SINGAPORE \u2013 For years, Winston Wong\u2019s family knew him only as a former captain in the army who is calm and reserved.<\/p>\n
Until his retirement in 2018, Wong, now 79, had kept his roles as a pioneering member of the SAF\u2019s bomb disposal and naval diving units largely under wraps.<\/p>\n
His was an illustrious career, from sweeping for war relics and explosives to leading a mission to dispose of a heavy, active bomb in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
After graduating from the Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute in 1968 and bomb disposal and mine clearance diving courses in the UK in 1970, the combat engineer\u2019s first missions involved neutralising hidden sea-mines and bombs from World War II.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Singapore developed with a lot of excavation and building of houses, they discovered a lot (of unexploded devices).<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were sea-mines also laid during the war. Some were not very active, but still very dangerous because we have international sea lanes,\u201d added Wong.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, remnants of sea-mines were uncovered across the sea channel to the Keppel Harbour area, he said.<\/p>\n Winston Wong\u2019s diving belt (top, in black), among other tools he used when he was in the naval diving unit.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Wong spoke to The Straits Times on Sept 11, two days before he was to speak to the public about a critical Bangladesh mission that he led in 1978 to safely get rid of an unexploded bomb near an industrial estate in Joydebpur, north of Dhaka. On Sept 13, the military veteran will present on one of the SAF\u2019s earliest overseas missions at the Military Hobby Fest at SAFRA Toa Payoh.<\/p>\n In April 1978, the Bangladesh government wrote to Singapore\u2019s Ministry of Defence, seeking assistance to remove a 272kg aerial bomb. The explosive was probably dropped during the Indo-Pakistan war, but it did not detonate, said Wong.<\/p>\n The following month, Wong, already a captain, led a team of four to neutralise the bomb over a gruelling three days.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some reason, there was maybe a dent somewhere which caused the explosive chain to not align, so the firing process was not complete. But it could still be dangerous because any jarring movement could align it back,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n The explosive was buried inside a 2m-deep crater that was submerged in water because of monsoon rains.<\/p>\n Three weeks before the Singapore team arrived, protective sandbag walls were set up to shield a factory from the bomb, while water was pumped out before a tent was set up over the bomb to prevent further flooding.<\/p>\n The explosive was X-rayed during the mission to find out why it had malfunctioned.<\/p>\n A hardening liquid was then injected into the pistol\u2019s cavity to block its mechanism, making it safe to unscrew the pistol.<\/p>\n The detonator was then extracted. The bomb, which was powerful enough to flatten half of the factory, was defused.<\/p>\n Recounting this mission from his home using neatly filed photos and detailed sketches, Wong said the operation was as close to a war setting as he had ever experienced.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was like a soldier going to war. My mission was to make bombs safe… We hadn\u2019t fought any war, so we didn\u2019t know how good the soldiers were. This was a direct test,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Wong pointing to a younger picture of himself.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n But just a few years later, he did not expect to be in the middle of a disaster zone back in Singapore.<\/p>\n It was March 15, 1986, and Wong \u2013 who had been seconded to the Singapore Civil Defence Force \u2013 received a phone call from a colleague. Hotel New World\u00a0in Serangoon Road had collapsed, and Wong was called upon to help in the rescue efforts.<\/p>\n The six-storey building crumbled to the ground in less than a minute, killing 33 people. Seventeen people were eventually rescued.<\/p>\n Hotel New World crumbled to the ground in less than a minute, killing 33 people. Seventeen people were eventually rescued.<\/p>\n PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cYour mission is to go into the tunnel and evacuate people trapped. Around the perimeter, you see relatives in distress… praying for their (loved ones\u2019) survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The rubble-strewn site had to go silent at times so that seismic detectors could pick up tapping sounds from survivors.<\/p>\n \u201cAll they could do was use a stone and tap… (It was a) very difficult situation because some were trapped, bleeding. (We used) whatever methods to go in and make contact to talk to them, to keep them alive.\u201d The rescue operations lasted about a week.<\/p>\n Wong received a Public Service Medal in 1986, after his rescue efforts at Hotel New World, and also a 1980 Public Administration Medal.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n MINDEF\u2019s home-grown bomb disposal expertise developed from Wong\u2019s batch.<\/p>\n After the 9\/11 terrorist attack in the US, the Singapore Police Force wanted a trainer to develop its Bomb and Explosive Investigation Division under the Criminal Investigation Department.<\/p>\n Wong was approached to lead the training as the domain expert on explosives.<\/p>\n One of his important lessons was on conducting post-blast investigations \u2013 a post-mortem of sorts to identify the cause of the blast, the weapons used and residue left behind, and find the culprits.<\/p>\n Simulations were carried out at the Home Team Academy.<\/p>\n Wong was later transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs to expand the training to more Home Team agencies until he retired in 2018.<\/p>\n These days, he volunteers as a heritage storyteller at The Barracks Hotel Sentosa, sharing with visitors what his old office looked like when the island was known as Pulau Blakang Mati.<\/p>\n He was among the first batch of officer trainees at the School of Field Engineers on the island. He also helped set up the bomb disposal and naval diving units at Fort Siloso.<\/p>\n An avid collector for decades, he also helps his younger daughter Rebecca Wong run By My Old School, a vintage store in Commonwealth near their home.<\/p>\n Wong with a figurine of a naval diver. An avid collector for decades, Wong helps his younger daughter run a vintage store.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Rebecca, who is in her late 40s, said the Pioneer Generation like her father would consider their nation-building roles as just a job.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cTo them, it\u2019s not really a big thing… Our army is now powerful, and we can afford weapons and the latest technology. But we have to remember that we started with nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 For years, Winston Wong\u2019s family knew him only as a former captain in the army who is calm and reserved. Until his retirement…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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