My paternal grandfather was born in Canton, China in 1918. They didn't have formal birth certificates then and many men exaggerated their age to work, so it's the best guess at a birth year. He lived most of his 88 years of life in Hong Kong, spending several months here and there with my family in Canada and on one occasion Leeds, England.

Christmas Day 1941, World War 2: Japan had invaded Hong Kong and established rule of the (then) country. At the time my grandfather was still single in his 20's. Food was scarce during the war due to hyperinflation and food rationing on Hong Kong Island where the Japanese had stationed themselves.

One day, my grandfather took a hired boat with some others to the mainland with the goal of smuggling powdered milk back for his family. On his return return to HK Island, the Japanese caught him and threw him into a concentration camp.

He never spoke much about what happened in the camp. He has only told us that his family owned a business and was able to pay money for his general well being in the camp -- however, it was a concentration camp after all, so one can only imagine how marginally better he was treated. Maybe it's better to say, that he wasn't ill treated, as in tortured. Those that were not as lucky financially were often tortured, water-boarding being the main form, and beaten.

In total, he spent a few months during the war in confinement before he was released. The mental trauma and scars of his time there, however, lasted until his passing in 2006.