Our second destination on our month-long Asia Adventure was Hong Kong. 

This was Bill's first visit to the Pearl of the Orient -- a place he had been long fascinated with. His dad had shared stories of his WWII visit to the island port and later, Sue-On along with brother Kenny and sister-in-law Rebecca, had shared many stories of the years they had lived there.

Luckily, Kenny and Rebecca were our travel companions on this trip. They were well-versed in all things HK and were excellent guides as we explored the popular attractions of the city. We even visited the former Choy family apartment and dined with an old school chum.

My dad, CPO Jerry Hillman, volunteered to serve as ship's welder on the Royal Canadian Navy ship: HMCS Prince Robert - part of a muilti-national convoy that sailed to Hong Kong to release the Canadian POWs and to accept the Japanese surrender. My mom and I had followed him through the war years to many postings at Canadian navy bases in Newfoundland, Halifax, and Esquimalt on Vancouver Island. 

Dad felt it his duty to serve in a combat capacity, so he volunteered for this mission. He returned safely with many Hong Kong souvenirs, photos and memories. Many of his photos and experiences are shared in our RCN and HMCS Prince Robert Tribute Site. 

Ironically, the location of the POW camp was at Hong Kong's North Point area -- five years later toddler Sue-On's mom smuggled her out of Toisan, Red China to live with her grandparents in an apartment . . . at North Point.