THIS IS MY LIFE -25

25 – HAPPY FAMILY IN SINGAPORE CENTRAL CORPS
I did my first four years of my officership in Malaya prior to marriage. After a break of one year together in Singapore we were sent back for 10 consecutive years, making a total of 14 years of service in Malaysia. The immigration officer kindly advised us to opt for Malaysian citizenship because Singapore might not survive as a nation!

On our night train journey from Ipoh to Singapore, the two older children had a bunk each, Stephen on the upper deck and Gladys on the lower. I had Poh Chin with me on a lower one opposite them. They were both good and helpful, although under ten years old.

Singapore Central Corps Hall was the main part of 207 Clemenceau Avenue which was also The Army’s headquarters (CHQ). However, the corps officers’ quarters was a big flat upstairs of the two storey house. This edifice was separated from the front building by a big courtyard. All the ceilings were very high and the floor of the ground level was polished red. A flight of stairs on the right led up to a wide landing with a similar red floor all along the front and also at the back of the flat. Slightly elevated was a wooden floor covering the rest of the apartment - a very spacious hall as the lounge and dining room. The bedrooms were along the left of the hall. Our son had one partitioned off from the front. Next was the bedroom shared by Gladys and her baby sister, Dora Poh Chin. We had the back room, next to the toilet and bathroom at the rear. Adjacent to this was our kitchen.

The original two rooms on the right of the hall had been sealed off to form part of a small flat, now allocated to our newly commissioned corps assistant, Lieutenant Sarojah KAKAN.

One of the first things I had to do was to register Gladys and Stephen for school. They were nearly 10 and 8 years old respectively. We called our children by their Chinese names because we knew their friends would call them by their western ones.

Poh Chin was only 7 months old, but I could not lug her with me. Mrs. Colonel Engel kindly obliged to babysit her. So I put our baby in a pram, with a pile of nappies and milk formula, then left them in the office of the TPWM.

It was relatively easy to get Gladys into Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS), thanks to my sister whose two older children, Elaine and Anne, were already studying there. I thought there would be no problem to get Stephen into Winstedt or Monks Hill - two government schools nearby.
However, I had to get permission from the Ministry of Education. My sister was on her way to ACS at Coleman Street with her son, Leonard, so I asked for a lift.

Anglo Chinese School (ACS) is one of the prestigious schools in Singapore. In those days parents would camp outside its premises overnight to ensure a place in the queue for registration. How much more difficult to expect a chance after registration had closed. However, while at ACS I was encouraged to see the headmaster; and by God’s providence Stephen was accepted, because the son of the Indian ambassador was returning home with his parents. Praise the Lord! He was and is and shall always be good to all who trust in Him!

My husband wrote us EVERYDAY - by snail mail of course. However, he was able to take up his appointment as CO of Central Corps in the first week of February 1970, just before the Lunar New Year.

All our predecessors were missionary officers. They would visit the corps comrades, with the OC and his wife in the morning, and with the GS in the afternoon. Having been away from Singapore for 14 years and being just appointed to Central Corps we simply compiled a list of the senior members of the corps according to their addresses. We were glad to have transport, travelling with them. However, the OC and his wife did not expect to visit some folk unknown to them! The GS wanted to visit comrades we had already seen that morning! What confusion! We knew better what to do the subsequent years!

We were familiar with the Central Corps hall as we were soldiers there prior to entering training. The huge front doors were painted bright red and had big brass rings which would have served as knockers originally. Not a nail was used but dovetailed into place. Embossed cement bamboo trees hid the pipes on the walls. The ornate roof and ceilings were supported by granite pillars shipped from China. The beams across the ceiling had carvings of dragons on them. General Arnold Brown was reputed to have said that one of those creatures spat on him as he walked pass!