The Fall Of Japanese-held Hong Kong in January 1945

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Commander John Lamade started the war in 1941 a nervous pilot of an antiquated biplane. Just over three years later he was in the cockpit of a cutting-edge Hellcat about to lead a strike force of 80 aircraft through the turbulent skies above the South China Sea. His target: Hong Kong. As a storm of antiaircraft fire darkened the sky, watching from below was POW Ray Jones. For three long years he and his fellow prisoners had endured near starvation conditions in a Japanese internment camp. Did these American aircraft, he wondered, herald freedom?

Today’s guest is Steven Bailey, and he discovered that much of the story of the U.S. Navy airstrikes on Japanese-held Hong Kong during the final year of World War II had never been told despite being an important step on the march toward Japan. Operation Gratitude involved nearly 100 U.S. Navy warships and close to a thousand planes. Bailey is the author of “Target Hong Kong,” and we look at the air raids through the experiences of seven men whose lives intersected at Hong Kong in January 1945: Commander John D. Lamade, five of his fellow U.S. Navy pilots and the POW Ray Jones.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast.
0:07.0	Commander John Lamadee started World War II in 1941 as a nervous pilot of an antiquated byplay.
0:14.0	Just over three years later, he was in the cockpit of a cutting edge
0:16.7	Hellcat about to lead a strike force of 80 aircraft
0:19.5	through the South China Sea to target Hong Kong.
0:22.3	He was part of Operation Gratitude which involved
0:24.5	nearly a hundred U.S Navy warships in close to a thousand planes. As a storm of
0:28.9	anti-aircraft fires struck the task force, watching from below is POW Ray Jones.
0:33.7	For three years he and his fellow prisoners had endured nearly starvation conditions in a Japanese
0:38.1	internment camp. Having no news of how the war was going, seeing an American carrier aircraft made him wonder if the allies had finally
0:44.8	arrived.
0:45.8	To look at the story of the US Navy airstrikes on Japanese-held Hong Kong is today's guest,
0:50.4	Stephen Bailey, who went through oral histories, and military records to
0:54.7	recount these air raids.
0:55.9	Is the author of Target Hong Kong, a true story of US Navy pilots at war.
0:59.5	If we enjoy this episode.
1:00.9	And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.
1:09.1	This episode is brought to you by Wise, the account that helps you manage your money all around the world.
1:13.4	I lived overseas for many years and one of the biggest bottlenecks to international living is money transfers.
1:18.3	You want to withdraw money from an ATM to access funds from your American bank account and you don't realize
1:22.4	you're getting hit with a $10 charge every single time you do that.
1:25.6	Yeah, that did happen to me.
	...

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