Youth of yesterday and today

Roberto Herrera lived in Singapore when the Japanese army seized the island in February 1942. Photo: The Star/Sia Hong Kiau

My parents would always talk about old times and how time has quickly flown by. Mum always commented how simple life was back then, when people lived in harmony and how affordable necessities like food and property were.

She also related stories about the struggles that her family had to endure during the Japanese Occupation in the 1940s. Most stories remain etched in my memory, especially how Mum and her older brother – at 10 and 12 years old respectively – had to walk for an hour to a neighbouring village to look for water from wells.