One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

EPILOGUE

332

SIXTEEN

II. BRUSHES WITH REALITY

LTC John Morrice, included six First Batch officers—Captains Richard Townsend and

Giles Miranda and Lieutenants Allen Walters, Martin Choo and William Law. It was the first

Five Power Defence Arrangements exercise, presaging the formal withdrawal of British

forces from Singapore. Preparations for the division level exercise included all the Company

Commanders and General Service Officers attending the Jungle Warfare School in Kota

Tinggi and subsequently, the whole battalion training in jungle operations in the Jemuluang

area of peninsular Malaysia. The exercise itself was conducted in Ulu Terengganu.

5 SIR distinguished itself, necessary so as a National Service battalion, a concept new to

South East Asian forces. Its performance probably gave rise to optimism among Singapore

Government leaders that the graduates of SAFTI were living up to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s

hopes as expressed in his Commissioning Ceremony speech on 18

July, 1967, that the SAF

would be able to out-perform the opposition. As a matter of fact, the SAF showed early

signs of being able to do well. In the years following the introduction of National Service,

the SAF continued to conduct an annual small arms meet among all its units. Invitations

were also extended to the neighbouring military forces. Despite a very high National Service

component, or maybe because of it, the SAF tended to sweep the medals.

Another indication of the status of the First Batch—or perhaps SAFTI training, since post-

First Batch officers replaced them over time—was the appointment of several of them

as Military Personnel Assistants (MPS) to the Minister for Defence, the First Permanent

Secretary of MINDEF and Staff Officer to Director General Staff/Chief of Defence

Force. From the First Batch, Chin Chow Yoon and Ha Weng Kong, were appointed Military

Personal Secretary to Minister and the First Permanent Secretary respectively. Mr. Pang Tee

Pow had taken over from Mr. George Bogaars as First Permanent Secretary. Hee Kam Yong

took over from Ha Weng Kong as MPS to First Permanent Secretary. M.C. Pillay was Staff

Officer to Brigadier Kirpa Ram Vij, Director, General Staff. He was succeeded by Dennis

Tan Eng Joo.

As Second Lieutenants, each First Batch officer would have his own brushes with reality in the

profession he had chosen. Apart from the common trials and tribulations of life in general,

there were the experiences that are associated with one that by definition, demands navigation

off the beaten track in more than a figurative sense. The most dramatic case was one in which a

First Batch officer happened to be the Duty Officer in SAFTI. It was the fateful Sunday on 14

July, 1968, when the first School of Artillery course for officers was conducting a 120mmmortar

live-firing exercise with Ritz Farm in Area C as the impact area. The usual safety precautions

had been observed: boat patrols, sirens, the closure of the ingress roads, the hoisting of

red flags and clearance with Tengah Air Base. Eighteen bombs were fired between 1230 hrs