Sapper Edward Filomeno Hyndman
Eddie was born in 1926 in Kowloon. He was the only son of Eduardo Hyndman and Laura Neves. Eduardo and my Mother, Katie Hyndman were first cousins.
In December 1941 when the Japanese invaded Hongkong, Eddie decided to enlist. He was accepted into the Hongkong Volunteer Defence Corp., after telling them he was 17.
Laura, upon hearing her only son had enlisted became very concerned for Eddie's safety and contacted Katie and asked her if her husband, Lt. George Palmer, could do anything to help in keeping Eddie safe.
George was a reservist Royal Engineer and now attached to the Hongkong Volunteers, so he had Eddie transferred to his Unit with the intention of keeping him close and thus keeping him safe. Eddie was made a Sapper of the RE.
On the 20th December, George, his Chinese driver, in the front seats and Eddie, safely in the back seat of their Staff car, made their way under fire from Japanese planes to the Peak.
When they arrived at Magazine Gap Road they received heavy strafing from one of the planes, followed by a bomb which hit the back of the Staff car. George and the driver were blown free of the car and landed on the road, unhurt but poor Eddie was not so lucky. He received severe injuries and was rushed to the War Memorial Hospital in the Peak.
Eddie died, at 15, on the 31st December 1941, the youngest soldier to be killed in action in this battle for Hongkong.
Picture of the War Memorial Hospital where Eddie Died
A note from Elden Lai :
The War Memorial Hospital
was built in 1932 to commemorate the soldiers who took part in the 1st world
war. It was located on Mount Kellet. The hospital no longer
exists. The building was demolished in the mid 70's. Some
residential development have since been built on the site.
Click above for page 3
