Iain: From an English-Scottish family, aged 15 years I enlisted (Service No. 22848955) as a Boy Soldier at Aldershot on 26th January 1954 and, aged 19, arrived in Hong Kong on HM Troopship Empire Fowey on Tuesday 29th of April 1958. The climate was mainly hot and humid but Hong Kong was a fantastic place and I felt privileged to be there. I was ‘A’ (Car) Platoon RASC’s Details NCO, based in Victoria Barracks, Hong Kong Island, at the western edge of Wanchai, and my main unit, 56 Coy RASC (MT), was two miles away on the eastern edge of Wanchai, at Causeway Bay. ‘A’ Pl consisted of locally enlisted RASC drivers, junior NCOs and one sergeant, thirty vehicles - staff cars, Land Rovers and Bedford 3-tonners - and me.

Raymond: I was born on Friday the 29th of November 1946 at the Wanchai Eastern Maternity Hospital, Hong Kong Island. My Father, CHAN Chiu, joined the Royal Navy (Service No. O.2543) in 1950 at HMS Tamar, the RN Shore Establishment in Hong Kong. He served on board HMS Caesar, HMS Ceylon, HMS Bulwark, HMS Albion and HMS Forth and retired as a Leading Steward in 1972. Although I eventually enlisted into the Army in Hong Kong, first of all I joined the Royal Navy, even serving on HMS Albion together with my Father, but more about these in Part Two. There were eleven children in my family, of whom I was the oldest. Between 1946 and 1970, my family home was 43, Kennedy Road, Ground Floor, Wanchai. I was living in a poor family and during my childhood always played in and around Wanchai.

Iain: I first tried locally brewed San Miguel pilsner in Victoria Bks NAAFI and, as a full corporal, was an automatic member of the Corporals’ Clubs of both Victoria Bks and 56 Coy at Causeway Bay. The dress in Cpls’ Clubs was appropriate footwear, trousers, long sleeved shirt and a tie but it was so warm I spent free time in slacks and shirtsleeves, exploring this Pearl of the Orient, going to the cinema, etc. Also, travelling between ‘A’ Pl and 56 Coy, I found less dress-conscious places offering San Miguel - the Bars and Nightclubs of Wanchai. Near Victoria Bks were such as the ‘83’, A.A. Hall, Arizona, Blue Sky, Great Shanghai (became 21 Club), Old Toby and United and all stayed open until 2 am. A half pint of San Mig in the Bars cost HK$1 (about 1/3d in old UK money, 6½ new pence) compared to HK$1 for a pint in NAAFI, which closed at 11 pm. My favourite was the Sing Bar on Luard Road, where the owner was Mamasan WONG. If a waitress (a.k.a. bar girl; NAAFI had neither) joined you for a chat, Management gave her a ‘cocktail,’ a tiny glass of watered down Coca Cola, and charged you HK$5 in cash. She received a chit worth HK$1.25, Management pocketed the rest and putting this in context, as a corporal my weekly wage was HK$80 (£5).

Raymond: When Iain was with the RASC in 1958, I was studying in Primary 4 with Raimondi College at 2, Robinson Road, Mid-levels. I used to travel to and from school every day, by walking via Queen’s Road East, Queensway, Garden Road and Robinson Road, passing along the way Victoria Bks, Murray Bks and the Botanical Gardens. These army camps were new and mysterious to me, as were the people in them. The popular places I played with other kids were around the Wanchai Post Office (a museum now), the Southern Playground at Johnston Road, Hennessy Road and at Lockhart Road, where a lot of Europeans hung around. I was curious about those Bars in Wanchai and said to myself that one day, when I grew up, I would look to see what was inside the Bars.

Iain: At the Causeway Bay end of Wanchai, the Golden Eagle Bar was large, square and brightly lit, but its Juke Box had a great selection of 1950s pop. I befriended waitress CHAN Fong Kuen, or Lily CHAN, who over eighteen months (and numerous HK$5 ‘cocktails’) taught me all the Cantonese I ever learnt, while I helped her with written and spoken English (and cocktail chits). Based on my surname of Leggatt, Lily also ‘gave’ me a Chinese name, Lee Gat, which she said was a ‘good’ name, meaning ‘Prosperous Plum.’

Raymond: In the 1950s, all buildings along Hennessy Road, Lockhart Road, Gloucester Road etc were four-storey high houses without elevators, built before the Second World War. There were about twenty-five bars in Wanchai at this time, some large restaurants which were used by the Chinese population (and, he’s told me, by Iain when attending the Wedding Parties of his RASC driver friends), and of course many shops at ground floor level.

Iain: Near the Golden Eagle was the Moonlight Bar, smaller but air-conditioned and with dimmer lighting, where a waitress, Helen CHEUNG, introduced me to Shanghai Tong Min, a delicious pork and noodle dish. Instead of HK$5 ‘cocktails’, I paid for Helen’s time by also buying her and especially Mamasan (a.k.a. Management) LEE Cheong bowls of Shanghai Tong Min, and by massaging Helen’s feet as she snoozed in a corner of the booth. Helen insisted on calling me ‘Tong Min’ and I called her my sleeping partner.

Raymond: Iain talking about the Moonlight Bar reminds me of when, having enlisted in the Army, I used to patrol with the Royal Military Police around this area in the 1960s. The Moonlight was a small and quiet bar on King Shing Street, a short street that joins Leighton Road and Pennington Street, near the St Paul’s Convent School, Causeway Bay, where my daughter Eleanor spent her five years middle-school.

Raymond: Iain talking about the Moonlight Bar reminds me of when, having enlisted in the Army, I used to patrol with the Royal Military Police around this area in the 1960s. The Moonlight was a small and quiet bar on King Shing Street, a short street that joins Leighton Road and Pennington Street, near the St Paul’s Convent School, Causeway Bay, where my daughter Eleanor spent her five years middle-school. Iain: On Tuesday 19th of January 1960 I was posted away from this wonderful place to UN Command, south Korea, and made it my mission in life to get myself posted back to Hong Kong (which I did, please see Raymond and me working together again in Part Two - Wanchai, Hong Kong, in the 1960s).