Lewis Lilliman
Recollections of Army service in Hong Kong.
Joining the Army
Lewis Lilliman was called up to join the Army in March 1945. Before receiving his call-up papers he had been teaching in local schools following a two year teacher training course completed in 1944. In 1941, Lewis had joined the Home Guard, practicing basic military skills. As a newly recruited soldier, Lewis joined the 64th Infantry Division of the Suffolk Regiment at Bury St Edmonds.
Although the war in Europe had come to an end in May 1945, the war in the Far East was still raging during the summer of 1945. After the end of the six-week training course, it was announced that the unit was going to Borneo to secure the island. After a number of short postings in England, the unit left for Borneo in July 1945. The journey was long and before the unit arrived in Borneo the Japanese had surrendered after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. Rather than to fight in Borneo, the unit was to take part of the re-occupation of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong
In the early days of the re-occupation, Lewis recalls, ‘there was looting, rampaging and raping’ but as the months passed some sort of normality was restored. Whilst in Hong Kong, Lewis undertook clerical and administrative duties for the Water and Landscapes Department at the Health Bureau. During his time off, he ‘took rikshaw rides, bussed round the island, and visited bazaars or the harbour market…In the evening there were many restaurants and night clubs to visit’.
In the end of 1945, Lewis was promoted to Corporal and during the spring of 1946 he was seconded to Wanchai Central School for a couple of months to teach local senior Chinese pupils. He eventually left Hong Kong in the late summer of 1946, to Lewis is was a ‘sad departure’. He recalls ‘with kitbag on my shoulder I embarked. My tearful girlfriend pleaded, ‘Thanks for everything, please come back or write’. But like many servicemen, I never did’. The journey back to England was made on HMS Duke of York.
'A time of adventure and excitement'
Lewis views his service in the Army in positive terms:
‘As a young man I had toured the world and had all kinds of experiences For me, at least, it was a time of adventure and excitement, and looking back, I believe it was an unforgettable eighteen months, which I would not have missed’.