[BITList] A Life Worth Mentioning - British Empire Medal.

[John Feltham]

 From another Forum....


Jenny B.E.M.

Some of you old Marines and Matelots may remember Jenny, BEM


Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:39:18 +0000


Thought you would like to know about Hong Kong's Mother Angel to the  
Fleet. God Bless Her.


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Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 4:52 PM Subject: Obit: Jenny, BEM

I appreciate that this will mean nothing to us members of the forum,  
but for any sailor from Britain, or the Commonwealth, who served in  
the Far East Jenny & her side party was the stuff of legend. The speed  
& efficiency with which her team of 'girls' could paint a warship from  
stem to stern was simply amazing.

JENNY, BEM Generations of sailors who visited Hong Kong will mourn the  
death of Jenny. She was a much loved figure and an incomparable  
institution for well over half a century. She died peacefully on 18  
February 2009 at the age of 92.

Much of her life was an enigma. However. the authors of her twenty- 
seven Certificates of Service generally agreed that she was born in a  
sampan in Causeway Bay in 1917. Her mother, Jenny One, according to  
her one surviving Certificate of Service, which was copied in 1946  
from an older, much battered and largely illegible document.,  
'provided serviceable sampans far the general use of the Royal Navy,  
obtained sand. and. was useful for changing money’. Behind her  
perpetual great gold-toothed grin Jenny complained; “I velly chocker.  
All time work in sampan. N0 learn to lead or lite.” But what she  
lacked in education she made up more than a hundredfold with her  
immense and impressive experience in ship husbandry. her unfailing  
thoroughness and apparently inexhaustible energy. her unquestionable  
loyalty and integrity, her infectious enthusiasm and her innate  
cheerfulness.

Officially Jenny's Date of Volunteering was recorded as 1928. From  
then until 1997, when the colony became a Special Administrative  
Region of China and the Royal Navy moved out. she and her team of  
tireless girls. who at one time numbered nearly three dozen,  
unofficially served the Royal and Commonwealth Navies in Hong Kong by  
cleaning and painting their ships. attending their buoy jumpers, and,  
dressed in their best. waiting with grace and charm upon their guests  
at cocktail parties. Captains and Executive Officers would find fresh  
flowers in their cabins and newspapers delivered daily. And many a  
departing officer received a generous gift as a memento from Jenny.  
For all of this she steadfastly refused ever to take any payment.  
Instead she and her Side Party earned their keep selling soft drinks  
to the ships' companies and accepting any item of scrap which could be  
found on board.

Jenny's huge collection of photographs - too big. she said. to be put  
into books - she stored in a large envelope. They dated back to the  
mid 20th century and showed her in the ships she so faithfully served,  
with Buffers and Side Parties, and with grateful officers. many of  
whom became distinguished admirals. In two thick albums she proudly  
kept her letters of reference, all without exception filled with  
praise and affection for her. One was a commendation by the Duke of  
Edinburgh for her work in the Royal Yacht during her visit to Hong  
Kong in 1959. She had a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal presented  
to her in 1938 by the captain of the heavy cruiser HMS DEVONSHIRE, and  
a bar from the frigate HMS LEANDER in
1975.

Most treasured of all Jenny's distinctions was the British Empire  
Medal awarded her in the Hong Kong Civilian List of the Queen's  
Birthday Honours in 1980 and with which, under her formal name Mrs. Ng  
Muk Kah, she was invested by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray  
MacLehose.

In later years Hong Kong was no longer visited by the great fleets of  
warships which gave Jenny and her Side Party their livelihood and she  
found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Yet she stayed fit  
and always willing to undertake any work available. To the end of the  
Royal Navy's presence in Hong Kong there could be seen in the shadow  
of the towering Prince of Wales building within the naval base, a  
small round figure in traditional baggy black trousers and high- 
collared smock, with a long pigtail and eternal smile who, regardless  
of time. remained it seemed for ever – just Jenny.


Lest We Forget.