The Escape of the 2nd MTB Flotilla

Sub-Lt David Pauncefoote Legge H.K.R.N.V.R. [MTB 11]

Sub-Lt Legge acted as interpreter during the escape as he had lived and worked in China for some time. He decided to split from the escape party after they stayed at Kun Ming for a week. He was told to report to the British Embassy in Chungking so flew there with two others. "Then I found what a mistake I had made. The Embassy grabbed me without so much as a by your leave and shoved me into their cipher office. There was of course no Naval authority to whom I could complain. I was stuck there for two months before I made such a nuisance of myself that they let me out".

David Pauncefoote Legge was born in Hayes, Kent, England in 1916, and passed away aged 90 on the 19 March 2007 in Auburn, California. Davo was a California resident for over 50 years. After long careers with British-American Tobacco and B.O.A.C. (British Airways), he was widowed (no children) and remarried at age 62. Davo was an active boater and traveler, and a docent at California Academy of Sciences in S.F. He became a US citizen at age 64.

Davo back in China May 2006

Click here for Sub-Lt D P Legge Obituary

Some of the Officers enjoying a day out in Kweiyong with their female hosts who were from Shanghai. Sub-Lt David Pauncefoote Legge in the centre lived in Shanghai and spoke the language, and so was the interpreter.

On the right is Lt Alexander Kennedy of MTB 09, the author of the privately published book "Hong Kong Full Circle"

Kweiyong 26th January 1942