A Voyage to War: An Englishman's Account of Hong Kong 1936-41 by Peter Dulley, Hugh Dulley

Hugh Dulley's father (Peter Dulley) and mother (Therese Sander) met in Hong Kong on New Year's Eve 1935. Four years later at the outbreak of war Peter, a weekend sailor, was called up in the Hong Kong Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He eventually graduated to commanding an ocean-going tug of 500 tons from Hong Kong to Aden. En route he called at islands still enjoying pre-war peacetime and navigated across the Indian Ocean using a sextant. In July 1940 Therese, who was eight months pregnant, was evacuated from Hong Kong to the Philippines, where Hugh was born. They then travelled to Australia after a short stop in Hong Kong, which was to be the last time she saw Peter. Collected here is Peter's correspondence to Therese over a period of six years. Edited and condensed by Hugh, it paints a unique and often humorous picture of life in Hong Kong in World War 2. It is published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong.