The First Shall Be Last

A lively, informative, factual and colourful account of events leading up to the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in December 1941, as experienced by John and Yvonne Charter, and their subsequent confinement in Stanley Civilian Internment Camp for three years and eight months.

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Stanley Civilian Internment Camp on the south side of Hong Kong Island, in 1942 was home to approximately 3000 British, Canadian, American and other civilian and police internees, the majority of whom were incarcerated for three years and eight months during the occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese.

John Charter kept a journal, hidden from the Japanese, of their hardships, hunger and hope until their final liberation. It is one of the more comprehensive accounts of life in Stanley Civilian Internment Camp yet published, and as such a small piece of Hong Kong history which should not be forgotten.