The Lone Flag: Memoir of the British Consul in Macao During World War II

by John Reeves

When Hong Kong fell to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941, Macao was left as a tiny isolated enclave on the China Coast surrounded by Japanese-held territory. As a Portuguese colony, Macao was neutral, and John Reeves, the British Consul, could remain there and continue his work despite being surrounded in all directions by his country's enemy. His main task was to provide relief to the 9,000 or more people who crossed the Pearl River from Hong Kong to take refuge in Macao and who had a claim for support from the British Consul. The core of this book is John Reeves' memoir of those extraordinary years and of his tireless efforts to provide food, shelter and medical care for the refugees. He coped with these challenges as Macao's own people faced starvation. Despite Macao's neutrality, it was thoroughly infiltrated by Japanese agents. Marked for assassination, he had to have armed guards as he went about his business. He also had to navigate the complexities of multiple intelligence agencies―British, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese Nationalist―in a place that was described as the Casablanca of the Far East.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2014

About the author

John Michael Reeves. Composer, broadcaster, author, b Merritt, BC, 1 Dec 1926; BA classics (Cambridge) 1948. Educated in England, he began conducting Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony as a teenager and won a choral scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge. Returning to Canada after graduation he taught classics at the University of British Columbia, then joined CBC radio as a music producer in 1952, branching out later into productions of dramas, documentaries, and religious programs. He retired from the CBC staff in 1987, but has continued to produce programs on a freelance basis.

Reeves has written extensively on music, particularly in broadcast scripts such as 'A London Trio' (1966) about Handel and Bach, and the 'St Matthew Trio' (1990), a cycle of poems about Bach and Passion music. Music is also a major theme in his three detective novels Murder by Microphone (Toronto 1978), Murder before Matins (Toronto 1984) and Murder with Muskets (Toronto 1985). He has written texts for his own compositions and has contributed the libretti for Norman Symonds' Opera for Six Voices (1961) and Lucio Agostini's opera David (unfinished in 1991).

Reviews

[Martin Dismore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quite amazing book by the British Consul in Macao during WWII. As a descendent of the British Consul in the early 1950's, I can relate to the many stories in this book but was truly fascinated by the trials and tribulations endured by John Reeves, not to mention the many assassination attempts.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting but somewhat mundane memoir of the British Consul in Macao during WWII. His position was unique as the neutral Portuguese colony was extremely isolated within the Japanese expansion of WWII. While not a tale of gripping struggles or heroic actions it is a revealing story of the Portuguese relationship with Japan, his managing thousands of refugees and managing the affairs of the allies in a very trying situation in the very small colony.