THIS IS MY LIFE -23

23 – VISITORS to KL CORPS
With KL being halfway between Singapore and Penang we often had visitors, on Army business or furlough. The OC and Mrs. ENGEL (USA West) frequently dropped in when on their way to the north or when he attended National Council of Churches as leader of The Army. Official regular visitors were the General Secretary, Major Thelma WATSON (Australia South), the Public Relations Secretary, Brigadier Arthur SMITH (UK), the Finance Officer, Major KNACKE (Germany), and the Divisional Officer, Major Agnes MORGAN (New Zealand). Other guests were reinforcement Officers who passed through on their annual furlough up in Frasers Hill or the Cameron Highlands. Among them were Majors Elsie WILLIS (UK), Joyce MANTON (UK), Ruth NAUGLER (CANADA), Ivy WILSON (Wales), and Captains Cynthia WHITE (UK), Joan BAVIN. Ken & Betty SPIKIN, and Robert & Thelma WEBB. (all from Australia South)

Our only relatives who visited us were my sister, Pui Sim and brother-in-law, GOH Bin Lay with their older children – Elaine, Anne, Leonard and Catherine accompanied by their nanny, Ah Siong.

In 1968 Cadets LIM Teck Fung and his wife Grace plus Winnie ELISHA came on a campaign. The same year Major Morgan, the DO, was scheduled to stop at our home overnight on her way back to Singapore with Cadets LOO Pho Khuan and TAN Gaik Chooi (Penang Corps) after campaigning in Penang. The Major never made it, because 30 miles from KL a truck hit the car she was driving. We were informed of the accident by the police who found their way to our corps at 8 p.m. two hours after the mishap.

We had invited a Canadian missionary couple, Mr. & Mrs. ELLERGODT, to our home for dinner to renew acquaintance with the Major. Fortunately he had a car; he very kindly drove my husband to the hospital. The cadets escaped with minor cuts but Major Morgan was very seriously injured. The OC was informed and he came up from Singapore immediately, driven by the then Finance Officer, Captain Roy SMITH (UK). Our children slept but we hardly did. The Colonel kept on asking for cups of coffee. Early the next morning the three men officers went to the hospital but our comrade sister officer did not survive. After identifying the body, arrangements were made for a funeral in Singapore. The OC took my husband home with him to Sunset Way, even though he had the Captain at the wheel. He was really traumatised, just as much as our family.

As the Corps Officer my husband represented the Army in the National Council of Churches of Malaysia in Sarawak, Perak, and Penang and in Selangor, serving as chairman in the last two states mentioned. In KL he was very involved in the Grady Wilson campaign in 1968. In this way he made many contacts for The Army in the ecumenical circle. For the same reason I was persuaded to give the message in the Women’s World Day of Prayer held at the Catholic Cathedral in KL.

On 26th April 1969 our third child, Dora LIM Poh Chin, came after a prolonged delivery at the University Hospital in Petaling Jaya. I was not allowed to breastfeed her for the first two days because she was kept in an incubator for hyperventilation. I was not aware of the significance of her condition, even when she seemed to cry very much and often vomited after a feed. I took her back to the hospital for our post natal check ups, but her records were found missing! The doctor had to ask me information to fill in another set of records regarding the circumstances of her birth!

Captain and Mrs. Robert WEBB (in charge of Children’s Home in Singapore) called on us with their children, Geoffrey, Carolyn, Julie and Russell, on their way home from furlough in the Cameron Highlands. When Mrs. Thelma Webb carried Poh Chin, Julie was anxious, asking her mum if she knew what to do! That night Gladys and Stephen joined the Webb children sleeping on the floor in the lounge.

Less than three weeks after the birth of Poh Chin, on 13th May 1969, racial riots broke out in the KL because the opposition parties won a big number of seats in the general elections. As most of the residents in our estate were Chinese the men formed vigilante groups to fight off any invaders. However, my husband was exempted but told to stay indoors. Trouble soon spread to Penang and Singapore. Curfew was imposed. The government declared a state of Emergency throughout Malaysia. It was a nerve-wrecking time! In the midst of the turbulence, we received farewell orders - to Ipoh Boys Home. There was a crisis in the Home too! Letters were sent to the press instigated by a rebel member of the staff.

It was very stressful for my husband, trying to visit our people and shop for the family between curfews. He also had to pack our luggage into boxes, then wooden cases. The two older children helped by lowering baskets of small items I had sorted out, from upstairs to the air well downstairs. They had fun!

As part of our farewell the Home League ladies organised a “full-moon” party to celebrate Poh Chin’s first month! The appropriate response was for us to reciprocate by distributing a gift box with red rice cakes, roast pork, red coloured eggs and pickled ginger to each family. Mrs. Winnie Kwan very kindly helped us by shopping, boiling and dying the 100 eggs, as well as hosting the party in her spacious home. Somewhat reluctantly we left KL Corps on 4th July 1969.