Raymond: I was born on Friday 29th of November 1946 at Wanchai Eastern Maternity Hospital, Hong Kong. My Father, CHAN Chiu, was in the Royal Navy for twenty-two years, and served on several ships before retiring in 1972. In the 1960s, my family home was 43, Kennedy Road, Ground Floor, Wanchai, and I was the eldest of eleven children. My family was poor and we didn’t have nine years of free education then so, in order to reduce my Father’s responsibility, I gave up my studies aged 16½ years. From September 1963 until June 1964 I was employed as Office Assistant in Pun U District Association School, 2, Shiu Fai Terrace, Stubb’s Road, Wanchai.

Iain: Aged 25, I arrived back in Hong Kong by air on 25th February 1964 for duty as Sergeant i/c Legal Aid Bureau, based in Victoria Bks, Wanchai. The climate was still hot and humid and for a while we so short of fresh water we were restricted to just two hours of water supply every fourth day but I’d loved Hong Kong before, worked like fury to get back and felt privileged to be there again. My job involved soldiers’ personal (non disciplinary) problems. I lived in HQLF Sgts’ Mess, Wanchai, where “appropriate dress” was required, meaning smart trousers, polished shoes, long sleeved shirt and tie, so again spent much free time in slacks and shirtsleeves in Wanchai, and elsewhere in the Colony. In Victoria Bks, the old NAAFI had been replaced by a 3-storey NAAFI Club and in its shop in May 1964 I bought my 18-carat gold Omega Seamaster de Ville watch and bracelet for £35, which was about three weeks wages for a sergeant.

Raymond: On Tuesday the 1st of September 1964, two months before my 18th birthday, I joined the Royal Navy at HMS Tamar, Wanchai, Hong Kong, becoming Steward CHAN Chee Ming (Service No. O.3364). I underwent training until Christmas 1964 then flew to the United Kingdom by Britannia and joined HMS Albion in Portsmouth. I served on this ship with my Father and, en route to Hong Kong, HMS Albion visited Gibraltar, Athens, Mombasa, Aden, Sychelles, India, Singapore and Borneo. In September 1965, I again flew to the UK and joined HMS Forth in Portsmouth. The ship called in to Gibraltar and was stationed in Singapore Naval Base as Repair Ship, where I remained until my RN service terminated in August 1966.

Iain: In April 1964 found LEE Cheong, former Moonlight Mamasan, managing her new bevy of waitresses in Happy Sky Bar, Hennesy Road, but not my old friend Helen CHEUNG for whom I searched diligently in the AA Hall, Key Club, Play Boy Club and World of Suzie Wong without success. Tough work but someone had to do it. At the Top Hat, Gloucester Road, I located old Management friends, Mr POON and Fisher KO and in my old Luard Road haunt, Sing Bar, I met up again with Mamasan WONG, who introduced me to Mei Ling. Other friends in the Sing were Mr SHEK, Annie, Marylou, Mimi and Fung Ying (a.k.a. Fi Fi) while in Central Bar, Lockhart Road, I introduced myself to Nancy Chan. My Chinese name, Lee Gat, served me well and I was often greeted as such by Bar staff, as well as Taxi drivers, Police officers and Customs officials whom I’d known when they’d been soldiers 1958-1960.

Raymond: There had been twenty-five Bars in Wanchai until the end of the 1950s. However, due to the Vietnam War in the 1960s, and the build-up of United States forces, a lot of American sailors, marines and soldiers came to Hong Kong for short R&R (Rest and Recuperation) leaves, so the Bar business grew up a great deal and the number of Bars in Wanchai increased to sixty-three. Hong Kong harbour was very often awash, if you will excuse the pun, with US naval vessels, aircraft carriers, destroyers and many other types of craft.

Iain: In July 1965 the RASC was disbanded and I transferred to RAOC but before this, through Mamasan LEE Cheong, in June 1964 I met Diane WONG aged 19 and near-fluent in English. Diane’s mother was Japanese and her Chinese father a master tailor, so Diane was both gorgeous and superbly dressed. I was in the best job, in the best Army, in the best place in the world, and the fifteen months we went out together were the best of my life. Then, in September 1965, Mr WONG furiously disapproved (of me) so much that he banished his daughter to California and an arranged marriage with her cousin. Having given my heart to one WONG, another shattered it.

Raymond: Plenty of people in Wanchai, like Bar owners, fish and chips shop traders, rickshaw men, tattoo parlour operators, night ladies, special movie theatres and pick pockets, earned their livings from these numerous American visitors. The Americans brought all their money to Hong Kong and gave all to the girls with whom they stayed for their short R&Rs. These girls would take them everywhere, staying with them for the duration of their holiday and treated them as husbands. These poor guys would not know whether they were still alive or not after they returned to their duties in Vietnam. Mind you, they did enjoy their short leave in Hong Kong.

Iain: Easter 1966 was a 4-day holiday for the military. However, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were riven by the “Man in Black” riots, caused by increased cross-harbour Ferry Boat fares, so we military spent the holiday on Internal Security duties. On 12th June 1966 a storm deluged the Colony with twelve inches of rain in a 24-hour period, just four inches in a single hour, and there were ninety-nine land slides. However, my love for Hong Kong, and particularly Wanchai, wasn’t dented and with sadness I learnt of my next posting, to West Berlin. I made my farewells to LEE Cheong, Nancy, Fisher, Mei Ling and all, but not Raymond, as it was not until 2005 we met through Forces Reunited’s good offices. On 23rd August 1966 I flew away from Hong Kong for the last time (which didn’t stop Raymond and me from again cooperating, and we’ve produced Part Three of this saga, Wanchai, Hong Kong, in the 1970s).

Raymond: On Saturday 9th of January 1967 I joined the Army. I did eighteen months recruit training and a ten weeks driving course at the Depot Hong Kong Military Service Corps at Lyemun Bks on Hong Kong Island. Under the strong recommendation of Maj Morgan GSC, OC Trg Coy, Depot HKMSC, I was posted to the Hong Kong Provost Company Royal Military Police. After three months probation as a mobile driver with the RMP, I was promoted to Lance Corporal with effect from 1 October 1967 and to Corporal in November 1970, which coincided with my first marriage. I served with the Island Detachment, Hong Kong Provost Coy RMP, Victoria Bks, Wanchai, from 16 July 1967 to 7 February 1972. The Bar business was familiar to me because of my RMP service in Wanchai, and I knew most of the Bar managers and owners, Mamasans and even bar girls, and this includes some of the people Iain has already named.