BTW I was a Rec from Charlie coy Tekong Camp 1 few years after
the incident, there was indeed the three door bunk & only three
door bunk in the whole of camp1 ,it was converted to lecture hall,
it was always locked up & no one to go near there or even to do
area cleaning, now to think abt it , kind of scary, as you know
there is no dirty bunk in the SAF even it was not been used
especially since there were so many Rec for you to order
about.
I was in there once for posting out, it was extremely dirty for SAF
standard, after that we were told to leave and it was locked up
again.
Below is another version of the same case, the story teller claimed
to be having first hand account of the incident:
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.
