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The veteran
One man who knows more than most
about life as a volunteer policeman in
Hong Kong is Mr. Chung Man-sun
who retired in July last year as auxiliary
Police Sergeant 23 after more than forty
years of unbroken service.
Mr. Chung, who looks much younger
than his sixty plus years, was back
making one of his regular visits to
former colleagues at Wanchai Police
Station when a reporter from the Silver
Jubilee Magazine interviewed him.
Mr. Chung was studying at St. Paul's
College when he first joined the
volunteers in 1940. He said: "Our vice
headmaster, who was a volunteer
inspector, encouraged myself and some
of my classmates to join. I was also
encouraged by my family because they
felt it would teach me discipline and
good manners."
Ex-Sergeant 23 then reflected on life in
Hong Kong in 1940 and the difference
between the volunteers then and the
auxiliary Police now.
"It was very different then," he said.
"Things were very cheap. We could
have a dish of noodles for as little as 80
cents. The standard of living was not
as good as it is now but, on the other
hand, the pace of life was very much
quieter. In those days Wanchai Police
Station was perched right on the water's
edge.
"There was a great difference between
policing then and now. In 1940 we were
just a ramshackle volunteer team. We
had no standard uniform and we even
had to buy our own service boots.
"The training was much simpler than it
is today. We just studied the laws and
ordinances of Hong Kong and spent a
lot of time being taught how to use our '
revolvers.
"We used to practise at the Kennedy
Road range, but were only allowed to
use old weapons.
"The training today is much more
intense and professional. In the past ten,
or twenty, years auxiliary training has
been stepped up to a point where it can
now equate with that given to the
regular Force. It is all very well planned
and carried out. Recruits spend a lot of
time on physical training, learning all
about the law and improving our
relations with the public. At first we
went to training camp for two weeks,
but that has now been reduced to one
week.
"In the old days the routine at the
training camp was quite simple. We
started at 0700 hours and much of the
time was spent on law and the use of
weapons. Every year there would be a
special subject to which we paid a great
deal of attention."
Mr. Chung who spent 27 years working
for the Post Office, much of it
as a supervisor in the international mail
section, never found any conflict
between his full'time job and his part-
36
time auxiliary activities. He said: "We
were always allowed time off for camps
and that sort of thing and, if for any
reason that was not possible, we used
our own annual leave to attend."
He also spoke of life during the Japanese
invasion and occupation of Hong Kong.
"It was pretty frightening," he said. "I
was quartered with the troops at
Wanchai and saw the Japanese landing
in rubber boats. The Wanchai Station
was shelled but we were lucky to escape
injury."
Mr. Chung saw some of his colleagues
killed and others injured during the war
and in the riots which followed in postwar
years but he was lucky enough
never to suffer any serious injuries.
Both the regular and the auxiliary
Forces have great family traditions and
Mr. Chung is no exception. His eldest
daughter was in the auxiliary Police
for seven years and only resigned
when she had to spend more time
looking after her two young children.
His first son-in-law is in the regular
Force and his second is an auxiliary
officer.
During his long service Mr. Chung
was awarded a great many medals —
perhaps a record for the auxiliary
Force. In 1943 he was awarded the
Star Medal; in 1945 the Pacific Medal
and, immediately after the war, the
British War Medal and the Defence
Medal. He is also one of the few