Dark chapter

Dec 8, 1941, began like any ordinary morning in Hong Kong — until warplanes tore through the dawn sky. The Lam family had just finished breakfast when air raid sirens shattered the calm. Lam Chun and her mother were on their way to church when the first bombs fell.

Their home, directly across from Kai Tak airfield, placed them in the crosshairs. "When the bombing started, my mother ran back to check on my siblings," Lam Chun recalled. "The streets had already descended into chaos."

The Japanese occupation shattered their lives overnight. The family school, run by her mother, was forced to close, leaving them with no income. To survive, they sold desks and chairs, piece by piece.

From their balcony overlooking Tak Ku Ling Road, Kowloon City, they witnessed the war's merciless toll. "Refugees huddled beneath our building, clutching children or meager bundles," she said. "Days later, garbage trucks would arrive. The same people lay wrapped in straw mats — dead from starvation."