Thanks to internet sleuth nonpareil Cliff Mills, an interesting but little-known connection has come to light between the Philippines and an American tennis giant. The latter was none other than Dwight F. Davis (1879-1945), who was Governor General of the Philippines from 1929 to 1932. (Unfortunately, during his tenure I was a bit too young to hit with him or to otherwise benefit from his court expertise.) Davis ranks as a tennis giant in large part because he was the founder of the Davis Cup international tennis competition. The extremely brief — actually, skeletal — outline of his record below to introduce this topic is from Wikipedia; it is followed by two 1929 Manila newspaper articles (unearthed by Cliff Mills, himself a tennis enthusiast); and then by somewhat more detailed coverage of Davis’ background and history to round out this historical footnote.
Month: May 2023
Passing of Ian C. M. Hall
I am sad to report the passing of Ian Hall. Ian and his family were largely not interned in the Philippines, during the War, but suffered very greatly at it’s end. Ian died in Palm Desert, California, on 1 May 2023, according to an obituary published by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Hall children were all born in Manila and were not interned, as were others of the family except the father, Alaistair Cameron “Shorty” Hall, who was interned at STIC. The children were:
- Roderick Cameron McMicking Hall, 1932
- Ian Cameron McMicking Hall, 1934
- Alaistair Cameron McMicking Hall, 1936
- Consuelo Angela “Connie” Hall, 1937
Ian, and his brother Rod, traveled on the U.S.S. General Harry Taylor leaving Manila on 2 June 1945, arriving in San Francisco, California, on 26 June 1945. They were repatriated aboard the the S.S. Eros, leaving New York City on 20 July 1945 and arriving in Liverpool, England, on 30 July 1945.
Roderick contributed to the 2008 book, Manila Memories: Four Boys Remember Their Lives Before, During and After the Japanese Occupation. It is one of the hundreds of items he donated to the Filipinas Heritage Libray, Manila.
Link to Ian’s obituary at the San Francisco Chronicle.