Total Defence Day and remembering our heroic relatives

February 15th each year is Total Defence Day (the day of Singapore's surrender to the Japanese in World War 2). As it is our collective responsibility to defend our nation and strengthen our resolve to keep Singapore safe and sovereign, we wish to give tribute to and honour two men from within our family who were our war heroes then, and they come from both our grandmother’s sisters’ side of the family.

The first hero (see photo taken circa 1939 - 1940) Sng Gim Soon, is our grandmother’s youngest sister’s husband. Armed with only this photo, and with the help of AI, we managed to get some possible information about him as follows: He joined the Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) organization shortly after its expansion in 1939 and he was part of the backbone of Singapore’s early civil defence efforts among the first wave of A.R.P. volunteers, preparing Singapore for the possibility of air raids. This studio portrait was taken around 1939 or 1940. He could have served as a Warden, which would have made him responsible for enforcing blackout regulations, guiding civilians to shelters, and reporting bomb damage. If he was in a Rescue Squad, he would have been trained in debris clearance, casualty extraction, and emergency response — some of the most dangerous duties during the air raids of late 1941 and early 1942. Whatever his exact role, Mr Sng was part of the civilian backbone that tried to protect Singapore’s population during one of the most turbulent periods in our history. He eventually gave his life for his country and died during the war. Sadly, it was reported that he was not even buried in a proper coffin but the ignominy of ‘planks of wood’ (acknowledgment to our cousin, his granddaughter for this information).

The other hero is Wong Fook Choon, who was the husband of one of our paternal aunts, our grandmother’s oldest sister’s daughter. He was also a volunteer (possibly from the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF)). As shared by his oldest daughter (our cousin) to us, one day in 1942, after the surrender of Singapore, a group of Japanese soldiers came to their home and took him away. His second child was just a ten-day old baby boy then. He never returned home and subsequently this anguish of the unknown drove his wife, a qualified midwife, our aunt, to depression. (fortunately, she was able to live on and later passed away at a ripe old age). Was our uncle one of the thousands who lost their lives at the hands of their new masters? We will never know.

With these stories in mind, it behoves us to never take our freedom, whether in Singapore or any other free nation you are reading this from – for granted. May these two men’s souls rest in eternal peace – and the memory of their sacrifices live on in our hearts and minds.

Mr Sng Gim Soon, photo enhanced by ChatGPT

Original photo, circa 1939 - 1940

We currently do not have any photo of Mr Wong to share for the time being