Yesterday, I saw an obituary commemorating the 10th anniversary of his passing in the Straits Times. I decided to write this blog in memory of my old friend with whom I spent almost one half of my active days in the army.
Cheong Teuck and I were platoon mates for nine months in Charlie Company, OCS (Officer Cadet School) in SAFTI in 1976. After that we were both posted to Gillman Camp for the four-and-a-half month JOEC (Junior Officers Engineer Course in 1977. From there, I was posted to 30SCE in Mandai Camp to serve my remaining 10 months of full-time national service as a platoon commander, whilst he went on for yet another course in 37SCE. Being a regular, he was permitted to do that.
My regret as always, was that we never kept in touch, and our paths never crossed since then.
I dedicate the photographs below to the memory of my friend Chong Teuck.
Taken at Gillman Camp after some lesson on camouflage and concealment
Enlarged view (From Left): Joe Chung, Chong Teuck and myself
Taken at Temple Hill, Gillman Camp after a lesson on the Cage Bridge
Taken at Gillman Camp after a lesson on Bailey Bridge
Taken at Mandai Camp during a lesson on Medium Girder Bridge. Me facing camera. CT (with gasses) looking on
Taken at Safti Demolition Range. Me standing; extreme left. CT standing 2nd from right
I was happy to read from his obituary that Chong Teuck had accepted Christ as his Lord and savior. May the Lord bless and keep his wife and 2 daughters.
At least I know that someday, we will meet again ‘”on that beautiful shore”.
There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
5 comments:
The fragility of life. And how life can be taken away from us all so suddenly. I didn't know my colleague Soon Beng well enough when he was with us and lament the missed opportunity when he left us so suddenly in a motor accident. And I tell myself, "yeah, let's be nice to one and all, smile and say hi to everyone whom we cross path in the office". For we never know when we'll say good-bye to one another...We'll never know ...
Moses in Ps (90?)asked God to: "Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom".
I too had a very close buddy during NS. (He too was base-employed.) We used to spend our weekends together, even after ROD. Then one day, he sort of 'forced-sold' his brother's SLR Canon A-1 camera to me. Because of this unhappy incident, I let go of this friendship but ended up with a camera I never intended to buy in the first place. Later, I also sold (not force-sold) the camera to VT who is today still a member of our Bagus lunch team.
This army buddy was very jovial. I still remember what he told me before our friendship soured, "Friends come and go, only some stay a little longer." How true.
The Japanese use to say that if one of their friends has passed away, everything has gone except his name. Life is like a dew-drop, formed in the night, but vanishes when the sun rises in the morning.
surprised to see your posting on Chong Teuck. He was my mentor when i was a kid. thank you for posting photos of him which i never knew about. I missed him.
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