Escape from Hong Kong - The Final Hours

1896 - 1962

Captain Freddie Guest 1st Middlesex Regt. Later 8th Cavalry Indian Army

Born 1896 - Islington district, Greater London, London, Middlesex

Relinquished his commission in the 9th Battalion the Middlesex Regiment (Territorial Army) in 1921. Reserve of Officers.

Temporary assistant postman.1913

Pte. [740082]Cadet

2nd Lt.19.08.1918 [80433]Lt.-19.02.1920 (reld 30.09.1921)

Lt. RARO 23.02.1930-06.12.1931, (reld 02.08.1946)

T/Capt. RARO10.01.1941-(04.1946) Hon. Capt.02.08.1946

For more information on Freddie Guest click here.

 

Back: Supt. Bill Robinson I.P., W. O. William M Wright HKRNVR, Capt. Peter Macmillan R.A.,Capt. Reginold Guest 1st Mdsx, Coxswain Yeung Chuen CN, Ted Ross MoI.

Middle: David MacDougall MoI, Admiral Chan Chak CN, Major Arthur Goring Probyns Horse, Sq-Ldr. Max Oxford RAF

1st: Cadet Holgar Christiansen MN, Lt-Cmdr Henry Heng Hsu CN.

Photo from Ted Ross collection ©

 

"Capt. Freddie Guest of the Middlesex Regt. joined the party by going up to Chan's office in the Pedder building with Capt Macmillan who had been there before and telling Chan it was time to go. He later explained that a strong aversion to prisoner-of-war camps led him to try to escape, and he thought the sea offered the best chance".

Captain Reginald E Guest was a veteran of the First World War after joining the Indian Cavalry as an Officer Cadet straight from boarding school and underage. Three weeks before the outbreak of WWII he was sent to Chilwell, Nottingham as training officer at the Tank Depot. Six weeks later he received orders to report to the Middlesex regiment, a machine gun regiment known as the Diehards in Gosport. From there it was across France to Marseilles to embark on the troop-ship "S.S. Andes" bound for the Far East via Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Bombay, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, & Shanghai disembarking troops all the way. Upon returning to Hong Kong he received orders to report for duty with the Middlesex regiment. The trip had been one of luxury for Guest as the Andes was on her maiden voyage and was still fitted out as a luxury liner. Captain Guest as Officer Commanding troops enjoyed the finest champagnes etc. Here he was attached to staff at B.H.Q.

Capt Guest approached the GOC Maj-Gen Maltby for permission to escape which was granted along with three other B.H.Q staff officers.³¹ After the escape from Hong Kong Captain Guest made his way to Chungking and then on to Delhi. There he received orders to join the staff at the Officer Training Cadet's school in Bangalore to take charge of training officers in the old art of pack horse and mule transport as the mechanised units were not appropriate for the terrain in Burma. Bangalore was the Southern Command HQ which extended from Bombay to Madras, right down to Ceylon. During his time here he oversaw some six thousand officers trained in Cavalry before returning to the UK at the end of the war.

1. Escape from the Blooded Sun" by Freddie Guest 1956 which was the first published account of this epic escape. (Ghost written by Arthur Groom)
2. Hong Kong Eclipse by G B Endacott 1978 ISBN 0 19 5803744
3. India Cavalryman" by Freddie Guest (1959) which has two chapters dedicated to Hong Kong and the escape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freddie Guest was one of the twelve survivors HMS Cornflower's launch was machine-gunned when Admiral Chan Chak's party made their break from Aberdeen. They had to swim for their lives in a hail of machine gun fire to the nearest island. After arriving in Chungking he flew out to G.H.Q Delhi, India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freddie Guest is survived by one son and daughter (Deceased).