Originally published in The Gateway Issue No. 28 (April 2012)
Of all the Brothers of the Month covered in “The Gateway”, none has had a shorter term of service in Hong Kong than Brother Peter Damian Whealan, barely nine months in fact. Yet, over seventy years later, we find that he has left us an admirable and unforgettable example and memory.
Edward Proctor Whealan was born in Newark, New Jersey, America, on the 22nd January 1908. He was brought up in a fervent Catholic household and trained from childhood to value the spiritual and eternal. Even as a child he was precocious by nature, straightforward and independent in action. In St Michael’s Primary School he made rapid progress and graduated with honour.
At this stage he had made up his mind to become a religious and chose the Christian Brothers because of their involvement in the education of the young. And so, in December of 1922, Edward entered the Juniorate of the Brothers at Ammendale. Family circumstances, however, made it necessary for him to return home and look for employment. He found it with the Chrysler Corporation in its Newark office. Advancement was rapid until he was recognized as one of the Corporation’s best salesmen.
While working with Chrysler, he strengthened his Catholic faith by joining the Knights of St Columbus, the Holy Name Society and the St Vincent de Paul Society. Through these organizations he was given scope to practice the various acts of mercy.
Things took a turn for the better and, after an absence of eight years, he requested admission to the Brothers Novitiate at Ammendale. On October 31st 1930, he returned to his former home and restarted the spiritual formation he had so reluctantly dropped. He received the habit of the Brothers, the religious name Damian Peter and made a fervent Novitiate.
At the completion of his Novitiate, he pronounced his first vows and was sent to the Scholasticate at Eddington, Pennsylvania, where he continued his studies and was initiated into the work of the classroom. Right from this early age, he showed himself capable of directing his pupils.
In September of 1932 he was transferred to the West Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia, where he spent the next four years. While teaching there, he attended classes in La Salle University and received his Bachelor Degree in Commerce in June 1934.
A Brother companion of his at the time had this interesting note: “Brother Damian Peter had a great devotion to the Most Blessed Mother and succeeded in instilling this devotion into the hearts of his pupils. At West Catholic School he erected a permanent shrine to the Mother of God. This he constructed of wood and plastic in a most artistic manner. His students voluntarily contributed to purchase a beautiful statue of Our Lady for the shrine.”
Another close Brother companion of the time attests: “Brother Damian Peter did nothing by halves. The business acumen he had acquired before entering the Novitiate made him careful to require from his students neat, tidy and exact work. The blackboards in his classroom were always bordered with appropriate maxims, sayings and suggestions. His Catechism lessons and Reflections were highly praised by the boys, and the extreme care with which he prepared and presented all his lessons was a frequent subject of comment.”
He liked order and discipline in his classroom but this was tempered with kindness, in the best Lasallian tradition.
Another companion at West Catholic High School recalls: “Brother Peter possessed many wonderful qualities. Among them, we may mention faithfulness in writing encouraging letters to friends and pupils who were suffering from illness or because of some reverse in fortune or in family affairs. Neatness was characteristic of him. His classroom merited the title ‘spotless’. His remarkable sense of humour gave the Brothers many a hearty laugh. His impersonations, especially of the British aristocracy, would do justice to an accomplished actor.”
Although he loved his family and country, it was around this time that he showed an interest in missionary work and in 1936 he requested to be sent to the mission field. His request was accepted and he was assigned to De La Salle University, Manila.
Soon after arriving in Manila he was entrusted with the responsibility of the deanship of the College of Commerce. He also took charge of the College publications. In addition, in 1939, he took out a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Santa Tomas. With the necessary qualifications in tow, all was set fair for a strong period of tenure at De La Salle University.
The looming clouds of war changed everything. The Lasallian leadership of the time was aware of the dangers to the German Brothers in various parts of the world. In April 1941, and since Britain was already at war with Germany, it was thought best to transfer a German Brother from St Joseph’s College, Hong Kong, to neutral Manila. Brother Peter Damian was asked to replace him in St Joseph’s. Brother Peter’s response was to say that he would be happy to spread the good news of Christ even to the depths of war-torn China.
And so, Brother Peter was sent to St Joseph’s College, Hong Kong, arriving there on the 3rd April 1941. He taught there until his untimely death in December. Judging by an account of two American friends who visited him in St Joseph’s, Brother Peter had settled in nicely. One of them records: “We spent a most pleasant day with the Brothers. Brother Peter proved himself a most accomplished, interesting and entertaining host. Besides, he seemed so happy in his work.”
The outbreak of war in Pacific Asia, however, intervened mercilessly. On December 8th 1941 the Japanese attacked Hong Kong. After the attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States declared war on Japan. Brother Peter felt he should do his bit for the war effort and signed up for voluntary service as a non-combatant.
Things moved swiftly. Brother Peter had been given an ambulance to drive the wounded to hospital, usually to the Indian General Hospital, now called Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Causeway Bay. Despite Japanese guns and vigilance, he had driven his ambulance safely through the lines, bringing in several wounded whom he had picked up on the Northern front.
Colonel Ride was in charge of No 1 field ambulance. By the 23rd December his soldiers were dying on every front and there were so many waiting wounded. His officers in council were almost in despair when in walked Brother Peter who had somehow or other managed to get his ambulance through the Japanese lines. He said he would return to the northern front to pick up more of the wounded that he had been forced to leave behind. Colonel Ride and his officers tried to dissuade him, knowing that such a journey was tantamount to almost certain death.
Brother Peter made up his mind. “I must go” he said. “I promised them that I would return.” Taking his young Portuguese companion with him, Private A. B. Carvalho, he was soon speeding northward to the wounded men. Guns blazed around him as he sped on. Eventually, outside the Po Leung Kuk orphanage in Happy Valley, a blast of machine-gun fire found him. He groaned in agony, uttered a prayer and fell forward on his wheel. Then all was still.
Private Carvalho, who rode in the front seat, was pushed out of the vehicle and, although injured, survived the attack. He was taken to Bowen Road Hospital and later made his way to St Joseph’s College and told the Brothers what had happened to Brother Peter. His parents only learned of his death in August 1942 when a ship returned to the United States with the first internments.
There is no record of where Brother Peter was buried. His name and date of death is inscribed on the Brothers memorial tombstone in St Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, Happy Valley.
A father of a boy who was taught by Brother Peter wrote to his parents: “Please accept my heartfelt sympathy on the death of your good son. He taught my boy to love and serve God. My son is now in the military forces of our country under General MacArthur in Australia. You really have reason to rejoice as your son is indeed an angel in heaven.”
And this is how his death was seen by a Brother who knew him:
“You sleep, tonight, in a lonely grave,
Far, far from your native shore;
The roar of guns and the drone of planes
Are thrills that you heed no more;
Your noble death on the field of fame,
Unexcelled by decrees of fate;
It gained for a Brother a martyr’s crown,
A hero for the church and state.”
Although Brother Peter’s burial site is unknown, his memory is green and the Lasallian Family in Hong Kong will ever treasure his example of self-sacrifice.
