Mercy they need thought of nor would they try,
Yet for those who survived such a ghastly ordeal ...
Today are still suffering from the scar that won't heal.

A decreasing amount through the years bring regret,
Those four years of hell have yet to be met ...
By a Government whom had sent us should not soon forget ...
In remembering the plight of the sad Hong Kong Vet.