In the din of WW2 refugee aid efforts, Hong Kong icon 'Uncle Ray' discovers his career-making love for music
On December 8, 1941, Hong Kong became one of the first battlegrounds in the Pacific campaign of the invading Japanese. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbour, Japanese forces attacked British Hong Kong without any prior declaration of war. Japan's act of aggression was met with fierce resistance but the colony fell after 18 days of intense fighting. For three years and eight months, the people of Hong Kong lived under Japanese Occupation. This is one of a series of stories in remembrance of the Battle of Hong Kong and the dark days that followed.
Ray Cordeiro’s lifelong love for music began during the war – and in the kitchen.
“Uncle Ray”, the music deejay with his nightly programme All the Way with Ray at RTHK was a 17-year old St Joseph College student when war struck from nowhere.
“The war came unexpectedly for everyone, except for the very senior officials who knew it was coming. The British were so smart and digging into lots of tunnels. Nobody thought of what’s that for until the Japanese attacked,” he said.
Cordeiro remembers the moment he caught sight of the Japanese warplanes.
“I was at my home in Wan Chai. In those days you didn’t often see planes, maybe one or two training flights. But what I saw from the veranda was a string of planes flying in formation. I had never seen such a scene. It was like a movie,” he said.