Singapore World War II Heroes

Lim Bo Seng

Lim Bo Seng was born in China, in the Fujian Province, on 27 April 1909. He was a loyal Chinese patriot who took part in fund-raising to raise funds to help China in the war against Japan in 1937. He also encouraged people to boycott Japanese goods.

Being the head of the Labour Services Corps, he provided the British government with labourers for the war effort before the Japanese invasion. When the Japanese troops began advancing towards Singapore from Malayan, he and his men dynamited the Causeway. 

Just before the fall of Singapore to the Japanese on 11th February, Lim Bo Seng left his seven children to the care of his wife. He went to India where he was trained to fight in the jungle and later recruited resistance fighters for Force 136. Force 136 was a special operations force formed by the British in June 1942 to infiltrate and attack enemy lines. Some local Malays were also recruited into the force. One of his best friends and students, Tan Chong Tee, also participated actively in anti-Japanese activities with Lim Bo Seng. 

After Lim Bo Seng had organised everything in China and India, he sent the first batch of Force 136 agents to Japanese-occupied Malaya in 1943 to set up an an intelligence network in the urban areas in Pangkor, Lumut, Tapah and Ipoh. According to historical sources, to avoid detection by the Japanese, secret messages were smuggled in empty tubes of toothpaste, salted fish and even in the Force 136's members' own diaries. To avoid identification by the Japanese, Lim Bo Seng even pretended tp be a businessman at checkpoints. He used the alias Tan Choon Lim.Unfortunately, there were many traitors who led to the downfall of Force 136 and Lim Bo Seng. Lai Teck, one of Force 136's members who was a triple agent between Force 136, the British and Japanese, betrayed Force 136 and Lim Bo Seng. He leaked out valuable information that allowed the Kempeitai to pick up coded messages from Force 136. This led to the captures of many of the members in Force 136.

Lai Teck eventually betrayed Lim Bo Seng in March 1944. Lim Bo Seng was captured by the Japanese. Despite being tortured by the Japanese, Lim Bo Seng refused to reveal the names of the people who worked with him against the Japanese.

In prison, Lim Bo Seng often shared his food with the other prisoners. Due to the lack of food and unhealthy living conditions in the prison, Lim Bo Seng fell ill. On 29 June 1944, he died in Batu Gajah jail in Perak at the age of 35.

 

Elizabeth Choy

Elizabeth Choy Su-Meiwas born on 29 November 1910 in Kudat, Sabah. She was a Hakka from North Borneo. During the Japanese Occupation, together with her husband, she worked as a canteen operator at a hospital where patients from General Hospital had been moved to.  

Elizabeth Choy and her husband secretly brought food, medicine, money, messages and even radios to British internees. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Japanese. Her husband was arrested on 29 October while she was arrested on 15 November 1943. The Kempeitai thought that they had given information to the British which led to the sinking of several Japanese ships in Keppel Harbour in 1943. 

Elizabeth Choy was imprisoned in a small cell for 193 days with 20 other prisoners in the old YMCA building. During her imprisonment, she was badly tortured by the Kempeitai. The Kempeitai made her kneel down on a frame of three-sided wood. They tied her hands behind her back and also her legs. She could not move at all. Then, they brought her husband and he was made to kneel beside the frame to watch her being tortured. They slapped and kicked her and gave her the ‘electric shock’ treatment. The pain was extremely unbearable.

Despite being terribly tortured, Elizabeth Choy refused to confess. After 193 days, she was released from the prison. Her husband was released much later. After the war, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her valour in 1946 during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. She was known as a war heroine.

Elizabeth Choy also became Singapore's first woman in the Legislative Council in 1951 and she was also recognised as a dedicated educator. She started teaching first at St. Margaret's School and later St. Andrew's School; and was the first principal of the Singapore School for the Blind in 1956. At the age of 96, Elizabeth Choy passed away on 14 September 2006.

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Lieutenant Adnan bin Saidi

Lieutenant Adnan was born in Kajang, Selangor. During World War II, he led the 1st Infantry Brigade in protecting the area at Pasir Panjang Ridge (now known as Kent Ridge) in the Bukit Chandu (Opium Hill) area on 12 - 14 February 1942.

On 13 February 1942, the Japanese troops attacked Pasir Panjang Ridge. They disguised themselves as Indian soldiers in the British army. They wanted to trick the Malay soldiers so that they could take control of the Pasir Panjang area. However, Lieutenant Adnan saw through their disguises and knew that they were Japanese soldiers. He gave orders to open fire at the disguised Japanese troops.

The Japanese troops, despite many being killed and injured, did not surrender and continued to attack the ridge. More Japanese soldiers soon arrived and joined in the attack. Although Lieutenant Adnan's Malay Regiment was heavily outnumbered, yet Lieutenant Adnan refused to surrendered and urged his soldiers to continue fighting until the end.

Lieutenant Adnan and his soldiers held off the Japanese for two days in spite of running out of food and ammunition. Many of the soldiers from the Malay Regiment were killed during the fierce battle. Lieutenant Adnan himself was shot. Despite his serious injuries, he refused to give up and continued fighting against the Japanese.

Eventually, the battle at Pasir Panjang was lost and Lieutenant Adnan was captured by the Japanese. The Japanese soldiers tied him to a tree and bayoneted him to death. Lieutenant Adnan was only 27 years old when he died. He left behind his wife and two young sons.
Due to his courageous actions at the Battle of Pasir Panjang, Lieutenant Adnan was considered as a War Hero by Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Adapted from : http://singaporeheroes.weebly.com/