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http://ahfeng.blogspot.com/2004/05/pulau-tekong_27.html
The Ghost of
Charlie-Company, Pulau Tekong
This is a true story... One of my reservist buddies pass this mail
to me. The author is unhappy that the Mediacorp version, shown last
week on TV, was inaccurate (as far as he is concerned). I`ve heard
my own version of course. Dunno which one is true. But for sure, I
can vouch the incident really happened.My Story: It is a well-known
fact that Pulau Tekong has a number of ghosts.
Some of you readers may have read or heard about the ghost at
Charlie Company at the old basic military camp I. Unfortunately,
some versions that I read or heard have been distorted over the
years.Here, I hope to set the record straight. Instructors and
trainees of Charlie Company, Infantry Training Depot during the
March-June 1983 period can vouch for my version of the story. It is
NOT my intention to revive hurtful memories especially for the
bereaved family or to blame anyone, but
purely to narrate facts as they had happened.
The starting point of this true story should be the 16 Km route
march about 18 years ago. Before the march, the Officer Commanding
of the company
asked the trainees whether anyone was sick or not feeling well. No
one put up his hand. But there was a trainee among the company,
Recruit Tham W.K., who was down with flu but did not put up his
hand.Then the route march started. The platoons took turns to lead
the company
after each break during the route march. Sometimes, the pace of the
march became too hot for some trainees, who could not keep pace and
had to fall out. They became stragglers and had to be picked up by
a few instructors walking at the rear of the company. The landrover
with the medical orderly was also supposed to be at the rear.
Somehow, Tham fell out and managed to slip out of view by taking
cover in the forest. He was not to be seen alive again.During
subsequent rest breaks, there were head-counts. He was presumed to
be with the medical orderly. It was only in the evening after the
route
march, when the the rifles were due to be returned to the armoury,
that they realised Tham was missing. They went to the medical
centre but he was not there. The instructors feared the worst.
Overnight, they organised a night-search party for him, re-tracing
the 16-Km route taken earlier in the day. They could not find
him.The next day, the entire Camp I ceased training and batches of
instructors and trainees were dispatched to find Tham. It was only
about 5 p.m. that
his own platoon commander (PC) found his corpse. Near a forest
track junction, the PC noticed a half-pictched tent. He called out
but there was no response. As he neared the tent, he noticed many
flies buzzing around and detected a foul stench. There lay before
him his dead trainee, lying
with one hand holding his rifle and the other hand outstretched
with a water bottle, with its cover opened. The PC broke down in
tears and wept openly.
A subsequent post-mortem showed that Tham had apparently died of
stomach rupture. When his body system was still hot from the heat
of the route march, against the advice of instructors, he had
apparently gulped down
massive amounts of water suddenly. It was like pouring ice cubes
into a thin glass of hot water, which can cause the glass to crack.
But the post mortem also found puncture marks on his body, which
could not be satisfactorily explained to this day.)
It was left to the Company Sergeant Major and his landrover driver
to drive the corpse back to camp for transfer to the mortuary. It
was twilight at that time. Inexplicably, the engine could not
start. The thought of the two of them spending the night with the
corpse unnerved them. But eventually, they somehow had the engine
started and returned safely to base.
The late Tham was promoted to NCO and cremated at Mount Vernon with
full military honours. As the company trainees lined the road
snaking up to the crematorium to salute our late comrade, it was a
heart-breaking sight to see a distraught mother being supported by
two daughters following the hearse.
A few instructors returned to the site where he departed from this
world,to offer incense and prayers. One instructor asked the late
Tham not to come back and haunt us, but rather to express his last
wishes in a dream so that his soul could rest in peace after his
wishes were fulfilled.
But Tham did not listen.
Incident 1: One of the instructors came to the Platoon 9 bunk to
remove his personal effects. When he opened up his metal cupboard,
there was a foul stench from inside that could not be
explained.
Incident 2: In the dead of the night, some trainees of Charlie
Company heard Tham`s voice shouting for the platoon or company to
fall in at the common company compound.
Incident 3 (more scary): One of the platoon 9 section mates woke up
in the middle of the night and saw the white figure of Tham`s ghost
standing in front of his former cupboard ! He bolted to the next
double-decker bed,grabbed to share his blanket and said "ghost!"
The next morning, the
platoon mates could see two trainees pale and ashened by the
encounter.Incident 4: During one of the subsequent route marches
(by Golf Company),the company noticed a figure of a soldier in full
battle order standing in the distance among some trees. The OC (a
former Commando Captain) dashed forward to take a closer look. He
quickly ordered the whole company to
double past without slowing down to see what he saw. Subsequent
route marches were diverted to avoid that area of sighting.It`s
been a long time since I last set foot on Pulau Tekong in June
1983.But I heard that the bunk in which the late Tham used was
converted into a
lecture room and subsequently into a store room. The room was
installed with padlocked doors for obvious reasons.Over the years,
generations of trainees who became instructors passed down
their version of Tham`s story by word of mouth, which unfortunately
got distorted in the process.
May his soul rest in peace.
