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Oct 24, 2007
Training instructor's death: NSmen respond to online appeal
CITIZEN soldiers have rallied to support the family of an army
Physical Training Instructor (PTI) who died in an accident last
Saturday, minutes away from his home.
Second Sergeant Lim Chee Wee, 23, did not have insurance
coverage.
An appeal on Internet discussion groups quickly raised more than
$1,300 for his family.
This does not include donations from a steady stream of
Operationally Ready National Servicemen who turned up at 2nd Sgt
Lim's wake at Jurong West, even though many of them did not know
him personally.
One fund manager could not attend the wake personally but sent his
driver with an undisclosed contribution.
Mr Donald Quek, 22, got the appeal going after he learnt during a
Remedial Training session on Sunday that the army regular had died.
RT sessions are physical training sessions conducted by the army
for unfit soldiers.
'When I learnt that he had died without insurance and that his
family is not well-off, I felt his family would need more help,''
said Mr Quek, an insurance agent.
Money continued to stream in on Wednesday even as his
grief-stricken father, a bus driver, mother, a factory worker
mother and 22-year-old brother bade him farewell in an
emotionally-charged funeral at the void deck of the Lim's five-room
HDB flat in Jurong West.
There was barely a dry eye among the scores of 2nd Sgt Lim's army
mates who turned up for his funeral too.
Well-built and with a ready smile, the PTI had led RT sessions for
hundreds of NSmen at Maju Camp, off Clementi Road.
NSmen and netizens who responded to the online appeal remember 2nd
Sgt Lim's quiet professionalism as he coaxed out-of-shape NSmen
back on the road to physical fitness.
He always had kind and encouraging words for slow runners and
taught NSmen strength-building techniques so they could clock
better run times during their army physical tests.
First Warrant Officer Lem Yew Teck, Officer Commanding of Maju
Fitness & Conditioning Centre, said: 'I hear that NSmen
especially liked him alot because he was willing to go the extra
mile and see them through their training programme.'
2nd Sgt Lim's patience in arranging alternative physical training
sessions for NSmen who missed their compulsory 4-hr sessions meant
more work for himself.
Uncomplainingly, he ploughed through mounds of extra paperwork,
slogging at his computer to complete documentation that had to be
individually approved.
His extra effort to reschedule NSmen's training saved many of them
from being charged by the army for missing their RT sessions.
His superiors were so impressed with the young PTI's knack for
motivating soldiers and his people-management skills that they
hand-picked him to be a sports trainer for top officers such as
Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Desmond Kuek and Chief of
Army Major-General Neo Kian Hong.
Last Saturday morning, 2nd Sgt Lim was on his way from Jurong West
to Kallang for a physical training class. He never made it. At
about 7.45am, his scooter collided with another motorbike along the
Pan-Island Exrpressway near Jurong West.
The other rider fell towards the road verge but 2nd Sgt Lim fell on
the road and was run over by a lorry. He was rushed unconscious to
National University Hospital, and was pronounced dead at about
8.50am.
Police are investigating the incident.
Fellow soldiers remember 2nd Sgt Lim as a careful rider who left
his Vespa Scooter in the carpark whenever the roads were wet.
First Warrant Officer Lem added: 'He had a very upright character
and was a well-disciplined soldier.'
'To me he had all the good points a commander would want in his
men: he was hardworking, reliable, dependable and able to get on
well with his colleagues. We will miss him.'
- ENDS -
