Injured army captain refused to leave his men behind

THE army captain collapsed after an enemy bullet punctured his lung during a mission to fight a group of communist insurgents. Several of his men were injured as well.

Other soldiers quickly radioed for help in the jungle fringes east of Gopeng. The helicopter flew in, but Capt Patrick Wong Sing Nang re­fused to leave until all his injured subordinates had been evacuated.

“If I die, then I die. But my men must not die,” said the man, now Major (rtd) Wong, 69.

Wong said he had led a troop of about 100 men to flush out the enemy in the 1977 incident.

Just before daybreak on Boxing Day, Wong’s company inadvertently set off an enemy bomb, alerting the communist group that was on a hill.

A fierce firefight ensued in the next half hour, which saw the enemy withdraw but with three of Wong’s men and himself wounded.

He later underwent an operation for a punctured lung and a lacera­ted diaphragm and liver.

His valour and dedication won him a Kepujian Perutusan Kebe­­ra­nian gallantry medal.

Another army man who put his life on the line many times for the country was Major (rtd) Chin Chee Foo, 71, an expert in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD).

Trained in Britain’s Royal Military College of Science and School of Ammunition, Chin was then one of only three trained personnel the country could call on when a bomb had to be defused.

He was so good at his job that he was asked to set up an Ammunition Training Wing in Batu Arang.

Datuk Capt (rtd) Liew Siong Sing said the contributions of such vete­rans should not be forgotten.

“They are real anak-anak Malay­sia,” said Liew, who is also EcoWorld Foundation chief executive officer.