Lim Bo Seng
Lim Bo Seng was a staunch anti-Japanese even before the war had started. He was also an active contributor of the China Relief Fund and was later made the Director of the Labour Service Department in the newly formed Singapore Chinese Mobilization Council. Certain that he would be a target of reprisals for the Japanese, he was compelled to flee Singapore just before it capitulated.
He managed to reach Sumatra where he then made his way to Colombo and finally to Calcutta in India where he met a British officer, Basil Good fellow, who persuaded him to join the British efforts in setting up a joint China-Britain network in Malaya. This resistance force was then known as force 136.
How he was captured and killed.
Lim was captured by the Japanese under Marshal Ōnishi Satoru (大西覚) at a roadblock in Gopeng around March-April 1944. He was taken to the Kempeitai headquarters for interrogation and he refused to provide the Japanese with any information about Force 136 despite being subjected to severe torture. Instead, he protested against the ill treatment of his comrades in prison. He fell ill with dysentery and was bedridden by the end of May 1944. Lim died in the early hours on 29 June 1944. He was later buried behind the Batu Gajah prison compound in an unmarked spot. After the Japanese surrender, Lim's wife, Gan Choo Neo, was informed of her husband's death by the priest of St. Andrew's School. Gan travelled with her eldest son to bring her husband's remains home later.
Lim's remains arrived at the Tanjong Pagar railway station in Singapore on 7 December 1945. Upon arrival, the hearse was sent off by a large procession of British officers and prominent businessmen, from the station to Hock Ann Biscuit Factory in Upper Serangoon Road, via Armenian Street. On the same day, a memorial service for Lim was held at the Tong Teh Library of the Kuomintang Association in Singapore.[9]
A funeral service was held on 13 January 1946 at City Hall to mourn Lim's death. Lim's remains was transported in a coffin to a hill in MacRitchie Reservoir(coordinates: 1°20'31.76"N 103°49'50.60"E) for burial with full military honours. Lim was posthumously awarded the rank of Major General (少將) by the Republic of China Nationalist Government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Bo_Seng date accessed: 16/2/2013
Elizabeth Choy
Elizabeth Choy Su-Meiwas born on 29 November 1910 in Kudat, Sabah. She was a Hakka from North Borneo. During the Japanese Occupation, together with her husband, she worked as a canteen operator at a hospital where patients from General Hospital had been moved to.
Elizabeth Choy and her husband secretly brought food, medicine, money, messages and even radios to British internees. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Japanese. Her husband was arrested on 29 October while she was arrested on 15 November 1943. The Kempeitai thought that they had given information to the British which led to the sinking of several Japanese ships in Keppel Harbour in 1943.
Elizabeth Choy was imprisoned in a small cell for 193 days with 20 other prisoners in the old YMCA building. During her imprisonment, she was badly tortured by the Kempeitai. The Kempeitai made her kneel down on a frame of three-sided wood. They tied her hands behind her back and also her legs. She could not move at all. Then, they brought her husband and he was made to kneel beside the frame to watch her being tortured. They slapped and kicked her and gave her the ‘electric shock’ treatment. The pain was extremely unbearable.
Despite being terribly tortured, Elizabeth Choy refused to confess. After 193 days, she was released from the prison. Her husband was released much later. After the war, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her valour in 1946 during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. She was known as a war heroine.
Elizabeth Choy also became Singapore's first woman in the Legislative Council in 1951 and she was also recognised as a dedicated educator. She started teaching first at St. Margaret's School and later St. Andrew's School; and was the first principal of the Singapore School for the Blind in 1956. At the age of 96, Elizabeth Choy passed away on 14 September 2006.
Elizabeth Choy and her husband secretly brought food, medicine, money, messages and even radios to British internees. Unfortunately, they were caught by the Japanese. Her husband was arrested on 29 October while she was arrested on 15 November 1943. The Kempeitai thought that they had given information to the British which led to the sinking of several Japanese ships in Keppel Harbour in 1943.
Elizabeth Choy was imprisoned in a small cell for 193 days with 20 other prisoners in the old YMCA building. During her imprisonment, she was badly tortured by the Kempeitai. The Kempeitai made her kneel down on a frame of three-sided wood. They tied her hands behind her back and also her legs. She could not move at all. Then, they brought her husband and he was made to kneel beside the frame to watch her being tortured. They slapped and kicked her and gave her the ‘electric shock’ treatment. The pain was extremely unbearable.
Despite being terribly tortured, Elizabeth Choy refused to confess. After 193 days, she was released from the prison. Her husband was released much later. After the war, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her valour in 1946 during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. She was known as a war heroine.
Elizabeth Choy also became Singapore's first woman in the Legislative Council in 1951 and she was also recognised as a dedicated educator. She started teaching first at St. Margaret's School and later St. Andrew's School; and was the first principal of the Singapore School for the Blind in 1956. At the age of 96, Elizabeth Choy passed away on 14 September 2006.
http://singaporeheroes.weebly.com/elizabeth-choy.html date accessed:16/2/2013
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