A visual guide to the military career of one of the first enrolees in the Hong Kong Women's Naval Volunteer Reserve (WNVR) following its formation in 1949. Phillis Wong eventually rose to the position of officer-in-charge, retiring from this leadership role in 1962. Wong (1904-1988) was a long-time Chinese-Australian resident of the colony. St Paul's College has prizes named after both her and her husband, Preston Wong, who was executed by the Japanese in 1943. After enlisting in the WNVR, her early years of hard work were rewarded with a 23 February 1954 citation, included here, awarding her the Staple Shield and commending her "untiring and unstinted service". A promotion to third officer soon followed on 1 January 1955, and on 22 September 1958 she was promoted to second officer and officer-in-charge. Photographs - in which she is recognizable by her thick black glasses - chronicle her progress through the ranks. A formal picture from the 1955 Governor's Review shows her in a third officer's uniform (a single stripe on the cuff), while photographs from the 1958 Queen's birthday parade capture her leading the female naval reservists. A large number of photographs document parades, training assignments, formal occasions, and the women with whom she served. Wong's retirement in 1962 was marked by an invitation to dine in the officer's mess onboard HMS Cornflower on 8 November. Several photographs commemorate the occasion, and a typescript headquarters notice (dated 2 October) is accompanied by an invitation card and the text of the speech she gave to the dinner, in which she thanks those present for 13 extraordinary years: "we often get asked what the Wrens actually do. Well, that would take me too long to describe, I can only tell you that in my 13 years' service I've been round the Island on the MFV and round the Queen's Birthday Parade circuit on foot more times than I care to remember". The dinner also presented an opportunity to welcome her successor as officer-in-charge, and a number photographs record this happy culmination to Wong's long period of dedication to Hong Kong. Small archive, 75 items: 65 photographs (1 colour), mostly gelatin silver, each 57 x 57 mm to 160 x 210 mm, some with annotations and wet stamps on verso; 3 typescript sheets (175 x 137 mm), text across 4 sides; 330 x 208 mm commendation typed one side only; 220 x 208 mm duplicated typescript mess notice, text one side only; 113 x 138 mm printed invitation card completed in manuscript; 3 small newspaper clippings; mailing envelope. Occasional creasing, overall a well-preserved collection.
