Mr. Arthur Gomes (aka Gomez) MBE - Down the Memory Lane – Lasallians Remembered

Message from Mark Huang (85) announcing Arthur’s death.
(Please click on the blank file with on the left to see the Obitary from South China Morning Post.)

It is with greatest sadness that I announce the passing away of Arthur Gomes (aka Gomez), on 24th April, 2007, at the age of 90. Arthur was a graduate of La Salle in 1933 when he finished Class 1.

Arthur was a Portuguese, born and raised in Hong Kong, and he studied in St Joseph’s Branch School in Tsim Sha Tsui (the fore-runner school of LSC, 1917-1931), in St Joseph’s College, and La Salle College. In 1938 he joined the HK Volunteer Defense Corps. On 8 December 1941, at the commencement of the Japanese attacks on Hong Kong, Arthur, being lance-corporal, was ordered to protect British families living in May Road, Central. He was therefore not involved in the fighting.

The title of the Arthur’s obituary in the SCMP of 25th April stated: “A Life Marked by Courage and Determination to Survive” The obituary remarked on his being taken as a prisoner on Christmas Day 1941 after HK surrendered.

“He reflected later that as a Portuguese, he could have taken off his uniform and melted into the general population, perhaps getting to Macau. He stayed for the honour of our regiment,’ he said. ‘We had to face what was coming to us. We thought we were going to be marched to Guangzhou but the road stopped at the ransacked and looted barracks at Sham Shui Po.’ ” Arthur was imprisoned there 3 years and 8 months.

I met Arthur on several occasions interviewing him for information on the old school, and also on getting information on the war dead of La Salle. He recalled with amazing clarity his days in St Joseph’s Branch School in TST, as well as his memories of the war, including of Roy Maxwell (3-), his cousin and fellow Lasallian, who perished in the battle against the Japanese on 23 December 1941.

Arthur was helping Elden Lai (82) and I review some material of war dead Lasallians, just weeks before his unexpected passing away.

When the opening of the new wings and the Thanksgiving Mass for the school’s 75th Anniversary was held in December 2006, Arthur was also present, standing straight and attentive, only requiring a walking stick.

Arthur was thrown a party for his 90th birthday recently, and I was told it was a lovely and very happy occasion for him and all who attended it.

Arthur, our Lasallian brother, has lived a remarkable life through HK’s peaceful times before the war, when Bro Aimar began offering schooling to boys like him in Kowloon; then Arthur endured war, and imprisonment in very hard conditions. After the Japanese surrendered, he continued to do what he believed in. He founded the HK Prisoners of War Association in 1954. He was also active in servicemen’s associations and he worked hard in the interests of the sevicemen’s families. Arthur worked till he was well into his 80s. Among many recognitions, he was awarded an MBE. He is a role model for each one of us.

Arthur is survived by his daughter Cynthy.

Please remember Senior Gomes in your prayers, and may God grant him eternal rest in heaven.

I will miss Arthur very sorely.

-end of quote-

Arthur Gomes is seen on page 8 of the June 2004 OBA Newsletter

Here are some remarks of the second photo by Mark Huang (85) on 14 May 2007:
The street scene is Tsim Sha Tsui in 1902 as seen from Signal Hill, looking north. Chatham Road is the main road on the right. In 1917, the Christian Brothers established St Joseph’s Branch School on Chatham Road, mainly for the Portuguese boys whose families migrated to Kowloon from Hong Kong Island early in the century. Arthur studied in that school for a few years (Classes 8-5), before moving to higher classes in St Joseph’s College (Classes 4 and 3), and then to La Salle College in 1932 when it opened (Class 2 and 1).