Few people are aware of it, but there is a small piece of Hong Kong that will likely remain American for many years to come. On a hill above Stanley, just a few minutes' walk from the market, there's a carefully preserved cemetery that holds scores of graves from the second world war. Most markers are dated December 1941 and belong to the British and Canadian soldiers who defended Hong Kong against the Japanese invasion. But there are also graves belonging to civilian prisoners of war from the Stanley POW camp set up by the Japanese imperial army in 1942. Most of the plain stone markers belong to Australian, British, and New Zealand dead; those who died from diseases brought on by the camp's pitiable conditions, and meagre prison diet. But there are three large stones marking the graves of 14 Americans. According to eyewitness reports, these expatriate Americans were killed on January 16, 1945, by American bombers targeting Japanese installations around the POW camp. Excerpts from a camp diary kept by John Barton and published on the internet ( www.abcifer . com/mar2002/) relate the events of that fateful morning. 'The bombers then directed their attention to the area around the camp. The Japs had a mobile anti-aircraft gun just outside the wire close to Bungalow C and this became one of the targets. 'A bomb landed between Bungalow C and 14 prisoners were killed. Four occupants of the garage were crushed beneath the four-inch thick concrete roof. 'The Japanese wouldn't let anybody free them and their groans could be heard into the small hours of the morning. At daylight, when the curfew was over we were allowed to help them, but sadly they were all dead.'