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Battle of Hong Kong turned medical student into WWII frontline volunteer who survived to tell his wartime stories
- Son of 98-year-old veteran, one of the two last survivors of the city’s fall in 1941, hopes Hongkongers won’t forget what happened during Japanese occupation
- Field Ambulance Corps was led by HKU medical school dean, who made many of his students sign up
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Yeung Ming-hon was 18 and a medical student when he found himself picking up soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hong Kong and attending to their injuries.
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Now 98, he is one of the last two living veterans involved in the fall of Hong Kong in 1941. Invading Japanese forces attacked the city from December 8 to 25 that year, overwhelmed British and allied forces, and went on to occupy the city for three years and eight months.
Dementia and old age have left him in a wheelchair and unable to speak or recognise family members, but Yeung loved sharing his wartime stories all his life – even after his memory began to fade.
“He started to talk more about the war. He would repeat his stories and show us his scars,” recalled Anthony Yeung, 58, an insurance agent, one of three sons.
Hoping to keep his father’s story alive, he encouraged Hongkongers to remember the city’s wartime history and veterans. “War is never a good thing, he saw many people get hurt,” he said.
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